OT: Talking Cars Tuesday - Your most interesting rental
We've all had it - the fastest car in the world: A Rental Car. What was your most interesting rental? Interesting can go a lot of ways
- Something about the car surprise you? would you consider this car/brand in a way you never had before?
- New technology? Did the rental have bluetooth or a backup cam or something else you've never had that now you want in your next car? (Maybe it was a Dealer Loaner - the newer version of your car? (Thanks for the impetus for this week's question Hatter))
- A horrible car that you'll never rent again ever ever?
- That cliche convertible that they gave you in LA that you loved to drive up the coast?
Good, Bad, Ugly, let's hear some rental tales.
April 11th, 2017 at 11:23 AM ^
I thought towing an early 90's S-10 with a late 90's Dakota from Grand Rapids to Albion was bad. i can't imagine towing an aircraft tug.
I had a rental Plymouth Sunrise on my honeymoon in 1988. We were in San Francisco, heading to Napa, but the tiny four-banger was totally incapable of handling any hills in the city. Merging onto any freeway was an adventure.
My second worst was a Pontiac Aztec (just like Walter White in Breaking Bad) that I picked up in Vegas. The wife and kids and I were heading to Grand Canyon West to see the new glass-bottomed walkway that the local indian tribe had erected over the canyon. The road there was dirt and was in pretty rough shape. After nearly twenty miles of having our teeth jarred out of our heads, I gave in to everyone's wishes to turn around and head back. I stopped and had the boys climb a rock for a photo opportunity. When we got back to the car it wouldn't start - not even a click. We hadn't seen another car in over an hour and there was no cell service. The only living creature in sight was a coyote that was staring us down from across the road. I figured out that the battery cable had jarred itself loose and was able to hold it while my wife started the car. For the next two days I had to jiggle the cable to get the car started each time we stopped.
In 1989 my wife and I just got married and moved to California. I'm from there originally and my dad lived and worked in Pasadena (still does). The used car lot he worked at had a Chevy Celebrity Convertible that I thought my wife might like to drive while navigating the trecherous roads of her new home. We've never owned a drop-top and as far I remember, had never even been in one up until that point.
I get about 10 miles from the dealership and the car sorta sputters to a stop on the shoulder of the 605 Freeway during Friday night rush hour traffic. If you're not familiar with that highway, just use your imagination. Not an ideal situation. And being that it was 1989, there were no cell phones. A CHP pulled up behind me and helped get ahold of the dealership who sent a tow truck to take the POS back for service. I also had to have my wife drive an hour to get me.
The next day, the service department called to inform me of the problem.
I ran it out of gas.
Oooof. Not a good look for the son of a long time "car guy".
and yeah, even in 89 that 605 would be n o fun. lucky for you with the CHP guy nearby.
It was brand new with 100 miles on it, I rented it for a 5.5 hr x 2 drive. It was fully loaded, leather, moonroof, navigation, etc. so I was pretty excited since I was going to be spending 11 hrs in it. Unfortunately there was a glitch in the "media center" - it worked fine when I picked it up, but after the first time I stopped for gas the radio wouldnt turn on and touch screen just kept saying something along the lines of can't connect to media. Spent lots of time on the google trying to figure it out and turned out to be a common, known issue with the media center in Exploders & F150's that year. So my 11 hour road trip consisted of 8 hours with no music. One more reason to never buy a Ford.
April 11th, 2017 at 10:02 AM ^
Just be glad you got an Explorer and not a Bronco. It's tough to drive those in LA without drawing unwanted attention.
Not that I agree but
Ford - found on road dead
Ford - fix or repair daily
What are others?
April 11th, 2017 at 10:08 AM ^
Fiat - Fix It Again Tony
and, one I know from experience: JEEP, Just Empty Every Pocket
April 11th, 2017 at 10:37 AM ^
Chevy Nova - "no va" in Spanish translates to "not going"
Yugo - the joke my uncle (a mechanic for 30+ years now) always told me was "Yugo, you no come back"
April 11th, 2017 at 10:55 AM ^
"Perhaps the Yugo’s darkest moment came in 1989, when 31-year old Leslie Ann Pluhar died when her Yugo tipped over the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan during 50 mph winds. The incident was widely publicised, and despite a legal investigation on behalf of the victim’s family finding that the wind caused the driver to lose control, many blamed the Yugo itself for the incident."
April 11th, 2017 at 10:40 AM ^
Flipped Over Roadside Disaster
Funny Old Rattling Dump
First On Recall Day
but i own 2 1-ton fords and they are both champs, so i don't subscribe to that mantra. and i own a dodge p/u too. diesel of course. like any civilized person.
April 11th, 2017 at 10:02 AM ^
April 11th, 2017 at 10:58 AM ^
was amazed at how expensive it was - until I checked the fine print and unlocked manual transmission options. "Splurged" a few extra Euros to go from Fiat 500 past the Panda, into the VW Golf class. We'll see how that goes in a few weeks.
April 11th, 2017 at 11:27 AM ^
I will be in Italy in a few weeks, too. Except that I will be taking the train in-country.
Wave to me on the Rome to Bologna railroad overpass as you are cruising the Appenines in your VW. Bastard.
April 11th, 2017 at 12:09 PM ^
We're training Milan-Venice and Florence-Rome, but driving Venice-Florence to do other stuff in Tuscany. We're also driving a day trip out of Rome.
You won't be disappointed that you rented a car. I've traveled Europe extensively via planes, trains and automobiles. Italy is one the best countries to skip the trains and drive it. You see the country so much better in a car stopping in little towns etc.
You won't be disappointed.
April 11th, 2017 at 10:19 AM ^
I spent 3 weeks in Malta on a business trip, and our rental was a Peugot 106. Small car for a small country. For those of you who remember the Chevy Chevette, well, a Peugot 106 was a hatchback in the same style, but it would fit inside of a Chevette.
It was a stick, 4 on the floor, and they drive on the left, so you're shifting left handed with reversed pedals. Took a few tries to get accustomed to all of it. And thankfully, one of my coworkers luggage got delayed in Germany. There were 3 of us, and if his bags had shown up, we would have needed a second car, since we barely got everything shoehorned in as it was.
Quite the experience. Not actually a bad drive, but not much power getting up hills, and very cramped for a 6' 1" American. Nothing I'd ever want to be shoved into again.
April 11th, 2017 at 10:23 AM ^
Ahhh yes by far my favorite rental was last year. Me and the girlfriend were on the south pacific island of Huahine. Infrastructure is severely limited but we wanted to explore this beautiful island that is more or less untouched by modern tourism. We were in a local fare(what we'd call a B&B in America) and asked about renting a car. They recommended what we came to call Slow Bessie. Max speed with the 2 of us on it was barely 25 mph. We had to walk it up some of the steep hills but the views and places it took us were incredible! And cheap to boot. 40 bucks US per day.
April 11th, 2017 at 10:35 AM ^
Honeymoon in Tahiti in 2003, wanted to rent a car to tool around the island of Moorea. They had the "expensive" options, which were all newer Fiat Pandas. Asking if there was anything cheaper, they said they had just one manual transmission Panda. We took it for less than half the fee of the other cars, and we quickly discovered why - EVERYTHING was manual - windows, locks, seats, no A/C, no radio. And it was probably 10+ years old then. It was a piece of junk, but got us around the island with no issues.
Business trip to the Bay Area back in 2007 or so. Was pleasantly surprised to have received a Subaru Outback XT as my rental car at SFO. Talk about a blast to drive. Sure, I would've preferred the Legacy GT wagon and a manual transmission, but that was still pretty cool.
Business trips to Wichita around 2014. In order, received the following cars
- Chevy Malibu
- Ford Expedition
- Toyota Prius
- Cadillac ATS
- Typical rental cars (fusion, malibu, etc.)
Newest car I ever got was during a 2016 business trip to Atlanta - Jeep Grand Cherokee with 17 miles on the odometer. During that project, also ended up with a Dodge Caravan and Mazda 5, among other cars.
The only other hybrid I ever received was on a 2015 business trip to Eugene, OR. Had a Kia Optima Hybrid. Compared to the Prius, very much like driving a normal car. You can barely tell it's a hybrid.
April 11th, 2017 at 10:44 AM ^
A few weeks ago I had to bring in my Focus to get the transmission looked at. They gave me an F-250 for 2 days. I went from driving a tiny ass Focus to sitting above everything but semis. It was awe-inspiring.
April 11th, 2017 at 10:56 AM ^
On a Navy stop in Saipan, some buddies and I rented a Mitsubishi Outlander. Lucky me, it was in my name, so I got to drive. We didn't really have any plans, we just wanted a car. So we decided: This car is called an Outlander, so let's take it Outlanding. And we bashed around the dirt and mud jungle roads for a couple hours. Of course, we eventually got stuck in some godforsaken part of the island. Everyone was complaining they'd probably have to get out in the mud and push, but I said, nah, watch this, and proceeded to violently rock the car back and forth, D-R-D-R-D-R-D-R, until we launched out of the mud hole. Forward, of course, meaning that when we hit the end of the dirt road, we had to go back through it. Which I decided was best accomplished by gunning it and hoping for the best.
This is not quite "turned-down-a-Bondmobile" level of regret, but I wish we hadn't taken it through the car wash before we turned it back in, just to see the look on the rental-car ladies' faces. Of course, they didn't care about the huge new dent in the rear bumper, so maybe they wouldn't have batted an eye.
April 11th, 2017 at 11:10 AM ^
We were asked to go to Orlando for Spring Break with grandkids and family, the last time for my 10 yr old granddaughter to be young enough to enjoy the princesses at Disney. Anyway, rentals at the Orlando airport are not cheap, but found Sixt rent-a-car about $100 cheaper than the rest. I had rented from Sixt (a German company) in Europe so knew they were reputable. Since my wife and I would rent our own car, I selected the Toyota Corolla class on their website to save money. Upon arrival at Sixt, they pulled up a Mercedes for me to drive. Never have driven a Mercedes, I didn't know how to drive it. They gave me an ignition key that had a stub on it, no insertion into an ignition slot. Once inside of the car, I found that you simply depress the brake pedal and push a button on the dash board to start the car. The shift lever was also strange, no sequential movement of the lever, simply push it up for rear, push down for D1 and to put into park, push a button on the end of the lever. Anyway, the black Mercedes turned out to be an enjoyable car to drive. The Mercedes must be a common rental at Sixt because when I returned the car, another Mercedes was being returned in front of me. Meanwhile, my daughters family of five received a Dodge Town and Country, sport series, which they enjoyed.
April 11th, 2017 at 11:22 AM ^
I am old and the whole keyless thing takes getting used to. My wife's Honda CRV has that setup. After 45 years of driving I am so used to keys the whole keyless thing gets me.
April 11th, 2017 at 12:39 PM ^
I HATE SMART KEYS.
HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE.
They add almost nothing in the way of usability for me, add an arseload of risk (oh, you lost your key, that'll be $500....) and made the car key a vendor locked item that's a source of revenue.
I know they can do some things that people like. I'm fine with that. I despise that its getting to the point that I can't get a normal damned key.
Sir, you'd like a spare key? Do you want the economy key that doesn't have any features? That'll be $150, and a $50 programming charge'.
April 11th, 2017 at 11:33 AM ^
my GF's best friend wedding. Rented for a DC to middle virginia commute. Received the "upgrade offer" and after finding out the upgrade was a large SUV I was close to saying no as it was just the 2 of us. But I said "fuck it"... turns out the car was a Toyota Landcruiser and the thing was awesome.
Extra money for gas was well worth the feeling of driving that over your standard compact rental.
April 11th, 2017 at 11:46 AM ^
Just looked up how much they were going for because this reminded me how much I liked it.
85,000 for a new one
and 30k for a used with 100k miles
dang
April 11th, 2017 at 11:41 AM ^
I was in OK as a college admissions counselor/recruiter and was offered an upgrade by Avis from the usual Chevy Malibu (garbage!) to a Cadillac Seville STS. This was 2001. It only cost an extra 10 bucks a day. Took it. Felt like a high roller in that car. Was on that turnpike between Tulsa and OKC one day cruising along, not really paying attention. Looked at the speedometer and it read 95. YIKES. Speed limit was 80. Thankfully, no ticket. Felt like a pimp in that car. Still dream about it.
Aside from the many garbage early 2000 Malibu's I've driven, the worst rental car I had was a late model Ford Focus hatchback last year. Something about the angle of windshield gave me a HUGE headache and a tinge of vertigo. No bueno for driving. I think it might have been because I was looking through the top part of the windshield?? Kind of tough being 6'3" in a smaller car like that.
April 11th, 2017 at 12:00 PM ^
Funny aside: I ended up driving that Caddy on a walking path right through the middle of the OK School for Math and Science campus. It was wide enough for a car...
April 11th, 2017 at 11:47 AM ^
April 11th, 2017 at 11:44 AM ^
First car I rented was at DFW when I went to Jerryworld for Michigan vs Alabama - a white 2012 Chevy Impala. While my friend was less than impressed that we got a "Grandpa Car" in his words, what he realized when we got on the expressway is this was when GM dropped a 3.6L V6 with 302 HP and a 6 speed automatic that model year. I put the pedal down and this thing absolutely flew. Plesant ride, decent fuel economy for the weekend driving we did around the MetroPlex and if I remember, I paid 80 dollars for a 2 day rental. Great deal, great rental car.
April 11th, 2017 at 11:51 AM ^
1983 rose bowl. we go out to see the guys play. story there is that s. smith is caught 'after hours with his girlfriend (i will omit her name) and bo almost didn't let him play. we also had a heck of a new year's party and kept the team out late. oops.
anyway, when we land at LAX we go to get our rental car. they say if we pay an extra, i don't know, $5/day we can not only have insurance coverage, but also that there'd be no deductible in case of damages. we jumped on that offer, and with that type of liberty you can imagine what that car was subjected to. indeed, that was the theme for the whole trip, 'no de-ductible!!'
heck of a trip, excepting that we lost that game.
April 11th, 2017 at 12:02 PM ^
We got a 5-speed Suzuki Swift in Ireland 4 years ago, and what a blast! Driving a stick from the right side never became second nature, but the car itself was so tossable, free-revving, and slow enough so that I could really rail on it but still not be breaking any laws. The little I4 was very smooth and fast-revving (I think it was a 1.2L). Then after we took the ferry to Scotland we got a Kia hatchback of some sort in the next size up (Golf/Focus sized). Not nearly as much fun as that little Suzuki. I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for the Swift.
The good: I "lived" in Sweden for a short time (3 months) on a work assignment, and had 3 different rental cars. I don't remember the first one I had, because I only had it a week before I had to exchange it (it had studded winter tires and the laws there forbid driving on winter tires after April 15th). However, the other two were actually really nice, especially because they are the only rentals I've ever had with manual transmissions. The first was a Renault Megane wagon, and it was like a spaceship. The "key" was more like a credit card looking thing, it was huge inside without being a massive vehicle outside, and it drove really smooth. The second was actually my favorite, a Hyundai Accent diesel hatchback. It's the only diesel I've ever driven, and for a tiny car with a tiny engine, had enough low end torque to accelerate itself in 6th gear if I dipped it below idle revs. Drove that for a month and a half, and it seriously got at least 60 mpg (by my back of the envelope unit conversions).
The bad: When my car got hit by a delivery truck back in 2008 (in the middle of Nick Sheridan clowning on Penn State for a quarter, no less), my rental car was a Chevy Cobalt. What a garbage car, hated that thing so much. Also, a few weeks back I was traveling to the east coast, and split time between Myrtle Beach and Pittsburgh. Instead of flying that, I rented a car since I'd need one in Pittsburgh anyway, and they gave me a Chrysler 200. I refuse to ever drive a car with a goddamn dial transmission again. Plus it was like driving a giant sponge - no steering, braking, or accelerating feel whatsoever.
It was several years ago I was staying in Cozumel diving for a week and the last day we were there we rented a car to drive around the island and check things out. It was a small Jeep, not sure what model. There was black electrical tape on the dash, but couldn't tell why it was there. After driving around most of the day I peeled back the tape and under it was the check engine light that was on. Thought that was a pretty clever way to fix that problem.
Back in the late 90s, we rented a car in Germany to tour German wine country and then head north to see my wife's cousin in Einbeck and then on to Denmark to visit some friends that were there thanks to the U.S. military. I was all juiced I would get some great car to cruise the Autobahn, but instead what I could get that could hold everyone's luggage (and wasn't crazy expensive) was a Ford Mondeo. At least it was the European version of that car. It got squirrely above 160 kph on the autobahn, so a bit of a buzz kill. I had to be careful when I passed, because BMWs and Mercedes would come flying along, so they need to be way back behind us (just barely visible) to give me time to pass.
I've had some interesting rides we'll call rentals. On a cruise that stopped in Cabo, we took a dune buggy tour. These were authentic dune buggies build on old VW beetle chassis. So much fun to drive and very driftable on the flat sand segments we drove.
Similar thing, had a cruise excursion on Cozumel where I got to drive one of those 4-wheel drive open cab vehicles for two with big motorcycle engines in them. Got totally filthy, but so much fun to drive around the offroad course they had laid out.
Finally, I had to get a big vehicle on a business trip to SLC to haul myself and customers around. Guy at the rental counter told me a Ford Expedition would be just the right thing. I never realized how big those things were until I had to drive it. Our hotel had this very tight parking structure that made driving through there a total white knuckle experience. The vehicle was as wide as the parking space markers. I couldn't wait to be rid of that huge thing.
I was living in Stuttgart Germany for 3 months and wanted to take the family around the countryside and some other boardering countries for weekend trips. I often use kayak.com for the best deals in Europe and it always does me well.
We had my 1 year old daughter and generally carry quite a bit of luggage so we were looking for an SUV, wagon or full size. I put the length of rental as 60 days. All the normal prices kept cycling through besides one.
It had a full sized wagon for a total price of 200 euro for 60 days. It was a little more than $3 a day. I imagined i'd get the biggest piece of crap but for 200 euro it was worth a shot. I arrived at the rental agency who tried telling me the cost was 2000 euro but I had the quote from online printed out and in my email. It took me an hour of arguing with customer service but they had to stick with their quote. Finally after round and round arguing they blinked losing the battle and gave me a manual Peugeot wagon. I'd never driven one before but I was pleasantly surprised when I got out on the open road. It had every bit of power and speed of any luxury wagon I've ever driven (Benz, Audi, VW etc). That thing hauled ass.
I basically got the car for $3 day but by the time I got done paying over $1000 in camera speeding fines from inside Germany and between Fance, Switzerland and Belgium it more than compensated for my good luck.
Life evens out in the end
In the summer of 1979, I ended up with a sweet job at Ford Motor, in Body and Electrical Product Engineering. A group of 24 students from different universities were on the road in Montreal, Nova Scotia, Toronto, and Cleveland, in addition to the Detroit area. A couple of us were from UofM. In most areas, we were set up with Ford company cars, which were fine. However, in Montreal, I ended up with a souped up Chevy Monte Carlo SS for a couple weeks. That car was a chick magnet, and really the only time I've ever driven one. It gave me a much greater appreciation for when guys want to have a nice car.
(This picture is almost exactly the paint scheme I remember.)
A couple of years ago I went up to Tahoe in late November on a business trip. I live in LA and this was my first time going up to Tahoe.
After landing at the Sacramento Airport, I went to the National Rental car spot and they had one car left... a brand new Chevy Camaro with a Michigan Manufacturer's license plate.
Now, I have the National Executive plan so I had driven Camaros before and they are fine. Typical US "muscle" car for mass production. Decent speed, good looks and not quite so good of "fit and finish"...
This particular Camaro though...was different....MUCH DIFFERENT.
Perhaps it was the Manufacturer plate, which signified some sort prototype (what was a Michigan M plate doing up in Sacramento anyway)...but this Camaro was spot on Excellent in every way. Blindingly fast, handled nearly as well as the German Porsches and BMWs that I have owned, loaded with Options and the fit and finish was excellent for an American car as well.
I had a blast that week carving through the snowy mountains on the way to Tahoe...and around the lake... then cruising up to Reno and back for a day... it was one of the most memorable times that Ive had with a vehicle.
I didnt drive the Camaro....I WORE it.
On the morning of my return to the airport, I was running late and had to gun the little beast through the snowy mountain passes to get back to Sac town airport on time. I think I made it in an hour and 45 as I recall...and topped 100 several times on long stretches. Not a trip for a medicore driver and not one for the faint-of-heart either.
That particular Camaro was special and hung in all the way. I think it had as much fun as I did that week behind the wheel.
