Rental Car Ruckus 2: Electric Boogaloo

[ScottyB]

exotic car shows have to do some gatekeeping by default, because there are a lot of people out there that don't understand their car isn't special just because its old and they dumped a shitload of money into it.

i have no idea how to really make it work but i'd imagine you have to run a fine line between making some people mad and keeping it lighthearted enough to make it clear it has to be this way so the event doesn't suck.

i'm with Goodspeed, i'm not waking up early on a weekend to go see a bunch of Hyundai Genesis's parked a row down from lambos and vipers. then again, i don't go to carshows anyway so what do i know.

[.RJ]

I dont want to bring my old BMW in, but I also dont get off on drooling over exotic cars either. They dont really do much for me.

[Jake]

+1 to RJ.

BUT... this does sound like a way to see some cool, unique, and rare cars in an atmosphere that is the exact opposite of some snooty awful show, or even a fairly relaxed fancy event like the Greenwich Concours. I have to think people who go are pretty laid back, given the website language.

[Goodspeed]

Belatedly getting around to share my latest round of Rental Car Ruckus-ing, and boy howdy did I ruckus.  Only one of these was pre-planned, the latter two were a beautiful accident.

Car #1: 2018 Mazda MX-5 RF



I picked this up in Vegas and used it to not-nearly-soon enough get the hell out of Vegas (<24 hrs.) and on to Zion NP in Utah.  I rented it through Alamo; it solely occupies their "Compact Convertible" class (which might not be available in all markets).  6 speed auto (sad) with paddle shifters (alright) First things first, I loved this car even before my ass hit the seat.  I've been nothing but an adoring fan of the ND since its release so don't expect an unbiased review here, but inside & out this car looked great.  It instantly felt so right to be in a little roadster again, cocooned as I was in the tidy interior.

Everything fell perfectly to hand, the thick rimmed steering wheel & paddles, the nice body-colored accents on the doors classing up the joint.  Everything was just so effortlessly, almost weightlessly fun, and whipping this around the city and backroads between LV & Zion really taught me that this was the perfect car for a carefree vacation.

Teehee, it's so smol:



Mazda knocked this one out of the park.  I didn't realize how much I missed the pure joy of belting a tiny gnat of a car around well under the speed limit.  I started to chuckle at all the Lambos I saw crawling around Vegas while I was driving around.  I was having more fun than them by a mile.



Speaking of fun, the Red Rock Canyon scenic loop drive to the west of Vegas was a great stop.  It's a 13-mile one-direction loop that is nicely, widely paved and was somehow nearly deserted (hyuck) by 5pm on a Saturday.  It was like having your own private Nurburgring.  The ND was a total puppy dog for the occasionally spirited drive that ensued.



More of what I liked:

• Being in a sub 2,500 car again was very special indeed.  More like this, please.
  
• The RF power roof was wonderful.  Best of both worlds.  Rear buttress does give a large blind spot however.
  
• The electric power steering was very good.  I haven't driven many cars with electric PS but no complaints here.
  
• 6spd auto with the paddle shifters was A-OK.  I'd buy a stick but wouldn't shame someone for going auto.  It was good.
  

What wasn't so great:

• This was the last year of the 155hp motor before the bump to 181.  The extra power would've been nice - this iteration was merely adequate at best when you really had to give it some stick.  
  
• Motor also didn't sound great.  I think this too was improved on the 181hp motor, but it was pretty thrashy.
  
• Wind noise was substantial in between the DS door mirror & A-pillar.
  

I WANT IT level: 9/10.  I really should have one of these, honestly.



Car #2: 2019 Dodge Charger R/T

I landed in Portland and got to the Thrifty desk, where I had a reservation for an appliance of some sort.  I figured the Miata would be fun-enough for the whole 3-stop vacation and I could deal with regular transport for the rest.  The nice lady behind the counter quickly informed me that I could spend a very reasonable amount more for a V8 Charger over a Kia Soul.  I'm in desperate need of more V8 in my life.  Done.



It didn't hurt any that I'm a huge fan of what Dodge's got going on these days.  They're probably my single favorite manufacturer right now for staying true to what they do best: making brutish cars that do burnouts, including in great ads.  I've always had my attention grabbed by these latest Mopars on the street & really wondered how far they've come since the bad old days of...fairly recent memory.  They look & sound great inside (this had a bumpin' Alpine system) & out, and people just love them, including most reviewers whose platitudes have included "very AMG-like".  I gotsta know - how good is it?



VERY.  This car is wonderful and it might just be the most-missed out of the three.  The attitude it contains and infects you with before you even leave the parking lot is like a drug.  The factory exhaust behind the 370hp/395 lb-ft 5.7 sounds amazing, and every bit of this huge car just wants to be bad at every opportunity.  I was eating Priuses with impunity inside of 5 minutes behind the wheel and giggling while I did it.  And, with the Plus Package this car had (audio, stitched dash & door panels, electric aids all over) the inside was a truly nice place to be.  The seats are AMAZING, and even though this car is built to seat 4 silverback gorillas, I got supremely comfortable piloting this beautiful barge without delay.  It really hurt to give this one back.



More of what I liked:

• Bank vault quitness on the highway
  
• UConnect system was the best infotainment I've ever used.  I can see why it gets universal praise.
  
• Burnouts
  

What wasn't so great:

• .
  

I WANT IT level: 10/10.  I'm seriously on the fence of angling to buy one.  The only "problem" is a somewhat-loaded R/T spec'd how I'd want it is knocking on the door of a 6.4L 485hp Scat Pack and at that point, just jail me.

Car #3: 2019 Challenger R/T

OK, so this was no accident - I got to the rental counter in Sacramento basically foaming at the mouth for another Hemi Dodge.  To my very pleasant surprise, a brand-new white Challenger appeared.  Hell yes, the horizon and I have a date & this is guaranteed to get me there on time.  





My dad flew out at this point to join me for Monterey Car Week & the big coupe was perfect for the two of us to eat miles in and generally be a couple members of the goon platoon with.  Good times were had, & all the same text from the Charger above applies down here.  I'll just list a couple deviations:

• This car didn't have the Plus package (I don't think it's available for the Challenger) which meant a bare plastic dash with no fancifying with nice stitching and the like.  Even for someone who doesn't really care about this sort of thing, that big ol' dash did kinda get sore after a while.  It's way chunkier than the Charger's, and protrudes out much further which just looks like acres of black plastic.  It's whatever, not my favorite thing about the car.  Some covering & stitching would do wonders.
  
• The active exhaust baffles rattled under light/partial acceleration with increasing frequency during the rental.  QC issue?  Car was brand new.  Exhaust sounded amaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing though.
  

I WANT IT level: 8/10.  The Charger is more practical with a nicer interior, but the Challenger really looks the business.  I came away with a newfound appreciation for the big dumb-dumb of the Detroit muscle cars.  It was just fun.



As I wrote this, Nightcrawler was on in the background.  The final period landed above just as the star-car Challenger gave a slide.  God bless.

[JPolen01]

Glad to hear you enjoyed the Charger. I've been oddly lusting after one as well. Never driven or even been inside one as far as I can remember. I built one online the other day and holy shit they are expensive. I think I got mine up to $48k before I closed the tab in disgust. I'm not sure I could bring myself to spend money like they on a FCA product...

[Sijray21]

I built one online the other day and holy shit they are expensive. I think I got mine up to $48k before I closed the tab in disgust. I'm not sure I could bring myself to spend money like they on a FCA product...

Whenever i looked at most american brands this is exactly what i found. As soon as i optioned it similarly with their German or Japanese counterparts i've found that Dodge/Ford/GM/Chevy autos and trucks seem to be slightly above or grossly above their equivalent counterparts. Maybe that's made better with manufacturer incentives but the severe lack of standard options (forcing you to option the hell out of it) really irritates me when shopping around for new vehicles or trying to find a well-equipped used vehicle. I did find that annoying when looking around for the f31 msport wagon when i was doing that as well, so it's not only the US manufacturers doing it to a level that I find annoying.

[ScottyB]

i've found that Dodge/Ford/GM/Chevy autos and trucks seem to be slightly above or grossly above their equivalent. Maybe that's made better with manufacturer incentives

if there's one thing you can depend on with the Big 3 its that unless its a total collector's item or the first quarter of the model release, you'll never pay full MSRP. they exist on the incentive/cash back/sales model and will never be able to put that genie back in the bottle.


Great review Goodspeed. not surprised you dug the miata but the big mopar love is hilarious and i can totally understand it. like you said, they're big dumb animals but that fact alone makes them so much fun you just can't hate it. there's a guy in my neighborhood with an octane red scat-pack challenger 6-speed and it looks absurdly mean. combined with the soundtrack there's no part of me that would be able to say no if the right ownership opportunity came around.

[Sijray21]

Rented a Cadillac XT5 on our trip to Key West (from MIA). From what i can tell it was the Premium Luxury trim (Ventilated Seats, Nav, but no AWD and no Head-Up display).

My experience with Cadillac was being in and driving (once) my wife's Grandfather's DTS; floaty, comfy, and what i think of when i think of a Cadillac. The XT5 was an ok experience as a Rental, but nothing really that super nice about it and overall i'm pretty disappointed with it as a Cadillac. I had the option for a Q5 or other BWM sedans and i'm sure i would've enjoyed those. I chose to go with the Cadillac since the rear seat area was larger as we may have had to take other passengers and i haven't really experienced anything GM as of recently.

The Bad:
- cramped interior feeling
- flat, unsupportive, uncomfortable seats
- ventilated seats were pretty loud (sounded like static coming through the speakers, even at the lowest setting it drove me crazy)
- poor output for gauge cluster mini-screen
- infotainment was just unpleasant to use and not intuitive
- the volume slider and touch area right below the infotainment screen was a terrible idea. it's right where you usually anchor your hand to touch the screen while driving and very easy to accidentally change the volume while you're just trying to press the infotainment screen.
- navigation app was way too cramped for all the digital buttons when trying to view the map itself
- lane keep assist was a JOKE; imagine bowling with bumpers and that's how it felt, quite dangerous, imo
- suspension felt too tight for non-sport mode
- button for keyless entry/lock on the door handle was the same button (you press to unlock and lock, so you physically need to look at the lock on the door ledge to see if you locked the door - i don't like this system at all and it's easy to leave the door unlocked accidentally)
- sound deadening was not great and not what i would've expected for this class of vehicle

The Good:
- the brakes felt great; immediate feel, firm, and inspired confidence
- quick; the engine was quick-enough for the car and transmission shifted fast enough in sport mode for urban highway traffic (terribly slow shifting in touring mode)
- lighting; the headlights were great, lights on the door handles were a nice touch
- driving the car felt fine and responsive
- i like the front exterior styling of the new Cadillacs and this one was about the same
- the emergency brake warning had a head-up display that flashes red and also vibrates the seat
- Fuel Economy and range; i think there was a mild hybrid system with cylinder deactivation and it was fantastic. highway driving nearly netted us 40mpg
- the auto start/stop wasn't noticeable and fairly smooth (i didn't even realize it had it until i looked down at the gauges)

Overall:
I wish i would have just rented the BMW or Audi equivalent. It MSRPs at/near $54k. I'm sure not many people pay that, but i can't imagine paying anywhere near that for this car. The overall drive felt fine, but i didn't enjoy this rental at all. Better than a nissan or anything with a CVT, but far from what i would've expected from a luxury brand from any manufacturer. i honestly prefer the Ridgeline interior a LOT more than this Cadillac, which is weird to say.

shot of the gauge cluster and the economy multi-screen i was referring to

[Jake]

That cluster is horrible, it's the same as the ATS. It looks doubly bad in the daytime.

[HAULN-SS]

What year is that? i thought the ATS cluster looked fine in mine when I bought it in 2013, but it does look pretty dated to be 2019 if they are still using the same thing.

[Sijray21]

What year is that? i thought the ATS cluster looked fine in mine when I bought it in 2013, but it does look pretty dated to be 2019 if they are still using the same thing.

It was from a 2018 or 2019 XT5 Premium Luxury trim (2nd from top trim).

[Beej]

I had a 2019 540 M sport as a warranty loaner for the past couple days.  It is a Nice Car.




Despite being surprisingly quick (4.7 0-60 and 13.2 1/4), it is not exciting, at all.  It's competent, the ride is comfortable, it's quiet, and the seats are super comfy.  But even after only three days, I couldn't wait to get my car back.  I didn't look forward to errands and I didn't take the long way anywhere.  I just must not be the target audience.

The looks?  I mean from some angles it looks good, from none does it look great.  It has presence, I guess.  But it's just so...straight?  Even with the M sport bumpers (which are an improvement), it's just not sexy or exciting.

Good: First car I've seen with comfort access on all doors - which are soft close too, both great things for kids.  Adaptive cruise is absolutely my jam, what a feature.  Wireless charging with a notification when you've left your phone on it when you turn the car off is clever.  They've finally reverted to a normal turn signal and abandoned that stupid return-to-center kind.  Cool tech, but I feel like that always falls into the background noise of my driving and I don't use it much anyway.  Little stuff like the seat belts automatically snugging up as you drive away (or brake hard), the power trunk, and whatever else just makes it a nice experience.  Feels really well built.  Within the mirror itself, and not the mounting post, is the correct place for blind spot warning.

Meh: Gesture control is kinda cool, but it's way too sensitive.  I could only make the volume too high or too low, hard to get it where I wanted it.

Bad: Nothing is awful I guess.  Steering was super numb and not sporty or direct at all.  Remote start would be nice but if it's not on this or my car, BMW must not do it for a reason.

If this is supposed to be the "sporty" car of this genre, I can't imagine how dull MB's, Lexii, Infinity, etc are.

[Senor_Taylor]

Good. We haven't completely lost you yet.

[Beej]

Good. We haven't completely lost you yet.

A guy buys one orange M3 and all of a sudden he’s a bore.

[Senor_Taylor]

Good. We haven't completely lost you yet.

A guy buys one orange M3 and all of a sudden he’s a bore.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk