Rental Car Experiences?

henryn

I see a lot of Rogue's out on the roads here, but not near as many as CR-V's.

fintail said:

I think back 25 years to when I was in high school. The Maxima was a 4DSC and almost an aspirational object. The Sentra was hugely popular among young people, the Altima was a well-received new model and tried to be upmarket from Camcords with its Infiniti-esque styling, Pathfinder was a legit off roader, the Z was a modern legend, etc. I don't see as much cachet now. Just as I don't see as many here in the PNW as one might see elsewhere. I wonder how many of those sales are to private retail buyers.

I've seen but a few new style Titan ever, but someone I know in TN says they (and non-rental Altimas) are quite common there, due to Nissan HQ and employee perks. Region has something to do with it.

I definitely remember when the 240 and 280 Z cars were very hot. I knew several people who owned one, and they all loved them. And I knew many more who lusted after one.

Judging by these forums, the Stelvio is now THE object of lust in the automotive world, at least this week.

fintail

CR-V has to be in the top 10 selling vehicles around here. It and the RAV4 own a huge share of the PNW market, people who maybe think a Subaru is too rough, but still want to pretend to be adventurous.

The 300ZX was a cool thing in the 90s, I don't think the 00s Z captured the spirit - attracted those with BMW driver stereotypes instead.

I think the Stelvio is the object of lust for bargain hunters. The deal is as important as the car. Speaking of rentals, I know Stelvio exists or has existed in some markets as a rental, Canada, and Europe of course.

henryn said:

I see a lot of Rogue's out on the roads here, but not near as many as CR-V's.

I definitely remember when the 240 and 280 Z cars were very hot. I knew several people who owned one, and they all loved them. And I knew many more who lusted after one.

Judging by these forums, the Stelvio is now THE object of lust in the automotive world, at least this week.

kyfdx

rented a Camry today in SF. Downtown, so no Emerald Aisle. Other choices were Altima or Fusion.

fintail

On a German language forum, someone spotted this in the fleet at Alamo in Boston - heavier duty trucks are pretty rare in fleets from my experience, mostly just F150 size:



And someone got a GLS from Sixt in Seattle, spec as expected:

Mr_Shiftright

Looks like you can't get access to the site you grabbed photos from.

fintail

I'm going to visit a friend in Chicago in a little under 2 months, and will be renting from Hertz at ORD. I'll be renting with points, and "luxury" is the best I can reserve. With Hertz that seems to often mean a Chrysler 300, but there could be many other possibilities given it is a large facility, I have PC status, and will be picking up early morning on a Saturday. It'll be interesting to see what I get - I will be driving a lot, so I won't mind something big.

tjc78

Have a quick to trip Boston next week. Cheapest class was "Ford Escape, or similar" with Avis... I'll see what I can get out of them. It's a one day rental and I have to drive about 3 hours or so total.

suydam

I’m going to Columbus in 2 weeks. For some reason the full size category was the cheapest rental. I hope I can downsize a bit, although in rental speak that usually means something like a Camry.

kyfdx

I rented a Camry for three days, last week. Pretty nice sedan. No issues.

suydam

Last time we thought we’d get a Camry, but they only had a RAV 4. That turned out to work out pretty well because there were 4 of us plus gear for a day trip.

tjc78

suydam said:

I’m going to Columbus in 2 weeks. For some reason the full size category was the cheapest rental. I hope I can downsize a bit, although in rental speak that usually means something like a Camry.

At times there is no rhyme or reason to pricing.   Last trip a minivan was actually cheapest.  When I got to the counter I was asked if I “needed” a minivan. Nope, they gave me a Fusion hybrid instead.  

berri

How was that Fusion hybrid?

Michaell

berri said:

How was that Fusion hybrid?

I had one for a day earlier this year. I thought it was fine -was my first experience with a Hybrid vehicle. I didn't get to spend enough time behind the wheel to figure out all the tech the car offered.

ab348

With the ATS in for its service today I was given a 2017 Impala LT as a rental, 3.6 engine, black over black (ugh). I expected to like it more than I actually do. It is huge of course, and that is a bigger (ahem) issue than I thought it would be. Feels wide on the highway and when parking though I think part of that is just psychological. It is quite long too though.

I find many of the controls feel squishy. The gear lever has minimal detents so I shoot past where I want it to be. The steering wheel doesn't look thin but feels like it is, and the overall design of the wheel is unattractive. The infotainment and climate controls are probably fine but quite different than in the ATS so they take a bit of getting used to. Visibility to the rear is quite poor. ETA: I was surprised to find it still uses the same GM switchblade key fob as I had in my 2011 Regal and likely millions of other GM cars of several years ago. No pushbutton start or proximity locking here!

On the plus side rear legroom is generous, as is the trunk space. With the V-6 the car is decently zippy and is great on the highway of course. Odd thing is that although it has 18" wheels, they look small to me when I view the car in profile - I must be used to seeing uplevel models with 20" jobs. The exterior design is pretty good overall though. It handles well for such a big car.

Before I got this ATS I had thought about perhaps picking up one of these as a CPO bargain but I didn't pursue it and realize now that it would not have worked for me.

tjc78

berri said:

How was that Fusion hybrid?

I liked it.  Felt slower than my Elantra, but comfortable and rode nice.  

I could see myself in an upper level Fusion with the top engine choice.   The hybrid doesn’t interest me.  

Drivingfool

Part of the family had been in Orlando since Monday. They took Amtrak up but were told that there would be no train home on Friday and gave them a refund. Got my wife onto Hertz.com and made her a Gold Member. I was then able to have her added to my account under the "Friends and Family" plan so she could also get my employee discount. They put her in a 2018 Ford Focus Titanium model with 11K on the clock. Ford finally fixed the lugging auto tranny for 2018 and she said it drove just fine. They brought the car back this afternoon and my other daughter picked them up as I had to work late again.
So, even in Florida, the effects of Florence were felt in one way or another!

The Driving Fool

texases

Rented a Renault Captur in Ireland for 2 weeks. It's like a Honda HR-V/Mazda CX-3 size. The Hertz agent did a good job upselling me from the subcompact I had reserved (many Ireland travel blogs recommended, "rent the smallest car you can"). Turns out it was a good idea to upsize. We liked the higher seat position in and among the hedges, and the size didn't hurt driving on all the narrow one-lane roads. It was good on the road, we put on about 1500 miles. It had an AT, I didn't want to deal with a manual and wrong-side driving at the same time.

fintail

Saw a rental Q50 on the road today.

suydam

fintail said:

CR-V has to be in the top 10 selling vehicles around here. It and the RAV4 own a huge share of the PNW market, people who maybe think a Subaru is too rough, but still want to pretend to be adventurous.

The 300ZX was a cool thing in the 90s, I don't think the 00s Z captured the spirit - attracted those with BMW driver stereotypes instead.

I think the Stelvio is the object of lust for bargain hunters. The deal is as important as the car. Speaking of rentals, I know Stelvio exists or has existed in some markets as a rental, Canada, and Europe of course.

henryn said:

I see a lot of Rogue's out on the roads here, but not near as many as CR-V's.

I definitely remember when the 240 and 280 Z cars were very hot. I knew several people who owned one, and they all loved them. And I knew many more who lusted after one.

Judging by these forums, the Stelvio is now THE object of lust in the automotive world, at least this week.

The Rogue is outselling the CRV so far by about 25,000 units. The RAV4 is the top seller, by about 6,000 units over the Rogue.

tjc78

I’d love to know the percentage of Rouge sales to fleets.  

texases

Can you put Rouge on a Rogue?

fintail

A co-worker of mine has a red (rouge) Rogue. She loves it, definitely doesn't baby it, but it has had zero issues.

tjc78

Guess I’ll own up to the misspelling! 

kyfdx

tjc78 said:

Guess I’ll own up to the misspelling! 

You and a cast of thousands.. Pull up any Rogue discussion, and the misspelling rate is above 50%.

suydam

Blame it on autocorrect.

Drivingfool

We have a lot in our fleet, they just do everything right!

suydam

Had a base Malibu for a rental this week. What a boring appliance. I was supposed to get a better trim level but someone damaged that one returning it to the lot. This one was noisy, slow, and had lots of hard plastics throughout. Very happy to turn it in at the the end of the week!

imidazol97

Have a Dodge Grand Caravan for a few days. No rattles. 12000 miles. Solid. Has a good ride with what feel like 70/30 shocks. It handles waves and bumps much like a solid GM car of the 70's. The suspension gives without shocking the passengers and then the wheel recovers with a slow rebound.

Radio has no equilizer adjustment. Has its own hard drive according to the buttons. Comfortable seats. No heated seats however. Good foam support, but feels like the foam might give under hours of driving and lose comfort.

Stowing the rear seats is amazing easy with the straps on the rear ones labeled in the order they need to be pulled on to move the seat! Lots of room for transporting things for a wedding this weekend along with 3 people.

fintail

Are Caravans fleet only now, replaced by the Pacifica for retail sales? I only see rentals of new ones.

Probably a used car deal if you find a good one, as the tech should be sorted by now.

berri

I believe you're right Fin. Weird, Hertz had both Caravans and Pacifica's in their fleet, but no different rental rates seem to be published.

henryn

The Grand Caravan / Town & Country is possibly the most practical vehicle you can buy. I gave serious consideration to the Sienna and the Odyssey, and 2 things moved me to the T&C. Number 1, buying a recent model Toyota or Honda minivan will set you back considerably more than the T&C. Number 2, the stow and go middle seats. Immensely practical, and no one else has that.

The stereo works well, but doesn't sound very good. I upgraded all 4 speakers in mine, and it's a little better, but not much. Basically, that boxy interior just does not make for a good sound chamber.

And if you do go out to look at used ones, you will probably find the T&C selling for almost exactly the same as the Grand Caravan. And it is quite a bit nicer.

texases

We rented a Caravan twice for moving the college kid. That stow and go was great, got a HUGE amount of stuff inside, along with the three of us.

imidazol97

Lots of room. 
We moved college boy in driving friend's Rendevouz. Took over more 3 weeks later. Lol

fintail

Saw a rental Volvo V60 today, basic looking trim, FL plates. I suspect Sixt.

imidazol97

Dodge Town and Country 2018 minivan rental for the wedding weekend. Engine is good: I assume it's a V6. The gearing in the 6 speed tranmission was a little harsh when in normal mode. In Eco mode, it was mushy and trying to upshift too soon. I couldn't tell that either setting changed anything more than the transmission shift points.

The van had one of those eager accelerators. When you press a little bit, it gives the engine a lot of revs and gas and goes more than expected. That occurred in both Eco and regular setting.

The automatic open doors and tailgate are nice. BUT there needs to be an indicator that the doors or tailgate are open. It's too easy to start to put the car in gear with one of those open. Way too easy.

The backup camera was blurry. No lane change alert. Aren't those standard by now? The model was something like an SRX. Isn't that a higher end model?

Got fairly good gas mileage on level road. 25-29 where my Malibu gets 32-39 on a trip to Columbus (Dublin).

Easy handling. Always felt like I was in control. It had a great suspension that handles the tar strips and variations in road height whether a pavement change to bridge or a minor pothole. The van had those things called tires that were a good profile so there was a lot of sidewall to help absorb the road vibration.

I'd consider renting it for a trip if I needed the room.

berri

I think those are only being made for fleets now. However, I've also seen a few Chrysler Pacifica minivans in the rental car lots. I wonder if those are an upgrade offering.

Drivingfool

We have both, as I drove a few Pacifica's during the week and prefer them. Have noticed that with some of the 2019 models coming in, there's no Sirius/XM on some models. Will have to get more brands in to see if this is the new trend though. It is a nice perk to have SAT radio in a rental to be honest and as a driver, I do enjoy it! But could be a way for them to save some $ when ordering their fleet vehicles.

fintail

I see plenty of Pacifica rentals out here. Usually easy to spot - no plate frame, barcode, relatively basic trim (no sunroof etc) = rental.

Less than 2 weeks to my Hertz class I (Chrysler 300 or similar) rental at ORD, I've been thinking about it a little.

fintail

I see Hertz now lists a Continental as my booked class instead of a 300, that could be more interesting:

tjc78

Nice interior in those, but not much else.   As much as I have liked Lincoln over the years this is not their best effort.  

ab348

Funny how when they were first introduced the automotive media went totally ga-ga over them. Just shows how important it is to discount stories produced at intro time and subsequent "first test" reports. It has always been this way with the automotive press and nothing seems to have changed.

fintail

And don't get started on some "car of the year" winners.

Conti might be an interesting 300 alternative anyway, especially if the Chrysler is a base model.

fintail

And now it is rental car time. I arrived early at the newly opened rental car center at ORD. My name wasn't on the Hertz board, but the very friendly rep had a car for me. A 300S, with a heavy scrape to a rear wheel and tire, including tons of yellow paint. I balked at this, feigning fear of future issues. He offered me a free upgrade to a modestly optioned Evoque. I was about to take it, but when I was examining it, a Grand Cherokee Overland was placed in the PC section, so I took it. Quite a fancy one for a rental fleet - I had to wipe it down inside as it wasn't detailed to my standards of course, but a nice ride for long highway trips. Fuel economy seems OK for something of such mass, build quality is fine, some of the ICE is quirky (had a hell of a time getting it to save my radio presets, doesn't seem to have working steering wheel volume controls, etc), but for a rental booked on points, I won't complain

jpp75

Very nice @Fintail. For steering wheel volume feel the back side of the steering wheel, that's where Jeep and Chrysler have put them for years.

tjc78

jpp5862 said:

Very nice @Fintail. For steering wheel volume feel the back side of the steering wheel, that's where Jeep and Chrysler have put them for years.

We had a 96 Grand Cherokee at the office years ago.  It had those odd controls, took a little while to get used to, but once you were it felt very natural 

henryn

jpp5862 said:

Very nice @Fintail. For steering wheel volume feel the back side of the steering wheel, that's where Jeep and Chrysler have put them for years.

Yes, and I actually like those on my 2016 T&C. Once you get used to it, they are actually easier to find and operate than most others found on the front side of the steering wheel.

berri

That plate starts with AU - did you strike gold Anymore on Interstates no one seems to drive the limit. You either blend into the fast or slow lane, or get rear ended!

fintail

Ah, behind the wheel, I looked it up today and discovered that. I forgot about it, I remember having the same issue on a rental 300. Funny. It works well, a unique quirk like the MB cruise control stalk. My presets now finally saved for some reason, too.

The equipment level on this car might make it like gold compared to typical rentals. It's a bit thirsty, but overall great for road trips, I can see the appeal if you live in an area with lots of space.

This trim also has an LED-simulated speedometer, which is cool:

Michaell

The Cyrillic lettering is from your iPod?

berri

OMG - Fin's been hacked