Car hire for road trip in the Alps

[Alex@POD]

We are planning a road trip through the Alps in september, for my 30th. I want to hire a "decent" car for the road trip so I was considering flying down to either Geneva or Milan, and hire a car there.

The (rough) planned route at the moment is Milan - Samoens (to visit my parents) - Davos - Stelvio - Como - Monza - Milan. (yes there is a strong Top Gear influence there )
I'd like to do this over 4-5 days so we have time to visit places, in something sporty, I think convertible would be a nice touch too.

The next problem is that we are on a budget, so I can't shell out for a SL350 and hotels all the way... Has anybody done this before? I read about driving down, but not hiring.

Any tips? Cheap car hire places, cheap B&Bs (we might even be camping), routes not to be missed?

Thanks for the input!

[CamL]

September is a great time to go, fewer caravans on the roads and the passes will usually still be open. The other advantage is that you won't need to book any accommodation, just stop at any village that catches your eye en-route and get a room in one of the guest houses/hotels, there's usually plenty on offer in some really pretty places.

I've used these guys a few years ago to hire interesting cars from, they will meet you at Geneva airport, but unfortunately it isn't cheap -

http://www.eliterent.com/en/fleet-car_rental-switz...

At least this will give you an idea of prices though, you can filter by type of car or marque.

[G Man]

Head through Andersmat and you will be cool

Map of passes and videos
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?oe=utf-8&clie...

Hotels less than €50 we have used
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?oe=utf-8&clie...

[Alex@POD]

Whoa that's a lot of passes! I'm used to the area as I used to live in the French Alps, but somehow never made it to Italy... The trouble with most of the car hire places I found is that anything sporty is also luxury, and I don't really want to hire an Aston (or can't afford to rather). I'm surprised there aren't more places offering MX5s, Z4s, or even a Golf GTI...

Still, even in a 1.4 Corsa it should be an interesting trip!

[heebeegeetee]

How about aircooled 911s and the Bavarian Alps?
http://passo-tourismo.com/

[Alex@POD]

Both really good suggestions, unfortunately both out of budget! The camper option looks to be really good value though.

Seems I'm going to have to make do with whatever is the cheapest from the hire cars at the airport, if they allow me to take them abroad... Or settle for Scotland instead!