Today's rental cars

[W1GUH]

I've been renting cars on business from Avis now for about a year, and, wow...are they far and away different that years gone by.

What I'm getting at LAX are Pontiacs and Saturns. #Usually the Pontiacs are Grand Prix's...and they've got some balls. #Some of those GP's have had more acceleration than any car I've ever driven. #Kudos, Avis.

The Saturns have been pretty mediocre in the BA department, but the creature comforts have been outstanding.

Including the sound systems. #Time was...what you got in a rental car was a tinny AM radio. #Not anymore.

They have ALL had an AM/FM/CD radio with an AUX input. #Better than any typical standard epuipment.

And this latest rental has beaten them all. #It's a Saturn Sky Convertible. #Get outta here...I get that for a business rental? #Yep. #Just for the asking (Avis).

But be advised that it has very little luggage space.

[WF7A]

Actually, it's very clever advertising on behalf of the car manufacturers. If you're happy with a rental and also happen to be in the market for a new car--or know of someone else shopping for a new car--you'll give a glowing review about it.

I've always wondered about the rental cars that end up at dealerships: there's a Budget Rent-a-Car and Enterprise sales lot nearby and the cars look well-kempt. However, you never really know how they were driven; renters tend to do all kinds of fun things with rental cars that they'd never do with their own.

[KG6YTZ]

Quote[/b] (W1GUH @ Dec. 14 2007,22:47)]They have ALL had an AM/FM/CD radio with an AUX input. #Better than any typical standard epuipment.
Some of those are probably even MP3 CD players. My younger brother prefers to rent a car when we go to Vegas at the end of the bowling season, and the last two we've had - a Chevy Impala and a Chevy Monte Carlo - have had MP3 CD players in 'em. Pop a disc in the dash, and there's about 12-13 hours of continuous excellent tuneage. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[N7VQM]

Quote[/b] (WF7A @ Dec. 15 2007,01:40)]If you're happy with a rental and also happen to be in the market for a new car--or know of someone else shopping for a new car--you'll give a glowing review about it.
I recently rented a car just so I could test drive it over a couple days.

[G0GQK]

"Today's cars are not your fathers rental cars." My father never had a rental car business, he was a brain surgeon !

G0GQK http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[K8ERV]

Quote[/b] (WF7A @ Dec. 15 2007,01:40)]renters tend to do all kinds of fun things with rental cars that they'd never do with their own.
I think that applies to girls too----

Tom K8ERV Montrose Co

[K8MHZ]

Quote[/b] (WF7A @ Dec. 14 2007,20:40)]Actually, it's very clever advertising on behalf of the car manufacturers. If you're happy with a rental and also happen to be in the market for a new car--or know of someone else shopping for a new car--you'll give a glowing review about it.

I've always wondered about the rental cars that end up at dealerships: there's a Budget Rent-a-Car and Enterprise sales lot nearby and the cars look well-kempt. However, you never really know how they were driven; renters tend to do all kinds of fun things with rental cars that they'd never do with their own.
In the early 90's I worked for a car dealership that bought cars from the rental car companies. They were all turned in a few miles before the warranty expired. We were told to go through the cars with a fine tooth comb and fix everything and anything we could find, as it was all warranty work that would not be charged to the dealership. We loved it as the cars provided a ton of work for us (the techs). Even though warranty work paid less than customer pay, we made out because there could be work that had overlaps and we saved time by not having to go out to the parking lot and bring a car in for each repair, there were multiple repairs to be made on each car.

We literally tore those cars apart and fixed everything. If the brakes were at all worn they got replaced. Even the tiniest flaw got repaired using factory OEM parts. We got to drive them and sometimes even take them home for the weekend to make sure that the cars were perfect when they left the service area. There were some of them that got a brand new set of tires because the Goodyear Invictas that came on them were so soft they wore out. (They were put on the cars new because of their smooth ride and lack of road noise, not their longevity).

They didn't stay on the lot long because people on the inside knew that everything was fixed on them. They usually were sold before we were done with them to people that the techs and salespeople knew.

They also sold for a good price because the dealership would purchase them in lots and got them for super cheap.

If the practice is still the same, getting a former rental car (at least a Chrysler product) from a new car dealership is as good a deal as you can get. Many of them were picked up by the people that worked at the dealership, too, especially the Caravans as most people that chose to rent Caravans were very easy on them. The same went for the New Yorkers as they were chosen by older folks. The least preferable were Daytonas and later Sebrings as they tended to be rented by 'hot rodders'. Even so, if there was as much as an engine tick the engines got torn down and totally re-built by factory trained techs.

All the routine maintenance was also done with OEM parts. Lube/Oil/Filter and tranny service was done on all of them. All the convertibles were checked for leaks and repaired. The engines were also checked for leaks and all those leaks repaired.

In some cases the former rentals were better than new because all the recalls were done and all the TSB's were read and improvements were made. (TSB's are Technical Service Bulletins).

If you know someone at a Chrysler dealership they can run the VIN through their computer and tell you everything that was done to that vehicle at a Chrysler dealership. When I was there, if I remember correctly, it was called a 'function 70'.

So, there you have it, at least the way it was done 15 years ago.

[ab9lz]

Quote[/b] (WF7A @ Dec. 15 2007,01:40)]renters tend to do all kinds of fun things with rental cars that they'd never do with their own.
Yup, never knew a Caprice could bust across the open desert like that, and to think we almost wasted money on a 4wd vehicle!

[WB2WIK]

If you want a real experience renting a car at LAX, try Executive car rentals. It's offsite, but they have a shuttle to take you there.

You can rent Porsches, Jaguars, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Corvettes, and pretty much anything you want. Rates aren't bad, driven mostly by the cost of insurance for higher-end cars.

Several years ago I rented an AC Cobra there for a weekend. Talk about zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzing. I think that car (429 CID engine in a car that weighs probably less than 2000 lbs) was proclaimed to do zero-to-100 mph-back to zero again all inside of ten seconds. Combination of power and great brakes. And believe me, it needs great brakes. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

WB2WIK/6

[w8gtf]

When some chick hit my girlfriend's car, she got a Toyota Camry as a rental. For being a 4 cylinder, I was quite impressed (I normally drive a Grand Marquis with afew "special" modifications).

I really liked the bluetooth setup in the radio for our cellphones. The radio also played MP3's & WMA's. I was slightly disappointed that there was no jack for my ipod. The car had tons of storage space in the console's.

The thing that surprised me was it didn't get much better gas mileage than my Grand Marquis.

[WB2WIK]

It's hard to judge gas mileage until you drive hundreds of miles.

My daily commute car is a Town & Country with the 3.8L V6, 230 HP. It's amazingly quick for a 5500 lb car, and has the mileage computer going all the time. Driving like a nut and beating people off the line it gets about 5 mpg. On the freeway with the cruise control set at 65 mph it gets 25 mpg.

It would be hard to guess what it's really doing without going through several tanks of petrol.

I added a "MPG computer" to my 1986 Jag XJ6 Vandenplas some years ago. Big 6 cylinder 4.2L engine, not very modern (its design dates back to the sixties). The computer indicated less than 4 mpg avg in the city, but more than 20 mpg avg on the freeway. How do you really figure that? http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

WB2WIK/6

[KB0LPI]

In general, engines today are putting out a lot more HP for their size than engines of yesteryear, while weight among classes is going down (if only slightly.)

I had a 1985 Merc. Grand Marquis.
3800 lbs, 5.0L engine, 150HP.

Now I have a 2005 Ford Five Hundred, AWD. same 3800 lbs. 3.0L engine and 200HP. and 200HP was called not enough and too slow, so they converted it to the Taurus and put in the 265 HP 3.5L enigine.

One thing that blows my mind is I also have a 1983 Thunderbird TurboCoupe. Turbocharged 2.3L 146 HP from the factory.
The 2.3L that comes in the base Fusion/Escape now is 160HP, no turbo required.

I didn't even talk about torque. Car companies want to put the HP on the line to try to sell a car because it has more horsepower. Even the rental queens. Actually they don't want to build rental queens due to the low resale value k8mhz mentioned.

Why buy new when you can get a 2006 Impala/Taurus/Sebring/Altima with low miles for less than 1/2 of new cost?

[w8gtf]

Quote[/b] (WB2WIK @ Dec. 15 2007,20:21)]It's hard to judge gas mileage until you drive hundreds of miles.

WB2WIK/6
We had the rental car 3 weeks while my Girlfriend's car was in the body shop. It was enough of a chance to put about 1000 miles on the car and run through about 3 full tanks of gas.

One of the things about having a 2004 Olds, is that replacement parts aren't quick or easy to find. Not to mention, the whole front suspension basically needed to be rebuilt.