I had a whole tale ready to go (in my head, at least) about how a Dodge Charger rental surprised me because it was AWD, which I had no idea was a thing – I thought the whine coming from the front end was a bad bearing or something. (To be fair, it may have also been that.) I was also going to share how surprisingly fun the Chevy Sonic was, and how surprisingly wretched the first-gen Versa was, at least for me. Everything inside was granite-hard plastic, and every control felt like it was in the wrong position by three inches or more.
But who cares about my boring stories when Mercedes and Stephen (of Walter Gossin fame) have contributed much better-told tales of cars that surprised them, for better or worse? Onward!
Stephen
Better than expected: David’s old, black BMW i3. I had the opportunity to drive David’s BMW while visiting him two years ago for the L.A. Auto Show. I was blown away! The instant torque, the acceleration, the refinement of the chassis and suspension, along with the pleasant interior, were very much unexpected and impressive. Granted, I daily a 23-year-old Stratus Coupe and a 21-year-old Durango, so we should probably also take that into account here as the base level for what I’m used to. Nonetheless, I complimented my engineer buddy Dave-o on his fantastic automobile and walked away with quite the positive impression.
Worse than expected: My new-to-me SL500 (R230) Mercedes roadster. The car only has 67K miles on it, and in that span of usage, the following items have failed:
- Pneumatic locks
- Power top
- ABC suspension
- Heater control valve
- Center stack screen de-laminated
- Rear brake caliper seized (SBC brake system requires a special scan tool to bleed the replacement unit)
- Dash clock display
- Both door panels cracked
- Interior kick panel (under steering column) cracked and fell apart
- Rear defrost
- Water leaks in the trunk
This car cost $175K in today’s dollars and is probably the absolutely worst-designed out of any of the 157 cars I’ve had. I still can’t believe that Chrysler gets so much online community grief when my 250,000-mile, $400 Durango and my $220, 180,000-mile Stratus both keep chugging along every year – and this piece of luxury German engineering fell apart in 67K miles. Anecdotal, yes, but it still happened.
Mercedes
Better than expected: The Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet. A Nissan crossover with a CVT is pretty much the exact opposite of the cars I normally roll in. Yet, the CrossCab has grown on me. I went from hating its existence to loving it. I hate the fuel economy, I hate the lack of storage space, and I hate how our example is not much quieter than just being outside. I get why Nissan sold barely more than 6,000 units. Who wants to spend nearly $50,000 for a crossover that’s overly complicated and only somewhat good at being a crossover?
Yet, drop the top, and none of that matters anymore. The CrossCab becomes the coolest car in a 50-mile radius. There’s something unforgettable about being in a unique, high-riding crossover with nothing but miles of sky ahead of you. Ours is even better with its lift kit and off-road tires. Sure, it still gets terrible gas mileage and has no cargo room, but you feel like a million bucks in a CrossCab.
Worse than expected: Volkswagen Passat TDI B5.5. I spent a few years of my life chasing down what I thought was the holy grail of wagons. Volkswagen once made a mid-size wagon with a powerful and efficient diesel engine. Some folks then go through the work to swap the car’s sole transmission choice, an automatic, for a VW or Audi manual transmission.
In theory, this is the enthusiast’s dream. It’s a German diesel wagon with a manual transmission! So, why was it surprisingly not so great to me? Well, once I drove a BMW, I realized that a mid-2000s Volkswagen Passat isn’t nearly the peak of German enthusiast car awesomeness that I thought it was. I found out that everything that I like about the Volkswagen, a BMW wagon does cooler and better. As my tastes then trended toward BMW, I then started seeing those older Volkswagen interiors as being sort of boring. BMW even sold diesels in America in the 2010s, and those have become my new diesel grails.
This sharp turn was wild to me. I have purchased four of those Volkswagen diesel wagons. Now, I don’t care about them. I don’t search for them on Facebook anymore and I don’t care when my wife shows me one for sale.
Your turn:
My spouse got a Charger as a rental (the 3.6 8HP years) when someone removed her bumper in a parking lot.
She is a FWD gal, so the Charger made her uncomfortable. I’ve exclusively owned RWD and the occasional AWD, so I LOVED the charger.
Props to Dodge, their traction control is programmed VERY well. The more throttle you give it in the snow, it’ll progressively let you override the spin and yaw. Very predictable to the point that I didn’t have to turn off TCS to have fun.
Worst was a CX5. Rental spec, all the features and the base engine. So much noise for no acceleration. And after a 6 hour drive, I couldn’t feel my ass. The WORST seats I’ve ever sat in. That includes my base model 1981 RX7 and my beat-to-shit crown vic interceptor.
Surprisingly good: Ford 3.5 Ecoboost. Smooth, powerful everywhere, minimal turbo lag. Wouldn’t want the V8.
Surprisingly bad: current Acura TLX. Went in thinking I’d love it. It looks great and Honda’s a master at packaging. Well, not with this one. Subcompact rear legroom in a sedan as long as an Accord. Pointless try-hard RWD stance in a transverse FWD platform. Interior materials overrated. The 2.0 turbo met its match contending with the 4,000 pound curb weight–the Accord was very quick because it was light, not because the engine is amazing. I think 10 speeds is too many.
As someone that had a 2018 3.5 ecoboost F150, I have severe regret about trading that truck in. It was the best.
Is that the same 3.5 EB that the Flex had that was known for the slurry of death?
(source: two Flexes in the immediately family died that way between 180k – 190k miles)
Nah, the transverse 3.5s have a bunch of differences. I don’t even think they share a block.
Sorry. Should have bought the Accord. My ’17 has almost limo leg room in the back. I’m 6’2″ and with the seat all the way back, I’m comfortable behind myself. No, it’s not Lincoln Town Car roomy, but it’s pretty decent. Not NBA decent, but us 95th percentile people? Enough.
Certainly didn’t buy the TLX, the interview went badly. Took home a GS350 instead.
I would too, if they didn’t have those ridiculous grilles.
Not a fan of the grille, but turning down an otherwise excellent car because of a styling quirk seemed silly to me.
I’m noy saying I wouldn’t buy one. They do seem excellent. What I have now meets my needs. And probably will for years to come.
I had an RDX loaner while our MDX was being serviced. I agree that 10 speeds is too many. It felt like an F1 car shifting so often. The six speeds my ’17 Accord V6 has seems perfectly adequate, although the top gear could maybe be a little taller. I guess than 2000 rpm = 70 mph isn’t that bad. Nor is nearly 40 mpg at that speed.
Underwhelming: Mercedes CLA250. I’ve had it for a rental twice; it was fast enough and did everything ok, but it just didn’t feel special the way I expected. The DCT didn’t seem to know what to do when you floored it, it had too many drive modes, and there was more road noise than in my 2022 Camry.
Unexpectedly good: my 2022 Camry Hybrid. I get mid 40’s mpg on long drives, it’s smooth and quiet, yet it’s somewhat peppy and doesn’t mind being hustled. Honestly, its so good that I sigh deeply on the inside when I have to rent a car for travel, as whatever I get always ends up being a downgrade from my Camry. I’d take my Camry Hybrid over a CLA 250 any day.
The TNGA Camries are far better than the auto rags and most blogs give them credit for. They were well reviewed at first but then the usual hierarchy had to be re-established so all the old tropes came back out.
Positive – 2008 Dodge Charger. I liked it so much I ended up owning 3 Chargers of various trim levels and a Durango R/T. Dodge gets a bad rap for reliability – I can count the number of repairs across all four cars and 15 years on one hand.
Negative – 1993 Honda Prelude SE. “Buy a Honda” everyone said . . . “They’re incredibly reliable” everyone said. I have a few words in response: “UNRELIABLE, UNDERWHELMING PILE OF CRAP”. (Of course I’m not bitter, why do you ask?)
Another that will mention the first generation Neon. Rented one in Reno for several days. At the time I had a first generation Sentra SE-R.
Wasn’t better than the five years older Sentra, but was compatible, had just a little more room, and got better gas mileage.
Later I was sure I wanted a manual E46 3 series. Took a nice 330Ci for a drive and…it was ok, fine, maybe I built it up in my mind too much.
Then I drove an IS300. I was surprised how much I liked it. Steering was sharp, but the ride still smooth. Seats were super comfortable, it just felt tighter than the BMW, and more of an upgrade from my manual ’99 Maxima SE.
I feel you on the 3 series. Years ago I was dead set on owning an E92, right up until I test drove one. It’s the fastest I’ve ever let go of one of my automotive dreams.
Rental vehicles, had the opportunity to rent several types of vehicles when visiting my parents in Ohio since 2013 when I relocated to Guam.
Best suprise, #1 was the previous generation Prius, had never driven any before, turned out to be pleasant driving experience, decent power, ride, my parents were in their eighties when I drove them around and they enjoyed it. #2 2024 arrived to pick up a reservation for a Prius and none on the lot, choices remaining were a couple of SUV’s and a 2022 Jetta. I chose the Jetta as I’m not a big fan of driving SUV’s. The Jetta was a bit worn on the outside, lots of rental nicks and scratches. Interior was still good, cloth seats, buttons instead of later VW touch pads. Even though it was already 2years old as a rental car, I was impressed that the ride was still comfortable yet tight enough to have fun in the curves. Gas mileage was in the low 40’s on the highway, was just the base 4cylinder, yet decent acceleration, wasn’t expecting it to be that high.
Worst rental 2023 visit reserved a Prius again, again none available at the rental counter, only available left were two 2034 Toyota Tacoma 4wd 4 door cab trucks. Wasn’t expecting much, having never driven one before but it was just a terrible experience. I’m 6’2” tall, long legs, seats sit on the floor with legs stretched straight ahead for the pedals, was amazed it was just such a bad ergonomic experience, between the steering wheel, dashboard controls, glare from the center touchscreen at night. Driving was just horrible, I understand it’s 4wd and a truck, but it was just so clumsy to drive whether in a parking lot or on a highway, being a 2023, I figured the suspension would be more sorted out for general driving than it turned out to be. Usually when I visit the parents for a few weeks I drive them around in the rental car for dinner and sightseeing, but I hated that Tacoma so much by the time I arrived at my parents house from the airport, about an hour’s drive, that I parked it out of the way in the driveway, gave a mental two handed middle finger to it after unloading my luggage and didn’t drive it until I drove back to the airport.
Surprise was a 2024 Sentra SV rental.It was a good all around car that I really had no complaints about.Biggest disappointment was a 2023 Jeep Sahara that I was “upgraded” to as a rental.It was new and still absolutely terrible to drive.The soft top leaked when it rained and the transfer case marked its territory all over my driveway.I have no clue how someone can have one as their only vehicle.
I have to give two thumbs up on the Sentra SV. I had one as a rental a couple of months ago and it was a surprisingly pleasant experience. The Charger I rented on Kauai in January was exactly as bad as expected.
> I have no clue how someone can have one as their only vehicle.
Easy: they’re always driving loaners while it’s in the shop.
The base 2.5 2005 impreza i got as a free upgrade on a rental. Only real difference to my lgt was leather seats and a engine giving up 100hp for reliability. 30mpg was stupid easy too.
Worst was probably the 4cyl geo metro . Wot to keep up with traffic in the city. And thats its best feature. Downhill from there.
Slightly boring: BYD Dolphin, at least the Chinese domestic spec. Was really looking forward to trying it out (who doesn’t like a small peppy EV?), but BYD managed to make it drive much more maturely for a car of its class and size. Surprisingly comfortable, good insulation, and not much steering feel. Nice to sit in but pretty much devoid of the small car joy. Doesn’t have enough desirability for me 🙁
Disappointing: Avatr 06 EREV sedan (Joint venture between Changan, Huawei and CATL). Insanely well spec’d on paper, with front double wishbones, air suspension and CDC, massaging and ventilated seats, 30-ish kWh + 1.5 turbo range extender, plus all the Huawei smart crap and “self-driving”. Again like most Chinese cars, incredibly comfy but bereft of driving joy……. the steering yoke felt incredibly cheap, light and hollow, and the electric power steering didn’t feel well tuned at all, somehow it felt like they integrated a beginner sim racing wheel (with bad force feedback) into the dash. It’s like they tried to make up for the poor driving dynamics by adding in all these features and USPs, fantastic value on paper but unfortunately not for me.
I think the biggest positive surprise was a rental 2016-ish Mustang with the turbo-4. I had to pop the hood to make sure that was the engine in the car because it was so smooth, no turbo lag – if you told me it was a V-8 before I popped the hood, I would have believed you.
Worst? Brand new Nissan NV200. I was surprised because I didn’t believe any manufacturer could sell a new vehicle in 2015 that was so horrendously awful. Seriously, the worst new or near-new vehicle I’ve ever driven. Think about everything that was awful about the same era of Nissan Versa, but then make it heavier and tinnier. Pressing the accelerator pedal just made it louder, not faster.
Sometime early in the 2010s I took my Mazda RX-8 in for a safety recall service bulletin. I had a couple of hours to kill so I walked over to the showroom area. It was a Chevrolet + Mazda + Kia dealership group so I asked to test drive a stick shift compact sedan from each brand back-to-back-to-back.
Expectation: Mazda 3, closely followed by Chevy Cruze, then Kia Rio bringing up the rear.
Actual: Mazda, then Kia, then Chevy in a VERY distant third.
I was already familiar with Mazda design and quality so the 3 was comfortably satisfying and met my expectations. I drove it mainly to establish a baseline to compare the other two.
I was surprised how poorly the Chevy compared in… well, everything. From interior quality to shifter action and everything in between. It did not feel like a competitive offering by a company serious about avoiding another bankruptcy. How they heck are they selling so many of these things?
I was surprised how well the Kia held its own. That was my first inkling that South Korean car manufacturers are fast learners and rapidly progressing. If they keep it up, they will quickly become a global force to be reckoned with. They did, and today, they are.
While the three MSRP were within +/- $1K of each other, the real prices are further apart. Salesperson said they’re happily moving the Mazdas near MSRP so there’s very little room to negotiate relative to the Kia. In contrast, they’re highly motivated to move their Cruze stock because every Cruze they sell will earn them allocation for more profitable Chevys.
Well, at least that explains the sales volume.
I’m currently visiting my mom who replaced her 2012 Camry with a 2023 Rio after the third time her Camry was in a wreck while parked at a gas station. Now that my dad is gone she wanted to go back to a small hatchback. This is my second Christmas visiting since she got the car and I am amazed by how much I love it. Even the CVT is shockingly good to drive compared to every other one I’ve ever experienced. It handles well, is quite comfortable, came with wireless carplay, some of the best headlights ever, and everything you’d want in a modern car and cost somewhere around $24K out the door. I think it’s the funnest car my parents have owned since they moved to the US in the late 70’s. (2003 Forester was also surprisingly enjoyable to drive)
I’m keeping my eyes on Kia’s upcoming K4 hatchback, hoping it’ll be a surprise of the good kind.
Better- I had a rental Pacifica a few years ago and I was surprised how much liked it. Comfortable good visibility, gets out of its own way ok. If you need to haul people it’s ok. Worse- I drove a Challenger Hellcat and it was awful. Huge boat that handles horribly. Yeah it’s fast but not worth it.
Poverty spec Nissan kicks. Yes, it’s spartan, but truthfully it’s a lot of car for the money and does everything you *need* pretty well with no fuss. I enjoyed it more than nearly all the other rentals I’ve been given, which really did surprise me.
Edit: oh also surprise the other way—BMW 430i convertible. It neither felt particularly luxurious nor sporty. The base engine BMWs are the 2020’s version of the 6cyl mustang from the 60s, where image is the only metric that counts.
I own a poverty spec 2020 Nissan kicks. Honestly a good little commuter. It gets good mpg. Is easy to see out of. And the seats are very comfortable for such a cheap car.
Base cars come with tons of stuff these days. I think this is especially true, the older you get. It’s hard to believe just how simple cars once were and where we are now.
I grew up experiencing “extra features” like interior wood/metal stickers, rear window defrost, AM and FM radio, and if you were really fancy, power windows and a rear trunk release, perhaps even cruise control and a booming 10w cassette player!
I’m sure the people older than 52 would have found our used, no options, 70s/80s shitboxes to be pretty fancy too, much as I feel about the brand new “base” model cars now.
430 convertible is also one of my biggest disappointments. The engine is okay, decent power and they’ve refined and insulated it a lot compared to the early DI 4cyls. My gripe is the stop start and hybrid system. It disengages engine<>trans before you get to a stop, so you’ll hit the gas, it’ll rev up while it realizes you want to get into gear, then SLAMS you into gear. I actually don’t mind auto stop/start when it’s reasonably implemented, but this was awful, and unique to the 430i.
Better than expected: I’ve never had much love for German cars, no hatred mind you, but aside from supercars, nothing from BMW, Mercedes, or Audi really ever raised my skirt, and I got to drive plenty at the dealership.
But one day I had to leave my vehicle at the garage, and we had just taken in a 2015 Audi Allroad on trade. My manager told me to take it home and find out if there was anything wrong with it.
Hopped in, and thought “man, this sits kind of perfect. Not too low, not too high. The dash was laid out with this perfect logic. Everything was perfectly placed, and it just looked great. I take off, and it’s got pep. Handles like a dream. Brakes are spot-on. Heater CRANKS. The heated seats were the PERFECT blend of heat without being overbearing. I reset the fuel mileage and cruise at about 55 for a few miles. Damn, 32mpg. I turn off the main road onto my bumpy, rough, pothole ridden backroad. This thing glides over the bumps. So by now I’m about smitten. Last little test, I want to see how this thing really goes. I head up my little unpaved side road, a mile long one-lane climb up through the woods that’s still got a good 2” of snow lying on top. I start heading up, riding that boost, and the next thing I know I am ROCKETING up this snowy hill, like a rally car wearing a black tuxedo.
Dudes and dudettes, I was completely smitten. I probably should have bought that thing.
It wasn’t any one thing about it that won me over, it was just that every single thing about it was terrific.
I always find those XMAS car ads corny, but I hope you wake up tomorrow to find the perfect spec Allroad in your driveway with a big, stupid red bow on it.
It has been a long time since I have been really disappointed in a car, but I think the last time I was completely disappointed was a rental 2022 Dodge Challenger. It was a V6, so I wasn’t expecting much, but even with that I was continuously annoyed by it. Huge outside, tiny inside. Horrible visibility. The chassis was anything but sporty. The V8 Challengers are only better in the power department, but the rest of the car is all style and no substance, and it left me with zero desire to ever own one (Hellcat or otherwise).
On the counter, the 2025 Camry I had as a rental really surprised me. The hybrid power train was impressively efficient and also dang punchy, and the chassis was far more lithe than I’d expect from a family sedan. The interior was also a much more pleasant place to be than I had expected from a low-trim SE. My only complaint was the headrest angle of the front seats, but that’s a common problem for most newer vehicles.
Better than expected: head gasket sealer actually works 😀
Yeah, I have a Subaru, and that shit actually did stop the head gasket problem on my EJ25D. Bars Leaks HG-1 is fucking awesome! It makes older Subarus worth buying again LOL
I’ve also heard good things about Blue Devil Pour-N-Go
Nothing too exciting, but better than expected were the first generation Neons I’d rent and loved. Also the facelifted first generation Fusions we rented a lot of.
Worst: the 2015 T&C minivan that failed to start with all of our important belongings while moving from NYC to Florida. No Stellantis ever.
what was wrong with the minivan? why wouldnt it start?
The gear lever was stuck in Park and the car wouldn’t start even with the foot on the brake. It eventually (hours) was coaxed into Drive so it could be replaced at a nearby Enterprise.
It’s hard for people who are too young to appreciate what a jump in quality the Neon was compared to the cars that preceded it. I had a girlfriend back then who’d been driving an 80s Plymouth Horizon and then upgraded to a Plymouth Neon. It was legtimately shocking how much better of a car it was in every way.
Equally shocking was how much worse the Caliber was after the Neon. I was travelling a lot for work back then and the downward spiral from Neon to PT Cruiser to Caliber as far as rentals was painful to experience.
A couple stand out as dissapointments.
A 2019ish Nissan Sentra made for an absolute miserable rental car. The NVH was terrible, that combined with the CVT and how sluggish it was made it seem like it was groaning with contempt if you attempted to accelerate onto the highway. It was so far off of where other cars in the same size/price class that I had no idea how they sold any of them.
A 2012 Subaru Impreza I also found to be miserable. On paper I should have liked this car. It was a hatch, awd, and a 5 speed manual. I found the experience rather uninspiring. The engine was underpowered, the dynamics did not feel quite right and it did not like being hustled at all, even the manual did not really seem to add anything to the experience. Caused me to not consider an STI as an option while car shopping most recently even though I know that car would be completely different from the base car I drove.
Heh, I had a similar experience driving a friend’s current-gen manual WRX. On paper, the performance numbers are fine. It looks mean. But it drives like… a a V6 Camry with a manual? Maybe a bit better than that, but I drove it on a road that is hilariously fun in a Liata and a Civic Type R and felt no joy in the WRX.
Ok so I was a passenger, but I was surprised when I rode in the back of A Lexus NX. And not in a good way.
It felt cheap. Like the materials really weren’t any nicer than our 10 year old Odyssey. And the leather felt super cheap; might as well been vinyl. Ride felt cromulant but nothing special. And it felt really poorly packaged in terms of space utilization but I guess that’s just inherent with compact SUVs.
Alfa Romeo 159 SW JTD 200hp: heavy to drive, uncomfortable, cramped, ridiculous trunk, ignoble finish and a hilarious level of reliability.
Most surprisingly bad because I didn’t even know cars could suck so hard (and I’ve been in malaise junkers) was a ’16 Kia Rio (brand new at the time).
Most surprisingly good was my FWD 5MT ’90 Legacy wagon. Wanted another manual EA81 Subaru, but couldn’t find one that wasn’t rotted and I never liked the EA82 cars, so I reluctantly jumped up to the “big” Legacy. Wanted AWD, but couldn’t find a good one with a manual in a color that didn’t suck, so I settled for a Majestic blue (similar to the later WRB) FWD. Drove better than the AWD versions I drove later, more like a sports car than the sports cars I’ve driven, including the GR86 I now own and whose platform it’s based on. Beat the hell out of it, a monkey could fix it, comfortable enough to drive cross country in just over 2 days straight without any body discomfort, DGAF about any kind of weather despite being only FWD, and the utility on such a small footprint was astounding. I will never have a car I like more.
For me it was the Toyota Tacoma TRD.
Good: Acceleration and comfort.
Bad: Infotainment screen. That gawd awful white screen made me just turn it all off and ignore it the entire vacation.
If you had read the reports on quality coming from owners of the R230, you’d know what a piece of utter crap it is.
After the R129’s, every SL that came after isn’t worth owning.
(Gee, I wonder why MB can’t sell them?)
Agreed!
Check out the above-linked R230 rescue story if you’re looking for a hoot regarding those cars.
Thanks for the post and for reading, Urban Runabout!
The car that surprised me in a good way was a 1st generation Dodge Neon. Granted, my expectations were low but it was a pretty good steer, all things considered – although the build quality was pretty poor.
The one that surprised me in a bad way was a Hyundai Matrix rental car I once had. It was disconcertingly unstable under braking in a straight line.
Come to think of it I was also disappointed by a Hyundai Accent with a stick shift that had a massive gap between the ratios for 2nd and 3rd, and a Hyundai Elantra with an automatic that was limited to 110mph. I guess I don’t have much luck with Hyundais.
The seventh gen Chevy Malibu. After years of mediocre to crappy American rental cars, this was the first one that actually came close to a low end Honda or Toyota. Another one would be the second-gen Ford Fusion hybrid, which was the first American car that I seriously considered buying.
Ditto. I grabbed one as a rental and drove back to Detroit from Milwaukee to outrun an incoming storm that was certain to cancel my flight. I was blown away by it. Probably 2016 or 2017.
Reminds me, I recently had a 2024 LT spec, ninth gen Malibu for a 7 week rental. For a decent looking car with lots of features, I was surpised how much I disliked that car. It all felt so cheap and phoned in. The drivetrain was loud with unpredictable accelation, the radio sounded awful, the steering wheel doesn’t feel solid. The people who buy these things new must outright refuse to buy lightly used Japanese sedans.
Same here. Same trim and model year. That interior is insulting, there isn’t a nice texture or decent-fitting panel or solid-feeling switch or button anywhere in there and the engine sounds terrible. Shame, because I thought it steered and rode really well.