I did this last week to get the M3, and I got a Hyundai Sonata. I need to write about that car, but that will be at a later date. I want to talk about the car I rented today. I was in a Lyft headed to the airport to pick up my rental when I got a notification from my Avis app telling me I had been “upgraded.” What had I been upgraded to? This:
That’s right I got a mall rated Jeep.
I like to approach every car I haven’t driven with an open mind. This was an exception, I expected this to be shit. So after 3.5 hours and 220 miles has my opinion changed? To sum it up, no, it’s shit. That said, let’s delve into what it’s like to drive.
It’s not a bad looking car, but after that it’s all down hill. The seating position felt a little weird. I never felt like I got really comfortable in it. Maybe I should have spent more time adjusting the seat, but it just felt awkward. The pedal and steering wheels position felt strange; didn’t feel like a natural seating position.
The drive itself started alright. Last week I couldn’t find the damn button to take the Hyundai out of eco mode and that car was slow. This car lacked that button, but it was still just as slow. It had a nine speed transmission. That is too many. I understand it’s to get good fuel economy, but it needs to shift down more. I had the cruise at 79, I would get to a hill then I’d be doing 78, then 77, then 76, then 75, then 74, then finally the car would down change and try to get back to my set point. Except, it would only drop to 8th or 7th, so it took 9 million years to get back to my set point. Driving it without cruise on wasn’t much of an improvement. I basically had to floor it to get any performance out of it. Maybe I’ve been spoiled by my BMWs, but this was just slow.
The stereo was trash, but then this is an economy car not a Bentley. It did at least interface with my iPhone decently. The touch screen was the same interface my friend has in his 2015 Challenger, and it’s alright. I prefer iDrive because of the knob, but maybe that’s just me.
The steering was alright, it wasn’t over-boosted and extremely sensitive like a Hyundai. It was also hilariously terrible in corners, then again I think that’s another instance of my BMWs spoiling me. I never remember having to brake for interstate interchanges, I did in this. It was pretty understeery in those corners. I could tell it was electric, but it wasn’t too dead.
It also had “Jeep” or the Jeep grill everywhere. I found it too be too much of a gimmick. You bought this car for the looks or something, sorry it’s shit. Have some random Jeep grills to make you feel better.
To conclude, I finally found a rental I hate more then a Hyundai. It’s terrible; but something else. Anything else. This car is shit.