Car rental for family of 6

Kara, are you really sure you want to rent a car? You won't be able to drive into cities and rental fees and insurance are very expensive. Have you looked at the train fares and schedules? If not, you can try: http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ad1ce14114bc9110VgnVCM10000080a3e90aRCRD Just enter your cities, change the time to 7 or 8 am and your dates. On the next page choose a train and click continue to see what the base and mini fares are. The mini fares are up to 60% off so they can save you a lot of money. For car rental companies you can try the usual ones like Hertz, Avis and Alamo. Donna

You'll need a minivan one up from the usual seven-pax style in order to take care of the luggage. Kayak.com will check just about all of the agencies. Driving into and out of the major cities isn't a particular problem, driving within them is since finding a place to park is a bear. I figure something on the order of twenty-five europ per day for major city parking.

I left out some key info. Rather than visiting the bigger cities, we're renting an apartment in Tuscany for a couple of weeks and will be taking day trips to lesser known destinations. We'd like to see the countryside and meander into small towns on our own schedule. So yes, a car is a better option for us. What I've found is that most cars seat 5 at most. We need seats for 6, so I'm wondering if there's anything easier/cheaper/better than renting an expensive, gas-guzzling van. Thanks again for your info, Donna!

Auto Europe shows 7-passenger minivans under the "family car" category. It says they carry 7 persons and 4 suitcases. Typical prices for a weekly rental, with pickup and drop at the same location (Rome) is $1350 for a Renault Espace at the rail station or $1500 picked up at the airpport. A Mercedes Vito is several hundred $$$ more. Note that all have manual transmission.