Post by LandieMark on May 29, 2017 16:03:06 GMT
The hire car lottery for Italy returned me a 208. I had booked a Fiat 500, but these are clearly the most sought after option and none were available.
I didn't actually do many kms - the car went from the airport to the resort and was parked up for most of the time. It was obvious it was a 3-pot due to the interesting thrum of the engine. It felt pretty perky so I suspect it was the 82bhp 1.2 as opposed to the 68bhp version. I suspect it was the Allure spec due to the wheels.
It drove OK with a supple ride and it was quiet on the motorway. The clutch bite point was annoyingly high (I've found this before in French cars) and the gear change was a touch vague. It rolled about quite a bit on the mountain roads and it is one of the very few cars I have felt a bit queasy actually driving. The A-pillar blind spot was highly irritating through the corners which made it hard to place the car on the road - especially in relation to oncoming traffic. I found the the dials irritating at first, but I did eventually manage to get myself comfortable by moving the seat a little higher than I would have liked, but as it isn't a sports car, I could cope. The rest of the interior is fine for a car of this type and I found nothing offensive about it. I couldn't be bothered to fiddle with the infotainment screen too much other than to find a radio station that played music. I now understand it has a USB and aux port so I could have plugged my phone in.
The boot took the two soft bags without trouble.
A tip for the Amalfi coast is not to bother with a car. By the time I paid for parking (absolute nightmare along most of the coast), it cost the same as a private limo transfer and I still don't know how much I am going to get stuffed for the bumper scrape.
I didn't actually do many kms - the car went from the airport to the resort and was parked up for most of the time. It was obvious it was a 3-pot due to the interesting thrum of the engine. It felt pretty perky so I suspect it was the 82bhp 1.2 as opposed to the 68bhp version. I suspect it was the Allure spec due to the wheels.
It drove OK with a supple ride and it was quiet on the motorway. The clutch bite point was annoyingly high (I've found this before in French cars) and the gear change was a touch vague. It rolled about quite a bit on the mountain roads and it is one of the very few cars I have felt a bit queasy actually driving. The A-pillar blind spot was highly irritating through the corners which made it hard to place the car on the road - especially in relation to oncoming traffic. I found the the dials irritating at first, but I did eventually manage to get myself comfortable by moving the seat a little higher than I would have liked, but as it isn't a sports car, I could cope. The rest of the interior is fine for a car of this type and I found nothing offensive about it. I couldn't be bothered to fiddle with the infotainment screen too much other than to find a radio station that played music. I now understand it has a USB and aux port so I could have plugged my phone in.
The boot took the two soft bags without trouble.
A tip for the Amalfi coast is not to bother with a car. By the time I paid for parking (absolute nightmare along most of the coast), it cost the same as a private limo transfer and I still don't know how much I am going to get stuffed for the bumper scrape.
