Originally Posted by
televisor
Oh yes, the cheapest car rental option in EDI is always a Hertz EV - but it's a pain to deal with even if you're staying in the central belt: the chargers close to EDI can be very busy, so you need to plan in at least an extra hours buffer on return unless you are starting close enough that you'll have 80% on arrival at the airport.
I've rented from Enteprise a lot at EDI and they've always been reasonable. The non-premium options can be annoying, I've always been put in a Nissan Juke no matter what I booked (it's technically an upgrade over Focus and Fiesta). Premium is fine e.g. C-Class. I don't know why anyone in their right mind would want an SUV in the highlands and islands unless you need 7 seats, you're wasting some fun roads with any SUV. Mind you I haven't heard anything bad from others using Avis either.
I don't understand the supposed issues with driving in the centre. They're roads like in any other town?
As another poster commented, if you're used to driving in Manhattan, then Edinburgh is fairly easy. The OP eventually mentioned experience driving in a number of European cities, a detail not earlier revealed. If you're used to European cities, then Edinburgh is not anywhere nearly as crazy as Rome for traffic and drivers. On the other hand, if you're an American without experience in European cities, then it's definitely a challenge, especially in looking for street signs and understanding that numerical addresses are as likely to reflect the chronological order in which buildings along the street were constructed rather than any strict numerical order as is consistently true in the US (odd numbers one side, even the other). And I mentioned in my post a couple of years ago, the city fathers of Edinburgh have certainly taken steps to discourage traffic in the center of the city.