Woo rented a minivan!
Now I just need to rent a family to ride around in it and complain. It does have back seat video but I can’t reach the gas pedal from there.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
This was a much better rental car than I expected. it was really kind of fun. Fast, powerful, and surprisingly solid. It has those paddle shifter things on the steering wheel and the were kind of fun - with a 6 speed automatic transmission. It’s too bad I couldn’t find anyplace to drive it fast.
It was also very quiet and had a pretty nice stereo. Really, an unexpectedly good car.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
I got a Toyota Landcruiser as a rental car for the first time. It was kind of absurd as a rental. Oversized and a bit mushy, but otherwise it was a perfectly competent car. I still don’t get the “luxury 4WD” concept. I understand luxury cars - they are about comfort. But I don’t get a vehicle that’s premise is to be durable and tough yet coddles it’s occupants as if they’re eggs. You should be able to climb into a 4WD vehicle covered in mud and not think twice about the interior.
Monday, October 13, 2008
I rented a pontiac Grand Prix in Canada. It’s a slightly sporty car that otherwise doesn’t stand out in any way. The stereo doesn’t have line/ipod inputs but works. The knob based control system has lots of identical knobs making it easy to change tuning instead of adjusting volume or vice versa. Otherwise fairly comfortable and basically a competent rental car.
Map ItMonday, October 6, 2008
A mustang convertible is about the perfect LA car. I was very amused to find it waiting in my spot at Hertz. Alas I only had it for the day and the drive from LAX to Santa Monica doesn’t provide for much sporty driving entertainment. Still, it’s fun.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
This is an odd car - basically a 4WD minivan with a nose. The body of the car is surprisingly low for the type of vehicle. One steps out and is surprised the ground is so close. That makes getting in and out easy, but there’s no real value in the 4WD then…
Inside it has the appearance of being faux luxurious. The seats are pseudo leather, the dashboard black and squishy… the stereo is pretty standard chevy lame. No auxilary input and the XM radio thing seemed to be stuck on 4 channels. One was amusingly listed as POTUS08 and was non-stop election news.
The car has a squishy suspension but a moderately powerful engine. There was an unexpected amount of wind noise in the cabin, perhaps one of the window seals wasn’t quite all there.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Rental car review
This Pontiac G6 came with a retractable hard top, one of those solid roof things that folds itself away in the trunk… more or less filling it. One has to choose between having the top down and having something in the trunk - there’s a small amount of room, a thin slice of trunk space under a retractable cover that can be filled and the roof still retracted, but it isn’t accessible with the roof down.
The car itself is fine - fast enough, fairly quiet, decent stereo. Nothing super sporty though. The handling is a bit slushy. A lot of these inexpensive american convertibles have floppy frames after the roof connections are cut. The GT seems a little more responsive than that other convertible rental mainstay, the Sebring, which torques around enough front to back that you definitely feel it. The GT is just a little floppy.
Fun enough driving around LA and the trip was short enough that keeping my luggage in the back seat wasn’t too much of an imposition.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
The Canadian version is pretty much the same as the US version.
The audio jack in the center console is a very good thing. It should be standard on all cars.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Rental car review: Chevy Uplander
The Chevy Uplander is a cross between a mini van and an SUV, but is really just a minivan with an extended nose and a half decent engine. The performance is surprisingly good for a van with hard acceleration and no problem hitting highway passing speeds. The suspension is sort of amusing: the van seems to rock constantly in a kind of reassuring put the baby to sleep kind of way at the smallest bump.
The van has a ton of room and a good stereo. It is fairly comfortable to drive and not particularly fatiguing, but not exactly sporty or fun.
- Quiet - Not too bad but some noise from the huge cabin.
- Comfortable - fairly comfortable.
- Engine - a moderate engine, fairly responsive for the size of the vehicle.
- Suspension - ugh. Wobbles side to side.
- Basic amenities - everything that could be reasonably powered is.
- Stereo - acceptable but nothing great.
- Security - not very - everything inside is visible.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Rental car review: Ford Mustang
I got this car with plastic on the steering wheel, the back seat belts buckled, and 5 miles on the odometer. I very much enjoy mustangs: they’re fast and throaty and fun to drive and equipped with loud and amusing stereos.
They are small in the trunk and the back seats are pretty useless - definitely not where you want to stuff an large, elderly coworker. But the car is fun. Fast and fun.
The engine has more show than go - the sound of the engine is one of big power and extreme performance. While the car handles much better than most rental cars, it does not live up to the sound of the exhaust. A nice Audi or Volvo, for example, will accelerate faster, harder, and longer and take turns better, but never call attention to themselves while doing it.
On the other hand, actually going really fast is not always relevant: having fun is more to the point and the mustang is fun. It feels spry and agile and powerful and serves well to take years off the driver’s age. It’s the prefect car to cruise suburban malls, especially if one dye’s one’s hair or wears a toupee. If chicks aren’t the goal, then it certainly makes getting to work an exercise in regression therapy.
Aside from the throaty roar and sporty performance, road noise is poorly isolated but well compensated for by a loud, bass-heavy stereo typically equipped with a CD-MP3 changer that can hold 6 CDs (or maybe 60 albums) which means on older cars one can often find heavy metal compilations forgotten in the changer. Not so much classical.
- Quiet - Not very quiet.
- Comfortable - fairly comfortable.
- Engine - a great engine for a rental car, a lot of fun.
- Suspension - very good for a rental car.
- Basic amenities - everything that could be reasonably powered is.
- Stereo - killer stereo: loud and plays MP3s off a 6 CD changer.
- Security - small but secure trunk.
