Car Rental Malaga is part of the Gold Medal Trip Report. It is also a part of TPOL’s Travel Lessons, a compilation of mistakes you should not make.
Are you looking to explore the Costa Del Sol of Spain? Care to add Gibraltar to your Count Count (see Where I’ve Been)? Then you will need a rental car. Ever the cheapo, I made the mistake of selecting the least expensive car for this journey: The Fiat Panda Hybrid. I’ve rented Pandas before and enjoyed this compact vehicle. The problem with Pandas is that they are lazy and lack the drive to do anything (see Panda Panda: Chengdu Panda Visitor Guide). The problem with my Panda is that it did not have enough horsepower to command the sharp ascents en route to Granada nor the stalking Lamborghinis en route to Marbella.
The redeemable quality of the Panda is that I did not attract any unwanted attention from the authorities as I did in Sicily (see Wine Tour: Fun & Games Until Police Stop).
Despite its lack of performance, it’s hard not to be enamored with this cute creature. It did get me from point A to point B to point C to point D to point E and back to point A.
TPOL’s Tip: The price to rent this slow-moving vehicle was $99 for 7 days.
Overall
Next time I’m going to splurge for a BMW hybrid. I have places to go and people watching me go there.
Breaking News: Upon further review, I don’t know if this is a Fiat 500 or Panda, but I’m not rewriting this post and abandoning my Chengdu theme.
I appreciate the desire to get the BMW in Spain, been there and done that years ago. However, the problem these days is the hate they have for tourists and rampant breakins and sometimes car theft. Unfortunately, I have changed to a small SUV like an Opel or Citroen as they are much less desireable to crooks since they think you have no money. Another tip is to leave a local spanish newspaper on the seat…that way, if lucky, the thief will think you are a local and don’t have travel goods in the car. It may also help with tourist rampage against your car. Sorry…I long for those good old days.