Don't be gentle, it's a rental...

I felt like starting a thread for comments about cars randomly encountered as rentals and loaners.

Today's adventure involved a rented 2019 Ford Fiesta with less than 700 miles on it. So far I've found it to be a very scrambled car- a mix of great and awful, juxtaposed into one automobile.

The engine is very responsive, plenty of power. But it's got quite a lot of exhaust noise.

The front doors are short, such that the B-pillar blocks entry if the seat is set back for even a moderately tall driver. The dashboard feels like it is made of tire rubber, yet has the appearance of waxed cardboard. It almost seems borrowed from a 1970s VW.

Seating is stiff and narrow, and I feel like I fit very badly into this car. My elbows find hard edges, the armrests aren't in the right places. The center console is too large for leg comfort and too small to provide stuff-storage. Our Prius c is in the same category as the Fiesta for size but I find the two to be worlds apart in actual comfort.

Steering and handling felt great, really no complaints. It's a light, nimble car with plenty of pep. The brake pedal feel inspires no confidence at all, but the actual brake performance is fine. Overall it's a sprightly ride, very enjoyable for the actual driving.

The infotainment setup was another mix- you have to fight through several strata of pop-ups from the ford sync system before you can get carplay up and running. The actual display is quite nice- it's on the small side, but it is mounted up high in a plastic binnacle atop the dash. There is a very effective sun shade built on top. Easy to see, easy to reach.

 

I've only tried the back seat, and actually it was a Beat instead of a Sonic. I think it's the same car though. Either way it was comfy, was in it nearly 2 hours.

I drove the Ford around some more today, and it hit me Berra style... That car drives great! I just wish I didn't have to be in it to drive it.

 

I guess it was a Spark-alike. I was never clear on the difference between a Spark and a Sonic anyway. Either way, the back seat of the Beat was comfy. And a 2-hour uber ride across Delhi only cost me about $0.85!

 

And just for the sake of catch-up...

The best rental I had so far this year was a Ford Fusion hybrid. I've been in a few Kia Fortes, they're popular at Hertz lately. Two were okay but the most recent one had some pretty savage bump-steer in the rear suspension. I've also had a Nissan Sentra that I didn't much care for, and two Chrysler Pacificas. One had the fancy radar cruise control and the other was a barebones model.

 

Aaand the Ford Fiesta gets a hand-calculated 32.1MPG. Which doesn't strike me as great. It's very new, not broken in. Most of the driving was on the open highway, and I didn't push it hard. I guess it needs a higher top gear, because it was stuck up at 2800 for much of the cruise.

 

I did not.

Riding home from Hertz in the c was so much more comfortable than the Fiesta. I do agree though, comfort is subjective.

 

This week it's a Toyota Avalon xle. And I like it! I haven't sat in one of these in 20 years.

It's much bigger than I needed, but the place I rented from didn't have many cars. Very comfortable cabin, and still pretty easy to maneuver.

Is this a sedan cousin of the Venza? The similarity hadn't struck me until driving it yesterday.

I think the one they gave me is a 2017. It's definitely not the current model.

The hybrid version of this car must be fantastic!

 

So I just put 210 miles on this big boat and it was fantastic! Really a great drive. It floated smooth over a few miles of unpaved road, through twisty New England state highway back roads and then onto the expressways. Once I got there, I tried out the radar cruiser and... I'm impressed. Really impressed. It only gave 34MPG by the dashboard readout but I had exactly the same load that was in the Fiesta @ 32...

Really an enjoyable car.

 

It just happened for 2018.

The extra size may not be much on a yardstick but it's really easy to notice in the cabin. It's a very roomy car, and the long wheelbase really distinguishes itself on a rough road.

I think that's correct.

I'm impressed by the car- it drives great and doesn't have too many useless features spackled in to jack up the price. The radar cruise is very impressive. I'd only driven one other car with that feature (late model Pacifica) and I vastly prefer Toyota's implementation.

 

Indianapolis this week; 2018 Toyota Camry. I had not driven this (current, XV70) generation of Camry before. My first impression is that the exterior is not changed much from the previous model. The interior doesn't seem as good as the previous generation.

The transmission seems extremely quick to upshift making for very laggard acceleration unless I put it in sport mode. The whole car feels very sluggish. I don't recall other 4-cyl Camrys feeling this chuggy. It's probably good for MPG but I haven't figured out how to get a readout to check this before a fill-up.

I can't say I'm a fan of the new dashboard and control setup. The steering wheel gained buttons, and they seem to have gotten smaller and their legend markings are relatively low contrast. Dash illumination control isn't quite manual and isn't quite automatic.

If I had to pick between the XV70 or XV50 version, I'd take the older one. I haven't seen any standout advantage to the new model yet.