Rental Car

Today I drove a Chevy Cobalt LS to Coeur d'Alene and back, a 50-mile round-trip, mostly freeway. The other day I apparently drove the Prius over too big a bump in the road (I think it was a last-straw bump, not a first time bump) and tore a chunk of the underside of the front bumper loose, so that it bent back and under and was scraping the ground. The upshot was that since the body shop was closed on Saturday I had to rent a car for today. Tomorrow I'll take the Prius to the body shop, and hope they can make it safely drivable until they can get the part and fix it. It will be two weeks before I need it again, as the Xebra will serve me just fine until I have to go to Coeur d'Alene again.

So today I was rather surprised at the difference in comfort. The seats in the Chevy are a thousand percent more comfortable than the seats in the Prius, and the ride is smoother, and the Chevy tracks better. Not just better. It tracks straight and smooth, whereas the Prius requires a constant two hands on the wheel.

The smoothness of the ride might have been partly due to the Chevy being heavier, but it's really too bad that Toyota didn't decide to put decent seats in the Prius.

On the other hand, an engine that runs all the time is stupid, and burning twice (???) as much gas is barbaric.

The lady at the car rental place turned the key half-way on to read the mileage, and I actually tried to drive it away without starting the engine. I could not figure out why it would not go, and I had to ask her. "Did you start the engine?" she asked. Start the engine??? The car is supposed to start the engine after I get going fast enough that it needs the engine! Eeerrrmmm...???

(All right, wise guy, you know you've bumped your nose on the front door of your house a few times 'because you expected it to open when you touched the doorknob!)

 

Jack: The seats in the Cobalt are quite comfy. Much better than the Prius. Overall, it's an acceptable rental car, especially since I only needed it for a day and will take it back tomorrow. I would never buy one.

Tracy: My Prius has already been in a fender-bender and been repaired, and is over 3 years old, so this is a nuisance, but nothing more. Not like when you damage a brand-new car.

I'm already researching conversion EVs. It looks like it might be possible to get that 65 mph 75-mile-range conversion car using the (expensive) Altairnano safe lithium batteries.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Oct 21 2007, 08:27 PM) [snapback]528645[/snapback]</div>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(paprius4030 @ Oct 22 2007, 04:19 AM) [snapback]528734[/snapback]</div>

I rented it because it was the smallest car the rental place had available on the day I needed it. And, no, I had no need of the back seats. I was just very unimpressed with the seats in my Prius after driving this. I remember now that I had the same feeling after my first road trip in the Prius. My old Civic was much more comfortable. I think the Prius is the best gas-burner on the road because of its environmental footprint and its cool technology. But driver comfort leaves much to be desired.

Maybe when I have a 200-mile EV I could sell the Prius and just rent a car for those very rare road trips.

By the way, Tideland, the one I rented has no cruise control. I only needed to drive it 25 miles to Coeur d'Alene and 25 miles back, and the lack of c/c was annoying, but no big deal for such a short distance. If you want c/c be aware of this.

 

I don't think I said there was no A/C. I think there was, though I never pressed the button that looked like it might have been, since I was running the heater instead. But there was no c/c. Maybe that is an option that this particular unit didn't have. It did seem to have more acceleration than the Prius, though.

And a follow-up on the Prius: The body shop fastened the piece in place temporarily, and it's only going to cost me $140 to have it replaced, once the part comes in, which he thinks should be in a couple of days.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Oct 22 2007, 10:27 PM) [snapback]529161[/snapback]</div>

Not a problem at all.

BTW, the Cobalt I rented had hand-crank windows. But the nice thing was the old-fashioned climate controls, where knobs select the vents and the temperature. One of my peeves about the Prius is those annoying climate controls.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Oct 22 2007, 08:16 PM) [snapback]529137[/snapback]</div>

Thanks Galaxee. It's a first-rate body shop and a very simple replacement, so there'll be no problems. $140 parts and labor.