Question of the Day: What's the Best Car You've Ever Rented?
I’ve just returned to the office after a weeklong stint behind the wheel of a Thrifty-provided Dodge Magnum rental. I could have done without the officer-baiting red paint and no, it didn’t have a Hemi, but the lowdown format struck me as a nice fit for a week at the beach all the same. As a sort of neo-surfer hot-rod wagon, it just needed a pair of long boards jutting out from its (admittedly sealed) rear window to complete the visuals.
Although the Magnum probably wasn’t my favorite rental car ever, it was more exciting than the Chevrolet Impalas and Ford Tauruses that the desk worker attempted to foist upon me. (Incidentally, when I went to pick up my car in the lot of the Jacksonville airport, I did notice a pair of Hertz ZHZ Corvettes that gave me reason for pause, but I shudder to think of how much they were charging for the privilege).
All of this rambling leads to two things: A joke the Thrifty employee told me, and a question.
First, the joke:
Q: “What’s the difference between a Jeep Wrangler and a rental car?”
A: “There are some places a Jeep can’t go.”
And the question:
What’s the best rental car you’ve ever had, and why?
Comments
Reilly Brennan
It's been fairly tame for me. That being said, the best rental I've ever had was a Ford F150 truck. I'd never driven one before and I managed at least a dozen burnouts before returning it.
Nate Luzod
Audi A4 TDI. It was a lovely 6 speed manual that I rented in Berlin and drove as fast as possible down to Münich. I've never gone so fast for so long (100+ for up to 1/2 hour stretches), and the car showed absolutely no sign of becoming irritable. Too bad we're generally stuck with Fords and Chevys here in the states.
Chris Paukert
While I've never seen an Audi rental car at a mainline rental outlet, there are plenty of imports littering fleets these days. I see tons of Mitsubishis, Kias, Hyundais, and so forth, and I've even seen the stray Volkswagen, Jaguar, Toyota (Prius, mostly) and Honda (my sister's rental car for her family's week in Florida was an Accord). Hertz's Fun Collection offers the Nissan 350Z convertible alongside the aformentioned Corvette ZHZ. That said, I can't remember ever seeing a diesel rental, and I can't recall the last time I saw a manual for rent Stateside. Europe, however...
Chris Paukert
Editor-In-Chief
Winding Road Magazine // NextAutos
Christopher Champion
Unfortunately the last rental car I've been in was a PT Cruiser. However, I have fond memories of crashing in the backseat of early 90's Lincoln Town Car's on twenty-plus hour trips to Florida when I was a young child. Leather seats were the coolest in my 6-year-old brain.
Mena
Can't recall a rental I had fun with. I only rent to serve a need that can't be accomplished with my own vehicles.
Anonymous
Porsche 911 Turbo over in Germany for 500USD a day... Well worth every cent.
bmg123
By far, it would be a Lotus Elise rented from Enterprise in San Diego. My car was in the shop, so my insurance company even paid for part of it. I only had to pay for $45 a day out of my own pocket and had it for 10 days including two weekends. I must have must have put over 100 miles a day on it over the weekend days driving in the mountains. So much fun.
A second runner up would be renting a Mazda Miata with a stickshift also from Enterprise about 10 years ago for a weekend in LA.
TT
We got a free upgrade to a BMW 730D from a "premium" reservation (Mercedes E-Class) from the airport in Cologne, Germany.
Here are some of my photos of a couple rental cars over the years, but I haven't updated them recently.
http://www.thaitum.com/photos_public/hertz/
Before gas prices went crazy, I liked renting the H2, especially on the Big Island in Hawaii. We took it "off road" even thought it violated our rental agreement.
TT
I've also rented a Corvette Convertible (using ~3000 Hertz points) and 350z Roadster (Avis free upgrade from Premium size) in Orlando, in the same week in January.
We were thinking about trying the ZHZ for a week for a 2000 mile road trip. The ZHZ is probably the best deal using Hertz points right now, only around 4,000 points per week, since the daily walk up rate is around $200-$250 / day or around $150 with a corp discounts.
In the end, I decided to save our points and bring our own car instead, a 05 SLK350. It was tight and we shoved so much luggage into the trunk, we couldn't put the top down until we got to the hotels / parents houses. We were also traveling with our dog who slept on our laps the whole way. I'm not sure I would do such a long trip in our roadster again, but it was fun and we got 30.5 mpg average.
Zelman
Every time I get a rental, I ask for the 'cheaper' ride. Rental places, especially when called through your own car's dealer, give you lee-way on what you can do to the car. Especially when it's a 10 year old Kia that just begs do be doing parking lot donuts.
Cheap rides may not look as good, but they cost less, and you can abuse the hell out of them. Farm roads are a rally course for your rented 1996 Ford Fiesta.
Jason Salcido
I went to a rental place by the airport close by to get some info for a friend, and their in the lot was a pontiac solstice. It was only $75 a day so I had to go back and try it just for a day downtown and by the beach. So incredibly sweet, felt like king kong the whole time.
Steve
Heh. Here comes Mena!!
"There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.”
Mena
He said enough. :)
BruceinCary
A Volvo that I rented in Frankfurt and drove at about 215km/h on the Autobahn on my way to the F1 GP at Hockenheim, circa 2001.
And an upgrade from an Astra to a MB 300D in Toulouse and I drove at over 200km/h on the lovely French Auto Route.
So I guess any rental that travels at more than 124 mph is a good rental.
Bruce
WendellH
Shelby GTH in Southern California. Liked it so much i rented one on a second trip. It reminded me of my first drives in a Shelby GT350 many years ago. Just doesn't bark like carburetor cars did when you let off. Great for driving into holes on the freeway. Maybe the Corvette next time.
Other memorable ones Jaguar XK8 in Colorado and a Miata in San Francisco. Take highway 1 north hopefully on a day when the motorhome people are parked at the beach.
Ttommy
I went to Florica and rented one of the second generation Sebring convertibles, It had just come out, it was dark Red and people were asking me what kind of car it was. Had a blast with it all over Daytona (motorcycles) and Plant City (Baseball Spring training)
bigmikeo
No the car but the trip...The Toyota Camry I took from Ohio to Canada. On the way back we found a 9mm clip in the rear armrest! Wasn't sure if we should pitch it or claim it at the border. Was lucky on the way there, one of my passengers felt they did not need to bring their passport and forgot their birth certificate. Surprised we weren't strip searched! Pulled into the border office and they were waiting with latex gloves on.
Returned the clip to Hertz in case the drive-by rental before me called looking for it.
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