Rental Car Experiences?

fintail · May 2020

I have a small pile of Hertz points I was thinking of using this year, it'll be fun to see what happens. As well what will happen to the existing fleet - 4 year old cars with 120K on them in the future?

At the local Avis/Budget - I think the Tacomas and Jeeps were gone, one F-Pace was gone, Continental was back.

ronsteve · May 2020

Really feeling vindicated that I decided to burn my Hertz points when we went to Florida back in Feb!

Who knows when I'll be flying anywhere again...

fintail · June 2020

Today at the Avis/Budget there was a late model McLaren in the parking lot, TX (I think) plates, but I am pretty sure it wasn't there as a rental. For rentals, they had a gaggle of Wranglers, and the F-Pace was back, nothing else caught my eye.

andres3 · June 2020

Was looking on Priceline at rental cars for no reason. I'm left shaking my head. Things haven't changed.

The Charger being listed as PREMIUM, the 300 as LUXURY, and the Corolla as MID-Size just makes me shake my head.

fintail · June 2020

Those rankings have existed for years. Seriously, I remember renting 5+ years ago and seeing 300 as luxury, Charger as premium, etc. Before that, a 300 was premium and luxury was often something like a base DTS or Town Car.

To be fair, a Corolla now is probably the same size as a first gen Camry. You can irritate up to 5 people in one.

In Europe, premium is generally a 4 cyl mid lux car (E, 5er, A6), luxury is a 6 cyl variant, "special" luxury will get you an S/7er/A8.

tjc78 · June 2020

Yes rentals are always a class down or two from what they really are. It’s been that way for as long as I can remember.

fintail · June 2020

Unless there's a special $10/day deal or something, I generally reserve at least premium - better safe than sorry, and the price delta is usually minuscule at worst, sometimes the larger cars are even cheaper.

xwesx · June 2020

I generally just reserve an intermediate sedan or SUV; it is very rare that I drive away in one.

fintail · September 2020

Local Budget lot fairly empty as expected on a holiday weekend. 2x Fusion, BMW 330, Jeep, amorphous CUV potato (CX5 I think, couldn't get a clear view), that was about it.

fintail · September 2020

A friend of mine is in AK for a little vacation, as Hawaii is effectively closed. His rental is an Impala Premier - he's happy with it, as he likes somewhat traditional cars (his everyday car is an MKZ, which he actually bought new when he was 40, probably 30 years under the average buyer).

xwesx · September 2020

fintail said:
A friend of mine is in AK for a little vacation, as Hawaii is effectively closed. His rental is an Impala Premier - he's happy with it, as he likes somewhat traditional cars (his everyday car is an MKZ, which he actually bought new when he was 40, probably 30 years under the average buyer).

Seems like quite a consolation prize, going from Hawaii to Alaska!

kyfdx · September 2020

We were supposed to leave for Hawaii, yesterday..

fintail · September 2020

He couldn't go to the 50th state, so he chose the 49th, as he'd never been there.

His impression of Anchorage was along the lines of "the town is fine but it ends abruptly and becomes unabomber shacks and decrepit cars". Says food and gas prices aren't much different from expensive Seattle, although no doubt Anchorage isn't Nome or Barrow.

xwesx said:

Seems like quite a consolation prize, going from Hawaii to Alaska!

xwesx · September 2020

fintail said:
He couldn't go to the 50th state, so he chose the 49th, as he'd never been there.

His impression of Anchorage was along the lines of "the town is fine but it ends abruptly and becomes unabomber shacks and decrepit cars". Says food and gas prices aren't much different from expensive Seattle, although no doubt Anchorage isn't Nome or Barrow.

xwesx said:

Seems like quite a consolation prize, going from Hawaii to Alaska!

Hah! Man, that's a fine description! However, I'm a little offended by his description of my house; I haven't bombed anyone... lately! And, yeah, fuel prices are cheaper in Anchorage than anywhere else in the state, though I'm not sure this is true for restaurants (perhaps not more expensive, though).

Hopefully he did take the time to find his way beyond the Unibomber shacks and see some of nature in reasonably unspoiled condition.

Michaell · September 2020

I was lucky enough to visit Alaska once, for business. My wife was able to accompany me on the trip. We stayed an extra day (or two), and took the train to Whittier (this was before the road tunnel was complete) and did a whale watching tour. We also did a day trip to Seward and visited the Sea Life center there.

We had a GMC Jimmy as our rental, I do remember that.

Absolutely stunning scenery.

We went in May, and it was amazing for us to have it be pretty light out at 10-10:30 at night. I remember that we ate dinner fairly late each evening.

fintail · September 2020

He's in a place/resort hotel called Alyeska right now - I think he's getting bored, as he called me again today. Not sure where he's headed after that. Apparently some really good deals on lodging right now, too. I know he's planning on spending most of his trip outside of the city, maybe he'll see some bears or wolverines or something.

xwesx said:

Hah! Man, that's a fine description! However, I'm a little offended by his description of my house; I haven't bombed anyone... lately! And, yeah, fuel prices are cheaper in Anchorage than anywhere else in the state, though I'm not sure this is true for restaurants (perhaps not more expensive, though).

Hopefully he did take the time to find his way beyond the Unibomber shacks and see some of nature in reasonably unspoiled condition.

texases · September 2020

Lots of places he could have gone pre-covid. The Double Musky is a great restaurant in nearby Girdwood. A drive down the inlet is always nice.

xwesx · September 2020

Alyeska has nice scenery. It is the largest (and priciest) ski resort in Alaska... and definitely on the correct side of Anchorage in terms of scenery. Turnagain Arm, at the base of the mountain he's on, has very nice scenery. He could go to Portage Glacier, just a few miles up the road (on the Seward Highway) from him, or Wittier, which is a few miles (through a mountain) beyond that. Seward is about 60 miles or so down the road (at its terminus). And, he could possibly go on a sight-seeing boat either out of Wittier or Seward (not sure if any of them are running due to the pandemic).

At the far end of Ressurection Bay (Seward is located at the near end) lies an island called "Rugged." There is an old WWII gun battery installation located there, visible from the water. In addition, there is another site, called "Caines Head," that is more accessible and was turned into a state park several decades ago. While neither saw any action (or were even finished by the time the war ended and the military abandoned them), they are neat to see for history buffs.

Alternatively, he could head down the Sterling Highway (branches off the Seward Highway about 40 miles before Seward). A short distance down that road is a place called Cooper Landing, which includes a crossing of the Kenai River. I promise, he will never see a more beautiful green water than that.

fintail · September 2020

I think his rate included some huge resort/dining credit, which made the room very cheap. From what I saw of it online, it looks influenced by the hotel in 'The Shining', which could be fun. He hasn't called me yet today, so hopefully he's found something to do. I think he also mentioned going to Seward and I am pretty sure he mentioned Homer, too.

If I was there I'd be checking out stuff related to the 1964 earthquake.

xwesx · September 2020

fintail said:
I think his rate included some huge resort/dining credit, which made the room very cheap. From what I saw of it online, it looks influenced by the hotel in 'The Shining', which could be fun. He hasn't called me yet today, so hopefully he's found something to do. I think he also mentioned going to Seward and I am pretty sure he mentioned Homer, too.

If I was there I'd be checking out stuff related to the 1964 earthquake.

Yeah, Homer is at the terminus of the Sterling Highway, but it is a lot farther of a drive than anywhere else on the peninsula.

Ah, the earthquake! There's not a lot of evidence of it anymore, but he is very close to an area extremely affected by it. The town of Portage, which was a small community at the end of Turnagain Arm (e.g., at the bottom of the mountain where he's located), was built on the "dry" part of the mud flats there. When the earthquake hit, it liquefied the mud, which settled out much lower than it was before. Naturally, everything on the mud went down with it. While many of the structures remained standing, the whole place was abandoned because of saltwater intrusion. I remember seeing many buildings, utility poles, etc., pocking the areas on either side of the highway back in the late '80s and early '90s when we would drive through there regularly, but the remnants are getting rather scarce now.

There's another area called "Earthquake Park" in Anchorage where you can see where a significant section of the ocean-side bluff crumbled, taking many houses with it. If I recall correctly, the majority of Anchorage-area deaths occurred as a result of that landslide. My college roommate's family (parents, aunts, uncles) remember the event well, and they talk of a friend who lost her father and younger (infant) brother when their house collapsed in the slide.

texases · September 2020

Yeah, Homer would be an all-day round trip from Alyeska. Speaking of the '64 earthquake, there's a 'ghost forest' near Portage, caused by salt water inundating a near-shore forest area when the land sank because of the quake.

fintail · September 2020

I may have failed to mention, my friend arrived Friday, and is there til Saturday. 8 days. I think he might have overdone the length of this trip by a few days - so he has time to spare for a drive. He said the weather isn't too bad - no doubt cleaner air than here right now.

The houses on the collapsed bluff were in a subdivision called "Turnagain Heights" - at the time I think a fairly prestigious area of modern homes, almost all of it was claimed by the quake, IIRC. I was really interested in that event and similar things when I was younger, and even had a couple small books about the 64 quake (I think I might still have one around here somewhere). I'd have to explore the remnants of that disaster a bit if I was there, and I am sure there is presence in museums too. Just as if I went to Hawaii, I wouldn't spend much time at the beach, gotta spend some time at the volcanoes and checking out the recent lava flows etc. I'd also like to go on a tornado chasing tour, which if driving yourself, would be a rental where you want the full insurance

xwesx said:

Yeah, Homer is at the terminus of the Sterling Highway, but it is a lot farther of a drive than anywhere else on the peninsula.

Ah, the earthquake! There's not a lot of evidence of it anymore, but he is very close to an area extremely affected by it. The town of Portage, which was a small community at the end of Turnagain Arm (e.g., at the bottom of the mountain where he's located), was built on the "dry" part of the mud flats there. When the earthquake hit, it liquefied the mud, which settled out much lower than it was before. Naturally, everything on the mud went down with it. While many of the structures remained standing, the whole place was abandoned because of saltwater intrusion. I remember seeing many buildings, utility poles, etc., pocking the areas on either side of the highway back in the late '80s and early '90s when we would drive through there regularly, but the remnants are getting rather scarce now.

There's another area called "Earthquake Park" in Anchorage where you can see where a significant section of the ocean-side bluff crumbled, taking many houses with it. If I recall correctly, the majority of Anchorage-area deaths occurred as a result of that landslide. My college roommate's family (parents, aunts, uncles) remember the event well, and they talk of a friend who lost her father and younger (infant) brother when their house collapsed in the slide.

xwesx · September 2020

texases said:
Yeah, Homer would be an all-day round trip from Alyeska. Speaking of the '64 earthquake, there's a 'ghost forest' near Portage, caused by salt water inundating a near-shore forest area when the land sank because of the quake.

Yep, that's the area. The town of Portage was in that space, and there are still a few old remnants dotting the landscape. It looked quite eerie thirty years ago, when nearly all of the trees still stood, barren, there was very little regrowth of any kind, and old vehicle shells, log buildings, etc.

xwesx · September 2020

I should be making the second half of my "Q7 Visits the Dealership" trip to Anchorage at some point this week... maybe next (hopefully soon!). I dropped it off down there on August 18, and the "loaner" is starting to feel like my new car.... I found myself feeling a little bummed over the weekend because my Q7's winter wheels will not fit on the Q5 due to bolt pattern and hub incompatibility.

sda · September 2020

What year and what are your impressions of the Q5?

xwesx · September 2020

sda said:
What year and what are your impressions of the Q5?

It is a 2019. I'm not sure what trim level, etc, though it has the 2.0T engine and cold weather package. My daughter was quite impressed that her seat in the back has a heater in it. I'm sure I'll hear about that for quite some time once she is riding in the Q7 again!

Impressions: Well, it is surprisingly punchy and handles really well. I haven't managed to find the end of its grip, though I've tried a few times. Honestly, I think it would need better bolstering on the seats in order to get there without being tossed across the cabin! Fuel economy is excellent for an AWD car of this size and performance. I'm still above 29 mpg since I got it three weeks ago, and more than half of my driving now is in local conditions. I filled it two times thus far, with distances around 500 miles both times, and I think I am putting around 17 gallons in it. So, that's respectable.

The exterior lighting on it is hilariously fancy. Audi definitely took advantage of the all-LED setup to go a little overboard. The interior is elegant, except for the annoying we-glued-a-tablet-to-the-front-of-the-dash look above the center stack. There is no reason at all for that to even be there, since the instrument cluster is a fully digital screen affair that has all the same (and more) functionality of the tablet screen. Even if there was a way to tuck the tablet into the dash, it would be far better. As it is, the current look is just a sore thumb (and I genuinely hate it).

The one thing that I cannot stand about the car, though, is the transmission shifter (e.g., this would be a deal-breaker in terms of me buying one). It seems Audi is all-in on this terrible concept of designing an electronic shifting mechanism to look like a traditional shifter, and take up just as much space as one, but not function anything like it. So, what you get is this mental block where you expect it should behave in a certain way, except it doesn't, and then you end up second-guessing what you are even doing to drive the silly thing. It is clunky and annoying; I still have not figured it out even after driving it for so long.

If a person can drive a car for a thousand miles and not find a control intuitive, then it is a bad design. Period.

The seats are firm, yet comfortable, and the grey of the interior saves the otherwise black car from a death-by-darkness fate.

xwesx · September 2020

Oh, and I forgot to mention the moonroof.... which extends nearly the full length of the vehicle... Sublime. Audi definitely does roof glass (and shading) well!

ab348 · September 2020

My only experience with electronic shifters is in various recent GM cars and I totally agree with your assessment. It is as if they tried to make it as non-intuitive as possible. Your experience reminded me of myself the first time I got into a vehicle with one and started to drive away from the dealership in it. I had somehow managed to put it into manual mode and could not get it out while I was driving along in first gear. I had to pull over, put it in park, and try again. I'm sure after a while you would get used to it, but I could never understand the logic of their design for it.

xwesx · September 2020

Hah! I about spit my tea as I started reading this.... it is so true!

The primary stumbling point I continue to have is the transition from park to reverse to drive and back to park. No, not everything in between, but those particular motions.

So, How do you normally go from Park to Reverse? You push the button on the side of the shifter and pull it down one position: Reverse! On this one, you must push the shifter UP to access Reverse. Next step: You are done reversing and want to go into Drive. Typical motion... you pull the shifter down two positions: Through Neutral and into Drive (no need to push any buttons on the shifter). Well, on THIS car, you can do it exactly like that, but only if you pull the shifter down twice in very quick succession (e.g., one for Neutral, and a second for Drive). If you fail to do this process with sufficient speed, it will just sit in Neutral. At that point, you must push the button to put it into drive... but, I think (I'm still experimenting with my apparent incompetence) you actually must have the car completely stopped with your foot on the brake in order to do this.

Then, to place the vehicle in Park, you push a little button on the flat face of the shifter. Naturally, I tend to first put the car in Neutral or Reverse before I again remember, "oh, yeah, it's this little button here."

As if all of this is not sufficient, it also has this "smart engage" feature or something where the car automatically sets the parking brake if it is at more than a small angle. As such, sometimes it sets it, and other times it does not. When I go to leave, I sometimes must do a double-take to figure out why the car won't go anywhere.

The auto start-sop feature is generally not too intrusive, but it will stop the engine the moment you put it in Park. Because of this, sometimes I don't press the Stop button to turn the car off, assuming it must already be so. When I open the door, it sounds like I'm trying to rob Tiffany's! The good news is, I can never possibly walk away with the vehicle still 'on' (or any of the jewels from my loot, either!).

texases · September 2020

I wish I could sit down with that shifter designer and find out what the heck he was thinking about...

ab348 · September 2020

The GM design doesn’t have the double pull-down function as far as I know but does have a lot of the other features in common with the Audi. The first car I got with the thing flummoxed me so much that I sat in the driveway after I got home for about 10 minutes reading the Owners Manual to try and figure out how it worked. I knew I was in trouble when it took 5 pages worth of instructions to show how to put it in neutral with the ignition off if you were going into one of those pull-through car washes. It involved opening and closing doors in a certain sequence along with some other manoeuvres as I recall. The GM one has reverse up and to the left, neutral straight up, and Park is a push button on the side or automatically if you turn off the ignition. Manual gear changes involve some other movement though I cannot imagine using it for that. It is just absurd.

sda · September 2020

The push button shifter in Honda/Acura that so many have complained about is easy to figure out just not easy to use without deliberately looking at what button to press, or lift in the case of reverse. When I had the 2020 Q5 loaner earlier this year I was not impressed with the new shifter either. The auto start feature startled me the first time it functioned as I forgot the newer Q5 had that feature even though I had read about it in the past. I quickly found the button to turn it off. The digital dash was impressive and totally agree I’m not a fan of the tacked on tablet look that is common on many new vehicles.

xwesx · September 2020

Yeah, I don't mind having a different type of shift mechanism; it's not like all MTs shift in the same pattern, or that auto transmissions have the same shifter since they were first introduced so long ago. My annoyance simply comes from the fact that the company clearly took pains to make it *look* like a traditional shifter, including all the space it takes, yet it doesn't behave like one at all, and there is absolutely no need for it to take up nearly so much space.

I honestly loved the dial shifter in the Ram pickup I rented several years ago: I knew I was controlling the transmission differently in that vehicle, it took almost no space, and it was an intuitive design.

Sandman6472 · September 2020

Drove a 2020 Q7 the other day at work. It was a Quattro and loved the way it drove. A bit complicated at first figuring out the shifter but eventually got it done. Loved the rest of the interior and felt it drove smaller than it really is. Prefer the ease of the wife's A3 to be honest. Besides having to add a quart of oil a few times in the last five years, it's been a great vehicle with no unscheduled stops at the dealer besides the above mentioned oil issues. Was supposed to go in for the 55K service this morning but that tropical depression dumped so much rain that the wife made another appointment for next year. We are both very pleased with our ownership experience and have not ruled out getting a CPO Q3 as my next vehicle.

tjc78 · September 2020

@Sandman6472
I think an Audi would be perfect for you!

Sandman6472 · September 2020

Yep, still haven't ruled that out yet but at this juncture, fixing the Golf and keeping it is probably the smartest thing to do. Since I'd rather own a CPO 2020 Audi if I go that route, still need to check out the new GTI to see if I like the changes and that'll be out next year. So, best to fix the Golf, axle boot & front brakes if needed, and stay the course for awhile. If I still were driving 13K/year, then yes, I'd get something new but going less than 50/week, seems a bit silly to buy right now, unless there was something that blew my socks off, which there is not.

andres3 · September 2020

Sandman6472 said:
Yep, still haven't ruled that out yet but at this juncture, fixing the Golf and keeping it is probably the smartest thing to do. Since I'd rather own a CPO 2020 Audi if I go that route, still need to check out the new GTI to see if I like the changes and that'll be out next year. So, best to fix the Golf, axle boot & front brakes if needed, and stay the course for awhile. If I still were driving 13K/year, then yes, I'd get something new but going less than 50/week, seems a bit silly to buy right now, unless there was something that blew my socks off, which there is not.

There's a 13,250 mile Golf R in Red about 80 miles north of San Diego, 2016 model. Right up your alley and extreme low miles; though that does mean the warranty is up, but that shouldn't be a problem for many many miles.

I test drove it and gave it an Italian tune-up for you. Runs great. No runs, drips, or errors (never been crashed).

I'd get it myself, except for the following reasons:

1. It is a bit too much like my TTS. This is both good and bad, in that I already have a fun and superior TTS, but I'm looking for a potential daily driver. The problem is the 6-speed DSG is very short geared, similar to my TTS; not enough difference to make a big difference in terms of fuel economy.
2. Because it's so low miles, they want $31K for it, when you can get a new one for $40K. The price isn't unfair, but I'd rather get a new one, because they solved the important highway mileage issue by putting in a 7-speed DSG. For me this is a huge improvement made particularly more important for my intended use (freeway commute time spent at 80+ MPH).

andres3 · September 2020

That Golf R is as clean as they come in the used market, and it should be, with less than 14K miles on it! I think a 75 year old man owned it, and I believe them. Said that he was too old to get into such a low slung car.

fintail · October 2020

Local Budget I jog past had a rarity - a rental Accord. Basic trim, CA plates with no frames, rental style barcode - not a private car. Not something I see every day, rental Hondas in general have been scarce for 20 or more years.

Sandman6472 · October 2020

When I worked at Hertz, there was one year where we picked up about 50 each of Civic's and Accord's for their fleet. The local Honda dealer, Rick Case, had them in his upstairs garage and we took them out and brought them to our office to get them into the rental pool. Only time I've seen that happen in all the six years working there. They were your basic LX model with cloth interiors which got stained quite easily as I recall. That part always stuck with me as many renters treat their rentals with due care but some, well, absolute pigs is the words that come to mind! Found everything from a gun to stripped chicken bones in them. Many had so much animal hair in them or worse and so many folks smoked in them even though there were no smoking icons on the dash. Some were real pig styes when they were returned!

texases · October 2020

We rented an Accord in 2010 or so (Hertz?), fine, but a lot of road noise. Rented another last year in Calgary, was 'lucky' enough to drive it on the freeway in the snow in early October, very unsettles, maybe the lane keeping software having problems with the lack of lane markers.

fintail · October 2020

That's maybe the big issue, other than possibly abused cars. Rental car spec, especially for American fleets, tends to be on the very basic side of the spectrum. It's to the point where in the past, there were fleet-specific equipment levels, and even fleet-specific cars (Chevy Classic and Captiva come to mind). Probably deduct for the spec and maybe for ex-rental status both.

ttsonline said:
I've had a Sonata and Elantra has a rental car a few times. I liked both of them. Compare new, used on a traditional car dealer (carmax, cars.com) to the price of the rental version.

What amount would be a significant amount to save? I would look at $1,000 compare to the traditional used car dealer. I'm not sure how the trim levels would compare. Rental cars might trend toward the cloth seats/lower trim packages. Something to be aware when comparing cars.

Just tossing out how I would approach it.

Sandman6472 · October 2020

The Chevy Captiva was only sold in the Canadian market but apparently Hertz was able to bring some into the states and they weren't really that bad. I know most of them were sold after Hertz was done with them and even an agent at the location I started out bought one for his daily driver and really liked it.

fintail · October 2020

I remember a friend had a rental Captiva back around 2013. I think it was just a rebadge of a Saturn Vue with virtually no real changes.

I recall a Chevy Orlando that might have also been geared towards fleets.

Michaell · October 2020

fintail said:
I remember a friend had a rental Captiva back around 2013. I think it was just a rebadge of a Saturn Vue with virtually no real changes.

I recall a Chevy Orlando that might have also been geared towards fleets.

Having owned a 2008 VUE, that is exactly true, except it used the 3.5L engine instead of the 3.6L ours had.

Sandman6472 · October 2020

I liked the Captiva much better than the Tucson I bought and if I had a do over, the Captiva would've been a better choice I'm thinking as it was also a bit smaller in length and would've fit my side of the garage better.

ab348 · October 2020

Sandman6472 said:
The Chevy Captiva was only sold in the Canadian market but apparently Hertz was able to bring some into the states and they weren't really that bad. I know most of them were sold after Hertz was done with them and even an agent at the location I started out bought one for his daily driver and really liked it.

It was sold at retail via Chevy dealers here but hey didn't push it much. My understanding was that they were available for sale in the US only for fleets, particularly the rental car market. That generation of Vue got good reviews when it was introduced so it probably wasn't totally awful.

Sandman6472 · October 2020

Correct about only for fleets. Our Hertz locations here in South Florida were over flowing with them. Folks seemed to like 'em also and they drove nicely. Surprised Chevy never brought them to he states?

fintail · November 2020

I've decided to fly to the west side this Christmas, to save time and use points/miles that are just collecting dust in this era of staycations. I've reserved a Hertz "luxury sedan" (with points), it'll be interesting to see what I get. I am also Presidents Circle via a status match, so I'll probably get to pick from the PC lot, and maybe get a free upgrade like when I rented in Chicago.

fintail · December 2020

Rental car 2020 - Hertz 430i Gran Coupe. Typical rental option load, it has a few things I guess, but not a loaded car. The Seatac rental car center was pretty deserted at 0800, I was the only one on the shuttle. The Hertz PC section had 3 of these Gran Coupes, an X1, Jag F-Pace, a bunch of Mustangs (no GTs), some normal rental stuff. Prestige group had a bunch of 7ers and an A-class of all things - looks like BMW is moving some metal:

I noticed there's a scuff on the front lower bumper/spoiler area. Hertz invoice had no damage of any kind noted, but at 10K miles there are a few marks- maybe they don't care. I have third party insurance, so I am not worried. It's comfortable enough and drives fine for a 4cyl, but it makes me miss the somewhat lazy smooth loafing of the wagon.

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