what car should i rent - mountain driving in summer

[sudigsit]

Ha, you guys are great! Thanks for all the advice.

I have one last question. On my final night in CO, is it easier to stay in downtown Denver to get to the airport, or better to stay outside of the city, say in Lakewood or Aurora? I'm leaving on a Monday morning, so a little worried about traffic.

Also, what's to do on July 4 in the Denver area? Any place where it's best to see organized fireworks displays?

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

There are hotels that are right by the airport. Go on Expedia and look for hotels close to DIA. The ones on Tower Road are about five minutes away. Lakewood is on the other side of the city and not a good choice.

There will be fireworks all over the area. A lot of the cities have their own fireworks shows. I don't know which one is "best".

['M']

A Subaru Outback automatic with a Sport Pak (I think this is what it's called) transmission...this transmission has extra power for driving on mountain roads. Not sure if the Sport Pak comes on the automatic transmission. Otherwise, just rent an Outback with automatic and you should be fine...with a 4 or 6 cyl will do.

I would definitely not rent any type of smaller car because they don't have the power and don't handle curves well. You'll be much more comfortable driving at least a medium size car, possibly a Subaru Forrester.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by 'M'

A Subaru Outback automatic with a Sport Pak (I think this is what it's called) transmission...this transmission has extra power for driving on mountain roads. Not sure if the Sport Pak comes on the automatic transmission. Otherwise, just rent an Outback with automatic and you should be fine...with a 4 or 6 cyl will do.

I would definitely not rent any type of smaller car because they don't have the power and don't handle curves well. You'll be much more comfortable driving at least a medium size car, possibly a Subaru Forrester.

That's garbage. Most late-model 4 cylinder sedans have adequate power for mountain driving. I have one (plain Toyota), and it will leave a 4 cylinder Subaru in the dust on the passes. Unless the road is slick, my 4 cylinder sedan will handle as well or better than a Subaru on a mountain highway. Not that Suby's are bad cars, they are quite reliable and AWD is great in winter, but one pays for that with less than stellar fuel economy and lack of power in the mountains with the 4 cyl. Get one with a 6 or turbo 4 and they have plenty of power, but the fuel economy isn't much better than some SUV's. And if gas goes to $4/gal. or more this summer, as some are predicting, fuel economy is going to be really important to most people.

I've driven just about every kind of vehicle, from 4 cylinder sedan to large trucks, in the Colorado mountains for about 4 decades now, so I think I know something about it.

[gn3]

Just about anything will do, given that it's summer. Few cars sold these days are underpowered. I travel a lot and have rented just about everything and found this to be the case. In fact, some of the base model economy cars sold today would beat many of the "sports" cars sold in the 1980's. My beater car at home is an old Toyota Camry with only a 130 hp engine, but in fact, this is our "mountain car" for the winter, because we have really good tires on it and high quality tire chains. Sure, it's not a race car, but the worst that might happen is that I reach the top of a pass going 50 mph instead of 65 - big deal.

So, just choose based on your budget/space needs/personal preference.

[Sne4]

I guess colorado leaves noone untouched, where everyone finds their favorite spots. First about the car: If you stick to normal roads, just anything will do. With the latest rentals I would say Ford fusion. The three latest times that car looked like a Dodge charger, a mitsubishi, and a chrysler 300..

I would recommend to spend more time west od the continental divide, just for the sake of less people. On some (strainous) hikes, you might just see a few persons per day. The trail to Mount Ida was a good trail if you wanted to see large elk bucks for example during the times you will be going.

I survived up in the RMNP with an old van, whatever you choose, just make sure to downshift downhills, and downshift when you go downhill. Too many times there was a fog along trailridge road of brakes too hot.