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Bulk Vanderhuge posted:Ummm two levers? The bottom lever goes down at which point the wheel cam tilt and telescope. Maybe it's really tight? For some reason I mistook the turn signal for an adjustment... I was really tired, that's my excuse  I kind of see/feel that but it doesn't move, I'd try to force it a little but it's not my car. I think I tried this before, which may explain why my brain decided to think you adjust the wheel with the turn signal.
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Jul 21, 2013 17:24
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Throatwarbler posted:Lots of Americans buy a large Buick that costs more than a small Cadillac, or a large Toyota over a small Lexus, and there are plenty of well off people who would rather not be seen in an Audi. The market is there, price it at about the same price as a mid-spec A6 and it will sell but the key will be whether they can actually pull it off. It was tough back in 2003 when it was a brand new bespoke platform with its own plant, but at this point the Bentley Continental chassis is 10 years old. But the Lacrosse and the Avalon both start at ~30k. It obviously wouldn't make sense for VW to bring down the Phaeton's price point by that much because it would just cannibalize the market for the CC. Plus, Buick is seen as a premium brand by Americans, and Toyota has the advantage of being Toyota. Bouillon Rube fucked around with this message at 20:20 on Jul 21, 2013 |
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Jul 21, 2013 20:12
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Saw the 2014 Mazda 3 and for the first time it actually made me see Mazda as a viable contender. Does Mazda still have serious problems with their cars rusting to poo poo after 3 years? If they put a Skyactiv-D on the 2014 3 it would give the VW Golf a serious run for its money.
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Jul 21, 2013 23:06
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My Protege is 11 years old, was poorly cared for most of its life and the worst rust that it has is a little bubble on the rear fender and a bit on the welds inside of the doors.
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Jul 21, 2013 23:58
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Avis has a rental kiosk at my store, we do oil changes on their cars. Every car gets regular, even the up-level turbo models (i.e. an Ecoboost escape I did today.) Never buy a used rental car, either. My old Taurus turned out to be an ex-rental, complete piece of poo poo as far as build quality; the best I can say about it is that at least it had the Duratec V6 and not the Vulcan.
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Jul 22, 2013 02:48
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Ford's Ecoboost stuff is tuned so it can run fine on regular.
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Jul 22, 2013 02:52
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I had a loaded Malibu LTZ as a rental since I do get the "good stuff" and while the interior was pretty good, the car was the worst new midsize sedan I have driven.
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Jul 22, 2013 03:42
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Morphix posted:Whoa, it has 305 tires all around. Is that a good thing? At least one Corvette racer runs square tires all round (though by upsizing the fronts, not taking down the rears). If you know what you're doing, having more grip at the front relative to the back lets you rotate better in turns.
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Jul 22, 2013 03:51
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Q_res posted:Ford's Ecoboost stuff is tuned so it can run fine on regular. I think he meant non-synthetic oil, not regular gas. BAD news for a modern turbo engine. For all the talk about crappy rental cars, the Citroën DS4 I had in Scotland was awesome. Automatic everything except the gearbox, it even had massage seats and Michelin Pilot Sport tires. Pretty awesome for the winding Scottish roads. KozmoNaut fucked around with this message at 08:35 on Jul 22, 2013 |
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Jul 22, 2013 08:32
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Well, just be happy you didn't get the DS4 with the "auto" gearbox that PSA shits out nowadays. The MCP (EGS in Citroen) is really bad. Gear hunting all the time, jerky shifting, it's just more of an annoyance than a gearbox. Here's a short technical intro (in Swedish).
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Jul 22, 2013 14:36
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:I had a loaded Malibu LTZ as a rental since I do get the "good stuff" and while the interior was pretty good, the car was the worst new midsize sedan I have driven. What made it so bad?
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Jul 22, 2013 16:44
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kimbo305 posted:At least one Corvette racer runs square tires all round (though by upsizing the fronts, not taking down the rears). If you know what you're doing, having more grip at the front relative to the back lets you rotate better in turns. A lot of c5 guys run square setups and have good results with them. Not to mention that SS camaros also run the same size front and rear, its just that the Z28 bumps them up from 275's to 305's
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Jul 22, 2013 17:25
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VikingSkull posted:Forming opinions on cars based on rental experience is about the dumbest thing you can do. Almost all are stripper models, some even moreso than you can buy from a dealer, depending on the fleet order. On top of that, they get flogged to death and often don't get maintained like they should, and to add insult to injury, the economic downturn has forced almost all rental agencies to prolong fleet life to cut costs. didn't the American manufacturers want to stop selling to rental companies for a while on the theory that the profit from that was offset by the terrible PR of having peoples' experience in an American car be so lovely. I think that was around 2005-2006 so I bet the recession forced them to change plans.
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Jul 22, 2013 17:32
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The other thing that fleet cars do is depress the resale value since they and turned over so often. If Enterprise refreshes its fleet of Malibus every 2 years, then there's a steady supply on the used market that keeps prices down. People look at low resale value as a negative and think it's a hallmark to a bad car.
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Jul 22, 2013 18:10
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I find it odd that all the rental-spec cars still have unnecessary features like power windows and locks, and automatic transmissions. If you really want a poverty-spec car, those are decent places to start cutting, as even luxury marques will do when exporting to the developing world.
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Jul 22, 2013 19:44
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PT6A posted:I find it odd that all the rental-spec cars still have unnecessary features like power windows and locks, and automatic transmissions. If you really want a poverty-spec car, those are decent places to start cutting, as even luxury marques will do when exporting to the developing world. If they didnt have automatic transmissions in rental cars no one would be able to rent them.
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Jul 22, 2013 19:46
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Even if they could, imagine what that clutch would look like in 10,000 miles. A good litmus test with rental cars is picture what you have done or would do to them. Then multiply that by an order of magnitude.
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Jul 22, 2013 19:49
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PT6A posted:I find it odd that all the rental-spec cars still have unnecessary features like power windows and locks, and automatic transmissions. If you really want a poverty-spec car, those are decent places to start cutting, as even luxury marques will do when exporting to the developing world. Depends often these days it's cheaper to produce a car with power windows and locks than without.
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Jul 22, 2013 20:01
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PT6A posted:I find it odd that all the rental-spec cars still have unnecessary features like power windows and locks, and automatic transmissions.  I've heard of internet car enthusiasts being detached from reality, but this is ridiculous.
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Jul 22, 2013 20:22
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kill me now posted:If they didnt have automatic transmissions in rental cars no one would be able to rent them. I really think the American drivers' license prereq should include spending the first year driving in a manual transmission vehicle.
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Jul 22, 2013 21:29
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bull3964 posted:The other thing that fleet cars do is depress the resale value since they and turned over so often. If Enterprise refreshes its fleet of Malibus every 2 years, then there's a steady supply on the used market that keeps prices down. People look at low resale value as a negative and think it's a hallmark to a bad car. The rental cars that go to the used market are also, as already discussed, often abused and in poo poo shape, which colors the perception of the model and brand overall. That being said I've known a few people who bought used cars from rental fleets and have had good experiences, but they were among the 'premium' options and not American brands.
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Jul 22, 2013 21:36
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You never know if the previous renter put nitrous on your rental. http://www.ag.auburn.edu/users/parmega/articles/neon/
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Jul 22, 2013 21:51
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VikingSkull posted:Forming opinions on cars based on rental experience is about the dumbest thing you can do. Almost all are stripper models, some even moreso than you can buy from a dealer, depending on the fleet order. On top of that, they get flogged to death and often don't get maintained like they should, and to add insult to injury, the economic downturn has forced almost all rental agencies to prolong fleet life to cut costs. I strongly disagree. The fact that all rental cars are badly equipped means you're comparing like for like, and whether or not a car has leather seats and integrated bluetooth or not won't change how badly it understeers or what the ride is like over broken surfaces. Therefore the comparisons I make between the Malibu and Cruze and Avenger (to name three recent rental cars) is quite valid. Comparing a press fleet Cruze (highly specced) with a rental Cruze (fewer options) showed no appreciable difference in ride or handling. Oh, and that Malibu I rented in Kansas? It had about 2000 miles on it so no, it wasn't beat to poo poo yet.
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Jul 22, 2013 21:57
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Manual transmission rentals are common where manual transmission cars in general are still common - in Europe there is still generally a price premium for renting an auto. Also rentals aren't necessarily poorly equipped - that is going to depend on the company and country you're renting in. The last three cars I've rented were a Golf (UK), a Commodore (Australia) and a hybrid Camry (NZ) and I'd say they were all quite well specced.
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Jul 22, 2013 23:39
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VikingSkull posted:Even if they could, imagine what that clutch would look like in 10,000 miles. I really don't think it's possible to get a base model impala to an order of magnitude greater than 140mph. It took a lot of work, and the newer ones don't even let you get past the governor by cycling the car off and back on once you hit it. I rented a Mitsubishi outlander in ukraine, it was 2400 bucks for 2 weeks and the cocksucking thing didn't even have cruise control  On the plus side though it was a 5 speed stick and awd so it was a little fun.I rented 2 corollas in australia, one brand new one probably 10 years old, the newer one auto but the older one stick, and both had this annoying issue where when you tried to put the signal light on, the fuckin windshield wipers started going. I've never even had the option of renting a stick shift anything in canada. even the mustangs/camaros the rental companies get are autos.
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Jul 23, 2013 02:25
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dissss posted:Manual transmission rentals are common where manual transmission cars in general are still common - in Europe there is still generally a price premium for renting an auto. Ah. We're talking about US rentals, in which case 90% of the time you get a Chrysler 200 that smells funny and pulls to the right despite having only 15k miles. Also,when 80% or more of the population can't drive a stick and about 30% has never seen a stick in their lives, you had better bet every single one is auto.
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Jul 23, 2013 02:32
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bull3964 posted:People look at low resale value as a negative and think it's a hallmark to a bad car. It's not a great feature if you bought one new.
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Jul 23, 2013 02:46
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dissss posted:Manual transmission rentals are common where manual transmission cars in general are still common - in Europe there is still generally a price premium for renting an auto. I've rented in a few countries now and done a LOT of rentals in Australia - so far every single country bar the USA has had good cars with low kms and not beaten to poo poo. Even the 30,000 km Hyundai I got in Melbourne felt like it had lead an okay life. Now the USA cars...... oh dear. Not just that god awful Grand Prix I had in 2005, but I've been in and out of the US in the last year or two and the Chryslers/GM cars have been just bad. There is a very distinct step down in what's on offer in the US verses anywhere else - hell the Micra I had the true misfortune to drive in QLD in April was some steps ahead. It's not like the cars themselves are bad either - I jumped into a 300 in Australia and it was.... okay not that good but it wasnt loving awful. It seems to me that rental spec cars in the USA are a distinct step down with less quality equipment and mechanicals that what you would find on the car lot, plus allowed to be beaten to poo poo.True or not I dont know but that's my impression.
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Jul 23, 2013 02:47
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drgitlin posted:I strongly disagree. The fact that all rental cars are badly equipped means you're comparing like for like, and whether or not a car has leather seats and integrated bluetooth or not won't change how badly it understeers or what the ride is like over broken surfaces. Therefore the comparisons I make between the Malibu and Cruze and Avenger (to name three recent rental cars) is quite valid. Comparing a press fleet Cruze (highly specced) with a rental Cruze (fewer options) showed no appreciable difference in ride or handling. Oh, and that Malibu I rented in Kansas? It had about 2000 miles on it so no, it wasn't beat to poo poo yet. Uh press fleet cars are probably the few cars even more beat to poo poo than regular rental cars.
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Jul 23, 2013 02:49
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With the intermittent blah blah blah about Bentley SUVs, here is somethingididntknowabout.html http://www.bentleyspotting.com/2011/08/bentley-dominator-for-royal-family-of.html
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Jul 23, 2013 03:07
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bull3964 posted:People look at low resale value as a negative and think it's a hallmark to a bad car. It is if you're looking at spending your own money on it. If I were buying a new car I'd pass over Hyundai, not because they're unsafe or because I believe they'd be unreliable, but because I know that their value tanks like a motherfucker compared to Honda.
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Jul 23, 2013 05:55
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Q_res posted:
Why? People can handle this, all while coping with foreign traffic laws, unfamiliar languages, and insane traffic (in comparison to NA) if they ever rent a car abroad. I'm not saying it should form the bulk of the rental fleet by any means, but I think it's a decent option for people that want a super-budget option. I'd rather compromise on features than have a car that drives like a bag of smashed assholes. You can say it costs more to produce cars, at this point, with a lack of features, but that doesn't satisfactorily explain why brands like Audi and Mercedes-Benz do indeed produce cars (at least until very recently if they've since stopped) with manual windows and manual transmissions for export outside of Europe/NA. Obviously, there is an economic incentive to do so, and I think the ultra-low-end of the NA rental fleet would be a good fit for poverty-spec models. You haven't lived until you've been to a place where a Hyundai Accent with an automatic transmission is considered a luxury option. EDIT: TL;DR: it's more important to me that the car doesn't drive like rear end and smell like urine than to save my left foot a slight amount of effort, price being equal. Maybe I am out of touch, but I don't think that's really so crazy. PT6A fucked around with this message at 07:09 on Jul 23, 2013 |
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Jul 23, 2013 07:06
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PT6A posted:
The trouble is those things aren't in any way connected - the manual rental is just as likely to smell and drive like rear end as that's more down to maintenance than anything else.
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Jul 23, 2013 07:11
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PT6A posted:Obviously, there is an economic incentive to do so, and I think the ultra-low-end of the NA rental fleet would be a good fit for poverty-spec models. The more uniform a rental fleet is, the lower maintenance costs are gonna be. Having to deal with extra models is not worth the neglible upfront savings.
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Jul 23, 2013 07:38
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Powershift posted:I really don't think it's possible to get a base model impala to an order of magnitude greater than 140mph. It took a lot of work, and the newer ones don't even let you get past the governor by cycling the car off and back on once you hit it. Powershift posted:I rented a Mitsubishi outlander in ukraine, it was 2400 bucks for 2 weeks and the cocksucking thing didn't even have cruise control Ukraine is loving horrible for rentals. Just last year I paid like $90/day for a lovely Chevy (aka. locally made Daewoo) which is like 3 times as much as a random shitbox in the rest of Europe, and that was one of the cheapest ones I could find. I guess it's not too surprising considering there's about a 100% chance of theft or horrible accident happening, so they need to cover their replacement costs. mobby_6kl fucked around with this message at 10:04 on Jul 23, 2013 |
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Jul 23, 2013 09:57
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Cream_Filling posted:Uh press fleet cars are probably the few cars even more beat to poo poo than regular rental cars. Yes but I'm not talking about how beat up it was, but how it was specced, because VikingSkull says you can only compare highly specced cars, or something.
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Jul 23, 2013 12:55
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PT6A posted:I find it odd that all the rental-spec cars still have unnecessary features like power windows and locks, and automatic transmissions. If you really want a poverty-spec car, those are decent places to start cutting, as even luxury marques will do when exporting to the developing world. Do you realize the majority of cars built in the past 7-8 years don't even offer manual locks and windows anymore? Stripper pickups and the super economy stuff like the Versa, Yaris and some Kias, and thats pretty much it. As far as an auto goes, why would you buy a car that would you would effectively only rent to maybe 30% of the population, when you can buy a car you can rent to anybody who could drive a car? They are offering transportation, not a driving experence. Mighty Horse fucked around with this message at 17:22 on Jul 23, 2013 |
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Jul 23, 2013 13:57
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PT6A posted:Why? People can handle this, all while coping with foreign traffic laws, unfamiliar languages, and insane traffic (in comparison to NA) if they ever rent a car abroad. I'm not saying it should form the bulk of the rental fleet by any means, but I think it's a decent option for people that want a super-budget option. I'd rather compromise on features than have a car that drives like a bag of smashed assholes. You can say it costs more to produce cars, at this point, with a lack of features, but that doesn't satisfactorily explain why brands like Audi and Mercedes-Benz do indeed produce cars (at least until very recently if they've since stopped) with manual windows and manual transmissions for export outside of Europe/NA. Obviously, there is an economic incentive to do so, and I think the ultra-low-end of the NA rental fleet would be a good fit for poverty-spec models. What percentage of Americans do you think are travelling abroad and renting a car? Even a European cruise is outside of the scope of the budgets of most Americans. You are describing a niche of a niche.
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Jul 23, 2013 14:23
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On rentals and how they hold up, I'm in my second fairly beat on Kia Optima in the last few months. It smells bad and has sticky patches all over the dash, but they've both driven really well. US rentals are poo poo usually because they cost $30 per day, can't expect too much for that.
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Jul 23, 2013 14:32
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My first job out of college was at Enterprise. With the way the employees beat the poo poo out of the cars we rented, I can only imagine how an actual paying customer treats them. The worst was the branch that also did used rental sales. You could not pay me enough to be the type of person making a living selling terrible, lovely used rental cars to unsuspecting customers. From what I saw, it was less "This car is great because..." and more "I'll say whatever I can to downplay the downsides of this piece of poo poo they're looking at that's only cheap because it's a piece of poo poo and they have bad credit."
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Jul 23, 2013 15:53
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