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

Discussion in 'Other Cars' started by Leadfoot J. McCoalroller, Apr 28, 2019.

  1. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    I just picked up this week's ride, a 2017 Dodge Challenger R/T. Hey, it was either that or an Altima.

    First impressions: What a weird car! The door handle is the flimsiest, most ill-fitting control I've seen since the 1986 Yugo. Really, just on this one detail Dodge deserves a serious shaming.

    It's loud, but it's supposed to be, and the actual sound is great for what it is.

    It's got plenty of acceleration, no complaints at all. It feels unsettled at low and moderate speeds on the twisty mountain roads near my home. I really miss the "light and tight" feeling I get from our Prius and other smaller cars. You can really sense this thing flexing and straining in tight curves.

    I bet it feels a lot better at higher speeds on a big empty highway, but there isn't likely to be any of that on my route this week.
     
    Merkey and Montgomery like this.
  2. Montgomery

    Montgomery Senior Member

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    Vanishing Point anyone?
     
  3. KennyGS

    KennyGS Senior Member

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    I showed up at the rental agency, and all they had was a black GMC Yukon Denali extended length. What a monster. Glad my company was paying for it.
     
  4. Montgomery

    Montgomery Senior Member

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    Denali's galore here in So Cal. Taking up two parking spots in shopping areas (because the drivers never park straight) and refusing to use turn signals as they drive, blocking your view.
     
  5. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    Well this week it's a 2020 19 Kia Optima.

    I was tired and cranky from a long flight when I got in and that didn't help, but I feel like they tweaked this car the wrong way since the last time I rented an Optima. I've rented piles of them before and really enjoyed them, but this one was newer and everything was 5% wronger.

    It was one of those "pick any car out of section y" deals and I sure as heck wasn't leaving in a chevy or a nissan, the only other possibilities at hand.

    On the plus side, it's still an Optima. Drives well, plenty of power, great visibility. Comfortable cabin though I did have the sense that everything on the dashboard was out of reach despite running the seat up close.

    Negatives: more steering wheel buttons and I really think they crossed the line: too many.
     
    #25 Leadfoot J. McCoalroller, Feb 24, 2020
    Last edited: Feb 24, 2020
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  6. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    Brakes are pretty touchy in this one. Key tag identifies the car as a 2019 and I thought I'd already driven one so it may be down to trim differences. Cruise control settings are uncomfortably close to the menu cursor trigger.
     
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  7. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Like Nuke and Nurse buttons...
     
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  8. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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  9. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    JACKPOT!

    I got a 2022 Camry LE this week. Hats off Toyota, what a car! The lie-o-meter in the dash says I got 47mpg driving out of Milwaukee airport this morning. That was mostly radar cruise highway run for an hour. The person before me put it in eco mode and I didn't change it. The only thing I don't like about it is the lack of a trunk release. You can still use a remote control.

    Totally makes up for the Buick Envision AND the Chevy Trax they dumped on me for the last two legs of the tour.
     
  10. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    They got rid of the floor lever? Is the gas flap release still there on the floor by the driver side sill?
     
  11. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    How about parking brake: physical or push button. The latter drove me NUTS, babysitting a Mazda CX-5.
     
  12. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    The release is now electric, with two mechanical backups.

    The electric release is trigged by a switch on the dash (with delay interlock) or the remote control.

    One mechanical backup is the escape system, the glow-in-the-dark tag inside the trunk. The other is a lock cylinder oriented vertically in the garnish overhang next to the plate illumination and the camera. Good enough for emergencies but a huge pain in the a** to use.

    I think there ought to be either a mechanical lever or a rubber nub switch for electric release in there too.

    But they just plain deleted it.

    Electric.

    I consider this to be an improvement because I don't like toggle pedals for parking brakes, and that's what older Camrys featured.

    The rip handle in our C is great but I've also fully adopted the electric push-pull switch in our 2020 Mazda. It tripped me up a little at first but now I don't even think about it anymore.
     
    #32 Leadfoot J. McCoalroller, Jun 28, 2022
    Last edited: Jun 28, 2022
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  13. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    Humm.. I don't know what button I pushed yesterday, but it wasn't an electric e-brake because I found a toggle pedal this morning.

    So for accuracy's sake, the Camry still has a mechanical toggle pedal.
     
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  14. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    A toggle pedal is pretty lousy for modulating the brake, if you ever have to use it in motion as an e-brake, and not just as a parking brake. Have to remember a quick double-stab so it's toggled off, and then you can modulate (as long as you never let it all the way up).

    To me that makes the toggle pedal seem about the worst of all options except for an electric button.
     
  15. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    Even the old hand brakes were only emergency brakes in the sense that they were there if the service brakes completely failed. Applying just muscle power to the rear brakes isn't going to stop a car moving at speed. Maybe back before power brakes were a thing, the parking brake was an actual emergency brake. Maybe back then the main brakes didn't have separated circuits either.

    Today, these brakes are just designed to be parking brakes, and nothing more.

    The electric ones might work better in an emergency as they can clamp harder.
     
  16. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    I still remember my driver training instructor advising to be very cautious about anything with a ratchet, lest you overdo it, break traction, and not be able to quickly back off. (With a handbrake, of course, you can just hold the button.)

    I would expect the modulating ability of the pushbutton electric ones to be the worst of all approaches.

    Concur that they are only designed to be parking brakes. But then, nothing really has to be called an emergency brake, if we consider an "emergency" to be one of those times when you use anything at hand, regardless of what it was designed for.
     
  17. Co0perator

    Co0perator New Member

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    I recently rented and ended up with a Chevy Spark and while I didn't hate it, it just made me want to replace the hybrid battery on my prius
     
  18. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    Never had better control of that not-emergency brake than my 1970 Volkswagen. Big friendly T-handle right in the middle of the dash. You'd pull it out like a plane throttle and the ratchet would set. To release the ratchet you rotated the handle 90° on the roll axis, and the rack of teeth were turned away from the pawl. So if you rolled it and hauled you could modulate it with very fine control because it was high enough in the cabin that the average driver could get excellent leverage.

    Keeping the shoes adjusted was another story, though.
     
  19. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    I've done engine off coasting, and tried out the hand brake while doing so in the HHR. It didn't do much at speeds in the 30 to 40 mph range. Knowing to downshift is more likely to save you in an emergency.
     
  20. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    A little off topic, NOT a rental, just us, motel parking in Williams Lake, BC interior. Big pickups with crew cab predominant. F150 sandwich LOL.

    Long drive back to Vancouver today.
     

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