Topic: Rental car thread

[overtakeyouintheleftlane]

safristi - thanks for pointing out the typo. Corrected now. TY!

[Ontariodriver]

i have just rented a mazda 3 pics to come. i have to say what a truly ugly car. the plastic are hard with a mix of odd plastics that you can see finger prints on. the car it self drives great. it noisey too and  once up to speed quiet. this is a base with air. i dont get why it has to be two tier either and a sort of bmw i driver thingy for the radio. the seats are perfect and handles pretty nice too. drinks little amouts of gas i just driven down to kingston and all around some 500 clicks and 1/4 of a tank left. i prefer the look of the older 3 and i like a focus more. this wins on comfort. i still prefer the civic. the smiley grill looks smug......i just hate the design and not keen of the interior reddy orange seem dated now.

[jamie1]

Just got back from Ottawa. We had a Hyundai Accent for a rental. At 1st, I thought,not a bad car. I was wrong. Road noise at highway speeds was unbearable,could not sit behind the wheel for more then 10 minutes before my a$$ killed me. A/C compressor was VERY noisy[car only had 15K km], Shook like a dog $hiting razor blades at highway speeds. Most likely out of balance crappy Kumho tires. Chrysler uses those tires on the Journey. Worst tires ever. Was going to upgrade to a midsize at check-in,but alas,I didn't.

[Julie]

Best rental:  Ford Focus Sedan.  Fun to drive.

Worst rental:  Dodge Calibre.  Within 5 minutes of driving it, brought it back to the rental place.  Got the Focus instead.  A WORLD of difference.

Next on rental list:  I'd love to rent the 2011 Mustang.     Also curious to try out the Ford Fusion.

[mmret]

Best Rental: E250. I was helping my girlfriend move. It did the job. Managed to fit a ton of stuff in it.

Worst Rental: Suzuki Forenza. A tired, tired example of what was not exactly a wonderous car to begin with. But we had a really long layover in Orlando and it was spring break weekend so almost everything was rented already. Such an awful car and in poor shape. Obvious that it was the car they sluff off on people who have no other choice (ie: us).

Next on Rental List: 911 / F360 / Aston, something like that in Vegas.

[Julie]

...Best Rental: E250....

There are Mercedes for rent?

[mmret]

...Best Rental: E250....

There are Mercedes for rent?

A van

[Julie]

...Best Rental: E250....

There are Mercedes for rent?

A van

[My Old Buick]

Worst...toyota Camry. Hated every minute of it, just felt so boring. Along with being a top seller, i can see the camry as being a popular trade in, yuck.

Best- Back in 05 when the 300C came out. At the time a mean looking 4door sedan with a hemi..it was fun.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

One of the worst was a 2006 Monte Carlo, rented from the Tampa airport. It had ~50k miles, which is pretty high for a rental. The back struts were absolutely shot; the door hinges on the driver’s side were so out of alignment, the door had to be pulled up to close. Cigarette burns were everywhere and the windows were opaque with grime. Knobs and buttons were missing. The dash was scarcely attached to the firewall, and would flop over big bumps. At least a couple of brake discs were badly warped, and the car was wildly out of alignment. In a big centre like that and from a major car rental company, it seemed inexcusable. I only had it one day, and they replaced it with a brand new Mustang at a reduced rate.

The absolute worst was in Labrador City. It was a Pontiac Montana. IIRC it had 50 or 60K on it (probably, read on). It was an absolute rolling derelict. A few seats were missing. The spare was piled on one of the back seats, as were various bits of trim from the dash and elsewhere. The struts were shot, one tire wouldn’t hold air. The rims were miss-matched. The dash had missing pieces as well as a broken ashtray and cup-holders. Part of the steering wheel trim was missing. The speedometer only worked intermittently. And the wheels were so out of balance going over 80km/hr was impossible. And the windshield was cracked in several spots and had a number of star-bursts in it. The entire inside was coated in a fairly thick layer of iron oxide dust.  The windows were again opaque. In Lab city, most of the clientele were doing work for the mines, so that made it a bit more understandable. I had that for a week.

[tenpenny]

The absolute worst was in Labrador City. It was a Pontiac Montana. IIRC it had 50 or 60K on it (probably, read on). It was an absolute rolling derelict. A few seats were missing. The spare was piled on one of the back seats, as were various bits of trim from the dash and elsewhere. The struts were shot, one tire wouldn’t hold air. The rims were miss-matched. The dash had missing pieces as well as a broken ashtray and cup-holders. Part of the steering wheel trim was missing. The speedometer only worked intermittently. And the wheels were so out of balance going over 80km/hr was impossible. And the windshield was cracked in several spots and had a number of star-bursts in it. The entire inside was coated in a fairly thick layer of iron oxide dust.  The windows were again opaque. In Lab city, most of the clientele were doing work for the mines, so that made it a bit more understandable. I had that for a week.

Lab City?  There's nowhere to drive to, what do you need a rental for?  Into the pit, out of the pit...

Did you let Roy drive?  I used to work with him, his driving in snowstorms terrified me.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Lab City?  There's nowhere to drive to, what do you need a rental for?  Into the pit, out of the pit...

Did you let Roy drive?  I used to work with him, his driving in snowstorms terrified me.

Back and forth from the hotel to the IOC construction office, that's about it. And nope, we never let Roy near the wheel!

[2JDM]

We're in Honolulu  .

Current Rental Car: 2010 Nissan Altima, base model, 4cyl CVT w/9500 mi.

-Decent pickup with 5 people and trunk full of luggage. CVT does its job well, especially when climbing the steep hills around here (always in the right gear range). I hate the feeling though...I would never buy a car with a CVT.
-Ride is firm, yet absorptive, and is smooth otherwise. I still prefer the ride quality of our 330i or TSX though.
-Steering is excellent, decently weighted (kinda light for my tastes though), but has quick response.
-Engine has a ticking sound, not as smooth as a Honda 4 cyl.
-Interior quality is decent: soft and textured (compared to others in its class, better than our Odyssey for sure). No squeaks or rattles.
-Visibility is good, car is easy to park.
-Mileage is VERY good, even when fully loaded with A/C, driving on hilly roads.

Conclusion: One of the best rental cars we have ever had. It does its job well, however, I couldn't see myself buying one over an Accord.

[5 Wheel Drive]

Funny thread.  Good thing it's a quiet day at work....   

Worst rental was a new (at the time) '92 Mercury Topaz.  Ended up having the thing for close to a month.  It was January or February, and we had a wicked cold snap.  I had the thing for a day, and it wouldn't start.  Called the rental place (don't remember the company).  All they said was "is it a Tempo or a Topaz?", and "we'll get to you when we get to you."  After a few days with no service the them, we finally got it going ourselves.  Pushed it into the garage and placed a worklight with a 100 watt bulb under the engine just to try to warm the oil a bit.  Managed to squirt quick start into the throttle body.  It finally choked to life.  After that, anything I ever wanted to do with my own car but was afraid to do, I did in that piece of cr@p.  I wasn't nice to it...

Best rental was the 2 we had when the first Forester got wrecked while we were on holidays in Maine.  Had an '09 Edge SEL to finish out holiday.  It was loaded, leather, the works.  I liked it a lot.  When we got home we had an '09 v6 Sonata until our new Forester came in.  It was a little softly sprung for my liking, but otherwise I was very impressed with the Sonata.

[MD1987]

I am now driving a 2009 Cobalt LS coupe as a rental and when I run the AC, the car revs to high as 3700 RPM and basically...falls flat on its face. No guts at all when it comes to acceleration! 

The car also has stains on the seat (no, not what you might be thinking!) and the interior looks so darn cheap! I am thankful the AC works beautifully in this car though. It has 48k on it so isn't it time they retired this car to send back to GM or Adessa? 

[quadzilla]

In September of 2004, Chrysler issued a recall for the car. In certain instances, the vehicle's power steering unit could leak, causing an engine fire. Enterprise continued to rent the vehicle for a full month after receiving the recall notice before Raechel Houck, 24, and her sister, Jacquie, 20 rented the vehicle for a trip to visit their parents.

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/07/07/report-rental-car-companies-routinely-letting-recalled-vehicl/

I'm sure nobody is shocked by the lack of maintenance the rental agency did but when it comes to safety recalls, there is no excuse. Terrible that people had to die.

[mmret]

Just got a Fusion rental (facelifted version). The TSX is in the bodyshop because someone rear-ended me. Very light damage from what I can see but hey, I'm not paying. Best to have them make sure my rear subframe didn't bite the dust.

Only drove the Fusion for about 15 minutes so far...

Good:
-Smooth. If I had ever imagined what a FWD Crown Vic might drive like, this would be it.
-Engine is punchy enough. Feels like it has at least as much low-end grunt (or, if you please, isn't quite as lacking in low end grunt) as the TSX.
-Quiet at city speeds (only went up to 80km/h).
-Steering is pretty decent. Light but not inaccurate. No vagueness like the Camry.
-Materials don't seem half bad.
-Side mirrors are HUGE.
-From what I can garner in 15 minutes, comfortable.

Bad:
-Engine noise isn't great but what can you expect.
-I have many issues with the interior design. To be fair, it isn't awful. But sadly like many Ford designs lately it can be described as trying really, really hard, and failing without being awful. I'm mostly talking about the instrument cluster and the center stack. Other stuff is fine.
-The gauges have this hilarious "blue glow" theme going that just doesn't work for me. Looks childish. That might work on a Civic Si, but on a 4 banger Fusion...why bother?
-The trunk has a pull loop to help you close it but the gas struts are so powerful that you can't actually swing it shut with said loop. So at the end of the day you have to touch the trunk lid regardless (not bad in the summer, but can be annoying in the winter). Also, said struts aren't strong enough to push the trunk up more than 2 inches when you pop it, so, again, you don't get the benefit of strong struts.
-Can't see the hood. A bit tricky to place the front of the car. Might be my seating position though.
-Very high rear decklid obscures visibility in the rearview, somewhat mitigated by the large side mirrors.
-Center stack is a mess of buttons. There might be some logic to the layout but I'd prefer an Acura TL.

Overall though....appealing. If someone just wants to waft to work and back and schlep their kids around...why not? Its smooth, comfy, quiet, probably pretty easy on gas too, and cheaper than the Camcord (its also not as awful to drive as a Camry). Sure you give up some interior niceties but the meat and potatoes are delicious.

[Julie]

Just got a Fusion rental (facelifted version). The TSX is in the bodyshop because someone rear-ended me. Very light damage from what I can see but hey, I'm not paying. Best to have them make sure my rear subframe didn't bite the dust.

Only drove the Fusion for about 15 minutes so far...

Good:
-Smooth. If I had ever imagined what a FWD Crown Vic might drive like, this would be it.
-Engine is punchy enough. Feels like it has at least as much low-end grunt (or, if you please, isn't quite as lacking in low end grunt) as the TSX.
-Quiet at city speeds (only went up to 80km/h).
-Steering is pretty decent. Light but not inaccurate. No vagueness like the Camry.
-Materials don't seem half bad.
-Side mirrors are HUGE.
-From what I can garner in 15 minutes, comfortable.

Bad:
-Engine noise isn't great but what can you expect.
-I have many issues with the interior design. To be fair, it isn't awful. But sadly like many Ford designs lately it can be described as trying really, really hard, and failing without being awful. I'm mostly talking about the instrument cluster and the center stack. Other stuff is fine.
-The gauges have this hilarious "blue glow" theme going that just doesn't work for me. Looks childish. That might work on a Civic Si, but on a 4 banger Fusion...why bother?
-The trunk has a pull loop to help you close it but the gas struts are so powerful that you can't actually swing it shut with said loop. So at the end of the day you have to touch the trunk lid regardless (not bad in the summer, but can be annoying in the winter). Also, said struts aren't strong enough to push the trunk up more than 2 inches when you pop it, so, again, you don't get the benefit of strong struts.
-Can't see the hood. A bit tricky to place the front of the car. Might be my seating position though.
-Very high rear decklid obscures visibility in the rearview, somewhat mitigated by the large side mirrors.
-Center stack is a mess of buttons. There might be some logic to the layout but I'd prefer an Acura TL.

Overall though....appealing. If someone just wants to waft to work and back and schlep their kids around...why not? Its smooth, comfy, quiet, probably pretty easy on gas too, and cheaper than the Camcord (its also not as awful to drive as a Camry). Sure you give up some interior niceties but the meat and potatoes are delicious.

Thanks for the review.  I had read good things about the Fusion, so wanted to try that on my next rental.  Sorry about your TSX... 

[mmret]

Sorry about your TSX... 

Its been through worse. Right now its pretty much just in for the automotive equivalent of a spa treatment, not major reconstructive knee surgery.

[dr_spock]

Ouch.  When did you get rear-ended?