Thoughts on my rental car

[fotomoto]

So, I needed to rent a large vehicle for work and ended up with a Chrysler Town and Country van.  First a bit of background:  we've owned two "mini" vans in the past when the kids were young; a Mazda MPV and later a larger Nissan Quest.  Both were well appointed with most of the bells and whistles of the time and they served their purposes well.  I really liked the incredible utility of the design which has led to me to look for hatchbacks in nearly all our other purposes since. 

 

The T&C had about 18k miles on it so it was broken in.  The transmission wasn't smooth in the first two gears with glitchy changes.  The gas pedal mapping with difficult to modulate and seemed to jump from idle to 20% power making for lunging starts.  The power brakes seemed weak requiring a much harder push than the CMax with its sweet regen setup.  The  large (HD?) rear passenger video screen flopped down into the open position which blocked my rear mirror view.  Someone had tried taping it shut but it wasn't strong enough giving it a real classy look.   <sarcasm>   It didn't have smart key entry so fishing for the FOB every time we needed entry got old real quick.  Funny how quickly we adapt to new technology.   We were carrying a lot of equipment and I really, really missed the kick activated liftgate.  Trying to balance long 12ft poles so as not to let them touch the muddy ground while digging into your pocket for the FOB was a lot of fun.  Speaking of mud, that's because there was a lot of rain     :sing_rain:  and the lack of auto-wipers was dearly, dearly missed especially when the controls aren't on the same stalk as the CMax.  No push button start either.   And the kicker at the end of the day was filling up the beast.  Even with the current cheap fuel prices, I haven't spent $50+ dollars on a fill up in about 6 years!   :doh:

 

Summation:  This near top of the line van only bested my CMax in room (duh) and slightly better seats.  The CMax comes out on top in driveability, performance, convenience, features, price, and, of course, fuel economy.  I was so glad to get back in my car at the end of the day. :wub2:

[scottwood2]

I recently had a Mustang convertible on vacation in CA.  I could not wait to get back in the C-Max too.  I still find myself ducking my head when i get in the C-Max because it was very hard to get in the Mustang.  It was a nice car but I would rather have a C-Max.  I did not like the 24 MPG either (Hwy)

[C-MaxSea]

Could not agree more Foto !!!  The last 3,4,5 rentals or loaners really let us know how much we love our C-Max. 

 

A 2013 VW Jetta in CA, boring, cheap, & bonk in the head, let me out-a-here.  A 2013 Nissan Rouge in HI, drove well, but low tech, a bit tinny, oh my aching back seats, nothing appealing.   Another CA rental, hmm  :headscratch: , so forgettable I've forgotten what it was.  A couple noisy Scion boxes ........ :runaway: :runaway: :runaway: .........   

 

Gotta get back to my dream MPG machine, our C-Max !

 

Nick

Edited November 6, 2014 by C-MaxSea

[C-MaxSea]

Speaking of ............................ just researching a bit on rentals, anyone seen 'fair' pricing on renting C-Maxes from the national rental brands?


Rent-A-Tes: if you are in Lala land and are so inclined

http://www.simplyhybrid.com/

 

 

Definitely not shopping to rent a Tesla;  per usual, we always cheap out on far, far lesser vehicles ;).

 

Nick

Edited November 6, 2014 by C-MaxSea

[Jus-A-CMax]

..try a Matrix boyz. I had one of those while Maxine was in the shop Nov-Dec 2013. That lil matrix could only manage 300 a mile tank, thats with hypermiling it. Handled like crap, gutless but what do u expect from a $25 a day car rental. Glad I was able to get Maxine back.