[IMS M3]

To all the Italy experts...

Planning a honeymoon for June in Italy and would appreciate your input on whether an X5 will be too wide/large to fit the smaller Italian roads. Parking will be at hotels so shouldn't be an issue. Driving will be Rome Airport>Tuscany>Bologna/Modena>Lake Como>Lake Lucerne (Switzerland). If the X5 is too wide, I can get a 3-series or 1-series, but would prefer the comfort of the X5 with all this driving.

Also, has anyone done the track rental in Modena or Monza? Looks like with Pushstart, Motorsport Maranello, and Puresport you can buy laps.

Any input would be much appreciated.

[HFW003]

Congratulations!

The X5 will be WAY too big for any of the smaller Italian towns. If you are only sticking to the places listed it will be ok but still hard to get a park. You have to see how Italians park for yourself to understand.

[afadeev]

Originally Posted by IMS M3

Planning a honeymoon for June in Italy and would appreciate your input on whether an X5 will be too wide/large to fit the smaller Italian roads. Parking will be at hotels so shouldn't be an issue. Driving will be Rome Airport>Tuscany>Bologna/Modena>Lake Como>Lake Lucerne (Switzerland).

Yeah, X5 will be stupid wide.
And unnecessary, unless you are planning to bring along 3+ friends on the trip.

Go with something smaller, or memorable (a Ferrari).

Originally Posted by IMS M3

If the X5 is too wide, I can get a 3-series or 1-series, but would prefer the comfort of the X5 with all this driving.

Also, has anyone done the track rental in Modena or Monza? Looks like with Pushstart, Motorsport Maranello, and Puresport you can buy laps.

I am pretty sure they will not let you take a truck on a track (X5).
With a Ferrari, OTOH, options will open up!

HTH,
a

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by IMS M3

To all the Italy experts...

Planning a honeymoon for June in Italy and would appreciate your input on whether an X5 will be too wide/large to fit the smaller Italian roads. Parking will be at hotels so shouldn't be an issue. Driving will be Rome Airport>Tuscany>Bologna/Modena>Lake Como>Lake Lucerne (Switzerland). If the X5 is too wide, I can get a 3-series or 1-series, but would prefer the comfort of the X5 with all this driving.

Also, has anyone done the track rental in Modena or Monza? Looks like with Pushstart, Motorsport Maranello, and Puresport you can buy laps.

Any input would be much appreciated.

No experience driving in Italy but on a business trip to Switzerland (Zurich and a bit outside) the roads were quite narrow. Luckily a co-worker and myself latched on to a small Mercedes Benz compact, A class I think a W169.

An X5 would have occupied the entire roadway.

Sure on main roads the lanes were roomier. I rented some Renault sedan for a drive to Bern and back and I could have been driving on a Kansas turnpike if the terrain had been pool table flat...

You have to be careful about taking a rental car on a track. Generally this is forbidden.

You might be better off renting a vehicle best suited to your basic vehicle needs -- although it doesn't have to be a bottom of the barrel choice of vehicle -- and arrange to visit a track that rents track vehicles.

Get all the insurance offered.

Carefully inspect -- take pics or a video -- of the rental vehicle before you take possession of it and just before you give it back. Be sure you catch any small things like a rock chip, scratch, etc.

[chassis]

Rent the X5 with confidence, or a 530i Touring. I rented a 530iT and it was great in ski villages of the Dolomiti.

[ppointer]

I agree with chassis -- rent whatever you want. I've rented Audi wagons on three different trips -- 2 A4s and 1 A6, only because Hertz didn't have any BMWs available at the time. Driven north as far as Venice and as far south as Positano, with lots of places in between that were way off the beaten path. I have driven to the places you list, except for Lake Como and Switzerland.

Speaking of Switzerland, my car rental agreements specifically forbid me leaving the country with their car. So you had better check that out with your rental company.

Perhaps the parking in Positano could be a problem with the X5, but that will depend on the specific hotel, if you go there. When in Rome, we left the car at the hotel and used Uber when the walk was too long.

I loved driving in Italy. The driving skill of Italians is 10x what I experience here, and you'll rarely find anyone parked in the left lane of the Autostradas. Having the rental car gave us all of the flexibility we could want, allowing us to change our itinerary on a whim, which we did several times.

Waze worked perfectly, even pointing out the speed cameras. The only setting I changed in Waze was to KPH. Google maps worked better when walking the towns. I did manage to get one ticket through all of those trips; parked at a hotel in Florence that was within a restricted area for which I did not have the required driving pass.

I agree with RockCrusher -- get all of the insurance available. It won't be cheap, but they always carefully inspect the rental upon return, even checking the wheels for curb rash. My own auto insurance (USAA) would not work outside of USA.

[chassis]

^agree^

Most Americans are operating with bad information wrt car rental in Europe.

Sixt and done.

Do read the restrictions on which countries are permissible. I rented in Munich and drove through Austria, Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. B-H was forbidden so I could not drive to Dubrovnik, which I wanted to do. All good, we took a ferry from Split to Korčula and had a great time.

[HFW003]

I've used both Sixt and Hertz throughout Europe and Scandinavia and they have both been very good.

[Alfisti]

Americans, jesus fucking christ, an X5? For 2 people? I'd rent a golf hatch or something weird you don't get over here but WAY smaller than an X5. Better yet, it's a fucking honeymoon, a nice GT 2+2 like say a 911, they are quite livable these days. Maybe an Alpine if it has the storage space for all your wife's shit, and trust me she will take too much shit. Live a little.

Before you know it you'll be 40 lbs heavier, kids humping your fucking leg, mortgage etc etc ...... X5 .... FMD.

[nyalpine90]

M2 or Z4
Auguri !!

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

Americans, jesus fucking christ, an X5? For 2 people? I'd rent a golf hatch or something weird you don't get over here but WAY smaller than an X5. Better yet, it's a fucking honeymoon, a nice GT 2+2 like say a 911, they are quite livable these days. Maybe an Alpine if it has the storage space for all your wife's shit, and trust me she will take too much shit. Live a little.

Before you know it you'll be 40 lbs heavier, kids humping your fucking leg, mortgage etc etc ...... X5 .... FMD.

LOL. You love to act like Canadians are into small cars. You do realize the #1 selling vehicle in your country is the F150 and that y'all also love unnecessarily large and big vehicles. Better yet, 9 of the top 10 best selling vehicles in Canada are full size trucks and midsize SUVS....JUST LIKE THE US

But yeah, I do agree with you and others, when driving and renting in Europe, get something small and fairly compact.

[iX nOOky]

We typically rent only as large a vehicle as we need for traveling in Europe. It's about the only time I drive a sedan, because they handle the twistier backroads better than a SUV. That being said if you're planning a track day or laps you should get it out of your system that way anyway imho.

I'd probably rent a nice Mercedes or BMW sedan with some power as it looks like you'll be on some decent roads. We had an Audi A5 on our trip last year. We were in Italy some, mostly around the Alps. It was adequate, and fairly inexpensive.

[IMS M3]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Definitely getting the full insurance, and will be booking with Sixt for a pickup in Rome and drop off in Switzerland. Seems like a 3-series is a good balance between size and comfort. Maybe will also consider an X1 or 1-series. Z4 would be great but only comes in stick (wife doesn't drive stick) and not sure it will fit all the bags.

To clarify, the companies listed for track rental provide a Ferrari Challenge car to drive on track. I would never drive a Sixt rental on track as it's definitely forbidden and there's zero chance the brakes would last enough for it to be fun without it being an M car.

Any other input, please let me know! Especially if anyone has done any track rentals there.