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Planning some touring on a first visit to the Rhône-Alpes at the end of March for a week. I was just about to book an Alfa 159 diesel rental car when I noticed that the Fiat Sedici 4x4 is available at Geneva Airport for another tenner. Will the bonus of four-wheel-drive be advisable at this time of year? I don't really plan on going into the ski resorts as such but want to be able to get around as safely as possible. I know there is still snow on some roads in the Pyrenees in April but not enough to make much difference in a 2WD if you take care but the Alps are new territory. Route is probably Geneva - Evian - Morzine - Megève - Alberville - Col du Galibier - Briançon - Gap and back up to Grenoble and Geneva.
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Have to say even with a dash of motoring romance in the veins given the choice between an Alfa and a Sedici for such a trip it would be the Alfa every time. 2WD will be fine. As mentioned elsewhere I have been crossing and re-crossing Europe at all times of year for many years and have never been stuck in a "conventional" car yet.
Have a great trip, it's a beautiful part of the world.
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I am not familiar with the area but if it is at all mountainous you may find that many minor roads, are shut all winter. Only main ones are ploughed and one can be expected to take the tunnels and pay. I only mention this as I planned an Alpine trip and then found, on looking at the the map, that many roads had a symbol on them something like a red "X" and two dates in Roman numerals - XI - IV, meaning shut from November to April. I realise this may not apply to your tour, of which I am most envious, but I mention it for the benefit of others who may read your post and want to do a smilar tour.
Global warming may have changed some closure dates as there is a lot less snow now, than when my map was printed!
Edited by Armitage Shanks {p} on 18/03/2008 at 08:20
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If you're not heading into the ski resorts then you probably won't see snow up close. On the other hand, you might strike lucky and find that some of the passes have just opened in which case go enjoy it's a beautiful area.
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>>Global warming may have changed some closure dates as there is a lot less snow now,
>>than when my map was printed!
This winter has seen spectacular levels of snow fall. The resorts have had a great time.
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Mapmaker - I agree. I don't want to drift (HaHa!) this thread into Global Warming but I have seen one report which says that it has got colder in the last year by the amount that it has got warmer in the last 100! There has certainly been snow in places that have never seen it before, ever!
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At the end of March (that is, in 2 weeks) the Galibier will (almost) certainly be closed - i've seen it still closed about the 15th/20th May. The Lautaret is kept open as far as possible since it's a major route so plan on using that or on going via Italy and coming back into France via the Montgenèvre. It's also kept open since it takes a lot of traffic coming from the Lautaret.
I hope this helps.
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Thanks for all those useful comments. The Col du Galibier is indeed closed until May so a bit of route changing is needed, including possibly the Fréjus Tunnel into Italy. I have found a useful Savoie Department website showing which roads are closed on a daily basis but unfortunately not for the areas to the north and south. The various webcams round the area help a bit but are mostly in the ski stations. Anyway, the Alfa 159 is booked, subject to availability unfortunately, so I am looking forward to an interesting break.
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I have just got back from skiing in the Morzine/Avoriaz area (i.e. into the mountains south of Evian). Had a little Mazda 3 as a hire car for 8 days and no problem at all. The snow was good for skiing, but on a lot of the lower slopes (below approx 1200-1500m), that seemed heavily influenced by artificial intervention (snow cannons, plus piling up the 'natural' snow onto the piste).
On the roads at resort level (approx 1000m), if snow did fall it didn't settle, but usually when it was snowing at the top of the mountain, it was raining at resort level. Many south-facing hills had no snow at all. Unless something very dramatic has happened there in the last few days, for at least the first part of your route, where I was, you won't have any problem with 2WD.
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I motored through this area last September, it is fantastic driving in the Alps. The roads are very good, I think a 2wd will be OK.
The road from Briancon south east is the D902, it goes over the Col d' Izoard to Chateau- Queyras. This was the best road I have ever been on, you must go along it. The scenery is spectacular, the road windy and steep, a wonderful drive, especially in an Alfa! You can go to St Veran, the highest inhabited village in Europe. There are plenty of hotels, have a look on the Logis de France website.
Let us know how you get on.
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That certainly sounds like the type of place we want to visit if possible. The Col d'Izoard is closed this morning according to my new favourite websites but who knows what another 10 days will bring? Incidentally, booking a hire car through the French website of a well-known European car rental company was £50 cheaper for the same dates than booking the same package through the UK site of the same company!
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For those who may be interested, a few notes on Alpine touring in April.
Weather: very acceptable; the windscreen wipers were used on intermittent on only one autoroute journey in 900 miles of motoring between March 25 and April 6 in Haute Alpes, Haute Savoie and Haute Alpes de Provence.
Route: in the end our route took us from Geneva to hotels in Evian les Bains on the shores of Lake Geneva, then to Albertville, Briançon via the Fréjus Tunnel into Italy and over the Col de Montgenèvre, Gap, Grenoble and Geneva Airport. Side excursions took us into various Alpine valleys and down to Digne les Bains. Closed roads were clearly marked in advance and even the car parks in the ski resorts had no more than a puddle to show. The most snow on display ? slopes aside ? was crossing the Col de Var to Barcelonette, piled up on both sides. Many of the classic cols were closed but there was more than enough of a share of narrow roads and hairpin bends on some of the excursions to keep me happy and SWMBO?s eyes closed to the sheer drop at her elbow. Superb mountain scenery and fresh air made it a very pleasant tour on generally excellently maintained roads except in the remotest places.
Costs: I found the Alps to be the most expensive of the French regions, based on visiting at least twice a year for the last five years or so. Diesel from hypermarkets got down to ?1.23 a litre but in the country up around ?1.35. Mostly, I don?t pay for parking in French towns but had to do so a couple of times on this trip to ?2 maximum for three hours on-street. A couple of towns seem to charge for parking only during the school holidays; i.e. peak periods. Hotels around Geneva and the popular ski resorts are more expensive than elsewhere, still less than in the UK but maybe ?10 more than other areas of France. We don?t do Formula One hotels anymore as a couple so we paid from ?60-110 for a double room this time. In one brasserie, one baguette between us, four little pats of butter and four pots of jam, with a couple of coffees was a shocking ? to me - ?6 each and no cheaper than a hotel buffet. Rural lunchtime special menus of around ?10 in south west France last September were ?15 in the Alps, without the vin de pays often included in the SW.
The motor: Bit of a disappointment on the rental front and relief too that I now know what I don?t want to buy. The anticipated Alfa Romeo 159 diesel ?or similar? was not available and, judging from the rental car park and body language at the desk, never did on the cheaper French side of Geneva Airport. Instead, Monsieur was offered an ?upgrade? to a 4x4 normally costing an extra ?100 or so. In anticipation of snow-filled roads, we happily took possession of a blue VW Tiguan 2.0 diesel with just 3300 km on the odometer. I was happy enough since I travel in 4x4s virtually every day but those of the basic go-on-forever, non-turbo variety, and we have never owned a modern state-of-the-art soft-roader with all the electronic aids. Closest would be a VW syncro back in 1990 which had the forerunner to the Tiguan?s 4-Motion system.
I expect most people wanting a soft-roader and a VW will be perfectly happy with the Tiguan because it cruises quietly at the autoroute maximum, has good hill climbing power and apparently tows 2.5 tonnes. In mixed driving over 900 miles, the computer showed 40 mpg which surprised me since I still think 25 mpg is great going. Since both myself and SWMBO take 4x4s seriously, our view of the shortcomings are mostly related to its characteristics in poor conditions. Visibility is compromised by the low front roofline and the windscreen and door pillars are too wide for obtaining a good view of surrounding traffic or when parking. The front overhang in the standard model gives it a poor arrival angle and the low exhaust output pipe takes a lot out of the departure angle.
What worried me most, however, were the electronic ?aids?. Even our girder and sheet metal Land Cruisers at work now have ABS so I am not entirely Luddite and with anticipation switched on the Tiguan?s descent control for coming down a very steep, hairpin single track near Gap (by the Demoiselles Coiffées in case anyone knows the area). The ABS had already shown it was working but on arriving at no more than 15 mph at a particularly steep, offset camber hairpin, I was disconcerted to find both ABS and the ESP came on so there we were on the apex of the hairpin with a plunge to the valley a couple of feet away and the various wheels braking and pitching the car around and reapportioning drive on the gritty surface. Had it been icy that day I remain unconvinced we wouldn?t also have been testing the side airbags and crash protection. Our old Syncro also did a rapid drive-balancing act on ice but in the days before ESP. Having switched the descent control off, I tried it again on a less exposed hairpin and it repeated the manoeuvre. The system obviously works as intended but in more extreme conditions I would not be happy to switch it on until each of us had had some training to see how it copes in such conditions. I guess the obvious response is that it was not designed for extreme conditions but I don?t call an unclassified alpine road extreme.
As an everyday vehicle it will suit Golf fans and it attracted a bit of interest from the French locals who drive loads of Panda 4x4s and Landcruiser 3-doors. On three occasions we found it being looked over (rather than cased) by passers-by.
Verdict on the Alps in April: Not so busy at this time of year, but more than a week needs a deep pocket; scenery and fresh air are superb; avoid large dishes of cheese and potatoes; unless you already own one you will simply have to watch Alfas flashing by; choose your 4x4 for your needs not for style; RTFM before setting off in your hire car.
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Read the French manual, eh?
Yes, I suppose I should have. But my French isn't really up to it. So with our SEAT Altea, I just worked out things as I went along, which I admit is rather naughty, but that's the way I do it.
I managed to find out how to turn on the lights before leaving the Europcar car park at Nice airport, but getting the hang of the trip computer took a few days, and I waited until it rained before finding out how the wipers worked. I never figured out how to get the filler cap off the fuel tank. I just fiddled helplessly for a few minutes and then my wife got out and fiddled and, without quite figuring out what she did, managed to open it.
If only they provided an EM rather than an FM, then I'd be able to RTEM.
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Thanks for the very comprehensive and interesting feedback!
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