Interesting Car Hire for the Great Ocean Road

[EeeThirty]

Hiya, i was wondering if anyone on here might be able to help me out or offer any advice.

Basically I spent a few weeks in Australia a few years back and there was one thing I promised myself I would do if I had the chance to come back at any point. That was to drive the Great Ocean Road in something interesting. Last time I wasn't even on the hire car insurance so had to view the greatest driving road I have ever seen from the back of an automatic Mitsubishi blandmobile.

Anyway, i am lucky enough to be coming back out December/January (my brother lives in Sydney there which is convenient for cheap accomodation!) and we are going to spend a couple of days in Melbourne I as told him of my need to see that road again (he is by no means a petrolhead and doesn't quite understand.. but willing to come along).

I have found this place http://www.melbournesportscarrentals.com.au/ who have a Mini Cooper S which would be ideal but there is a mileage limitation of 150km per day, I was hoping do the trip in one long day ideally which would cost a fortune in extras miles as it looks to be roughly 600km from Melbourne to Warrnambool and back...

Does anyone know of any normal (ie. not prestige like the above) local car hire companies in or around Melbourne that might have anything interesting in their fleet at sensible prices? Doesn't have to be that fancy, a Mini or something like a MX5 would be perfect, smaller the better and manual if possible...

Any ideas/other options would be great!

Thanks in advance!

[TheArb]

http://www.drivemycar.net.au/

[deviant]

We looked in to this last time we were over in Melbourne...we did the exact same journey you are doing. It really is a fantastic drive with some stunning views along the way. Warnambool is a nice little town and there is loads to do around there.

You can do the trip in one day quite easily, we stopped off in quite a few of the little towns on route so I think it took us 9 hours or so.

Unfortunately at the time I couldnt find a sporty car that wouldnt incurr some rediculous excess mileage costs so just ended up in an automatic Toyota Rav 4 from Budget....not that it stopped me driving at pace, well until the 'auto trans temp warn' light came on and the brake pedal started sinking to the floor

[Google [bot]]

http://www.sportscarrentals.com.au/

Edited to add: Probably the same mob as the Melbourne one, but as you can see, Mini Cooper S, MX-5 available. If you really want to spice your journey up and add that factor of excitement:

http://www.rentabomb.com.au/useveh.html

Edited by Google [bot] on Friday 13th November 02:38

[EeeThirty]

TheArb said:

http://www.drivemycar.net.au/

Hmm this looks interesting and loads of choice, might have to sign up! Can't help but think that they have a bit of a flaw in the terms though when they say that the person who is hiring out the car simply has to add a named driver to their insurance... Surely the insurance company would wipe their hands of it if anything happened and they found out it had been rented!?

Thanks for all the info, Will look into the place above, and driveabomb would be so good if only they had something like an old V8 bruiser...

Rav4 you say, hmm not bad for a normal rental company vehicle. If I remember rightly the early ones were RWD when 4WD was not engaged, I'm guessing not on a new one...
The best I can find is a Hyundai Getz manual or possibly an A3 2.0 (although the Audi is a bit pricey..)

[motomk]

Or for that Australian twist, I don't know anything about this company.

http://www.supercarrentals.com.au/

[smack]

The GOR is great on a sportsbike.....

[TheArb]

EeeThirty said:

TheArb said:

http://www.drivemycar.net.au/

Hmm this looks interesting and loads of choice, might have to sign up! Can't help but think that they have a bit of a flaw in the terms though when they say that the person who is hiring out the car simply has to add a named driver to their insurance... Surely the insurance company would wipe their hands of it if anything happened and they found out it had been rented!?

Thanks for all the info, Will look into the place above, and driveabomb would be so good if only they had something like an old V8 bruiser...

Rav4 you say, hmm not bad for a normal rental company vehicle. If I remember rightly the early ones were RWD when 4WD was not engaged, I'm guessing not on a new one...
The best I can find is a Hyundai Getz manual or possibly an A3 2.0 (although the Audi is a bit pricey..)

good point re insurance cover when renting a car out for financial reward but this issue is addressed on the website and they can arrange suitable cover. They are trying to raise investment capital at the moment and I forwarded the flyer to a couple of people who didn't invest but ended up renting a car for about half the price of a standard rental.

[deviant]

I wouldnt get to excited about the prospect of a RAV4, it was proper weapons grade shat

It was funny signing for it because the car was covered in stickers saying not to go off road and the lease also had a big section about off roading and the bloke also warned us not to go off road, the car was flipping covered in full length scratches down the sides and on the roof....yeeeaaaah this car has never been off road has it?!?!

[Lensey]

Wasn't this one was it?

[EeeThirty]

smack said:

The GOR is great on a sportsbike.....

That will have to be next time when I'm licensed.. Although I think it would be even harder to take in any of the view!

motomk said:

Or for that Australian twist, I don't know anything about this company.

http://www.supercarrentals.com.au/

That would be a lot of fun but it is bizarrely expensive compared the stuff on the other place with the Mini.

I also think that V8 + RWD + 100s of tight bends = "these rear tyres need replacing Sir, please bend over"


If drivemycar doesn't work out then maybe a Hyundai Getz will have to suffice. It can't be that bad and I will console myself on the fact that it is like a Mini but more economical and at least I can get a manual.

If you can have fun in a RAV4 then surely I'll be ok in a Getz...

[Google [bot]]

If you get a Getz (or Gee-Tee-Zed as my Getz owning friend refers to them), be aware that they will not start without the clutch being pushed right down. Just to save you some shame...

[EeeThirty]

Google [bot] said:

If you get a Getz (or Gee-Tee-Zed as my Getz owning friend refers to them), be aware that they will not start without the clutch being pushed right down. Just to save you some shame...

Good random tip, thanks!
It is almost as random as the boot trim - why couldn't they be arsed to make it reach the sides of the recess? Never understood that...

[motomk]

Don't go on the weekend and leave very early to avoid the tourist buses during the week. Maybe do it in reverse, start in Warrnambool? Although driving westbound is better I reckon personally.

[smack]

motomk said:

Don't go on the weekend and leave very early to avoid the tourist buses during the week. Maybe do it in reverse, start in Warrnambool? Although driving westbound is better I reckon personally.

Dec/Jan it is going to be jam packed, even more on the weekends, but the traffic died down early in the evening.
You can take an inland route through to Apollo Bay (great run through the ranges), if you want to fit it into a day, returning back via Lorne when the road is less busy.