Rental Car Reviews

I just had a BMW 116i hatch in Germany for a week. RWD hatch fun, 137hp with auto start/stop in 3000 lb car, not so much. I enjoyed driving a poverty spec, slow, cloth seat BMW just because it was a unique experience, but see why they don't sell them in the states. The long stretches of WOT without much to show in terms of speed were entertaining on the autobahn. Dynamics seemed pretty good. 135i could be compelling, but it's not coming here so who cares. We just hate wagons! Seeing all the cool Euro only wagons is frustrating. Mazda6, Golf R, FoST, M5, RS6... There's so many.

Before that, Prius for a few days in Florida. It was good at carrying our stuff and not requiring much gas, but quicken my pulse it did not.

Neither of these cars made me want to trade in our Mazda3. Any of the aforementioned wagons would.

Ram. 1500 crew cab for a week.

It had a hemi, used gas like it. Power was good but not amazing, the slow shifting auto killed it.

Wtf is with the knob to select gears.

Otherwise a good solid American truck, but 16 mpg combined dosent thrill me.

No, but they do pretty decent burnouts. Which is important for a rental. They are way better than the new F150 in that aspect.

the rentals I've had over the last several years.

Chrysler Sebring convertible. Ugh. Poor gas mileage, anemic power.

Mini Cooper convertible. Double ugh. guess I was just expecting more.

Jeep Liberty. Twice in Hawaii. Not horrible but doesn't compare to my FJ in any way, shape, or form.

Chevy impala. Nice highway cruiser.

Chevy HHR. Not great visibility but better than a PT Cruiser in every way.

Nissan small suv. So bad I don't even remember what it was.

Kia Sedona. I needed a minivan and this one fit the bill nicely. Frankly it was like driving around a couch.

Here's my last 2:

Chevy Sonic Sedan - was way bigger than I expected considering it's considered a subcompact. Had better steering feel than I expected, but still pretty numb - good tires might fix that. Poverty-spec non-turbo engine moved it better than I expected. Auto trans was decent, if not a little too greasy on the shifts even under heavy throttle.

2013 Mazda 3 sedan (Canadian spec) - got this from Alamo in Boston. Had 116k KM on it - how is this still on a major company's lot in May of 2016? The speedo in km/h and thermometer in C was super-helpful on American roads. The area of the carpet where the driver's left heel sits was completely worn through (I experienced the same thing on my 2007 Mazda 6). Other than that I loved the car, the 2.0 still provided decent power, transitioned great on the rolling roads of New England. Great brakes and road feel. I liked the instrument cluster. Used only 3/4 of a tank of fuel for a 4 day weekend where I felt like we were driving around the whole time.

Fiat 500x in FL (assume FWD) - there were a bunch of boring rental options, and this. I was impressed. Cabin felt roomy, decent (turbo) power, drivetrain worked well together (I think it was a 9 speed). Not a lot of space in the trunk for stuff, but it would be decent for four people who pack really light.

Had the fiat also in Denver/Boulder earlier this year. Made decent work of running up the nearby canyon into the Rockies the two times I got the chance. Carried 2 of us around well, decent mileage and yeah the trunk is small. A buddy had a long term one in France for like 3 months, diesel , nicknamed it the mini truck.

New week, new rental car!

This time, I chose a 2015 Mazda6 with 30k miles on the clock. Normally if I see that many miles I get into another car, but I don't see a lot of Mazdas in National's fleet, so I said what the heck.

First impressions, on the 200 mile drive out of town, the car was fine on the highway. Compared to last week's 300C, the interior packaging was so much better... Seemed like there was a heckuva lot more space inside than the 300c, which is comparatively massive on the outside. This one just has plain cloth seats, which are fine, and an infotainment system, which was slso fine. One of these days, I'll set up my Miata's two-gens-ago Bluetooth phone connection, but I doubt that I would be able to hear anything anyway since I so frequently have the top down.

The engine is definitely buzzy, and the gas petal has a noticeable click at the last 1/8 of its travel. Is that supposed to be there? Seems like some hokey "turbo boost" button.

The trunk is cavernous, and the back seat looks fine. That's all I have to say about that.

Overall, it is a perfectly fine family car. It doesn't feel chintzy or low-budget, but it definitely doesn't have the reassuring luxury "thunk" when closing the door. Would definitely recommend for a significant other's car, but I can't wait to get back to my Miata.

I just have to do this....

Rental car review - all of them:

"I think it is nice, but I will have to check after all the tire smoke clears out"

I'm done, sorry for the jackassery

Ever wonder where the really bad rental cars go? Most majors own other cheap rental companies, and the undesirable or tragic cars get sent there. I got out of one low price car when I worked moving cars at an airport and asked for a hazmat suit. I hope they solved whatever crime had been committed in that car. I don't know what happened to the car that was a rolling meth lab, but I'm sure it was rented again.

OK Ill add one.

Chevy Equinox.

Good: Got up and went ok, I didn't even bother to look at what engine it had, ate up freeway miles and the cruise control was easy to work. I didn't calculate but didn't eat much gas. AC worked very well for being a black car in the CA sun.

Bad: Hideous exterior, tiny trunk, PLASTIC steering wheel (really? hard ass plastic that makes your hand sweat? ugh), visibility sucked with the weird triangle front windows. The infotainment center was a bitch to get connected to the phone, once it was it worked ok except it would make pandora freeze every time you got a call.

Wouldn't buy one, but it was ok for a few days.

I had a Kia Sportage a couple trips ago. The most entertaining thing about it was pondering whether it was pronounced Sport-Age, sport-ehdge, or my favorite sport-taj. I kept thinking about carrying it around the falls like a canoe.

Nothing else to report on that vehickle other than I would've rather had a Focus or any of the variuos Hyundai cars I typically get. I generally do not like SUVs.

Speaking of SUVs, I got 'upgraded' into a Toyota Sequoia a couple months ago. That thing was down right auful. The gauges are set in the bottom of what look like beer car sized holes so you can only see them if you are lined up correctly. There were like 8 or 9 gauges on the dash and I could only ever see one or two at a time. Terrible design. Stupidly large vehicle for little cargo space. Drove terrible as well.

Today's rental: 2016 V6 Camaro coupe. I used to think that automatic V6 pony cars were a case of "almost, but not quite," but this Camaro comes with more than 300 horsepower and an 8-speed transmission. These provide more than adequate grunt, and a gear for every occasion. Additionally, this rental had every power feature that anyone could expect without bordering on absurdity, with the exception of a sunroof. The exterior styling is a matured evolution of the prior generation, despite keeping the Brinks van windows. The interior layout and design is a huge step up from what I expect from a Chevrolet. Of all switches in an interior, the one that makes or breaks the interior for me is the turn signal. The 300 has a stalk that feels like snapping one of those boxed Alessi breadsticks. The Camaro has an excellent soft, yet solid click.

I generally prefer big floaty boats for rentals, but I certainly don't regret the Camaro. If come across a mustang coupe in National's aisle, I'll have to test one out to see which of the pony cars rents best.

Just got back from a week in a rental Mustang V6 convertable. 35k miles on the clock which may very well be the highest I've ever seen on a car I've rented. Interior plastics showed a fair amount of wear. One turn signal was burnt out. There was some minor drivetrain lash that you could feel when modulating the throttle which surprised me a little given the mileage and slushbox trans. Speaking of which, while the car has paddle shifters, the trans is completely conventional and blah. The car had enough power to get out of its own way but tipping in at 3500 lbs, it doesn't feel fast. Center console is a sea of square buttons; not very intuitive nor modern in the least. Top down driving was nice, suspension felt firm enough but where I was there weren't any curves in the road to test the handling properly. No visibility issues with the top up. All told, I am not running out to the Ford dealership any time soon, but it made a fine vacation car.

Two more entries!

Ford Fusion Hybrid: I didn't realize that this was a hybrid until I pushed the start button and nothing happened. The continual transitioning between powertrains made throttle response wait-wait-okay once depressing the gas pedal. The regen brakes took a day or two to get used to. Additionally, this one was optioned with the curiously small screen that made the rear view camera worthless.

Toyota Avalon XLE - this is nice. A nice cushy couch that's not quite town car floaty. Intuitive controls, decent power, and a huge rear seating area. I am equally happy with this as the 300 as a rental. If I frequently had passengers, the Avalon would definitely take top spot due to its better interior packaging, but I prefer the 300's power delivery. Overall, the Avalon has made an excellent rental.