Jay,

You don't need any special license, just your US license will do.

FWIW, I rented an Audi A4 1.8 from Hertz (the idiots accidientally rented out the 318i reserved for me - I could have jumped over the counter like OJ), and it cost me about $88 per day (about $800 for 9 days), including all the insurance knick knacks they had. This was renting from the Hertz at Frankfurt Main - not the cheapest place to rent either.

If you can budget more, get something with a bigger motor. A 1.8 kind of runs out of steam when you have Autobahn wide open, and I promise you that you'll wish you had more power (REALLY BAD). Nonetheless, it was fun, but I was swearing I was going to rent a 328i next year. And I will get it, or I'll go totally OJ. :^)

I go to the Frankfurt Musik Messe each year and visit our Europen distributors afterward, sometimes only in Germany, but this year I drove the car to Paris and dropped it there at Charles De Gaulle airport (only $100 more for this drop off fee - not bad).

With warm regards,

Dave McLaren