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Wanted to rent a Prius, got a 4x4

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by rflagg, Feb 22, 2005.

  1. rflagg

    rflagg Member

    Joined:
    Jan 5, 2004
    947
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    Location:
    Springfield, VA
    So, this weekend I was away on a trip to Michigan. Had to rent a car from Enterprise in Detroit, MI - just to drive to and from my sister's house in Bay City - 200 miles round trip, plus very little extra driving.

    Enterprise informed me they did have a Prius, but couldn't reserve a specific car for me - no problem, I'd suffer for a few days if I couldn't get it.

    So, arrived Thursday night, and all they had left was pickups. Ended up with a Silverado - full size, 4 passenger truck. Five thousand miles on it, already has a problem with the driver side door seal. When parking, had a hell of a time knowing when to stop so I wouldn't hit the car in front of me.

    Told this story to a few people in Michigan, they replied with 'well, at least it's got lots of power huh?'. I smiled at them because they completely miss the point.

    To add insult to injury, gas jumped 20 cents a gallon during our trip. Fortunately I was able to find it for about 1.89 as opposed to 2.00 + as it was everywhere else - ended up running $40 for gas in the truck for 220 miles or so.

    Of course, in the Prius, this would've cost me about $7. And of course, no Nav system, so I had to preplan by printing out maps for places we had to stop on our trip back to Detroit. Damn, how did I ever survive without this car??

    I put this in Fred's because it's a little hard on trucks, and I know many of you here have a need to own them, but it was just my experience I wanted to share.

    -m.
     
    #1 rflagg, Feb 22, 2005
  2. metamatic

    metamatic Member

    Joined:
    Sep 16, 2004
    114
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    Location:
    Austin, TX
    Vehicle:
    2020 Prius
    Model:
    Limited
    I just don't get the truck thing. We went to Minnesota to spend Christmas with my wife's family, and I had the "pleasure" of driving their shiny new Ford pickup. Having heard people enthuse about how safe you feel being high up, I was surprised to find that I couldn't see significantly better in the pickup. The engine power didn't make me feel safer either, and the fact that the thing cornered like a brick and seemed to have no acceleration or deceleration made it seem really dangerous.

    I also didn't like how you could turn the steering wheel too far and have the truck start to grind the tires. Why the hell do they make it so the steering wheel doesn't stop at the limit of where you should stop steering? Sheesh.

    My overall conclusion is that trucks are very much an acquired taste, and not one I plan to spend any time acquiring.

    We've had some sad/amusing rental experiences too. One place, we asked for their most fuel efficient car, and they said they had a lot of Chrysler PT Cruisers. I pointed out that that was an SUV with 21mpg fuel economy in the city. The woman said no, it's really small--and I explained yes, it's really small, but it's officially classified as an SUV so it can be exempted from small car fuel efficiency and emissions standards.

    It's actually quite an impressive feat from America's auto industry--the comfort and space of a compact vehicle with the worst-in-class fuel efficiency you'd expect from an SUV. Go USA!
     
    #2 metamatic, Feb 22, 2005
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