Car: 2014 Toyota Camry
Date Rented: 10/16/17
Location Rented: GUM
Rental Company: Avis
Powertrain: 178 HP / 172 lb-ft 2.5L NA I4 with 6A
Highs: For a base model car, the interior materials construction is actually pretty nice. Steering and chassis feel were better than expected. Good gas mileage?
Lows: No engine performance. Car will bottom out on some speed bumps with more than 2 people in the car.
Fun facts: This car is all about economy. There is a green 'Eco' light on the dash that comes on when you are at < 10% throttle, an analog economy gauge, and when you select 'sport' on the shifter, it does into 4th gear. So much fun!
Other notable cars available: All of the people who rented from Avis on this trip got various years of Camry.
Would I rent again? If the other option was an Altima, then yes.
Rental Car Reviews
Re: Rental Car Reviews
A 2014 MY year rental in late 2017? Wow! How many miles were on it?
Re: Rental Car Reviews
Indeed.kevm14 wrote:Welcome to Guam.
Re: Rental Car Reviews
Sneak preview:
I have a Fusion Hybrid out of LAX. Scored a free upgrade from intermediate which was destined to be a Kia Forte.
Advantage is nothing to be scared of. At least not the LAX location.
I have a Fusion Hybrid out of LAX. Scored a free upgrade from intermediate which was destined to be a Kia Forte.
Advantage is nothing to be scared of. At least not the LAX location.
Re: Rental Car Reviews
I think LAX is a generally competitive location for rental cars so all companies there tend to be better than average.kevm14 wrote:Sneak preview:
I have a Fusion Hybrid out of LAX. Scored a free upgrade from intermediate which was destined to be a Kia Forte.
Advantage is nothing to be scared of. At least not the LAX location.
Re: Rental Car Reviews
Car: 2017? Ford Fusion SE Hybrid
Date Rented: 1/16/18
Location Rented: LAX
Rental Company: Advantage
Powertrain: 141 hp / 129 lb-ft 2.0L Atkinson cycle + 118 hp / 177 lb-ft AC motor w/ 1.4 kWh Li-Ion = 188 hp combined
Highs: SE model had 8" infotainment w/ Apple Carplay, auto climate, power seat, lots of data on dashboard, good chassis
Lows: Not as fast as I thought it would be.
Fun facts: I got nearly 50 mpg in stop and go LA 405 garbage traffic. So hybrids are a thing. See more below.
Other notable cars available: Other than the Kia Forte nothing was available to me.
Would I rent again? Sure, as long as the alternatives were either smaller or slower.
I'm not done with my rental period yet as I have it until Friday morning but I wanted to provide more info on my thoughts. So here's the longer version:
Powertrain
I did expect this to be faster and the specs sort of suggest it wouldn't be that slow. And I guess it's not unbearably slow. But I'm not sure it's really any faster than my Caprice. Unlike older hybrids this one will go up to 80 mph or so on all EV power though I haven't gotten past 45 or so. But again, the mileage in shitty traffic was pretty unbelievable to me considering in the same conditions my STS would have gotten something like 14 or 15. This is the first hybrid I've driven.
Chassis
This platform is surprisingly composed. It doesn't have the overall damping that I'd like but it feels like a Sigma FE1.5 if that makes any sense. Even on lame factory tires, it felt pretty good on some entrance exit ramps. Better than I expected. The steering is also very precise with zero on center play. It also has zero feel. I'd say this is above average but there is a LOT of competition in the segment and stuff like the Accord and 6 exist, plus even the Camry probably has a better chassis now. The Fusion is getting kind of old.
Brakes
Plenty of braking power and not a lot of pedal travel but it is touchy, especially at lower speeds. When I first got into it and tried to drive up to the gate at the rental place, I kept slamming on the brakes and letting off accidentally, as if a teenager was learning to drive stick for the first time. It was quite annoying. I have gotten more used to it but it is definitely not smooth like a regular car.
Interior
This seems to be a decently packaged car. There is quite a bit of room up front and the telescoping wheel plus adjustable seat is handy. There is a substantial amount of width down by the knee area. I had to splay my left leg pretty far to touch the door panel. The seat itself wasn't that great though. I did like the Apple Carplay though I did not integrate my contacts and use apps via USB. But for a rental car, it was pretty nice to fire up Google Maps on my work iPhone, then fire up Pandora, and have maps with audio over the car system with my music. It even has transport controls via the touch screen. That said, I'm old school - I would have had a better experience with built-in nav, especially with a high res 8" screen. So running Google Maps via USB projected to the screen would have been more what I wanted and I think that would have been possible if I plugged in. I also tried the backup camera and I think this is really the first time for that. It does work but it was highly unsettling to back up while looking at the center display. That's a bad road to go down imo. The car also had push button start but did not seem to have any kind of proximity unlock system, which seems lame. Maybe on the Platinum?
But as I was driving on the 405 in traffic getting my big MPG numbers, slamming on the brakes every 20 feet because everyone drives like a crazy person out here I had a profound thought: all of the modern systems that I roll my eyes at were invented because of driving in southern California. Hybrids. Lane change alert. Accident avoidance braking. All of that nonsense up to and including full autonomy. It all made sense fighting my way from LAX to my hotel. Not in a good way mind you but I can see the logic. Like I said, every 20 feet I was stopping and I couldn't see around this stupid MDX so I was always caught off guard. I couldn't change lanes as there was never enough room.
Which brings me to...why do people buy nice cars out here? I saw literally everything. Just on my drive from LAX I saw, in the first 5 minutes: 6th gen Camaro, current gen Challenger, current gen Mustang GT, a 1970 El Camino. Later I saw a whole bunch of other stuff including a CTS-V3. It seems so miserable. Other than possibly driving sporty cars on nice roads on the weekend, I think the only reason is because these people spend so much time IN their cars that they might as well get a nice one. That's all I got. I don't think I could live out here. Visiting is fine though. Weather is amazing.
Date Rented: 1/16/18
Location Rented: LAX
Rental Company: Advantage
Powertrain: 141 hp / 129 lb-ft 2.0L Atkinson cycle + 118 hp / 177 lb-ft AC motor w/ 1.4 kWh Li-Ion = 188 hp combined
Highs: SE model had 8" infotainment w/ Apple Carplay, auto climate, power seat, lots of data on dashboard, good chassis
Lows: Not as fast as I thought it would be.
Fun facts: I got nearly 50 mpg in stop and go LA 405 garbage traffic. So hybrids are a thing. See more below.
Other notable cars available: Other than the Kia Forte nothing was available to me.
Would I rent again? Sure, as long as the alternatives were either smaller or slower.
I'm not done with my rental period yet as I have it until Friday morning but I wanted to provide more info on my thoughts. So here's the longer version:
Powertrain
I did expect this to be faster and the specs sort of suggest it wouldn't be that slow. And I guess it's not unbearably slow. But I'm not sure it's really any faster than my Caprice. Unlike older hybrids this one will go up to 80 mph or so on all EV power though I haven't gotten past 45 or so. But again, the mileage in shitty traffic was pretty unbelievable to me considering in the same conditions my STS would have gotten something like 14 or 15. This is the first hybrid I've driven.
Chassis
This platform is surprisingly composed. It doesn't have the overall damping that I'd like but it feels like a Sigma FE1.5 if that makes any sense. Even on lame factory tires, it felt pretty good on some entrance exit ramps. Better than I expected. The steering is also very precise with zero on center play. It also has zero feel. I'd say this is above average but there is a LOT of competition in the segment and stuff like the Accord and 6 exist, plus even the Camry probably has a better chassis now. The Fusion is getting kind of old.
Brakes
Plenty of braking power and not a lot of pedal travel but it is touchy, especially at lower speeds. When I first got into it and tried to drive up to the gate at the rental place, I kept slamming on the brakes and letting off accidentally, as if a teenager was learning to drive stick for the first time. It was quite annoying. I have gotten more used to it but it is definitely not smooth like a regular car.
Interior
This seems to be a decently packaged car. There is quite a bit of room up front and the telescoping wheel plus adjustable seat is handy. There is a substantial amount of width down by the knee area. I had to splay my left leg pretty far to touch the door panel. The seat itself wasn't that great though. I did like the Apple Carplay though I did not integrate my contacts and use apps via USB. But for a rental car, it was pretty nice to fire up Google Maps on my work iPhone, then fire up Pandora, and have maps with audio over the car system with my music. It even has transport controls via the touch screen. That said, I'm old school - I would have had a better experience with built-in nav, especially with a high res 8" screen. So running Google Maps via USB projected to the screen would have been more what I wanted and I think that would have been possible if I plugged in. I also tried the backup camera and I think this is really the first time for that. It does work but it was highly unsettling to back up while looking at the center display. That's a bad road to go down imo. The car also had push button start but did not seem to have any kind of proximity unlock system, which seems lame. Maybe on the Platinum?
But as I was driving on the 405 in traffic getting my big MPG numbers, slamming on the brakes every 20 feet because everyone drives like a crazy person out here I had a profound thought: all of the modern systems that I roll my eyes at were invented because of driving in southern California. Hybrids. Lane change alert. Accident avoidance braking. All of that nonsense up to and including full autonomy. It all made sense fighting my way from LAX to my hotel. Not in a good way mind you but I can see the logic. Like I said, every 20 feet I was stopping and I couldn't see around this stupid MDX so I was always caught off guard. I couldn't change lanes as there was never enough room.
Which brings me to...why do people buy nice cars out here? I saw literally everything. Just on my drive from LAX I saw, in the first 5 minutes: 6th gen Camaro, current gen Challenger, current gen Mustang GT, a 1970 El Camino. Later I saw a whole bunch of other stuff including a CTS-V3. It seems so miserable. Other than possibly driving sporty cars on nice roads on the weekend, I think the only reason is because these people spend so much time IN their cars that they might as well get a nice one. That's all I got. I don't think I could live out here. Visiting is fine though. Weather is amazing.
Re: Rental Car Reviews
Another 24 hours.
The car has an overall adequacy to it but in several areas it's a little better than you were expecting. Like the audio. I know this is the SE trim level so maybe the audio is upgraded but it's quite serviceable for a rental car. I was able to get it pretty loud and even feel a little wind on my leg from the door speaker. Other than that upgrade Avalon I got that one time in 2014, this is certainly the best rental car audio I've heard but I haven't traveled that much in years and always got lower level cars anyway (aside from the Avalon).
And again the handling is very secure with a hint of good chassis, but not enough damping (or tire) to be actually sporty. In fact the ride is quite good.
The SE hybrid starts at around $26k. I don't know exactly what options mine has, if any, but for under $30k this is a perfectly fine family sedan that gets good fuel economy and has at least some features (did I mention power lumbar?).
This is a very competitive segment, however. And I think the real recommendation would be either you are a Ford guy (or whatever brand) so you get that, OR you just get the one that has the best deal/incentives at the time you need a car. I can't really see picking the Fusion because it's the car enthusiast's midsize sedan or something. I think that's actually kind of a misnomer - none of the FWD family sedans imo are worthy of anyone's attention as a car enthusiast. At least my definition of car enthusiast.
The car has an overall adequacy to it but in several areas it's a little better than you were expecting. Like the audio. I know this is the SE trim level so maybe the audio is upgraded but it's quite serviceable for a rental car. I was able to get it pretty loud and even feel a little wind on my leg from the door speaker. Other than that upgrade Avalon I got that one time in 2014, this is certainly the best rental car audio I've heard but I haven't traveled that much in years and always got lower level cars anyway (aside from the Avalon).
And again the handling is very secure with a hint of good chassis, but not enough damping (or tire) to be actually sporty. In fact the ride is quite good.
The SE hybrid starts at around $26k. I don't know exactly what options mine has, if any, but for under $30k this is a perfectly fine family sedan that gets good fuel economy and has at least some features (did I mention power lumbar?).
This is a very competitive segment, however. And I think the real recommendation would be either you are a Ford guy (or whatever brand) so you get that, OR you just get the one that has the best deal/incentives at the time you need a car. I can't really see picking the Fusion because it's the car enthusiast's midsize sedan or something. I think that's actually kind of a misnomer - none of the FWD family sedans imo are worthy of anyone's attention as a car enthusiast. At least my definition of car enthusiast.
Re: Rental Car Reviews
Car: 2017 Hyundai Elantra
Date Rented: 1/30/18
Location Rented: BWI
Rental Company: Avis
Powertrain: Lame
Highs: Good gas mileage? Driving from BWI to Bethesda and back had me at 38+ MPG indicated in medium-density traffic. I valet parked it at the fancy hotel I stayed at.
Lows: Everything else. Everything about this car feels cheap.
Other notable cars available: None. They told me I could have the Hyundai or wait for whatever it is I should have had. I opted to not wait. Lesson learned?
Would I rent again? Not on purpose.
Date Rented: 1/30/18
Location Rented: BWI
Rental Company: Avis
Powertrain: Lame
Highs: Good gas mileage? Driving from BWI to Bethesda and back had me at 38+ MPG indicated in medium-density traffic. I valet parked it at the fancy hotel I stayed at.
Lows: Everything else. Everything about this car feels cheap.
Other notable cars available: None. They told me I could have the Hyundai or wait for whatever it is I should have had. I opted to not wait. Lesson learned?
Would I rent again? Not on purpose.