Rental Car Roulette

It’s good cars have 3rd brake lights. :)
 

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but immediately felt the size difference.

I’ll bet you did :mwf:

The dial a gear is the dumbest shit since GM used identical knobs right next to each other for the 4x4 selector and the headlight switch.

The math console is the most hilarious feature. They have it on all their trucks too, so the fancy pants Longhorn that will never be on a construction site even has it.
 
Impala review

I recognize some bits in there from my car :) Door handles inside and out, gauge cluster, power button switches and mirror controls. I have a proper light switch though, much nicer than having it on the stalk.

The biggest annoyance was the gear selector. A few times I mistook the radio volume knob for gear selection but immediately felt the size difference.

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I wonder why everyone suddenly feel like they have to invent their own gearbox selector. I would like to have the one Mercedes uses, the little column stalk with a P button on the end.
 
Last update about this rental, the heated seats were absoutely the worst. High was warm and low warmed the seat slower than my own butt could, never felt it. 4 yeehaw's down.
 
Well, my S6 is in the shop to get new brakes in, and I got a courtesy car:

2012 Audi A4, 1.8L, 170hp, 6-speed manual, 70'000km

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Aaand... it's just a car. It's truly unremarkable, apart from the ugly and very unnecessary angry face. - It has to be said the engine has some spunk to it, especially at lower revs - The inside is all boring black, with some hard seats.

Current worth: 21'000.- CHF
Would I buy it: Nope.
 
So as I had mentioned in the random thoughts section I was in Hawaii on Maui and drove "The Road to Hana": A 52 mile rainforest drive with a staggering 59 bridges, 46 of which are one lane, linking together 500+ switchbacks.

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I had ordered an Economy/Compact so Chevy Spark or Cruze... They gave me a Chevy Camaro. So to start I didn't want to shlep back up to the desk so I just took it.

The trunk space is acceptable for the luggage of two people: two 20in spinners and personal item backpacks it's tight but they fit. If you needed to fit much of anything else though... It does have a "back seat" which while I wouldn't suggest putting a person, child, or dog in the space you could put a small bag. The compartment under the armrest is small presumably for drugs. It's button is sharp too.

The seat is poorly designed, uncomfortable, and makes contact with the pedals at an awkward angle that I can imagine would have made adding a clutch even more painful. My passenger did have a complaint coming out of the supermarket he sat on the seatbelt receiver which while he likened to a square metal dildo randomly thrown in. However; the seats are covered with a nice faux leather substitute, which didn't get too hot in the sun, and felt good shirtless.

The aircon was fantastic though with the knobs built in around the vents that have an elegant butterfly shutter system. Though that marks the high point of things that I felt weren't disappointing.

The infotainment system felt slow and I guess OnStar is the preferred navigation in Chevy so not the cars fault as much as GM. NOTE: On the Road to Hana cell reception is practically nil radio stations are mostly unreceivable. Now it's not like your going to get lost but you might miss a opportunity to park and hike you also might want to know how far you have at points.

The engine is too loud, too powerful, and it's power unevenly applied. It's obviously designed for attention and gunning it at the lights. On a narrow road that often on even sunny days slicked from mountain waterfalls it looses traction a bit forcing plotting driving.


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If you are going to drive the Road to Hana get something that isn't this. However; if your over 50 and looking for... no you can get Viagra... If you... No its not for anyone in my opinion... Oh Transformers movies It's good in a Transformers movie! Boom got it.
 
Yeah V6 but I don't think the V8 get different seatbelt receivers or bigger cabin or different pedal angles
 
Still traveling despite being told I wouldn't, no matter, it just means I get to postwhore this thread more. :|

2020 Nissan Altima.

Dedicated to @CraigB <3


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So what's changed from the refresh? Well, they've updated the exterior a bit as well adding amber turn signals to the rear, infotainment and dash interface which actually came from Infiniti's of past. I had an Infiniti Q50 in March of 2018 that had identical GUI theming. Which is a step up from Nissan's which looked like something about 2008. Though, this has less screens and you can't customize the layout quite as much. You still get a CVT with fake gears programmed in that get ignored when you floor it but are there under medium and light throttle. Power output feels similar though improved. Ride is good, though road noise seemed higher than expected but I can't tell if that was the type of asphalt blend that is used in Virginia compared with MN, WI, MI, IN, and OH as these states I've found have some of the more smoother less coarse blend than say, west of Iowa uses or east of Ohio.

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USB can charge your phone and you get both USB-A and USB-C ports with an AUX jack. Nissan finally has CarPlay which until the refresh was not available. I did run into a problem with it after driving from the airport to my hotel. I went to grab a snack that night which was meant I drove the car a short distance which was fine, the following day I start the car to find that carplay no longer works. The radio saw my phone connected via USB and played music as if it was an MP3 player, unplug/replug didn't work. Even after parking and working 9hrs on a job, I come back at the end of the day to the same issue. I had to do a long press on the radio power button (which just mutes audio and doesn't turn off the screen, theres a separate button for that) forcing a restart to the radio. Once that finished booting up carplay automatically loaded up again. This car had less than 500mi on it when I picked it up.

This car came with remote start which sounded nice until I found that despite being below freezing, heating never came on nor the defroster. So the remote start only warms the engine? Makes no sense, a Jeep Patriot Latitude trim with remote start at least blasts the HVAC at the front window and turns on the rear defroster according to what the outdoor air sensor is reading... A Patriot has better remote starting capabilities than this...

While we're on the subject of the HVAC, I found that it would reset settings every time you come back. The momentary buttons to select face vents, feet, front window/floor and window only can be selected no problem when it's on. Once you get out, and come back the fan is set the same because knobs, it defaults to face vents. Every. Damn. Time.

Lastly, the seats are in my mind, the same as before, super cushy at the start but will give you tailbone pain over long periods (over 2hrs for me) of drive time.

All in all, it's inoffensive sedan with some weird snafus. They've moved the gas door lever to near the hood latch where I think before it was on the floor in front of the left side drivers seat runner.
 
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The Altima has always been a good A to B car, nothing more. Mrs CraigB's 2010 soldiers on with nearly 140k miles (224k kilometers) without many issues.

Yep, it's why people buy something like a Golf ;) And probably my next daily car will be less interesting and focused on reliability and practicality
 
@Der Stig someone I follow in Germany has a dodge 1500 as a rental and it has the same console of math. ?

 
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Sadly not the red one.

Not confident inspiring above 180, and downright scary above 160 in curves.

Engine is surprisingly peppy. Transmission in Sport mode is extremely jerky, but in normal mode it's on sedative.

It has Android Auto, but won't connect to my phone.

No ACC, no tachometer, no keyless entry and start

Visibility is horrible, specially with the placement of the rearview mirror.

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4/10, would not recommend.
 
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