Automatic car hire in Réunion Island

Automatic gearboxes and mountain roads

Réunion is rarely driven in a straight line. The climb to Cilaos on the RN5 has more than 400 bends and single-lane tunnels; the roads up to Maïdo and Salazie string together hairpins and steep gradients. In a manual, that means hundreds of gear changes in a single day. What an automatic really changes is fatigue: both hands stay on the wheel and your attention on the road.

One reflex worth knowing on the way down: use engine braking — manual mode or the low position of the gearbox — rather than the pedal alone. On the long descents out of the cirques, that is what saves your brakes.

Frequently asked questions