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I rent (or "hire" in UK/Aus parlance) vehicles a few times a year. I'm sure there are others here who rent much more frequently. The whole process is weird, and prone to supremely strange behaviour from any of the people involved, including the renter. I want to talk about the boring-rear end vehicles I've rented for boring-rear end purposes, as well as the slightly more interesting poo poo (that will still bore the hell out of you). I also want to see the clapped-out, broken-down, undriveable poo poo the drugged-out minimum-wage counter-monkey assigned to you after your 12 hour flight of horror. Most of what I expect to see here will be cars, moving trucks, and the occasional trailer or Bobcat or whatever. But if you paid somebody money to use it for a few hours, days, or months, I want to see pictures and words about it here. Fill the thread with lawnmowers, maybe? It will be fun (no promises).
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Sep 15, 2019 05:58
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Yesterday morning I rented a Toyota Dyna of unknown age. Two Tonnes of Soil by Martin Brummell, on FlickrSeen here with my wife preparing to cover our load of two tonnes of screened soil, or clean fill. We actually wanted to buy about 1 tonne, so went we got to the balance at the yard exit and they told us we had two tonnes, we looped back around and practiced using the dumper, and we nailed it - our cost came to $60.40, so within 40 cents of our target of $60 based on phone calls the previous day. We needed about a cubic metre of soil for our garden plans; despite the drought here in northern New South Wales, we're planning a set of raised beds and a set of pots, mainly for vegetables. We're getting away with this in a time of Level 5 water restrictions (i.e. stop loving wasting water! - council) by using greywater, a combination of captured cold water from before the shower puts out hot water and the output from our washing machine. Our plans made renting a truck with an open bed and buying a pile of soil from the local all-things-big-and-rocky yard worthwhile, coming in at around half the price of the large number of 25-L bags of soil we could buy from Bunnings and take home in the back of our Honda CR-V. The rental agent gave us a discount - "Don't tell the boss" - of about 20% because we returned it like 2 hours into our 4-hour "half day" rental. The rental cost more than the soil, but still worth it. The yard delivers, but their truck would not fit down our silly skinny driveway (a Toyota Hilux, rented when we moved into the place in January, is about the widest thing that will fit). So we rented this aging 2-ton tipper.  Wee Truck in Wee Driveway by Martin Brummell, on FlickrIt had about 177 000 km on the clock and was alarming at speeds above 40 km/h. The fastest I got it was about 50 km/h, in fourth gear. The person at the rental agency told us that "Second is first. Don't use first unless you're going up a really steep hill or something." I can only imagine how terrifying this thing would be to drive at highway speeds. I don't know how old this little truck is, and my brief explorations of wikipedia suggest merely that it's probably from the mid-1990's. I think it's mostly been used for short trips like ours; we only put on like 5 km because everywhere we went was close together in this small city. The seating position is very high, very upright, and very close to the front bumper. This made it easy to maneuver - I could lean forward and see exactly where my front end was, and the turning radius was surprisingly tight. The brakes were very touchy, and my wife spend all day yesterday making whiplash jokes. The manual transmission was not too hard to figure out, reverse was in the top-left (like the 1996 BMW 328is I used to own), and 1st below it, but because we never hauled a heavy load up a steep hill I just used 2nd-3rd-4th plus R (which automatically turned on the beeper). The money shot, dumping our tonne of soil in our back yard. I was able to drive the truck all the way to the back corner with no issues.  Dumping One Tonne by Martin Brummell, on Flickr (click for video)The tipper mechanism is operated by the PTO - a light appears on the dash when I move the big lever up (near my right hand in the video) with my foot pushing on the clutch. Release the clutch, bed goes up; I controlled the speed with my foot on the clutch, I'm not sure how else you might do it. Push the clutch to the floor and the bed comes back down. The tailgate releases when the angle goes up, and the cover went over top of everything so it was stupidly easy. Overall, I would hire this little truck again if I need again to have a front-end loader drop a tonne or two on me so I can grow broccoli and tomatoes. Or if I need gravel or something, I guess - the driveway is in pretty rough shape but the house is a rental so there's a limit to what we'll spend money on.
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Sep 15, 2019 06:22
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I rent entirely boring cars all the time. I’m in, will input asap.
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Sep 15, 2019 06:54
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The last rental car I got was a '14 Corolla. For some reason, someone else at the same hotel had an identical Corolla in an identical colour (silver - the green looked much nicer) and kept parking next to me when they came home at the end of the day, so when I went to leave in the mornings I would keep trying to unlock their car until I memorized the plate number. I was going through some pretty hilly terrain (Hwy 4 to Tofino) so I got a chance to punch it through some twisties. The CVT wasn't very good even when I 'disabled' 'overdrive' and used engine braking mode, and I think I was starting to get brake fade near the end without driving hard (traction control?) Steering feel got better when I disabled traction control to see what it was like - I'm guessing it has some sort of input filtering on the electric power steering? - and filled up the tires because one of them had a super slow leak and they were all way below 25 psi to start with. Got great fuel economy, carried all our bags, is not a sports car. Toyota is good at making that kind of thing.
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Sep 15, 2019 12:16
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Just turned in an Infinity Qx80. Awful car, way too top heavy, very tourqy engine and a cruise control that downshifted two gears to go up a slight hill on the highway. The 7 speed likes to shift. Like a lot. I had to put it in manual just to go down a sight grade so it wouldn't overspeed. Being used to big GM's 7 speed slush boxes, those are a ton better than this. I was hoping for a BMW X5, but Hertz gave me this instead. It's larger, but I've driven an older version of the Armada that its based on and it's in no way the same truck.
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Sep 15, 2019 13:59
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Recently had a Nissan Sentra rental for a month, no pictures needed, everyone knows what it looks like. The CVT is bad. Initially it was loving horrible but once I got used to it, it was just bad because a CVT is just not suited well for city driving which is what I was doing most of the time i had it. Maybe it's just the Nissan CVT, but I have a hard time believing that any CVT would be enjoyable in the city tbh. On the highway it was fine because it wasn't "shifting" and actually had more top end than I thought it would. Other than that it was typical lovely appliance car that would probably be much better with a manual transmission. Nothing really redeeming about it at all, everything felt and looked cheap, and the stereo sounded like poo poo. 2 out of 5 stars just because it didn't break down on me. That is my rental review.
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Sep 15, 2019 14:51
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I found the Lexus e-CVT super comfortable in city traffic. Very relaxing and smooth. The new Camry I test drove earlier today though wasn't nearly as nice as the Lexus, both in regards to drivetrain performance but also in general (which isn't that surprising). Was surprised how "bad" the Camry was though.
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Sep 15, 2019 14:56
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2015 GMC Savana with a 20 foot box from one of Hertz's commercial truck lots. Not much to say: is truck, hauls stuff. This one is much newer than I am used to driving and it shows. The thing was in great condition. Highway speeds all day long, a nice cushy ride, predictable braking, cruise, they even give you armrests. Some other useful features were two levels of e track down the length of the box for all your ratchet straping needs, plenty of in-box lighting, and a relatively tight turn radius. That last one is a huge advantage over the Ford E250-350 trucks in the city. If given the choice in brand of box truck, I'd recommend going for Chevy/GMC.
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Sep 15, 2019 15:29
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The 2016 Charger V6 I rented last year was very good, I really like the new mopar interiors a lot. It was comfortable on my 8 hour highway hauls and had enough power to be a dick when needed. The 8 speed was slick as hell, and actually impressed my manual-loving rear end by ripping down several gears on corner entry all by itself, literally a split second before I was about to do it manually with the paddles. Around town it's size was a little bit of a hindrance, particularly in parking lots, and I found myself really wishing it was a 2017 and thus would have had a back-up camera. Honestly probably the best rental car I've ever had.
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Sep 15, 2019 19:19
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Rented a Ferrari 458 in Vegas for a few short laps; one of the best decisions I ever made because it cured me of the desire to own a Ferrari ever (Lamborghinis, on the other hand...) Rented a manual Peugeot 508 in France and developed a grudging respect for its incredible trunk volume (so many cases of wine), comfort, and the utter anonymity with which I could cruise at 145kmh down the Autoroute du Sud (same goes for the manual turbodiesel Peugeot 5008 minivan rented several trips ago) Rented a Nissan Elgrand to drive my parents around Hokkaido with (5-6 years ago now); comfortable enough but nearly pissed my pants passing a truck along a mountainous dual carriageway with the van loaded with 5 adults and a poo poo ton of luggage in the back Rented a BMW 650i convertible and a Jaguar XK coupe for a trip down the Florida keys with friends; man it was fun pretending to be a drug dealer. But it made me swear off high-end BMW and Jaguar forever - the first didn’t feel like you were getting your money’s worth, and the second had horrific build quality and “infotainment”
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Sep 15, 2019 20:11
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I do about 30 rentals a year with Avis. I always reserve shitboxes per corporate policy, but once in a blue moon I'll get upgraded to something interesting. I'll snap some photos and whine about it for your entertainment.
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Sep 15, 2019 20:23
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I got a mitsubishi mirage, When I went to fill it to half a tank like I got it I spent to much because it only holds 6 gallons or something.
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Sep 15, 2019 23:00
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I'm gonna rent a Fusion for a upcoming roadtrip, unless I can upgrade at the counter to a challenger for $reasonable. I don't see getting a Maxima and their CVT.
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Sep 15, 2019 23:51
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I took my car to get coated and detailed and the detailing place didn't take down that they needed to give me a loaner. So they loaned me their mobile detailing van instead. 20?? Nissan NV200 with only 5000 miles on it. Thoughts about this van: -No rear view mirror. No rear window. -In fact, no windows behind the front doors at all. -Extremely loud at all times because the cargo area was just bare metal with no insulation. -Anemic engine with what felt like a 4 speed automatic. -AM and FM radio. -Still better than the Sentra they loaned me the last time.
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Sep 16, 2019 00:32
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I'm trying to think of the recentish rentals I've had... 2014ish Nissan Altima w/ CVT, I tried to do a clutch dump but it wouldn't let me. The thing rubberbanded all over the place, pick an RPM, buddy. 2015 Mazda 6 with the 2.0 (maybe?), good car no complaints outside of the rental place deciding that 43psi was definitely the right tire pressure for 3 out of the 4 tires (triggered TPMS halfway to South Dakota) 2017 Ford Edge with a turbo, lol torque steer. Had more oomph than you'd expect, pretty comfortable and competent. Chevy Traverse? with a NA engine. Dogshit motor, dogshit transmission, dogshit interior, dogshit radio, etc etc. I could go on, but alas.
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Sep 16, 2019 01:23
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Just finished renting a 19' RAV4 for a trip from Albany to Buffalo and back. The radar cruise control was trippy. I left it on through a trip through the toll booths, and sure enough, I slowed, rolled through the tolls and sped back up to highway speeds without touching the pedals. The lane keeping though was creepy. It worked....but I should be the only one manipulating the steering wheel. Plus when it was windy, the wind would blow the car to the side, then the car would drive back then the wind would blow it again and the car would wallow until I turned it off. Other than that, it was wheezy and uncomfortable, like most modern Toyotas.
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Sep 16, 2019 02:13
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With my Stagea gathering dust in the world's slowest panel beaters, I currently have a Hyundai Accent Sport. Circa sometime recently. It's bright white, not sporting at all, the entertainment system freezes up when attempting to play things off a usb stick but it costs a about $45 to fill up full. Oh and I've lost it in three different car parks full of other boring similar white cars. I was supposed to have it for a couple of weeks but it's been a month and a bit now and I'm still driving it (and the insurance is paying for the hire). 2.5 out of 5. Very little wind being blown up your skirt with this one.
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Sep 16, 2019 07:44
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Applebees Appetizer posted:Recently had a Nissan Sentra rental for a month, no pictures needed, everyone knows what it looks like. 1/5 cause I had to rent one in winter, it was rather-but not extremely-cold. Wanna say -25ish (celsius). Datsun bastard never warmed up enough to defrost the glass so I had to drive the 4 hour round trip with the windows open. Tires were cast iron and conditions were icy so I had no way to really beat on it to get things warming up, even driving double-footed only got me funny smells. Idling through dinner with a block heater plugged in was enough to get the needle off the peg but nowhere near tstat opening, and it immediately dumped back to ice cold as soon as I moved it again. I didn't think could make a car worse than my B14 but by gently caress they did it.
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Sep 16, 2019 08:51
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toplitzin posted:I'm gonna rent a Fusion for a upcoming roadtrip, unless I can upgrade at the counter to a challenger for $reasonable. Prepare for disappointment. I had a Fusion on my last trip and it was just overall extremely "meh." I compare all cars to my Camry Hybrid and they keep falling short. I'm a boring old man nowadays.
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Sep 16, 2019 16:12
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I am going to get a rental car today. I will keep this thread updated. We'll see what the Ann Arbor Municipal Airport has in store!!!
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Sep 16, 2019 16:29
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Rented a brand-spanking new Nissan Altima, which was loaded with everything they had to throw in the car. Some observations from a 600-mile trip from PA to GA: - The “fake geared” CVT was miserable as all hell in towns and around cities as it felt like it was programmed by an engineer who was extraordinarily bitter over people not wanting to hear a consistent engine speed, so they passively-aggressively programmed it to over-rev and pull hard on “shifts”. Resulted in the car sounding like it was gearing for a race start when you were pulling out of a gas station. - That same CVT was a blessing on the highway. 70mph showed just over 2k on the tach, which resulted in roughly 40mpg across the trip. Hell yes to that. - The cruise distance control worked great, but I shut off the steering assist as it felt “dumb” and would fight me when I was going through turns. It would get tripped up easily and felt like a check mark that was thrown on the car to help it sell at a dealer. I’d be tempted to permanently disable it were I to own one. - The CarPlay infotainment system was smooth but unreliable with its connection. Compare that to Hyundai (best implementation I’ve seen, with smooth display and dead reliability) and GM (2 FPS rockiness but it consistently turns on). In summary: bad town car, but a hell of a nice place to knock back 600 miles on a highway.
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Sep 16, 2019 16:57
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Hello friends, I am here to report on the 2019 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT Blacktop Package. I have to drive from SEMI to Chicago for work, and on the way home stop in South Bend, IN to pick up some winter wheels and tires. The Caravan is actually a good choice for this and I'm happy I got it even if I originally reserved a midsize sedan. Good Points: - pretty comfortable to eat up highway miles in, good visibility and driving position - OK acceleration from the ancient but serviceable Pentastar V6 and the 6 speed auto will kick down if you punch it - Nice dark red color with hilarious BLACKED OUT ACCENTS - mad features, power everything, heated everything etc - stow n go is still the undisputed king of stowage - 25 mpg highway for a 7 seater at 80mph, turning about 2,000 rpm - surprisingly good turning radius Bad Points: - interior is showing its age - build quality is laughable for a 6k mile car. automatic door opening is kind of particular and the top glove box keeps popping open. - god awful nav/headunit system, not actually a uconnect system - no carplay, android auto, or for whatever reason the ability to play music from my phone that i could find. the gently caress? - somehow MSRPs at $33,800 with a ton of features in a 7 seater but doesn't feel like fantastic value - it obviously handles like a minivan Weird Points: - literally driving a brand new van that is identical to a van that was built 11 years ago - did you know that the current generation grand caravan (2008-2020) had its best sales year ever... in 2018??? - it was pretty good for what it is!
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Sep 17, 2019 01:24
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I drive a 2011 with 330,000km (200,000 miles) on the clock for work and it is a total piece of poo poo. Half rotten, riddled with electrical issues, brake fade, and random transmission problems. I get 18L/100km (13mpg), or about 400km out of a 70L tank.
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Sep 17, 2019 01:35
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Rented a 2017? Ram with the hemi when I went to St. Louis toward the end of July. It was $1 more total than the cheapest shitbox, so I figured I might as well have enough space for once. I guess I could have picked one of the 15 or so F-150s, but the Ram was blue, and I've always been curious about how they drive, so it won lol. The goood: -motor was a beast! I haven't had that much fun driving a rental in, well, ever. First time I floored it, I had it up to 110 before I even realized it (and the sound  ) I had a great deal of fun romping on it, and still managed to get roughly 15mpg over the week I had it.-best A/C I've ever experienced. I'm all in on the everything Chrysler or Chrysler adjacent is poo poo bandwagon, but every Chrysler product I've been in has freeze your nuts off A/C and I love it -SO.MUCH.SPACE. I daily drive a Suburban and this had even more space inside. My big frame was suitably appreciative The bad: -you can't turn the drat traction control off! There's a button that ostensibly does just that, but as soon as you give it the beans, it overrides and turns it back on  -the transmission. Probably at least partly on me. After repeated attempts to get around the traction control, the transmission no longer seemed very happy to live in the truck. Lots of rough/shuddery shifts, bogging, and generally lovely acceleration. After the first day, that would generally clear up after the truck warmed up, so who knows, I probably hosed it up. FWIW I wanted the traction control off to play in the mud (the truck had 4wd and I can't resist mud), I wasn't trying to do pavement burnouts. In short, it was a blast to
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Sep 17, 2019 01:37
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Nocheez posted:Prepare for disappointment. I had a Fusion on my last trip and it was just overall extremely "meh." I compare all cars to my Camry Hybrid and they keep falling short. I'm a boring old man nowadays. I'm just looking for highway munching comfy car with a half decent android auto implementation.
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Sep 17, 2019 02:02
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I'm so happy this thread is filling up with such horrid things. Work Trucks I Have Known and Loved (and Killed): Part I - Cheryl the F150 For the summers of 2015, 2016, and 2017 I was working as a post-doc at field sites in Alberta, Canada. The overall research was about peatlands, bogs and fens, and how to restore the disturbed ones (harvested for peatmoss, or dug up and thrown away for oilsands mining). This meant lots of short-distance driving on lovely roads bulldozed out of the muskeg. In 2015 and 2016 we had access to a 2007 (ish) Ford F-150 with the 5.4L V8 and 4WD (plus a stylish and extremely useful canopy) from the university my supervisor had previously worked at.  Cheryl 1 by Martin Brummell, on FlickrCheryl in happier days, clean and parked at the field house. The more-mud-than-roads we subjected her to were the cause of her death.  Seba Beach Field Work August 2016 12 by Martin Brummell, on FlickrIf you don't get the truck stuck, you aren't working hard enough!  I Spent $30 Washing Cheryl 1 by Martin Brummell, on FlickrAt the car wash at the end of the season, about to blast the mud off.  I Spent $30 Washing Cheryl 2 by Martin Brummell, on Flickr45 minutes later. I did not remove all of the peat, mud, and random poo poo that had clogged up her transmission cooler, which caused her tranny to overheat and cost of repair greatly exceeded value of vehicle. According to the university's accountants. That model of Big Dumb Truck had its highs and lows. Good: very comfortable to drive, lots of grunt and a decent 4WD system that got me out of almost every sticky situation, and abundant hard points to hook on to when you do need to pull her out of the sticky stuff. And that canopy was just indespensible, I don't know why they're so hard to find on rental pickups. Bad: horrible fuel economy (which I didn't have to pay for, thankfully, it came out of the research budget), a too-tight back seat for 6 not-even-that-large adults, a turning radius that most trains would be ashamed of. Ugly: her fate, sold at auction for a pittance with a broken transmission and a zillion little problems. Plus the speeding ticket my coworker got on the way down Highway 2 to Calgary. We sorely missed Cheryl in 2017 when we had to settle for a rented A Small Car posted:2017? Ram with the hemi Also, A Small Car posted:2017? Ram with the hemi
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Sep 17, 2019 07:21
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KOTEX GOD OF BLOOD posted:I rented a 230i this weekend and I have to say I found it extremely disappointing. The steering, while indeed tighter than your average Japanese car, is lifeless and provides little feedback. The brakes are bad – basically unsafe in how long they take to stop the car and with how much insistence you need to use your foot. This one came with a
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Sep 17, 2019 08:20
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toplitzin posted:I'm just looking for highway munching comfy car with a half decent android auto implementation. KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:Hello friends, I am here to report on the 2019 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT Blacktop Package. Dodges can gently caress right off. I had a Caravan a couple months ago and I couldn't figure out any other way to connect my phone but by going through the automated prompts like a loving call center. I had to listen to EVERY SINGLE option before I could say one. And every time I got into it, I had the FM blare loud as hell for about 30 seconds before I could switch to my phone audio. Just utter, utter poo poo.
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Sep 17, 2019 17:16
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I rented a convertible Camaro on Kauai and I liked it a lot with the roof off. It's a dark, small cave with it up, though. The rental Jetta I suffered through a couple years ago when my Volvo 240 was stolen solidly convinced me to buy a Volt.
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Sep 17, 2019 17:46
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Nocheez posted:Dodges can gently caress right off. I had a Caravan a couple months ago and I couldn't figure out any other way to connect my phone but by going through the automated prompts like a loving call center. I had to listen to EVERY SINGLE option before I could say one. And every time I got into it, I had the FM blare loud as hell for about 30 seconds before I could switch to my phone audio. Just utter, utter poo poo. in fairness that was so bad i didn't even bother to try uConnect is actually good though, but it is not on the Caravan
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Sep 17, 2019 19:28
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shadowzero313 posted:I rented a convertible Camaro on Kauai and I liked it a lot with the roof off. It's a dark, small cave with it up, though. We got the "Managers special" on Kauai. Cheapest vehicle we could get... Dodge Caravan! It was perfect for Kauai. Up the mountains, down the long sand/dirt rutted, washboarded road to Polihale State Park... It didn't care. Terrible on the road, but great for a couple of people who needed cheap wheels to tour the island and load a boat with stuff from Costco.
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Sep 18, 2019 00:53
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Minivans (also in Hawaii!): Got a 2019 Sienna on Oahu. Amazing, I loving loved driving that thing around. Super convenient, first model to have carplay, was quicker and nimbler than I expected, and airy with good visibility (for what it is). Would minivan again. In laws ended up with a Caravan and, man, what a downgrade, just basically worse in every way after having the Sienna for a while. Sub compacts: Versa sedan, god what an absolute piece of poo poo Normal economy cars: Elantra vs Corolla. Basically found the Elantra to be significantly more comfortable, more powerful, and more convenient with carplay. Really the only edge the corolla had on it was radar cruise control. The engine and cvt in the corolla is just awful and wheezy and terrible. The elantra handled extended inclines way more smoothly. SUVs: I never request these but sometimes Enterprise will throw me the keys to something random they have sitting around. Hyundai Santa Fe - this was back when the "sport" model referred to the 2 row version. This was basically a big pig with poor visibility, no power, and wasn't comfortable for how big it was. After driving the minivans I was left wondering why anyone would ever want to buy one of these. Tucson - better driving than the Santa Fe in every way, slightly less room. Still "meh", rough ride with weak powertrain, would not consider without the turbo model. But if I was buying a compact suv I'd get a cx-5, or a rav4 hybrid if I proiritized about fuel economy.
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Sep 18, 2019 18:52
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I have rented lots of cars, always gunning for an upgrade. Once I talked my way into a 2018 or 2019 Tahoe, what a lovely loving rental. So awesome. It developed a noise and I got paranoid and swapped it, the only thing they had was a Sentra. The Sentra and Corolla are tied for the worst new cars ever. Give me a Fiesta or Focus any day of the week. Another time I talked my way into an Edge Titanium with a panoramic sunroof. That’s what convinced me to get the pano roof on my Elantra GT and also taught me just how huge you can make an a pillar. For a while my favorite normal rental was a Fusion, especially in the rental-special-only dark green that Enterprise had for a while.
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Sep 18, 2019 19:28
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shadowzero313 posted:I rented a convertible Camaro on Kauai and I liked it a lot with the roof off. It's a dark, small cave with it up, though.
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Sep 18, 2019 20:09
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The three most recent rentals I’ve had: 2018ish F-150: ultimately pretty good to drive but I have no idea why anyone who doesn’t need a vehicle that size would buy one. A massive chore to park compared to my beloved Golf. Wrangler Unlimited Sahara: Dreadful fuel economy, decent transmission for an automatic, really easy to get used to driving due to excellent visibility all around, and legitimately fun to drive after dealing with a Mustang where every loving driveway and speed bump needs to be taken at 1 km/h. It would probably grate on me long term but I’d rent one again in a heartbeat. Nissan Sentra with CVT: the most awful car I’ve even driven or been driven in. Less charming that the Lada I once rode in in Cuba which smelled strongly of petrol fumes and had a hole in the floor. At least that fucker had lived a hard life and had an excuse for its awfulness. The Nissan had under 100km and it was still like an experimental artist had devised a plan to express the platonic ideal of sadness in car form. The second-most awful car I’ve ever been in was a Geely, which was similarly terrible but at least had the good sense to mate it’s decrepitude to a manual transmission making it slightly less miserable to drive.
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Sep 18, 2019 20:16
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toplitzin posted:I'm just looking for highway munching comfy car with a half decent android auto implementation. I just bought a 2019 Fusion SE so I'm biased but I will say that it does those things very well. It's peppy, comfortable and gets good gas millage with the 1.5 ecoboost. The infotainment varies based on what the car is optioned with but mine has the sync 3 with the 8" touch screen and it works great with apple car play and android auto. The downsides are it can feel a little sluggish when it's crawling in traffic or through a parking lot and the windshield and rear window are at a very steep angle which takes some getting used to. Also there is a little dial instead of a gear shifter. It frees up a lot space and I kind of like it but my wife thinks it's weird. I really wanted a fun car but I commute two hours a day through traffic so gas milage and comfort won out.
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Sep 18, 2019 23:00
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2019 Chevy Bolt First pure EV I have driven, tons of fun to get on the go pedal, oddly hard to maintain a specific speed. Also, digital dash speedo refresh rate isn't quick enough so you are never quite sure what speed you are currently doing, and the entire rest of the interior is typical gm parts pin. Some of the buttons on the center console were sticking and the thing was almost brand new. Very chuckable though, and with traction control turned off it was entirely too much fun flooring it from every stop. Put the rest of the traffic in the rear-view, every time. Great intro to EVs, but I would never buy one over a more expensive tesla.
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Sep 18, 2019 23:03
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 Had one of these for a day because I only have a Miata and needed to move two passengers. Actually I thought it was supposed to be a Polo/Fabia but eh whatever. It's, well, about what you'd expect. The interior is pretty cramped even by my standards and plasticky, in particular the giant shiny panel on the dashboard can gently caress off. The 1l gets it moving pretty reasonably around town but is predictably gutless on the backroads and highways. The controls are all extremely overboosted, but pretty much like any Skoda I've driven. Also the trunk is only bigger than in the miata if you're stacking stuff above the shelf. I didn't push it too hard because it's pointless and got around 5l/100km. Which is pretty good but not really great considering I could probably get 7-7.5 from the 17 year old miata with like 3 times the power, if I drove as slowly. It's obviously very compact, though I didn't have to park it in any tight spots. It's also much quieter than a Miata on the highway. Obviously I'd never buy something like this but it's probably one of the cheapest cars you can rent or buy and for a normal person to just go from A to B would ok.
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Sep 18, 2019 23:48
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Infinotize posted:Minivans I agree completely, the minivans I've rented (always the Dodge Grand Caravan. Always) have been basically acceptable and get the job done. I've never been handed the keys to an SUV except for the Isuzu MUX I played with in a 4WD practical training course a few months ago (see here: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2755109&pagenumber=101#post498321323). That SUV was actually set up to go off road and did fine in our two days of playing in rocks and sand. **** shadowzero313 posted:I rented a convertible Camaro on Kauai and I liked it a lot with the roof off. It's a dark, small cave with it up, though. KOTEX GOD OF BLOOD posted:Yooo this is one of my least favorite qualities in a car. I hated how gross it felt sitting in the claustrophobic cabin of my old 9-3.  My Ridiculous Rental Car by Martin Brummell, on FlickrI still have that shirt This was the Camaro I let myself get talked into in Florida in 2013. By far the most ridiculous thing I've ever been responsible for. Just silly. Being a rental, it had the poverty-spec engine, the V6, which was really not too bad, it just didn't let the car walk the walk it was talking. With the top up - why would you ever have the top up??? - it was dank dark cave of isolation and sadness, separated from the rest of the world by foot-thick doors and hood large enough to sleep on. We had to drop the top to put our suitcases in the back seat. With the top down, the trunk is full of roof so there's no room anyways (I was able to fit my laptop bag in there. Just.). With the top up, my friend's giant suitcase couldn't fit in the trunk and couldn't fit between the front seat and the doorframe, so we got pretty good at raising and lowering that lid. November in Florida is apparently "cold" for locals, so we (A Canadian and a Brit who'd lived in the cold, flat, empty, cold part in the middle of Canada for a few years) were almost always the only convertible with the top down. Just dozens of other cabrio's around, all shuttered up like 80 F was somehow unpleasant. Florida is weird, and for many more reasons than just that. Having had the experience of a drop-top Camaro for most of a week, I would never buy one. But a convertible, especially something like a 9-3, that is not a giant GM wallowing pig in a tank-top, is pretty appealing. Just never drive it with the top up, I guess. People seem to love Miatas, right? They're fun! PT6A posted:2018ish F-150: ultimately pretty good to drive but I have no idea why anyone who doesn’t need a vehicle that size would buy one. A massive chore to park compared to my beloved Golf.
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Sep 19, 2019 00:55
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My last car was a Ford Fiesta, rented from Enterprise in Oxford UK. It was quite a nice car, although the RHD took a minute to get used to. Pros: Not an ST, but still fun to drive Mirrors folded up when you locked the doors (very nice on narrow streets) Speed sign recognition, with cruise control able to be set to follow the signs Surprisingly spacious Cons: Ford infotainment isn't bad, but VW is better
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Sep 19, 2019 01:43
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