Uber/Lyft Roulette

CrzRsn

So long, and thanks for all the fish
Joined
Mar 6, 2005
Messages
17,444
Location
Motor City, Michigan
Car(s)
13 Ford Mustang GT, 17 Ford Fiesta ST
Been taking a lot of ride shares lately, why not a "rental car roulette" style thread for reviewing anything interesting you got to ride in. Obviously not as detailed since you're merely a passenger and likely for a very short distance, but could be fun none the less.

Got a Scion iA today for a 5 mile ride and you know, I was pleasantly surprised. It was nowhere as bad as I thought it would be. Rear seats are more spacious than you'd expect. Ride wasn't terrible. I've been in cars that were way more expensive that were much worse.
 
While very drunk I once got into a facelift Saab 9-5 (2006-2009). Beyond the model and year range I remember nothing.
 
Oh boy do I accumulate this when I go on Business to the states. I'll do this more thoroughly next time but here's a crosspost from RT automotive.

-The Dodge Journey is surprisingly comfortable, the Chinese Micra Sedan you get isn't.
-A GMT900 Tahoe is very tempting to purchase. Every time I climb on one I think "I could make this work." Same with the K2XX, though it strikes me as having way too many things that will die
-The Mk.V Jetta reminded me of my Tercel in unpleasant ways
 
I recently had cause to Uber over to pick up a vehicle. The vehicle that showed up was a brand new Corolla.



I was actually quite surprised at the legroom in the rear as this was far more than some prior Corollas.



Toyota seems to have achieved this by keeping the same roof as before but just moving the seat rearward. I'm 6'0" and my head was very firmly into the headliner and close to the rear glass unless I did the "millennial slump" in my seat. They should have extended the roof back a bit, because the way the rear is shaped, there's a sort of "bubble" in the roof where there's a little more headroom.



Unfortunately, the bubble does not align with where your head is going to be whilst sitting in the seat. :p
 
While in Pasadena and LA last week we took Lyft and Uber and I'm pretty much content with my opinion that these people are weird and some are untrustworthy. I had no choice to take them but was fascinated by the last one we took from Universal Studios back to Pasadena. This young girl (a millennial!) was suffering from millennial syndrome. Everything was about her. She asked us a question then proceeded to answer herself. I asked various things about the local area including about how people can get away from going in and out of HOV lanes that have solid white AND yellow lines and she responded, wait for it, "oh its cool, everyone does it so its not like a big deal you know. i mean i do it but i try not to". I said, but isn't that not allowed, I mean the fine for that is pretty steep. "no worries, its cool". :lol:

We took 2 Corolla S models (1 new one), and a newish Sentra SR from the current generation. What pieces of junk these things were. I didn't feel comfortable taking pictures of their cars so I'll just describe the experience as pretty horrendous. At 6ft tall the back leg and head room were porous and the interiors felt even cheaper than a Dart or Focus in all three cars. I thought I'd never see a modern car that had an interior look so plain and made with such horrible build quality. Those Corollas were the worst.

I just wished I had an option because I'd rather sit in traffic in my nice comfy car then do any of that again. :mrgreen:
 
Uber/Lyft Roulette

I had a ride in the Mercury variant of the Ford five-hundred. It was decent and would be good for a daily commuter. Not exciting but it does the job. This one had a normal geared transmission, no CVT. It had nearly 200,000 miles on it too and it felt tight. Also rode in a Chevrolet HHR. Awful, rough ride, hard to see out of, had to stop farther back than usual just to see traffic lights.
 
Ridesharing took the stress out of my vacation a few years ago - if it wasn't for the fact that the NJ/NYC public transit system was still more cost effective i would have used it more. I used Uber then. I'll probably try out Lyft at some point.

Cars I rode in:

Last gen Highlander Limited - Comfortable, seemed pretty spacious, not the best materials but that's expected from modern Toyota.

Current gen Nissan Altima - Disappointing. The car felt very insubstantial - the AC compressor would fire up at a stop and you could feel the thrum. Unnerving. Materials quality felt decent back there though.

I rode in a traditional yellow taxi Camry Hybrid as well because they were lined up outside the subway station on my way to Jacob Javits. The electric motor made it seem punchy - i could see how it'd make the aggressive cut and thrust driving style you seemingly need to have in the city easier as you could accelerate quickly to squeeze into gaps. Interior was just shit though - entire rear door cards were shitty hard plastic - that's not just a fleet feature though, even LE trim consumer Camrys are like this.
 
Last year at Gencon, we stayed at a remote hotel near the airport and ubered into the convention center. One morning, we were up against surge pricing and I got the idea to hit UberBlack instead, which wasn't surging and only cost about 50 cents more than the surge rate anyway.

Long wheelbase livery service Lincoln Town Car. With real livery service insurance and a DOT number and a CDL and everything.
Black, of course.
 
In the backseat of a 2016 Corolla right now. The headlights are fantastic. Thats the only comment I got.
 
Uber/Lyft Roulette

Parking brake is pretty good at speed, too.
 
In the backseat of a 2016 Corolla right now. The headlights are fantastic. Thats the only comment I got.

Easily the best headlights I've used. Period. I would buy one just for the headlights.

Then again, I'm coming from a XJ - You and I both know the headlights are just godawful in those. :lol:
 
Were people surprised that you were driving a manual? Did they even notice?
Didn't get a single comment about it.

I once had a Chevy Cruz Uber with a manual. Not a bad little car. The guy did really well in the blizzard too.

Another time I had an Infiniti FX35 (second gen). The driver told me that between a lot of people refusing to go into a car that isn't an AWD/4WD SUV if there's any snow on the ground and a lot of drivers not going out in such conditions at all, he made a ton of money during storms. He drove me on a sunny November afternoon though. The FX was nice and comfortable. I hate the noise those engines make though.
 
I've taken a number of Ubers and my favorites have been:

-Ford Fusion Energi
-Chrysler 300S
-Chrysler 200
-Toyota Highlander
-Lexus GS
-Lexus ES
 
In NYC, got a brand new CRV. Still has window sticker residue on the glass and less than 1,000 miles on the clock... front suspension already creaks over bumps and dips.
 
Was driven to the airport earlier this week in an early Prius. Not the first one, the version that got really trendy with Hollywood. That thing rattled, and has a shit trunk. I'm surprised that it's worse than the Patriot. I had to move some stuff while in transit to avoid the pelican case I travel with from bouncing off the rear glass.
 
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