Rental Car Ruckus 2: Electric Boogaloo

[.RJ]

Rental Car Ruckus: 1993 Nissan 240sx (automatic)



dubya-tee-eff? Thats right, this baby was mine for a whole weekend of joyriding. Dave wanted to borrow my truck to move his Z-car so we swapped vehicles on the way down to VIR. I had reserved a Toyota Supra from Dave's rental fleet, but I was told it was unavailable so I took the 240 at the discounted rate.

Engine: I never looked under the hood, so I assume that it did in fact have an engine. Its performance was lethargic, at best, going downhill. I may have pushed the happy pedal to the mat shortly after leaving Dave's rental agency and commented "this may be faster than my truck" and Gerald's girlfriend said "no, it just makes more noise". So thats that... verdict: Slower than an F150 with the A/C on.

Brakes: lots of shuddering, occasional deceleration. These were in fact far better than the "slowers" on my CB400 so not all was lost. Enough braking power to "lock dem shits up" in the wet.

Suspension: It seemed to hold up the car and provided a comfortable ride on the highway, surprisingly no complaints here. There may have been some off-roading on the VIR fire roads getting to corner stations (I can neither confirm nor deny this) and the suspension (may have) performed very well. No attempts at drifting were made (I have my limits).

Interior: Seats and non-functional cig lighter outlet. The car did have some ice-cold A/C though - big plus on that one.



Interesting feature - the front tires were nearly bald, with heavy wear on the outside of both tires, with cord showing on the left front.

I would highly recommend dave's beater rental service :thumbup:

[Andy]

hiLARIOUS

[Dave]

ROFL
Nice writeup RJ. For the record for everybody else, RJ and I have determined that the braking and shuddering is probably related to the slightly worn tire issue :-). It's being remedied...
It pains me to hear that it seemed slow, but it still feels pretty quick to me :p.
The interior pic is outdated, thank goodness; I've gotten rid of all of the red stuff now. John Chapin and Linds can testify that it would appear the PO was intent on having a red interior, what a truly horrible idea.

[ScottyB]

hahaha, i guess you have to be a Gold member of Dave's Rental Service to reserve the supra

[Dave]

reservations are available today, only $18,000 OBO

[CaptainHenreh]

You know, while I was driving the HHR, I thought "Wow, you know maybe this would be kind of neat with some Balls. An HHR SS, rofl, that would never happen" and then I forgot about it.

But:

Will wonders never cease? The Chevy HHR SS...2.0 Direct Injection Turbo!

I mean, I'm not sure exactly who would buy it. I'd be perfect for my mom, or maybe if I had a girlfriend or something, but hey, I wasn't sure who'd buy the "GT Cruiser" either, so wtf do I know.

[CaptainHenreh]

P.S. A 'ring time of 8:43.52 minutes? Not bad. Same as an Integra Type R, and faster than an 04 Mini Cooper S.

[HAULN-SS]

Hrmm. I thought I posted this link 2 weeks ago, but I guess I forgot to actually post it.

[ScottyB]

P.S. A 'ring time of 8:43.52 minutes? Not bad. Same as an Integra Type R, and faster than an 04 Mini Cooper S.

for serious? that's pretty impressive, i don't care what it looks like.

[Dave]

quick review of my 07 Kia Optima...





You've now seen the best part about this flaming pile of crap with wheels. First, how does a brand new ECONOMY car with cruise control set at 65mph (for all but 30 miles of a 350 mile trip) still average less than 28 miles per gallon. I got this car b/c I wanted good gas mileage, I would have gotten something nicer if I had expected that! Seriously, I can get my 240, made 14 years ago, to get 32 mpg under the same conditions! Our space exploration team needs to work out a way to make a car be able to get decent mileage.
Rant over. This car was a turd, despite the sub-par fuel economy. It had 8000 miles on it and already something in the front suspension was vibrating so badly that I feared looking off to my side and seeing a wheel rolling away with part of my suspension attached. Luckily it seemed to even out at higher speeds. Turning the radio up and driving with my legs also helped.
I really can't say much more for this car. It was a mode of transportation and managed to travel almost a full tank of gas (I was surprised by the range on this car, there was still a 1/4 tank of gas left according to the guage) without any catastrophic failures, so I guess KIA is starting to get their shit straight. Sadly, it would appear that I am doomed to drive one of their rolling calamities every time I rent a car...

[CaptainHenreh]

Oooh! ooh! Me Next!

I forgot my Virginia Beach Adventure rental car ruckus. Dave reminded me, so now you get two for one on the same day. Awesome, ok, let's go.

So a co-worker and I had to head down to our Virginia Beach office to do some shit. I did computer shit, he did some other shit, but the shit was of such shitty nature that it would take a full 8 hours of doin' shit to get the shit done that needed to get done. So four in the morning, my co-worker rolls up in our rental car:



Wait, no, that doesn't look right. Ah, here it is:



Easy mistake to make. We were gonna haul ass in big pimpin' style all the way to Virginia Beach in a someyear Lincoln Town Car. They tried to give my coworker a PT Cruiser, but he said "Fuck that noise!" And talked him into this "Hot Rod Lincoln".

So, I got into the car, this plushy FLAT seat completely conforming to the shape of my ass, and I take account of my surroundings. Where there wasn't creamy white leather (Fine Corinthian Leather? Recardo Montalban says NO!) there was creamy white upholstry or faux wood grain, for truly discerning tastes.

Buckled in, I fiddled with the "melon in your back" setting, AKA lumbar support. I switched it from "watermelon" to "canteloupe" and looked at my co-worker, sipping a cup of water.

"You're going to want to finish that."

He gave me a puzzled look and said, "Why?" I shifted into "D" and asked him if he knew what that stood for. "Drive?" No, guess again. He looked at me, rolled down the window, threw his water out and tightened his seatbelt.

I then proceeded to lay the most glorious, perfect doughnut in that particular parking lot's history. I only stopped because the smoke was so thick I couldn't see, and I didn't want to run into a lightpole or something. I actually got a call later that afternoon asking if it was me who "broke in" the parking lot.

That was the best part of the trip.

On the road, it got a little warm with a laptop and two people breathing in the car, so I set the auto climate control down. And down. And lower. And fuck, it sure doesn't FEEL like 60 degrees in here. Then I notice the "auto" button. Mother fuck! Listen ford, when I press the temperature down button, (and thanks for putting it on the steering wheel) it's because I want the temperature to go down NOW. Not later, when I find the button. NOW. I can understand having a button to, you know, turn that shit off.

Now, my next complaint. The car was indeed very quiet most of the time. Very little road noise, no wind noise at all, we seemed to be in our own little containment booth...until you went for the power. Then, you got ALOT of noise. (Not power though, I'll get to that in a minute) Not a good V8 rumbly noise, not something that will frighten small children, but the sound not unlike a high speed fan five minutes before failure. But along with this noise, do you think there was any power? Oh no. There was zero power up top, the best way to accelerate on the highway was to gently put your foot into it, and try to give it as much throttle as possible without actually downshifting. On the bizzaro-world twist to this, it actually handled speed just fine. 90mph felt like 50, no sweat. No swaying, no feeling of imminent doom that by all accounts you should be feeling. My "oh-shit-o-meter" never went above a 5, so I don't know if that's just the massive weight of the car keeping the whole thing anchored or if the air suspension actually, does something.

AVG Fuel economy: 26.5 mpg. Not bad, really. It's about what I get out of the mazda, and the Lincoln is a whole lot bigger. The trunk and back seat are HUGE, (The better for pimping you with, my dear.) and the front bench seat is sort of cool, if you were the kind of person to get it on in the front seat.

Really, the thing that the Lincoln most made me feel was a longing for something better. I don't drive huge land yachts very often, and this was kind of nice. It was really big, comfortable, smooth, and it made me think 'Gee, what would a 7 series be like? Or a big MB? Or an Infiniti or Lexus? You know, something really nice." I think that's it's biggest failing. 10 years ago, this would have been an amazing car, with it's comfort, and features, and shit. 8 way power heated memory seats? Yeah, that's ballin'. A 1990 Audi CoupeQ had that too.

It really makes me want to drive a Caddy. Like, a new one. Cadillac in my mind has always been kind of a step or two above ford's luxury products, so maybe I'd like it. Shifting does kind of get to be a pain, but I wouldn't give it up to only have an auto, you dig?

Anyway, the moral of the story is that when you have a big RWD luxobarge rental, the "D" in PRND stands for "Doughnut".

[ScottyB]

haha....exceptional storytelling and belittling of sub-par automobiles on both accounts :lol:

[Maengelito]

which reminds me:

i spent last week out in vegas. thanks to thrifty letting govt employees get a free upgrade, i was rocking a jeep commander all week. the thing was like riding around in a throne. it was high up off the ground, it barely fit in parking spaces, the A/C was pretty good considering it was 105* out in vegas everyday and it had pretty good pickup. i'm not one for SUVs but this one was pretty fun to drive. i'm not sure what it'd be like to tow with one, but i wouldnt rule it out if i could afford one. i'm not sure why i didnt, but i really considered driving around in the desert with this behemoth to see how it handled off road terrain.

[Evan]

Kaan's mom's commander got lemoned.

there is a joke in there somewhere, but this is kaan's mom we are talking about.

[.RJ]

Rental car ruckus: Pontiac G6

I'll start it off by saying I really want to hate this thing. The styling is bland, and I've never really liked a Pontiac. They've always had that GM fisher price feel to them.

Exterior: Rental car bland. Inconspicuous at 90mph I suppose is not a bad thing, but its just... plain.



Interior: This is the big surprise. Everything is put together well, no rattles, nice materials and well styled. Not a bad place to be, and the seats are reasonably comfortable. Its still missing something, but I cant figure out what it is. Probably because it isnt a honda :lol:



Brakes: Another surprise. It stops and the brakes have excellent feel. ABS works well :lol:

Handling: Plush ride on the highway, but truffle hunts and rides the bumpstops on the offramp battle stage but doesnt get out of sorts.

Engine: I dont even think I'd call it that. Its awful. It wont even light up the tires making a u-turn and the throttle pushed through the firewall :!: It sounds crappy and just doesnt go.

Overall: Decent rental car, totally boring to drive. If the engine was better, the car would be ok. I give it a B-. Would rent again.

[Jake]

I'll go ahead and toss in a quick writeup. This is half-passenger/half-driver.

There I was, standing in the parking lot across from Showker, waiting for fellow MMers to arrive so we could go to the swankiest MM meeting ever - Justin and Casey's wedding. I hear a "meep meep" similar to the Road Runner, and look up to see Kyle and Julie waving from what is definitely not an STi or Civic. It was this:



A 2007ish PT Cruiser, with the "Touring" package.

I stood there in my classy attire, sipping my Starbucks, and Mike D'Amico and Aaron pull up in the SLK and honk to say hi. Kyle honks back, takes his hand off the horn, and the car is still honking. This went on for a good 15 seconds before the PT decided that sufficient greetings were had.

I wanted to put my gift to the Mr. and Mrs. in the back, and Kyle quickly stopped me. "Hang on... it doesn't open without the key." Whattttt? But it didn't. Something broke, obviously, in the 27k that this PT had.

We took off down 81. Well, "took off" in the kindest sense, as we were following Mark's Fox, and the PT doesn't have a whole lotta power to go around either. Kyle got it up to 75ish and there we were, 81 to 64 to a shit-ton of back roads. Gas mileage was horrendous. We were probably 30 miles into the trip - 5 people + A/C - and down by 1/4 tank. The backseat was decently comfortable, considering I shared it with two others. We all agreed by the end of the 2-hour ride that one cheek per person was numb.

So the wedding happened. I do, I do, kiss the bride, etc. :wink: Time to go home. I offered to drive and was given the key.

The driver's seat was easy enough to adjust. I was comfortable, which is not always the case (6' 1") in smaller cars. Steering wheel is huge. The radio, save for the Aux-In jack, is awful -- muddy sound even with "Treb" set to 9, which Chrysler thinks is close enough to 11, but sadly is not. The Cruise was easy to set, but it's on that Toyota-style stalk that sticks out from the wheel. I hit it a few times accidentally.



The gauges are nice at night. Trip computer under the tach was cool too - it showed a compass and the current radio setting (Aux), or average MPG. We got about 20 mpg on the trip. Some downhill parts (with CC on) let me push it to about 23 mpg.

It was a decent car to haul people and their stuff. We fit comfortably enough. Nothing overly spectacular, but it's becoming a stale design (even with that 2005ish refresh) and will need to be re-done soon anyway.

[ScottyB]

my PT had a really strong e-brake and would willingly do a 180 in a wet parking lot :lol:

man i hated that car

[Jeff]

Drove my mom's PT yesterday... man I hate that car. But to speak for fuel economy Sylvia's PT used to get right about 30 when she would take it for a long drive. But it is a 5-speed.

[Evan]

Jeff hates a Chrysler product? I never thought Id see the day

[Jeff]

I mean, my mom's PT is just a huge piece of shit. To its credit it has never left her stranded or needed any major repair.