Rental Car Ruckus 2: Electric Boogaloo

[Sully]

It's not the nicest looking but I've definitely seen worse designs lately.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[WRXtranceformed]

Those have a CVT right? Automatic fail right there

[CaptainHenreh]

Anyone know anything wrong with them?

:lol:

[.RJ]

This thread delivers

[Goodspeed]

Time to regale you all with the experience I've had thus far with my rental 2016 (?) Chevy Cruze, 35k miles, $29 a day.





Probably the most downright brutal part of the car for me is the design/location of the dead pedal.  It's wide and placed forward, so in my seating position, if my foot is on it my left leg is very much bent into an awkward position with my knee towards me that doesn't give the feeling of "resting" at all - very tiresome after 10-15 mins.  If I choose not to place my foot on the dead pedal, my left leg is then angled uncomfortably rightwards from my straight torso so that my left foot is crammed into the pedal box - positioned below on the leftmost flat surface next to the dead pedal as it angles into the floorpan.  It's as if no one under 6'+ on the design team even sat in the car.



Speaking of my left leg, if I wanna activate the parking brake, knee gets jammed into the door panel here:



This A-pillar is blocking an entire car.  The blind spot afforded by the gigantic B-pillar is doubly tremendous:




I still can't believe what modern design has done to placing your elbow on the doorsill.  One of the most natural movements while driving for a long, lazy stretch and it's just like everyone who builds cars these days is OK with this.  Not easy to tell, but the tip of my elbow is about even with my ear:



Buckled in my somehwat far-forward seating position, reaching out and I still can't touch the glass.  I have no idea where the front of this car is, if it even exists at all:



Beyond that, the steering feels like one of the 25 cent rides in front of a supermarket, the responsiveness to inputs (throttle tip in and shifting) is just bad and the stop/start "feature" is absoutely maddening.  I can drop it in N or L at rest and it won't shut the motor off, but the constant *shunt* of the motor starting and stopping if left in D is ridiculous.  How many starter motors do cars go through these days?

In summary: load them all onto a space barge and transport into the sun

[JPolen01]

The Chevy start/stop is downright garbage. We had a rental Malibu last year in San Diego and the car itself for being a Malibu was not that bad. But the start/stop was so obnoxious. The AC can't keep up when the engine is off so it would automatically lower the blower speed at stop lights. In San Diego. In the summer. Miserable. The starting of the car is so jarring. Whatever engineer designed and signed off on that should be fired.

[CaptainHenreh]

I still can't believe what modern design has done to placing your elbow on the doorsill.  One of the most natural movements while driving for a long, lazy stretch and it's just like everyone who builds cars these days is OK with this.  Not easy to tell, but the tip of my elbow is about even with my ear:

This sky-high beltline on 20's garbage has got to go. I blame Chip Foose.

[Goodspeed]

I'm just overall flabbergasted.  I know this Cruze doesn't represent *every* new car but I know a lot of its drawbacks are shared with most due to universal standards. 

I mean, who is happy with these ergonomics?  Anyone?  Dealers, salesmen, car executives, engineers, all of them working today were around driving cars that didn't punish you from A to B like this - are they not similarly un-enthused?  

Hell, even safety regulators - these have gotta be grievances that they too feel on some level.  It just makes me wish I could be one of those "real people" in the new Chevy ads to sound off on all this.

[SlimKlim]

While I agree that the ergonomics of that car in particular look like garbage, I actually am ok with the trend of high belt lines and thick A-pillars.

Visibility is a great tool to avoid being hit, but once you've been hit pencil thin A-pillars and below the shoulder doors are NOT what I want.

A lot of cars are pretty excessive about it, especially with rearward visibility since it seems like they are building cars with backup cameras in mind now. That being said, I think my MK7 strikes a good balance between visibility and safety (although the A-pillars are as thick as any other new car).

The E36 never seemed like a particularly unsafe car to me, after all it has an airbag, but after really getting used to being in a MY2015 for the past couple of years, i now feel particularly aware of the fact in the event of a side impact my brains would almost certainly be extruded through the grill of whatever hit me.

[Senor_Taylor]

While I agree that the ergonomics of that car in particular look like garbage, I actually am ok with the trend of high belt lines and thick A-pillars.

Visibility is a great tool to avoid being hit, but once you've been hit pencil thin A-pillars and below the shoulder doors are NOT what I want.

A lot of cars are pretty excessive about it, especially with rearward visibility since it seems like they are building cars with backup cameras in mind now. That being said, I think my MK7 strikes a good balance between visibility and safety (although the A-pillars are as thick as any other new car).

The E36 never seemed like a particularly unsafe car to me, after all it has an airbag, but after really getting used to being in a MY2015 for the past couple of years, i now feel particularly aware of the fact in the event of a side impact my brains would almost certainly be extruded through the grill of whatever hit me.

Driving an NA Miata and swapping between that and a new-ish 4Runner really made me apprehensive of the fact of how unsafe they are. The doors weigh like 5 lbs it feels like and there was no B or C pillar to add any structure. I just accepted that's how my life would end every time I drove it.

[Jake]

The beltline thing bugs me too. One of my favorite features of the Range Rover is that the beltline is perfect for resting your elbow with the window down. It has some airbags but I assume in a collision I'd just run over whoever hit me while cackling at such peasantry.

Poor rearward visibility is a giant annoyance but like Joey said, I kind of get why the pillars are all thicker now. Sucks about the dead pedal - I think a lot of cars get that wrong (or omit) and those that do it right are a nice surprise. My F150 had no dead pedal and it annoyed the shit out of me.

[JPolen01]

It has some airbags but I assume in a collision I'd just run over whoever hit me while cackling at such peasantry.

I almost spit my water out reading this.

[*insertusernamehere*]

One of the reasons I couldn't do a newer Mazda 3. I hate feeling like I'm sitting in a cocoon. Considering the new Volvos don't have a ridiculously high belt line and you can hang your hands out the window and are still considered one of the best in safety I'm gonna say most other manufacturers are just lazy and cheap. You can build em to be safe without preemptively putting you in a coffin.

Sent from my FRD-L04 using Tapatalk

[Jake]

I am currently in possession of a 2018 Land Rover Discovery Sport. It's fine.

Already wrote about it on my blog and don't feel like copying the whole thing over so...

http://outmotorsports.com/2018/02/review...ery-sport/

[ScottyB]

I just accepted that's how my life would end every time I drove it.

well on the bright side, if you hit anything larger than an overweight housecat, your death should be nearly instantaneous. no pain, just sweet open top memories flashing before your eyes

[WRXtranceformed]

I am currently in possession of a 2018 Land Rover Discovery Sport. It's fine.

Already wrote about it on my blog and don't feel like copying the whole thing over so...

http://outmotorsports.com/2018/02/review...ery-sport/

I was looking at SUVs casually the other day and I was surprised at the massive amount of used newer Discos online for sale.  It seems to be pretty easy to track one of these down if that's what you're looking for.

[Jake]

I am currently in possession of a 2018 Land Rover Discovery Sport. It's fine.

Already wrote about it on my blog and don't feel like copying the whole thing over so...

http://outmotorsports.com/2018/02/review...ery-sport/

I was looking at SUVs casually the other day and I was surprised at the massive amount of used newer Discos online for sale.  It seems to be pretty easy to track one of these down if that's what you're looking for.

The Discovery is the midsize, LR4 replacement and I assume it doesn't entirely suck.

The Discovery Sport is the compact (LOL) Freelander/LR2 replacement and it's pretty bad. 

Don't buy a Disco Sport.

[Senor_Taylor]

Don't buy a Disco Sport.

You can dance if you want to. You can leave your friends behind.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[JPolen01]

So every year Emily's parents take a 7-10 day trip to Florida and we typically watch their dog at our house. Being that we are closer to BWI they drop her off and head to the airport. This time they decided to leave us both the dog and their 2017 Volvo XC90. Her dad tossed me the keys as they were leaving and said use it as you see fit. So I did. 

It looks like this. The gold is actually really nice in person and is in great combination with the wheels and black leather IMO.


For an SUV it rides really nice. Even with the giant (20"?) wheels and low profile tires it soaked up bumps in the road and was very comfortable. It's got a funky little turbo-supercharged 4 cylinder pushing out 316hp and almost that much torque. Turbo lag was a bit evident which I thought was kind of odd given the supercharger. It still had some giddy up for a large SUV - nothing on Jake's 5.0 Rover I have to assume however. I didn't get the chance to play with the sport or comfort settings. The tesla-like touch screen was very responsive although it does take some getting used to not have any tactile buttons. I didn't have time to learn all of the many steering wheels controls - I kept adjusting the distance allowed between cars when using the adaptive cruise control by accident.

Speaking of tech - this thing has a ton. Giant touch screen, heated/cooled front and rear seats, power folding third row, "pilot assist" mode (keeping you between the lanes), upgraded Bowers & Wilkins sound system, a chilled glove box (lulz), and my favorite, the Heads Up Display. I really need the HUD in my next car. We went to look at a potential new house and took the dog and the XC90 so I threw the address in the GPS - very easy to navigate the controls. Keyboard similar to an iPad which made input quick and easy. Having the current speed of the car on the left, GPS in the middle, and posted speed limit on the right of the HUD was amazing. I never had to look anywhere but at the road. Blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic assistance, and a 360 degree camera for parking were also equipped on this model. The 360 parking view is really nice for backing in and out spots. The car can also parallel park itself or some shit, but I didn't attempt that.

I think they paid somewhere between $60-$70k from what I have been able to piece together. The fit and finish are extremely nice inside and out. They had some major issues with the brakes right off the bat and the dealer replaced all pads and rotors. I don't know the specific issues, but I think it was noise. Other than that I don't think there have been any other issues in their year of ownership. 

Fuel economy was pretty meh for being a "superturbo" 4 - I think it was low to mid-twenties.

[ScottyB]

i had no idea volvo's boostyblowy 4 put out that much power. color me impressed. my parents' Q7 does about the same mileage with a supercharged v6 but that's only if you pussyfoot around. that mileage isn't bad for what it probably weighs.

the gold isn't too bad either. volvo styling has come a long way.