What cars have you recently rented?

[pauldun170]

Originally Posted by Homeslice

C-Max? Never heard of it till now. Looks like a Honda Fit ripoff.

Its been sold in Europe for years and they are just bringing it over with a hybrid drivetrain.

I'd rather a Mazda5 (if I were in the market for that class of car)

[Gas Man]

c-max is basically an over sized fiesta...

[goof2]

Originally Posted by Homeslice

C-Max? Never heard of it till now. Looks like a Honda Fit ripoff.

Its been a while since I've been in a Fit, but the C-Max was noticeably bigger than what I remember the Fit being.

Originally Posted by pauldun170

Its been sold in Europe for years and they are just bringing it over with a hybrid drivetrain.

I'd rather a Mazda5 (if I were in the market for that class of car)

Originally Posted by Gas Man

c-max is basically an over sized fiesta...

Don't get me wrong, I didn't think the C-Max was great. Its just a hell of a lot better than the Prius. I think this kind of car is a bit silly and overpriced. I have no interest in either as my personal car.

[Cutty72]

Originally Posted by Homeslice

C-Max? Never heard of it till now. Looks like a Honda Fit ripoff.

My FIL works at a Ford dealership and recently gave me his card. All the models sold new are listed on it, and I saw the C-max, and asked what it was.
He laughed and said "the biggest piece of shit Ford has ever made".
Granted, he is an anti-technology and anti-small car guy, so that doesn't help.

[goof2]

Originally Posted by Cutty72

My FIL works at a Ford dealership and recently gave me his card. All the models sold new are listed on it, and I saw the C-max, and asked what it was.
He laughed and said "the biggest piece of shit Ford has ever made".
Granted, he is an anti-technology and anti-small car guy, so that doesn't help.

Your FIL is really selling Ford short, they have made WAY bigger pieces of shit than the C-Max. The previous generation Focus practically leaps to mind. I know some on here have had them and maybe the consumer versions are better, but the one I had as a rental for 6 weeks was pretty bad. In particular the NVH issues made it a miserable experience.

[Cutty72]

Originally Posted by goof2

Your FIL is really selling Ford short, they have made WAY bigger pieces of shit than the C-Max. The previous generation Focus practically leaps to mind. I know some on here have had them and maybe the consumer versions are better, but the one I had as a rental for 6 weeks was pretty bad. In particular the NVH issues made it a miserable experience.

He just started there about 3 months ago, so experience is limited.

[Homeslice]

Originally Posted by goof2

Your FIL is really selling Ford short, they have made WAY bigger pieces of shit than the C-Max. The previous generation Focus practically leaps to mind. I know some on here have had them and maybe the consumer versions are better, but the one I had as a rental for 6 weeks was pretty bad. In particular the NVH issues made it a miserable experience.

The current Focus is awesome for its price range. Great steering, handling & interior for its class. But yes, the Focus before it was crap.

[goof2]

Originally Posted by Homeslice

The current Focus is awesome for its price range. Great steering, handling & interior for its class. But yes, the Focus before it was crap.

I haven't driven a new Focus yet so I don't have a point of comparison. I had the one previous generation for 6 weeks, then 3 or 4 others for a day or two each. I found them generally crappy, but the NVH levels in particular were consistently so bad it really amazed me that the company signed off on that powertrain leaving the drawing board/test center.

[Gas Man]

I took the wife's Fiesta SES (5-speed manual) in to the shop for a recall and got a loaner base model Fiesta (6-speed dual clutch auto). And OMG the differences were huge. I couldn't stand the base model. It felt different, the motor performed differently, the handling, the lack of basic options like cruise (sure it had power windows/locks)... but just made it horrible to drive.

[LeeNetworX]

We rented an "intermediate SUV" for our FL vacation, since we will be putting on allot of miles and wanted to give the Pilot a break. Drove it down to South Florida on Saturday and heading to Key West in it tomorrow sans kids.

2013 Ford Escape SEL AWD w/2.0 EcoBoost turbo

After putting ~800 miles on it so far on and off the highway I find myself actually enjoying driving this car. The engine has balls and the AWD grips nicely. The leather seats are comfy and the controls are smartly placed but there is quite a bit of wind noise in the cabin at highway speed.

The SYNC system isn't the full-blown version like what was in the Explorer SEL I rented for a work trip a couple of months back. It has the main LCD panel in the dash with the climate controls right under it, with normal push buttons. The gauge cluster is all analog except for a small LCD screen high center that shows some useful info like distance to E, tripometer/odometer, average fuel consumption, etc.

Passenger room, including leg room is comfy both front and back seats but the storage space in back is tiny. We had to pack in a very minimalist fashion for 2 adults, 2 kids and plus we shoved two small dogs in back.

Fuel economy isn't all that impressive - on the highway @80mph average we got 22mpg. Still beats the Pilot though.

Overall, it's not a bad car at all - definitely one of the more enjoyable rentals I've had. And the more I stomp on it when it's just me in the car and neither of the boys the more I like it.