Rental Car Reviews

[Adam]

It sure felt like an old truck.

[Bob]

Car: 2018 Mercedes-Benz CLA
Date Rented: 6/7/18
Location Rented: Coronado, CA (Hotel Del Coronado Hertz desk)
Rental Company: Hertz
Powertrain: 208 HP 2.0L turbo I4 with 7-speed DSG
Highs: DSG was very responsive in manual mode, some parts of the interior felt and looked nice. Gives the illusion of wealth. Active Sirius.
Lows: Noisy cabin, warped rotors, engine seemed to have two modes: on or off, CarPlay and Navigation, which are both optional, were not present. Lacks any kind of driving excitement. If this was in a comparison test with normal mid-size sedans, I feel like it would be fortunate to finish mid-pack. Back seat was cramped and not great for a child seat.
Fun facts: I think this might be the only FWD MB sedan ever, but that's not really fun.
Other notable cars available: Nothing was offered to me. Notably, this is the only time Hertz has given me a decent upgrade, ever, even though they status matched my top tier National status a while ago.
Would I rent again? Probably not. To be honest, I would have been fine with a Malibu or whatever, because at least it would have CarPlay that works.

[Adam]

Car: 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Date Rented: 6/17/18
Location Rented: BWI
Rental Company: Avis
Powertrain: 290 HP / 260 lb-ft 3.6L NA V6 with 8A
Highs: Upgraded head unit with Android Auto support.
Lows: I've said this before, but the 8-speed automatic is terrible. Seems this is not just isolated to a single instance. Fuel economy fell to 17 mpg in Beltway traffic. Engine doesn't start fast enough for auto-stop to not feel jerky and terrible.
Fun facts: You can disable "Eco" mode via a dash button whose state is remembered across starts. There is a "Auto-Stop" disable button right next to it that isn't remembered across starts.
Other notable cars available: Mitsubishi Outlander. Other crossover garbage.
Would I rent again? Maybe? The Limited I had previously rides a bit nicer than this standard model (which rides more like a truck) and had nicer interior materials.

[Adam]

Car: 2018 Chrysler 300
Date Rented: 7/8/18
Location Rented: JAX
Rental Company: Avis
Powertrain: 290 HP / 260 lb-ft 3.6L NA V6 with 8A
Highs: Upgraded head unit with Android Auto & Apple Car Play support. No Auto-Start/Stop! Features! Lots of highway on this trip, so I averaged 26mpgs. Panoramic sunroof.
Lows: I feel like I'm repeating myself, but the 8A is terrible. Rental car throttle calibration. I worked on that...
Fun facts: This car has lane departure assist. At first I thought the car was broken, turns out the system is not well calibrated for Jacksonville's combinations of asphalt and concrete roadways so it frequently thinks I was leaving the lane. Also when it "corrects" it feels more like jerking the wheel to move the car over several feet. There is a button on the dash to disable this "feature".
Other notable cars available: None.
Would I rent again? Not for a while. The car was very comfortable and drove well if you overlook the transmission performance, but I need to drive some non-Chryslers.

Other: When I got the car, it had 9xxx miles on it and 0% indicated oil life remaining. Later in the week Avis sent me an email saying I needed to return the car within 7 days as there was an outstanding safety recall on the vehicle and they didn't want me to crash.

[kevm14]

Good god, 9,xxx miles on the original oil? You should have checked it to see if it was even on the dipstick.

Apparently the 2008 STS was available with the passive version of that feature. That was pretty early though.

GM’s Lane Departure Warning System also debuts as an option on the 2008 STS. Controlled by a camera located in the rearview mirror that reads the lines in the road, the system will alert drivers when they have strayed into another lane. Drivers receive both an audible and visual alert cue.

When the Lane Departure Warning System is engaged, a driver traveling at 35 mph or more who crosses a detected lane marking without signaling is alerted in two ways: The system flashes an amber indicator light located in the fuel gauge of the instrument panel, and an alerting chime of three beeps is played. The system does not steer the vehicle; it is designed only to alert drivers so they can take appropriate action to move the vehicle back into the lane.

Another new optional feature, GM’s Side Blind Zone Alert System, extends and enhances driver awareness and vision. Alternating radar beams in Side Blind Zone Alert System sweep adjacent lanes of traffic, covering a zone of about one lane over from both sides of the vehicle, or 11 feet (3.5 m). The zone starts at each side mirror and goes back about 16 feet (5 m).

When the system is engaged, a driver will know that following vehicles in the adjacent lanes are entering their side blind zone when an amber symbol, located in the outside rearview mirror, is illuminated.

The system is not designed to detect vehicles outside of the side blind zone that may be rapidly approaching, or detect pedestrians, bicyclists or animals. It’s designed to ignore infrastructure such as fire hydrants or parked cars. In addition, the system displays do not come on while the vehicle is approaching or passing other vehicles.

The Lane Departure Warning and Side Blind Zone Alert systems can be manually turned off by the driver.

I really have only started seeing this commonly in the past ~2 years. Anyway as designed it doesn't sound terribly intrusive.

[Adam]

Good god, 9,xxx miles on the original oil? You should have checked it to see if it was even on the dipstick.

Sounds like a lot of work for a rental car.

When the lane departure system was engaged, it felt like a car with a combination of a bad tie rod end and cupped front tires. I think the biggest issue was it incorrectly detected "lane departure" when there the road material changed or the lines were worn off.

[Adam]

Car: 2018 Kia Optima
Date Rented: 7/29/18
Location Rented: SEA
Rental Company: Avis
Powertrain: 180 HP / 178 lb-ft 2.4L NA I4 with 6A
Highs: Saw 28.5 mpgs in mixed driving. Produces "sufficient" power for normal driving (wiki says 3200-3300lbs). Actually drives ok. Android Auto.
Lows: Cheap-ish interior materials.
Fun facts: This car still uses a traditional key to start! How quaint!
Other notable cars available: None.
Would I rent again? If the other car was terrible, this one is fine.

[Adam]

Car: 2018 Chevy Malibu
Date Rented: 9/2/18
Location Rented: HNL
Rental Company: Avis
Powertrain: 250 HP / 260 lb-ft 2.0L turbo I4 with 6A
Highs: Saw low 30's on the "fuel-o-meter". Feels faster than the standard rental car garbage I get. Android Auto, but needs to be enabled in the menu.
Lows: Weird fabric inserts on the dash. Auto-stop feels less refined than other cars I've driven recently.
Fun facts: GM loves their steering wheel controls. I counted 15 buttons.
Other notable cars available: Lots of Jeep Wranglers, 'cause beach and surfing?
Would I rent again? Sure. Other than the stupid auto-stop feature there is nothing wrong with this car.

[Adam]

Even though I saw over 30, when hammering on it the instantaneous economy gauge fell well into the teens. Also, the engine redline on the tach was 6500rpm, but it always shifted before that.

[kevm14]

Probably because a shift is optimal given the power band.