Rental/Loaner car reviews

Not sure if this has been done...if yes, let me know.

On my trip to Maine, then to Detroit and the subsequent drive to South Texas we had (have, one is a loaner) two cars I wouldn't normally drive, and thought it might be a good data point for folks that might be thinking about these particular vehicles.

First up is a 2022 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid. Overall: Fantastic at doing it's job. Driving dynamics: 8/10 considering it's a mini-van, handling was reasonable, acceleration was fantastic, steady state cruising on the highway was great. Summary: Great multi passenger vehicle that's not completely numb to drive and got ~42 mpg mixed driving.

Second is a 2022 Audi A4. My wifes 2013 Q5 is in the shop (again) and this is our loaner. Overall: Meh. Driving dynamics: 6/10, heavy feeling, numb steering, very little 'connection' to the road, abysmal tip-in on the throttle (your choice is glacial acceleration with 0-15% pedal, or I'm here to race EVERYONE with 70-100% pedal, no in-between). On Road: Super quiet ride even over the absolutely horrific Corpus Christi roads, I drove on some of the worst today while having a conversation on the phone and never even considered raising the volume. Summary: Nice commuter/daily driver, but very little soul. Gas mileage is outstanding, seems to be ~27 in town and 36+ on the highway at 75 with Cruise Control on.

I recently was in Kansas City and Avis gave me a new Prius.

Outside of the really odd gear selector, I didn't hate the car as much as I thought I would.  56mpg says something.

However, did have much time to drive it due to a busy work schedule.   

Seems like a really nice little city car that was quite roomy.

Duluth, MN - Enterprise - Nissan Murano - FWD, V6.

Not awful, moved fast, roomy as I'm 6'4" tall.   Only downside is the view out back when changing lanes.  Felt like you had a scuba mask on when looking thru mirror but that's the design today.  

Cincinnati to Chicago and back, 2022 Chrysler Pacifica, FWD, V6.

It had decent acceleration, but other than that driving dynamics were pretty lousy.  My past owned 2005 Odyssey was much better in this regard, at least from memory.  Front seats were ok, but not great.  Infotainment system was spectacular.  Super easy to use, great display.  Layout of controls was somewhat haphazard.  Probably would look elsewhere if I was in the market again for a minivan. 

Chevy Spark. Automatic. That car tried to traction control kill me in the snow. Berk that car.

I've been traveling a lot recently, I'll post the rentals I can recall recently.

Nissan Altima - don't recall where I was, - It's a Nissan...need I say more?

Ford Mustang 4cyl - Dallas TX and Philly - I liked it a lot more than I thought I would.  It's quick and the 10 speed helps keep it in the proper gear.  Interior far better than Mustangs of old.

Subaru Forrester - Denver (of course) - Also liked it more than I thought I would.  Hated the CVT, but it was a comfy car, tons of room, good place to eat up miles

Toyota Tacoma - Chicago (?) - It's a truck...I don't like trucks.  Having said that, if I were in the market for a small truck I would get a Tacoma.  It was very nice.  Ride was decent for a truck, OK interior.  Turning radius from hell

Toyota Sienna hybrid - Denver - I love minivans.  This one was phenomenal.  Super well laid out interior, tons and tons of cargo space.  Averaging 38mpg over 300 miles wasn't too shabby either

Toyota Prius - I love my current '14 Prius C.  I despised my 2010 Prius sedan.  This one was in the middle.  MPG is amazing, it's not offensive to drive, it's a nice place to spend time.  Perfect commuter appliance.  I'd buy one in a heartbeat if I need a miles eater.

I travel a fair bit too. I generally opt for the small 4 door sedan segment but get all kinds of cars. Observations....

2021 /22 Chevy Malibu. by far the best highway cruiser of the lot. Good acceleration, tracks well, good visabilty. Pretty comfy seats for 5+ or so hours. Infotainment isn't great but is functional. As with all GRM the interior materials look and feel bargain but it was remarkably quiet for an entry level sedan.

2021 Dodge Charger v6. BIG! Seriously a pain in the ass in a parking lot. If you can find a space to squeeze it in you still have to squeeze yourself out of the giant doors. I was pissed I got it as I was on a long drive and feared the gas cost. Hypermiling enough to annoy myself yielded 32 highway but..... hypermiling sucks and honestly it is a hoot to drive in open space. Comfy and quiet too.

2020-2022 Jetta. Nice driver feel for an entry level sedan. However, the Nannie's in this thing are obnoxious. I put it in park and got out to look at something on a property with the car running and it locked me out of gear. Had to turn it off and restart to move. Really? Also. Seats are hard as a rock. Anything over 45 minutes for my small series and it starts to hurt.

Continued....

2021 4 runner. Drove like a truck... in all the bad ways. Modest throttle response. Dead steering with a large turning radius center console feels more like a credenza. The hood is huge too so judging the location of the front end is challenging. I'm sure I would get used to it over time but for a one time use it was not fun. My wife and I both liked it when we saw it at the auto show but driving one cured me of the desire.

nissan Sentra.... no. Just no. It felt way cheaper than the Chevy and was loud. No throttle response either... well, the engine revved but it didn't go any faster.

2022 RAV4 / SLC / - 2wd 4cyl poverty spec. Had backup camera, adaptive/radar cruise, BT/CarPlay/AndroidAuto integration ... and not much else. We put almost 2k miles over varied roads & terrain on it in 2 weeks. The only negative was the transmission, which has a mega hangfire if you feed it a sudden footfull of throttle. Even in "Sport" mode. I think this is a well-documented Toyota automatic tranny behavior, so I wasn't surprised and learned how to drive around it pretty quickly. Rear visibility sucks, but the backup camera is really good. Other than that, it was great. Quiet enough at highway speed, tho there is a bit of wind noise off the mirrors, I guess? Didn't monitor too closely, but returned well over 30 MPG for the trip which was a mix of interstate and rural 45 MPH roads. 400-ish mile range between fillups. If I was looking at buying one I'd drive a recent Hybrid Sienna first, sounds like they have a lot more room inside. It'd be a close call, the RAV is a pretty decent size for doing just car stuff and I have a truck for truck stuffs. I liked it more than I thought I would, but my expectations were pretty low going in.