We?ve just spent a week in Tenerife, we had a car for three - some of my experiences.
First car we were in was a Merc W124 Estate taxi - V6 petrol. Nicely run in at just short of 500,000 km. Auto box sounded a bit clunky, but we covered the miles very quickly. Easy to see why 99% of cabbies over there drive them.
Plenty of the cars were also of considerable age. Second hand values are high (very unloved 10+ year old motors with plenty of bodywork damage sell for over £1,000 - it would be worth scrap value over here) and there is a ?350 document transfer and registration fee when you buy a car, so most owners keep cars for years.
I noticed quite early on that there are very few large family cars in Tenerife. I didn?t see a Mondeo or Vectra all week. There was a huge mix of cars but most were superminis - Fiestas, Clios etc. I only saw a handful of Focus all week, similarly very few Astras. MPVs and 4x4s were a rare sight, but Berlingos and Transit Connect Tourneos were extremely common. .
This was borne out when we went to hire a car. We needed something large enough to accommodate 4 adults and a baby in a car seat. On the way to the UK airport the back seat of my A3 had been a bit too tight so we set out to hire a Mondeo or similar. Cars were available in groups A-F. By group D the largest available was an old shape Seat Leon or Cordoba, far too small. For some reason Group E was made up of superminis with auto boxes - all too small. So we were in to group F offering a Picasso and two van derivatives. A Transit Connect Tourneo and a Citroen ?Jumpy?!
We ended up with a brand new Jumpy - just 160km on the clock. It?s a Citroen Dispatch van with 9 seats. Raised a few laughs when I brought it to the apartment, but to be honest on very twisty and steep mountain roads the 2.0HDi was just the job. On a few occasions we came across other visitors in hired Fiat Pandas etc really struggling on the 1 in 4 hills - I simply stuck the ?bus? in third and motored on!
On a particularly nasty stretch of mountain switchback we were descending we came across a bus climbing the same hill. No choice but to reverse, unfortunately the person behind me couldn?t. They ended up reversing, steering the wrong way and hitting the crash barrier. They then got the car jammed against the barrier and it took 15 minutes to get them untangled! I honestly thought it was a wind up, but no the driver just couldn?t reverse.
We covered almost 500km most of it in 3rd gear or lower and the ?bus? did over 30 mpg - but at less than £2 a gallon fuel costs aren?t really a concern! No speed cameras and decent road surfaces, worst parts were actually on the motorways where parts of the surface are badly worn - not good at 120kmh.
So if you go to Tenerife and need a large car you may actually end up with a van.
The Connect Tourneo looked a decent bit of kit, but as far as I?m aware not available in the UK. No doubt us image conscious Brits would rather buy one of the trio of more expensive Ford MPVs rather than a van with seats.
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Go to your friendly Ford dealer;he'll sell you a Transit Tourneo Connect;actually he won't but his "commercial" vehicle salesman will.
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Interesting post. Never seriously considered visiting Tenerife, but if they like Berlingos over there, it can't be a bad place!
I did know someone who had a Tourneo Connect in this country - and who was very pleased with it. But they are pretty unusual.
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It was or first visit to the island - nearest we have been before is Madeira. Both islands are similar, but Tenerife has a more diverse range of scenery. Not a place I'd go in summer, but if you enjoy (mostly) quiet motoring on some crazy roads I'd recommend it. We stayed outside of Los Chirstianos/Las Americas and glad we did, went for a day (on the bus!) and didn't enjoy it. An ex colleague who moved there in September has a Berlingo on long term hire and loves it - as does his mad Alsatian who all the Germans think will eat their precious toy dogs alive!
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not at all motoring, so i'll be quick before the mods get me......... actually thinking about it, didn't the mods ride Vespas?
Tenerife....mate's granny had an apartment, which she was willing to let me have for nothing.. so "don't mind if i do"....
hmm....never ever again....... tattooed halfwit looking for a fight....and that's just the ladies....what a truly, truly awful place.....absolutlely ruined, i'm ashamed to say, by Brits
can only speak for Los Christianos, which has now joined up with Playa de Las Americas
.*********
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We went there a few years ago.......to an "allocated on arrival" place. Say no more. Hired a car and did find some decent places which are on our "we'll go back there list" otherwise a nightmare of Timeshare salesmen and "pubs".
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We were in Tenerife last year and I usually book a rental car directly with Hertz but for some reason 10 days rental booked via Holiday Autos was a fraction of the cost of booking directly with any rental car company.
It so turned out that the deal was with Hertz and we arrived (late!!) expecting to collect the agreed Golf/Astra sized car. Hertz employee at the desk not helpful and handed keys to a Seat Cordoba saloon claiming the same group. Was late and not wanting to argue (in a James May type way) that the Cordoba is actually built on a Polo platform and we had booked a Golf took the keys to the Cordoba. Finally found the rental car and it was the oldest battered Seat I had ever seen. Odometer showed a well worn 130,000km and pulling out of the parking space the clutch was slipping so badly it would hardly move.
Took keys back to desk to complain and realised Cleo Lane was in the now long queue at Hertz - thought she was sitting next to us on the plane but wasnt sure until seeing her in the rental car queue (!!!). Usual argument with the desk agent and he reluctantly handed the keys over to a brand new Seat Altea having previously claimed they had no other available cars ..... Anyway back in the car park having sorted suitcases and child seat out we are just about ready to leave when we hear a very sick sounding car with the clutch slipping badly drive by and see our previously rejected Cordoba been persuaded up a slight gradient in the car park by Cleo Lane. Obviously has lower motoring standards than the rest of us.
General view was that Hertz keep a selection of older bangers for the Holiday Autos customers.... The Altea was a decent car. Nice drive and plenty of space.
Quite like the north side of Tenerife. Garachico on the north of the island is lovely. Avoid the south !!
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It was on the twisty road to Garachico where we met the bus - I was amazed a bus could even manage it, there were a number of 180 degree hairpin bends to negotiate. I wouldn't say avoid all the south - we stayed between Las Galletas/Costa Silencio (10 minutes walk to either) and it was very pleasant - apart form the ex pat tennis and bowling club and the evening entertainment including a crooner blasting out 'Flower of Scotland'! We also enjoyed a visit to Medano.
As for battered hire cars the Cordoba parked outside the rental office we used was also well run in, another reason to avoid it. They do wear damage with pride though. On the first day a guy blocked in his car parking spot by a wagon had no issue using the car parked next to him to assess when to stop -when he hit it he stopped!
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Every Holiday Autos car I've ever hired(tho' not on Tenerife)have been excellent low-milage cars including one brand new car.I always try to get to the front of the queue-leave the wife to collect the bags.
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Davey, did you take the car up Mount Teide? a fantastic ex[erience driving up and up until you go through the clouds and then look down onto them. Brilliant for photos.
Last time we were there I ended up with a 1.1 Saxo with air con which wuite happily took the family of 4 all over the island. Not sure how much was left in the car as it got well used and abused especially on the steep hills!
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General view was that Hertz keep a selection of older bangers for the Holiday Autos customers....
I had a similar experience with a Holiday Autos booking - although I picked the car up from a local company in (I think) Puerto De La Cruz. They had no record of the booking and gave me a *very* battered 1.6 Clio (after a row where me and the receptionist where virtually screaming at each other!).
I don't really mind battered hire cars though - save me worrying about not damaging it. The a/c worked, that was all I was bothered about.
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Use Record Rentals, fully comp insurance, easy and you book it and pay when you pick it up. Regards Peter
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