As car enthusiasts, we love an opportunity to slide behind the wheel of something different. However, experiencing new cars can be hard. Unless you work in the auto industry or intentionally drive a horribly unreliable German car as a gambit to snag seat time in dealership loaner vehicles, rental fleets are likely your best chance of getting behind the wheel of new stuff.
An inarguable truth about rental car roulette is that sometimes you win and other times you don’t. For every free upgrade, there’s a neglected Nissan Altima just waiting to proclaim that it’s seen tens of thousands of hard miles.
The last actual rental car I was in was a Volkswagen Jetta, and you know what? It was great. Apple CarPlay connected instantaneously, noise on the highway was remarkably low, the seats were all-day comfortable, the trunk swallowed all our luggage, and the fuel bill was microscopic. It was objectively a great car for a whirlwind trip to Calgary, and it felt like it punched far above its weight class.
So, what was your last rental car, and how was it? Whether you were a lucky duck in a muscle car or left the airport with a pre-dented Buick Encore, we’d love to know about your latest rental car experience in the comments below.
(Photo credits: Volkswagen)
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A 2018 or 2019 Kia Optima. Only had about 7k on the odometer, and unlike every other car I’ve rented, it hadn’t been smoked in. (Even as a smoker, I hate having to smell that for hours, as I don’t smoke in my cars or home). It had the smallest, least powerful engine offered, I think I read it’s mostly reserved for fleet vehicles. I could be wrong there, but I think I remember reading that when I looked up what engine it had. It was pretty good, honestly. Comfortable, plenty of room, had enough power even with the base engine, and even had Carplay and/or Android Auto. The lane keep assist was acceptable, but better than I had expected. The only time it had issues was in the mountains, when the transmission just couldn’t work out what gear to be in. It would upshift going uphill, then realize it should have stayed in a lower gear and downshift again. I just put it in manual mode and after that it was a much smoother experience. Honestly I was impressed with it, the last Kia/Hyundai product I had driven was a 2016 Elantra and it was miserable on the inside (hard plastic everywhere, all in the same shade of grey) and not very great to drive.
I went to Vancouver BC earlier this month for a trade show and after booking a midsize car I had my choice of 6 identical Kia Niros in the car rental garage. It was perfectly cromulent, if not exciting. Wireless Carplay is awesome and now I want it in my car. The big screens were nice but I was very happy to have actual buttons for HVAC controls.
There was one funny moment when I was driving the Niro with my colleague and we were stopped in traffic behind another Niro. He pointed out that it’s stupid that they put the turn signals way down in the bumper (as is the case with some other Kias/Hyundais lately, and I agree with him). He didn’t know that we were literally in that same model of car until I mentioned it to him and was genuinely disappointed when I pointed that out lol.
In the span of 2 weeks we rented 2 Hyundai Palisades. One in MI for a one-way 700 mile trip home full of stuff and one for 2 weeks in FL for family vacation. They were great. Loads of room, tech, comfort. We all loved the heads up display and the kids loved the 3rd row w/heated seats. No problems with snow in MI or sand in FL. My wife now wants one.
Shelby GT-H Convertible
It was a lot of fun and I might have made a little smoke here and there, was it worth the premium (100 bucks a day) meh, probably not. But it was a lot of fun regardless. But man the build quality of this car was atrocious, the rear window wouldn’t close with the top up (I had to push it the last inch or so), the cruise control was broken and there were rattles ever. But I suppose that these cars must take a beating even with only 7k on the clock.
I reckon a rental mustang is going to get rode hard and put away wet. Those 7k miles are probably as damaging as 70k miles in another rental.
Just returned it yesterday: BMW 430i 4 door hatch from Sixt in NC. It was comfortable, spacious and the practicality of the hatchback body style was great. I really enjoyed hustling it around the twisty mountain roads near Asheville after heavily dosing my girlfriend with Dramamine. I still hate BMWs grill, of the 6 people I was staying with in a rental cabin the votes came to 4 hate and 2 like so opinions are split. Some of the interior plastics and trim seemed kind of crappy for this price point. It had lane keeping assist but not radar cruise for some reason which seemed odd.
The reason is BMW nickel and dimes (well really hundreds and thousands you) for every feature. The radar cruise is available in the Driver Assistant Package Pro Plus or some such nonsense and yours was stuck with the Driver Assistant Package Pro. I have a used 330i w/o the radar cruise. All the other much cheaper cars in our family (mazda, toyotas) have it
Nissan Rogue. It was okay – the lane centering didn’t work well at all, so I turned that off immediately. The three-cylinder turbo was pretty peppy and got great mpg, and the CVT wasn’t as bad as I had expected. Pretty quiet on the highway too.
Prior to that, Subaru Outback with really knobby tires that made a ton of noise. While driving it, a ton of warnings came on: they steering became heavier, adaptive cruise inactive, lost abs, etc. Never had an issue like that with a relatively new rental.
This was 2 years ago so it’s been a while. It was a brand new 2022 RAV4.
I can confirm, it was indeed an automobile. It was the ultra basic model and you could tell. We wanted a minivan since we had a long road trip but I guess all of their Chrysler Pacificas were broken or something.
Highway noise was the biggest complaint- it was pretty bad imo. Not particularly comfortable for back seat passengers either.
Mental note: next time we go on a road trip, let’s just take the far nicer MDX. (It’s about to get a new engine anyways!)
The gasoline RAV4 is a surprisingly crude experience.
Chevy Traverse in 2015 for our honeymoon road trip. Took us from MD through TN, then west to Breckenridge. The car was unexceptional, but hauled all our gear and was fast enough that we both got speeding tickets in KS for over 100mph. Whoops. Out in Colorado we spent a day exploring backcountry trails in the snow, and the AWD system worked pretty well. Couldn’t see out of any of the rear windows after, though, as it was completely covered in mud.
Especially on I-70, Kansas either has a ton of cops posted, or none at all. I’m grateful there was none to be found when my best friend got my 2015 Golf SportWagen TDI up to 120 MPH in the middle of nowhere, trying to haul ass to Denver.
My last rental car was in 2020. Went back to my home town of Buffalo, NY for a few reasons despite the pandemic in full swing. I drove an EcoBoost Ford Flex at the time and was used to a bit more power than needed.
We had rented a “full-size” or some such generic car. I was expecting a mid-sizer like a Toyota Camry or Ford Fusion, since car rental sizes and classifications don’t match up with the real world. I asked the rental car agent if they had anything with 300HP or more since I was used to having more than that and didn’t want to be in something that might be dangerously slow to me.
He said that he had a Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack and would upgrade me for free if that worked. Um … yeah. 485HP? I’ll take it. My wife was with me so I have a natural speed governor that owns half my shit. Didn’t get too stupid with her in the car.
I did, however, drop her off at the hotel and “forgot to get something at the store”. She knew I hadn’t and I hadn’t, but it was a nice ruse to get on the highway for a bit of heavy-footed speed testing. There was no traffic in one section so I got on it a bit and may or may not have hit the century mark much quicker than expected. And I got right off of it knowing that a State Trooper or the locals would frown upon this.
I also knew this car was capable of going way beyond my skills. Had some fun driving it, but never really tested its limits out of fear for losing: my marriage, my life, my clean driving record, etc. It was loud, go lousy mileage, and couldn’t really be stretched. And it was the best rental car I’ve ever had. Bonus that it was a free upgrade.
I didn’t know that rental companies had anything more than a v6 challenger
I didn’t either. It was an oddly quick and specific car. And it was a national “big brand” company. I want to say Enterprise, but I don’t remember, and there are so many owned by the same company.
It varies. I once got a Challenger R/T at BWI in Baltimore.
My experience with the V8-powered LX cars, even the Hellcats, is that they do a good job of communicating when you’re about to exceed either the car’s handling limits or your own skills and abilities.
Contrast that to my Bonus Mom’s 2006 Cadillac STS-V, in which I made one little jab at the accelerator and ended up facing the wrong way in an intersection.
I haven’t rented a car in years aside from U-Haul rental vehicles. That said last summer I rented a U-Haul Silverado WT, which had less than 1000 miles when they handed me the keys. I’ve been out of the dealership world for a few years and haven’t had much experience with the T1xx trucks, and I didn’t hate it, I liked the K2xx before that, but the WT trim felt less plebian in the newer truck. I proceeded to fill the bed with an entire drivetrain, interior, wiring, and other miscellaneous pieces from a 98 Pontiac Bonneville. The truck handled the weight just fine of course.
A Chevy Express U-Haul box truck was my first experience with an LS, and I was sad it was only a ~5 minute drive. Now I want more.
A not-insignificant number of people have rented U-Haul vans and stolen their engines, to swap into their own personal cars. U-Haul rents someone a 2023 van with a 6.0-liter V8 in it, and it returns with a 4.3-liter V6.
2021 Camaro in standard rental car spec V6+auto configuration when I went to LA last December. It almost felt like one of those movies where two people get stuck in a situation together and initially they hate each other but as the movie goes on, they start to like each other more and more until they’re best friends by the end.
I was given the choice of a Mustang, Camaro, or Challenger when I was picking up the car and I told the guy “I’ll just take whichever is easiest for you” and was given the Camaro. I immediately hated it. You really can’t see out of it, the doors are long but the seat is far forward so it’s difficult to get in and out of especially in tight spaces and it has what is possibly both the biggest and most useless trunk imaginable.
But as I drove it more and more, I started to really like it. You get used to not being able to see out of it pretty quickly and after a day or two, I wasn’t even really thinking about visibility anymore. I spent an afternoon messing around in Angeles Crest and was genuinely surprised with how well that car handled, it was a blast on those roads and I honestly don’t think I would have wanted the V8 in that situation. The V6 isn’t what I’d call quick but it’s good enough and even sounds kind of mean too.
Sounds about right, I had a 2014 years ago as a rental and had basically the same thoughts, like really solid driving car in a stupid body. At the time I remember thinking if they made a sedan bodied version that looked good it would be a genuinely tempting enthusiast daily.
Cadillac ATS?
yeah…but that was a much higher price point. at the time a base model camaro iirc was like $22K-if you could’ve gotten a similarly spec’ed Chevy sedan version at around that price it would’ve been a killer daily for enthusiasts.
An Ecoboost Mustang convertible while in Florida and I hated it. It was slow and the motor sounded like it was dying which may just be an ecoboost thing for all I know. My last ICE car was over 500 HP so this felt anemic, and I drive an EV daily so immediate power on application of the accelerator is something I missed. I had not pumped gas in over 2 years but was glad it was at Florida prices and not California. Still the gas for a few days was more than I spend in a month driving my EV.
My main gripe with the S550 EcoBoost Mustang, which I’ve had as a rental twice, is that you get no manual control of the 10AT unless you spec the Performance Package, which of course none of the rental ones have. And the new S650 EcoBoost Mustang has this same flaw.
It’s a sports car; they could spend the extra $10 to give you standard paddle shifters. Sheesh.
that’s incredibly lame on a car with sporty pretensions wtf…also being able to downshift is a seldom used but valuable option when it’s snowy/icy to help slow down instead of locking up brakes
Drove a ’23 chevy malibu for about a week down in Texas at a jobsite.
It was extremely meh, decent enough but nothing really positive about it.
Had about 15k miles on it and already had a wheel bearing screaming.
I always ask for the cheapest car available, and if possible, one in poor condition.
I think my last rental was a Nissan Versa. Or maybe a Sentra. I know it was a Nissan, not very large, and it was grey. It drove and stopped adequately. The air conditioner conditioned air. The driver’s seat was a place to sit. The radio worked. Overall, I would say my rental Nissan Transport Box was exceptionally adequate.
In the past I was able to rent truly awful shitboxes, but those don’t really exist anymore. Any new-ish car in 2024 is going to be at least adequate, even Nissans. I miss the days when bad cars were actually bad.
I’m currently in a ’23 Versa…. it’s…. transportation.
Whomever designed the footwell of this car is out of their mind. To reach the accelerator, I have to bend my leg down and to the right, right along the side of my shin, which oddly enough isn’t meant to bend.
I never thought I would experience a car more miserable than my Elantra, which is currently in the shop from being rear-ended, but here we are!
Every bit of this Versa feels like it’s punishing the owner for being too cheap to just buy a Sentra
Current gen Nissan Rogue, surprisingly crappy. Like on one hand it’s a fine basic SUV-but me and my spouse couldn’t believe how overall mediocre it felt compared to a CX-5 or RAV4, as we’ve been shopping small SUVs for her. Weird throttle response/CVT that even bugged her, not a car enthusiast whatsoever, and a generally much cheaper less attractive interior than the competition.
I have surprisingly similar views:
Pro: big-n-cheap
Con: Insanely god-awful speakers. My phone’s speakers play better music. How did they even do that?
Outside of size we were like why would anyone buy this vs the competition. There was not even a single thing we could find better about it than similar small SUVs.
Well RAV4 still commands insane dealer markups, so there’s that.
I don’t mind big-n-cheap, as long as it’s cheap enough.
Well fair enough there, but I have talked to dealers about the Mazda Cx-5 and they start at about the same money as the Rogue and it’s a much nicer car. The only advantage I see with the rogue is the slightly bigger size.
It was a Moonstone Polestar 2 from Hertz at LAX around this time last year.
There was a line of old people waiting for any gasoline car after a late night arrival – but a number of Polestars and Teslas were readily available. So from the back of the line, I took the Polestar.
There was no instruction on how to open the lift back or get the car going.
But eventually I made it work – and that night in the hotel, I downloaded the manual and read up on how to use the car.
Once I did that, I found it quite easy to use for the week – including a few days in Palm Springs and three charging experiences at EVGo chargers.
And no, I never downloaded a charging app.
We liked the car so much, my Husband and I named him “Thor”
I’ve travelled 4 out of the last 5 weeks –
Dodge Durango
Dodge Durango
Nissan Rogue
Ford Mustang Vert (I own a 20 GT)
The Durango was pretty nice actually, the throttle was a little wonky… normal seemed anemic, sport was too touchy and could never find the sweet spot.
The Rogue was shit – had 1200 miles on it, required USB-C for CarPlay and had a trans hesitation/stutter from a stop.
The Mustang, because I was travelling alone, and I own a GT coupe; fan of the vert and ease of operation, not a fan of the 10 speed with the EcoBoost, trans ‘hunting’ was a real thing that wasn’t fixed with sport mode.
What is a Vert?
Is that some obscure rental trimline?
Convertible
We had a Rogue over the holidays visiting my in-laws and were also very unimpressed and even my wife (not at all a car enthusiast) found the throttle tip/CVT to suck.
It was squirrelly over 75 too (Texas); I didn’t think it could be ‘that’ bad but it really is!
worse yet-we had a previous generation Rogue when visiting Texas a few years back and while it wasn’t great it was actually a better car, liked it better than I expected to unlike this turd.
As I said above, you don’t get paddle shifters on the EcoBoost Mustang with the 10AT unless you get the Performance Package, which none of the fleet cars will have.
And yes, the 10AT hunts around. I’ve also had that transmission in a rental 2023 F-150 RWD Sport with the 5.0 twice, and it was just as indecisive in that application. For whatever reason, GM’s implementation of this jointly developed 10AT is a lot better.
Surely, I had paddles in a prior vehicle and I only used them when I wanted to feel like Speed Racer… my summation is that I just don’t drive enough of these 8-10 speed autos to get used to them… also that I’d like to avoid them in the future 😉
Ford Bronco Sport – upgraded in Sedona thinking I might need a little more ground clearance over a Camry in order to get to some of the hiking trails (definitely not expecting to off road though). That fake Bronco was the crappiest/cheapest/slowest/junk car I have driven since I got PT Cruiser rental years ago. I can’t believe how poorly made it was. With 15k miles on it it, it felt like it had 100k miles. Honestly it made me want to stay away from the Bronco line in general. I hope the real Bronco is made better….
Its been a few years since I last rented, but it was a Chrysler Pacifica. No issues with it. I’m have a ‘mid-size’ car lined up for Phoenix on Wednesday, so I’ll report back afterwards.
Some of my favorites were a Passat, a surprisingly loaded Fusion, and some small Mazda CUV. My last was a Corolla. I can only describe it as “an car”. Never have I been so devoid of feelings for a car.
My son is driving a Jeep Compass from Enterprise right now while his Kia Soul is being repaired. He says it’s pretty nice. He also said it has all the bells and whistles which is strange for a rental spec car from Enterprise. Seats are cloth though and not leather.
Dodge Challenger. The V6, of course. I hated it. It was humongous, hard to park, hard to see out of, not powerful enough to be fun in any way. On top of that the automatic climate control system didn’t work very well.
The worst part is that I could have chosen any car on the lot. This was the only “interesting” one, so I took it. At least I can say I’ve completed the trifecta of rental V6 pseudo-muscle cars (Mustang, Camaro, and now Challenger).
That’s funny that you mentioned the Jetta. My last rental was also a Jetta. The throttle response was frustrating as heck to me. I’d push the pedal and nothing would happen, then I’d push more and it would move too fast and peel out. This happened over and over again. Its been a little while now but I just remember I absolutely hated how that car drove. Also, dropped a lighter between the seat and the armrest. Cut my finger up trying to get that sucker out.
I had a 2024 accord lx in red. It was very smooth and a great highway car. The safety features were great and worked well, especially lane centering. Drove 4 hours each way, 95% highway, averaged over 40 mpg. The only con is I didn’t love the visibility, blind spots were pretty big tome.