Rental car reviews... A la FBC

Some random thoughts from my too many rentals recently.

1. Chevy Malibu 2015: Not the newy good looking one, but the older one. I wanted to hate this car, but came away liking it. Yes, the interior cloth choice for this rental spec beater was one step above 00 steel wool in consistency, and yes the engine is slightly buzzy and a bit unrefined, but its a good car. It gets good MPG and the transmission reacts OK, the trunk is a nice size. It's probably the car I should own. I didn't try anyting sporting with the car and nor should I want to. Color me impressed, the car is much better than the 2000 my friend had as his HS graduation present. That car was horrible.

2. Ford Fusion Ecoboost. I drove a 2.5L NA version of these around 1300 miles for vacation summer of 2015. The 2.5L was adequate but had both mediocre mileage and power. This 2.0 Ecoboost model had more power and got slightly better mileage. It was more fun than the malibu and would scoot if you knocked it down a few gears. If it came with a manual, i'd look into owning one. The trunk is some sort of houdini trick. it looks small, but turns out to be very long and cavernous.

3. 2016 Maxima: Didn't drive it, but it had some scoot. I still don't like the CVT. 70K MSRP?????? WTF?

4. 2016 Camaro: Have driven many, won't type much except that I want to buy one. The fake piped in engine noise is a bit much, but who cares. The v6 pulls like 2 freight trains and the thing is a beast in the canyons. Bowtie me.

5. Kia Sedona Mini Van: Arrived at SJC late one day and all they had was a bunch of dodge caravans, a dodge dart and this thing. My wife has been interested in it so I decided to give it a shot. It was forgettable, but in the good way. You know, the way you want your daily driver that hauls your wife and kids to soccer practice without missing a beat kind of forgettable. The interior was well laid out, the engine had adequate power, the trans shifted nicely and wasn't caught out of gear much, but the one niggle was the way it integrated with my Iphone. Sweet Baby Jesus, just put carplay in everything please. It makes life so much easier.

I drove some other stuff, it was highly forgettable. More to come during with my new adventures, I'm only 2 rentals away from National Executive Emerald aisle.

With National, Fusion is the easy button for me. Just hit Execuive this month, so I look forward to the 300C's. My favorite rental this year was a brand new Expedition Ecoboost. I had no need for one, but it was a lot of fun to drive something on the opposite size spectrum as my Miata.

The worst thing about those new Malibus is that back when GM did the redesign back in '13, they decided that it would be absolutely brilliant to slice 3 and a half inches out of the rear legroom on their midsize sedan. Plus they dropped the V6 option (And the '08-'12 Malibu with the 3.6L was pretty quick), leaving you with just the 2.5L or the rarely-seen 2.0L Turbo. And the '14-'15 refreshed front end always looked really busy and messy. By and large, the '13-'15 Malibu was really a flop, especially coming off the fairly well-received '08-'12 Malibu

Chrysler 200. Forgot about that thing. Gah.

Drove a bunch of chargers. They are pretty nice for a boat.

I had to look up the Maxima as I couldn't believe the $70k msrp. It looks like they are $32k to $39k. Which is plenty high compared to the competition but not anywhere near $70k.

In reply to dculberson:

I thought I saw one advertised for 60+

I'm looking at my local Nissan of Melbourne website right now. The MSRPs of the in-stock Maximas range from $35.7 K for an S to 43.4K for a Platinum, and they all are showing pretty deep discounts and rebates. The Internet prices listed run from $28K to $36K.

I had a season of rentals in the not too distant past, and the thing I cam away with is how uncomfortable some (most?) modern headrests are. Is there some sort of spinal safety mandate forcing automakers to make unadjustable (in terms of angle) headrests that force your head forward? I started thinking that perhaps the back part of my head was not made like everyone else's.

I've noticed this in many modern Ford's; the worst experience was a long trip in a new Impala. I have no problems in (many) old or new Toyota's, my old E30, and a 2015 Mitsubishi.

Do you ever get a free upgrade and wish you had just taken the economy car? I felt that way about the Impala (my last rental) -- I could have had a Focus or a Hyundai but opted up for the same price. The Impala is a tank - feels like sitting in a huge bathtub that you can't see out of. I tried out the 305 hp and it was torque steer city, almost uncontrollable.