Best and worst econo car rentals...

[recycled sixtie]

The worst in the last two years was our car rental in Palm Springs recently. It was a Ford Fusion. It had the following problems:
-plastic piece falls off door when door opened.
-door trim coming off.
-uncomfortable front seats.

Not so bad were the Nissan Sentra and Nissan Altima.

Best was the Toyota Corolla which did everything so well - good air cond., comfortable seats. Good visibility all round. Not exciting to drive but very good for an econobox.

And your thoughts?
G.

[Bill Douglas]

I'm pleased you like the Corolla. I'm a huge Corolla fan.

I bought GF a "new to her" 1.8 liter Corolla with auto and she LOVES it. I feel like upgrading my old one but after I've owned a car it has almost no resale value.

[dmcummins]

We have rented quite a few in the last year. We haven't had any trouble with any of them. Most are boring, Impala's, fusions, Cruz, etc. I was surprised with the Sonata, it was actually kind of fun to drive, had some blind spots I didn't like . My wife liked the Impala, liked the way it rode on the interstate.

[gordner]

I have been pleasantly surprised by every Huyndai product I have rented, they are actually much better cars than one would expect. Small american cars at low price point on the other hand all tend to be crap in my experience these days, poorly built and seriously under powered.

[Noah930]

I think I rented a Suzuki Samurai (or whatever it was that replaced it) down in St John once. Either the brake fluid had all boiled off, or the pads were made of butter because that thing took forever to slow down, let alone stop. Impressive considering that it weighed so little. Unfortunately driving on the island is all up and down stuff. I always kept a lookout on our descents for "soft" places to crash (or ditch).

[TimT]

I lived in Israel for a few years '79-'82

When I had my first free time I decided to rent a car and take a drive around the area...

I cannot remember the rental agency, it was a big name one, and I drove off in a Autobianchi...

This car had a shift lever that was in the dash... a handle you pushed, pulled and twisted to select gears....

Said handle pulled out of the dash between shifts about a 30 minute drive from Tel Aviv...

This all is taking place years before cell phones, internet, email etc..

I was only in country a few days...

OK car is broken.... find a pay phone and call the number on the rental agreement....

Takes hours to find a pay phone... Only to find out the phone does not accept Israeli coins..you need a special token that can be purchased at banks, remittance centers, some drug stores, post offices, or black market for a few sheckels more..

Then finally having to call the number on the rental agreement a few time until you found someone who speaks English....

(Note: I was 20 y/o at the time and it was my first extended time away from home, so speaking Hebrew or one of the Arab languages was chance zero)

Took me two days to get it all "exactly perfect" by the time all the connections were made, and a replacement car was arranged it was time for me to get back to Tel Aviv and my new job....Disaster narrowly averted...

Then there was the time I ran out of gas on my bike while was taking the "easy" way to get from Ovda to Eilat, and a Bedouin came to investigate "why the light went out" and invited me to stay in his tent...

The next day he made his neighbor siphon some nasty, possibly 70 octane gas out of an old Fiat for me...

Got the bike barely running...and off I went to Eilat...

I drove by that Bedouin camp a few times during my stay in Israel, and never saw that kind generous family again... They were very good people....

AcKK

Hijack

That Autobianchi was a POS

[onewhippedpuppy]

Kia Optima, Kia Soul, Chevy Cobalt, Ford Escape - good surprises. Dodge Journey, Dodge Challenger, VW Passat - bad surprises.

[Jim Richards]

I interviewed at a west coast startup company back in the mid-1990's. After my flight arrived at the airport, I went to the rental car agency that the startup company wanted me to use, only to find out that they reserved a Geo Metro for me. A total POS. Scary as hell in fast, heavy freeway traffic. In my mind, I wrote off that company before I even arrived at their facility.

[theFONZ]

My last, and probably favorite, rental was a Fiat 500. It was a fun little car to rent and drive around town, but don't try to merge onto the highway. I've had a lot of cars I hated, but I'd say the Nissan Versa was the worst. It almost caused someone to smash into me when I pulled out of a parking lot. There was an opening in traffic so I let off the brake and pressed the gas. The car just idled forward and the pedal did nothing, I had it to the floor, it didn't even rev up. It was like the pedal wasn't pressed. The car I pulled in front of locked its tires up trying not to rear end me. I ended up idling through the light at 2mph and pulling into the next parking lot. Turned it off and back on and nothing was wrong anymore. That was the icing on the cake for that POS. It went back the next day.

[aigel]

Corolla (13 model) is a total POS. Give me a break.

New Corolla - Purchase price

Have you driven the 13 Corolla?

I did, last week, as a rental. 6k miles on the clock. It was a terrible terrible POS:

- Tupperware cheapo interior
- Camping chair seats
- Jerky steering
- Terrible handling in turns and on braking
- Funny shifting transmission
- Feels like it has half the power advertised

I would very much look at all the alternative cars, or wait for the 14 model. This Corolla has definitely jumped the shark, especially compared to its competition.

G

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by aigel

Corolla (13 model) is a total POS. Give me a break.

New Corolla - Purchase price

I've had the Camry and Corolla recently. While not horribly offensive, they definitely aren't the Toyotas of old.

[oldE]

Originally Posted by gordner

I have been pleasantly surprised by every Huyndai product I have rented, they are actually much better cars than one would expect.

I have to go along with this.
I drove a Hyundai Elantra through the Rockies from Calgary to Vancouver in 2007. I could barely stand to look at the thing, but it was fairly entertaining in the twisties (Rt 6). A nasty rattle in the back turned out not to be the exhaust, but rather the torsion bars which held the trunk lid open had come unsnapped from a plastic support. Ten seconds fixed that.

In the UK, a Kia Cee'd was a decent little car to get around in, although the auto shut off when idling was a bit un-nerving when it first shut off on the M25.

A 2005 trip to the UK netted a Focus (the generation we didn't get in North America). That car was great. The handling saved our lives once, when I had to leave the road surface to make way for a lady in my lane as she overtook another vehicle on a blind crest!

I was foolish enough to rent a 1.2 litre Vauxhall on the last trip to Scotland. It was adequate in most circumstances, but it couldn't handle the long haul up the hill on the A9 south of Inverness. Down to 3rd!

Flip side, a Toyota (equivalent to Yaris) in Iceland. I doubt there was an ounce of sound deadening in the car. It reminded me of that line from Shakespear, "Full of noise and fury, signifying nothing."

But they all got us where we wanted to go.
Best
Les