I'm not familiar with the subject myself, but is there not a hired car service/driver the OP could utilise during the length of his/her stay? Seven people, especially with some old and some young, is quite a few and I can understand OP's desire to avoid public transportation. Perhaps the solution is a hybrid one where OP has a hired car for certain days where there'll be a lot of sightseeing far away (Stanley, Big Buddha, etc.) and public transportation for more close in trips?

Whatever you do, don't drive yourself! :)

If OP is not convinced not to self drive yet.
 

HK drives on the left side of the road.

Go public transit, it's a lot easier than driving yourself when parking is a hassal. And about the Octopus card, just be aware that if you refund it within 3 months, you will have to pay 7 dollars for admin fee. Still easier than paying coins everytime you pay though. They get annoyed if you do that, haha.
If you need assistance at the MTR, just buzz the station attendants to get them to help you out. They're getting better at it.

True, but it is less of a problem than basically all other places I've driven that goes on the left because there are cars everywhere. There's little chance for one to go into the opposite lanes as long as you keep your eyes open.

Are you saying that the GPS will frequently lose the signal because of the high buildings? I've certainly been in many taxis in Tokyo and have never seen a GPS lose its signal despite being in a dense area. Could you share with us the model of GPS you were using? Perhaps it has something to do with quality of unit, as in such a high-rise environment it would be important to have a unit can can switch between the numerous satellites rapidly, as well as antenna placement.

Assuming the GPS doesn't lose its signal too often, those would all be reasons that GPS would be MORE useful. If you miss your turn, the GPS will re-calculate your route and tell you the best way to get back on track. That is, assuming your GPS has not only a Hong Kong map, but turn-by-turn driving directions in spoken English.

This is true. One of the bus operators in Hong Kong, Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB), had been planning for years to install GPS devices onto all their buses so that passengers could get real-time bus information at bus stops / smartphones, but this plan fell through due to the high-rise buildings / density of Hong Kong.

This doc explains the issue further:
http://www.thb.gov.hk/eng/psp/pressr.../201104131.pdf

That's mostly based on my crappy Nokia 5800 phone, but also from observing various units used by taxi drivers. In many areas in Hong Kong - especially Wan Chai, Central/Sheung Wan and Mongkok, the density of highrises are much more than Tokyo, and the streets are very narrow, so from street level, you're talking about a much narrower view of the sky than I've seen in Tokyo.

Instead of relying on the GPS to notify you what's the street ahead or how to get back on track, it can only be used as a backup to a backup in Hong Kong. One has to know/study the route well first, and while driving, should be concentrating on landmarks and roadsigns to know where you are. I won't say a GPS is totally worthless, but it's really NOT that useful in the city center area. In the newer areas and in the New Territories, that's of course different.

I would concur with you in that GPS' utility is best as a backup. The distances in HK, particularly in the built-up areas are so short that the voice prompts would require pretty quick reactions, and a motorist may be hard pressed to change 2 lanes across in 100 meters, particularly if there is significant vehicle congestion on the street! Better to anticipate and know the roadsigns and areas ahead of advance.

To paraphrase Greyhound Bus, it's probably better to leave the driving to someone else (than self-drive) in most cases.

Oh, I just remembered that I took this a few years back. But checking Google Map's Street View, the big sign is gone. Only a little "no right turn" sign remained.

http://rkkwan.zenfolio.com/img/s9/v0/p495372943-5.jpg

Save yourself the frustration of driving or catching a bus on time, standing, packing kids on, etc. and take a taxi, unbelievably cheap.

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)

I recall I got a first generation GPS phone and the only place I can get the GPS is on the highway to airport and on plane. This phone is the one does not come with AGPS (assisted gps).

And only when using E71 I start to enjoy using GPS (which it support cell phone tower assisted GPS)

infact, all drivers drive like that in hong kong or else u'd get cut out by everyone else.

I would look into hiring a minivan with driver for the day. The number or people in your party means that you will be in two taxis which might not be the ideal situation.
I know the van and driver hire is available - I never had the need for it. Perhaps others can chime in.

Latest version phone with GPS are more accurate than standalone Garmin units. Phone's locating service is assisted by cell towers where my US Garmin units are always looking for a satellite fix.

Other drivers can, but individual bus driver cannot change the style. If you start being too courteous and starts to fall behind your "expected" time, it has grave consequences. I have ridden public transportation all my life and has studied this quite a bit.

For example, bus on a particular route departs every 5 minutes. So, initially, Bus A is 5 minutes in front of Bus B, and Bus B 5 minutes in front of Bus C and so on. But if Bus B's driver is too courteous - making his stop a bit longer, not running the yellow, etc, after a few stops, he is 6 minutes behind A and 4 in front of C.

Once that happens, Bus B will quickly falls further behind because more people will be at the stop for Bus B (since it's now 6 minutes since the previous bus). And not only that, Bus C will actually run closer to B because C will have fewer passengers having to board. When that happens, Bus D will fall behind and Bus E will gain, etc.

Soon, the whole schedule will be messed up and if the lines are long enough, often you have 2 buses running together every 10 minutes for the rest of the day near the end of the lines. It happens in Hong Kong, in Houston, and everywhere.

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Anyways, that was going off-topic. Just saying there's great incentive for drivers to drive like everybody else. Plus at the busy stops on Nathan Road and Hennessy Road or at the Hung Hom Harbour Crossing, buses line up and wait to get into their stops. Once the driver closes the doors, it's simply "courtesy" for other vehicles on those roads to just get going.

Hong Kong's road signs are colour coded.

Signs with yellow colour background like the one posted are for "temporary" (non permanent) change/diversion.

Not surprised if it's no longer there.

Directional signs on main roads are blue colour background and green colour on expressways.