Rental Car Roulette

Nissans below the Altima in car terms stinks. Same with kia and hyundais of the same size. Why use budget over National or hertz?

Price. I use Autoslash to find the best rate and this time Budget came out $30-40 cheaper then the next best, which was a compact from Alamo. But this isn't even a Nissan thing. I'd have been just as pissed if they gave me a Fiesta even though its a monumentally better car than the Versa Note. I paid for a Focus or similar, I want a Focus or similar (or better).
 
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Are these business trips? Why not standardize and deal with the same company every time instead jumping around?
 
Are these business trips? Why not standardize and deal with the same company every time instead jumping around?

Not business. These are all personal trips coming out of my own pocket.
 
The same 2 bags in the back of a Focus, aka what I was told would be similar to the Versa Note.

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Furthermore, this is from Budget's website

Why does Budget organize its car classes differently than manufacturers and some other car rental companies?

The rental car industry?s car-class terms and those of car manufacturers have never been fully synchronized. No matter which car rental company you do business with, you will notice that there are many more car groups offered than those described by manufacturers in their new car classifications. For example, Budget lists the Chevy Malibu within our full-size offerings, while Chevrolet classifies it as a mid-size. Budget considers the Malibu as a full-size product because it has the capacity in all metric categories (seating, trunk space, etc.) to qualify as a full-size vehicle

Thats some straight up bullshit.
 
The same 2 bags in the back of a Focus, aka what I was told would be similar to the Versa Note.

y6LFDFD.png


Furthermore, this is from Budget's website



Thats some straight up bullshit.

Budget has steadily gotten worse ever since Cendant mashed all their car rental subsidiaries together and spun them off as Avis Budget Group in 06. They've flat out gone into freefall in terms of quality since they bought ZipCar in 2013.
 
Yeahhh I only rent from Enterprise and they've always been good to me. The only time I didn't get what I paid for was when I jokingly suggested I'd take the Challenger on their lot instead of an Impala... and the guy just said "yeah, why not?" and gave me the keys.
 
The same 2 bags in the back of a Focus, aka what I was told would be similar to the Versa Note.

y6LFDFD.png


Furthermore, this is from Budget's website



Thats some straight up bullshit.

Basically, everyone else does it so, why change? Their parameters for full size were probably written in the late 80s so, slightly out of date if that's true. How else?
 
If the plate is shaped like that because of front end contact I'd expect significant structural damage underneath, considering how deep you have to push in the centre to achieve the bendedness on the edges.

Speaking of contact, had this not-so-Rapid earlier in the week while the Beetle was in the shop to fix some cosmetics in the rear, after someone decided not to pull their handbrake or engage a gear when parking behind me :shakefist:



It's a 81kW 101kW at least, given the stripes must add over 20kW... 1.2TSI 6MT "Red & Grey II" edition with only few options ticked, list price about 19k?. As a low-cost A-to-B econobox it's okay, though the price is a bit steep for that.
Drives fine for what it is, though I'd prefer a less weightless steering wheel. Engine's okay between 2k and 3k rpm, the rest is a bit meh. The car kept claiming a bit over 6l/100km, the petrol pump claimed 7.4... not sure which is accurate because I only did about 125km in it, and don't quite know how the pre- and post-full states of tank compare. Mostly city and light extraurban loads, AC, some inner city traffic, some seeing what the engine has to give :burnrubber: all in all, decent figures. Except what they charged the opposition's insurance for the rental, I'd get a much better car for much less from Europcar :dunno: someone else's problem.
Comparing it with the other two Skodas in the family it's quite close to the Fabia and miles off the comfort levels of the Octavia. Really happy to be back in the Beetle :cool:
 
If the plate is shaped like that because of front end contact I'd expect significant structural damage underneath, considering how deep you have to push in the centre to achieve the bendedness on the edges.

I think it's been hooked on the edges and Brent from either side rather than hit in the middle.

I'll do a full write up on it during my layover in Dallas Sunday.
 
I think it's been hooked on the edges and Brent from either side rather than hit in the middle.

A similar shape occurred after the other incident with bad parkers giving the Beetle a special hug, pushing the front inwards a lot left the outer edges bent forward like that with no other visible damage on the outside but big metal things bent behind the plastic.
 
Sitting in a Canadair RJ900 on the tarmac at Chattanooga Airport ruminating about my short time with a 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe.

When the attendant told me late Thursday evening when I picked it up I was slightly disappointed that I wasn't getting something slightly smaller. After all, when I booked the"Manager's Special" through the Hertz website I was told I'd get a small car with room for two and one suitcase. That would have been perfect for my needs.

I added exactly 200 miles to the already 27,111 miles it has when I picked it up. Mostly on the byways and state highways of Tennessee, only spending a little time on I-40, going up and down several mountains and steep grades. It was comfortable on the longer sections. Took to the twisties with ease and was actually sort of fun to drive for a larger SUV. Acceleration was adequate and I no problems despatching with a late model Ford Escape that was being a particular problem for me at a stop light.

It wasn't all preaches and cream though. The transmission did some I'd things that I thought were odd. Any small incline would result in at least two gear downshift, even in Eco mode. On one of the aforementioned steep descents while using cruise control it selected a gear that resulted in the engine trying to hold 5k RPM. After about a minute of that I pressed the cruise cancel button and it went back to more normal engine breaking while on the decent.

I used to look at these SUVs and think, "Why would anyone want one of these turds?". Now I'll look at them and think, "I drove one of those once, they aren't half bad, but I don't want one of my own."

As I'm now somewhere 30k feet over Alabama (I assume), stuffed in a flying metal tube with 90 or so of my fellow humans I wish I would have had more time to drive the back country mountain roads of Tennessee, perhaps in something smaller next year.

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Oh yeah, lots of room for cases in this thing:

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What sort of an engine was in there? The 190hp 2.4?

I'm a fan of these quick rental reviews.
 
I never popped the hood, but a quick glance at Hyundai's website says we only get a V6.

The regular Santa Fe is the long wheelbase model and only comes with a V6. The version you had is the shorter wheelbase Santa Fe Sport and those come with various flavors of the 2.0L I4 for 2018. The 2017 had either a 185hp/178tq 2.4 I4 or the 240hp/260tq 2.0L turbo I4. At a guess, since it doesn't have the various external bits of the optional upgrade packs or the 2.0T/2.0T Ultimate trim levels, that's probably just the base 2.4L.
 
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If I'm not mistaken, there's usually a badge on the right side of the tailgate hatch.
 
If I'm not mistaken, there's usually a badge on the right side of the tailgate hatch.

Base Hyundai/Kia products don't include trim level or engine badges. The latter only show up on models with engine upgrades.
 
I just found this thread. I've been going from San Francisco to Boston a lot the past couple of years, so I've had a number of cars:
Toyota Rav4
VW Jetta 2.0T
Ford Escape
Jeep Renegate
Toyota Sienna
Jeep Patriot

The only one I really hated was the Rav4. That was just horrible. Horrible interior, no power, noisy, and uncomfortable. Not a single redeeming quality.

But the worse rental car was in 2014. I just got my Porsche Cayman S, and I took it in for a service to fix the chronometer and a couple of buttons. My friend had a 07 Cayman, and for a rental, she got a Panamera for a week, so I was ready. I asked for a loaner, and was excited. I show up, drop off the car and get.... a 2013 Toyota Prius. I was gutted. Smelled like a wet dog, so I took it back after a couple of days and got a Merc C230 sedan.
 
I'm currently driving around in a 2017 Nissan Altima. I just had a look at Nissan's website and it tells me the gearbox, which I thought was an automatic, is actually a CVT. That explains a lot...
I'll write up a more detailed review for the other thread once I'm home again.
 
I just found this thread. I've been going from San Francisco to Boston a lot the past couple of years, so I've had a number of cars:
Toyota Rav4
VW Jetta 2.0T
Ford Escape
Jeep Renegate
Toyota Sienna
Jeep Patriot

The only one I really hated was the Rav4. That was just horrible. Horrible interior, no power, noisy, and uncomfortable. Not a single redeeming quality.

But the worse rental car was in 2014. I just got my Porsche Cayman S, and I took it in for a service to fix the chronometer and a couple of buttons. My friend had a 07 Cayman, and for a rental, she got a Panamera for a week, so I was ready. I asked for a loaner, and was excited. I show up, drop off the car and get.... a 2013 Toyota Prius. I was gutted. Smelled like a wet dog, so I took it back after a couple of days and got a Merc C230 sedan.

Wet dog and cat are common smells from rental Toyotas that I've experienced. I wish I knew why.
 
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