Nasty rental car experience

[LVSteve]

Every so often I get a rental car that just grates on me for a variety of reasons. Then there are the curveballs thrown by rental companies. Got one again during my recent trip to the UK. Meet the MG ZS as supplied by Avis/Budget.

Hardly an MG of my youth. A Chinese company owns the rights to the brand, and this is one of their offerings in the UK. Yes, it's yet another small crossover type SUV about the size of a Nissan Rogue, or maybe the smaller Rogue Sport.

At first glance it doesn't look too bad. It has excellent LED headlights, 17" rims, and a fair amount of space inside. However, when you look closer there are some issues. First off, the steering wheel does not adjust for reach. This is a common complaint for me with many smaller vehicles. It's like the designers plonk the wheel as close to the dash as they can to give the illusion of space. For me, it means I cannot get a driving position that suits my legs and my arms. To steer properly on a twisty road (Britain has a few of those ) I have to cramp my legs a fair bit. The materials are distinctly low rent with hard plastic everywhere. The cupholder fitting was missing from the center console so that was another mark against Avis. Fortunately the door bins were huge and swalloed all manner of drinks bottles. Seats were a fake leather that got stupid hot in the sun. Thanks for that reminder of cars of 1968.

Then there is the dash, a digital monstrosity with no way I could find of altering the format to emulate analog dials or adjusting the illumination at night. Simply hateful. Oh, and with no manual, you have to work out for yourself what all the screen do and how to access them using the steering wheel controls.

Then there is the multifunction display in the middle of the car. It included the full set of HVAC controls with certain functions repeated on hard switches below, thank the stars. One switch engages all you need to clear the windscreen in one go, very handy when a sudden shower sends the humidity to the max. Even the lowest illumination on that screen was brighter than I like at night. I would describe how awful it was to use when tuning the radio etc, but it was 20 minutes after I picked up the car and well into my journey on a schedule that I discovered the rental company (I think) had disabled the navigation and entertainment modules. No, it didn't have Apple Carplay, either.

To call my wife and I unhappy would be an understatement, but I knew what would happen if I tried to take it back. Had I turned around immediately, I can almost guarantee that Avis would not have had another automatic available. They were recently kicked out of Heathrow Airport itself and are squatting in the car park of a Holiday Inn with limited cars. If I called and complained after a couple of days when I had the time, they would have insisted that the car be returned to Heathrow for a replacement. I had better things to do, so we soldiered on. This led to some interesting diversions due to the lack of a usable nav system and my wife being a confirmed non-navigator.

The driving experience? Now we get to the crux of the matter. This thing rides an MG from the 50s, i.e. hard. The tire pressures were dead on, and later Web research revealed this is a common complaint. The ride became flat out tiresome on Southern England's pockmarked freeways and surface streets. The stiff suspension did mean that it cornered rather well, despite the poor driving position. It certainly didn't push like the 2022 Renault we had last year. That thing had understeer worse than a shopping cart.

The stiff suspension also did little to isolate the cabin from road noise. There were certain concrete freeways where the noise was deafening. The dead entertainment module became less of a concern on that type of road.

Still, thanks to the road noise, you never heard the engine, a 1.0 turbo 3-cylinder. Ye-e-e-e-sss . Not exactly a ball of fire even with just two of us and some luggage. Merging onto 70 mph freeways made me very glad that the UK generally uses loooong acceleration lanes and that the traffic already on the freeway was generally sympathetic to those joining. Economy was OK so long as you didn't have to cane it up hills too much. Around town it was nowhere near as economical as you might think, something I have noted with low-powered cars in the past.

So now you know. If your rental company in the UK tries to tell you the MG ZS is an equivalent to a Renault, Citroen, or Nissan, they are lying and you should decline.

 

[fordson]

We travel to the UK every year to visit my wife’s relatives and college friends. They are all located outside the M25 and greater London area, so we are saved from that experience (not that we’d drive in London anyway). We would often use that Avis agency at Heathrow- it was almost walking distance from the Marriott on Bath RD that we favored. We switched to the Enterprise agency as the cars and service from Avis seemed to decline, inversely to cost, with each car rental. Getting a “good” rental car is the luck of the draw since what is advertised and what is available at time of contract is subject to the “or similar “ statement when you sign up. We’ve had some real “dogs” for rentals, and a few really nice cars. This is my lovely wife with a Volvo S90 a few years back on our Scottish North Coast 500 “rally” drive. It (the car) was Very nice - lots of power and good handling … it was also a diesel.

 

[Sistema1927]

Never have I been so happy that I learned to drive a stick shift as a youth than when I have rented cars in Europe. You really limit yourself if you can only drive an automatic.

I normally drive on the continent, but I did have a two week trip to England several years ago. I admit that a couple of times I tried to shift my door handle.

 

[Onomea]

Insofar as I know, I've never even seen a Chinese car, yet China is the world's largest producer of cars. Twenty-six million in 2021 compared to our 9M at #2 and Japan's 8M at #2.

Based on Steve's review, guess I'm not missing much.

 

[LVSteve]

We would often use that Avis agency at Heathrow- it was almost walking distance from the Marriott on Bath RD that we favored. We switched to the Enterprise agency as the cars and service from Avis seemed to decline, inversely to cost, with each car rental. Getting a “good” rental car is the luck of the draw since what is advertised and what is available at time of contract is subject to the “or similar “ statement when you sign up. We’ve had some real “dogs” for rentals, and a few really nice cars.

Indeed. Last year we rented from Enterprise and had a Renault Captur that we quite liked despite the understeer. However, it was expensive. I went with Avis because British Airways Holidays has a discount arrangement with them. Between the awful car and BA Holidays and BA not being able to keep my revised flight straight between them, never again.

 

[6518John]

I admit that a couple of times I tried to shift my door handle.

My son’s motto is “if you can’t find ‘em, grind ‘em!”

 

[LVSteve]

My son’s motto is “if you can’t find ‘em, grind ‘em!”

Or as we used to shout at learner drivers in England, "Sort one out, you've got a box full."

 

[dsf]

Mom learned how to cook in London before the Blitz and Dad was very proud of his English heritage. Which meant that until I was about 25 yrs old I thought all chickens came in a can and it was normal to refill your oil after a drive.

 

[raljr1]

Mom learned how to cook in London before the Blitz and Dad was very proud of his English heritage. Which meant that until I was about 25 yrs old I thought all chickens came in a can and it was normal to refill your oil after a drive.

I heard that's why the Brits don't make computers...can't figure out how to get them to leak oil.

 

[BC38]

My son’s motto is “if you can’t find ‘em, grind ‘em!”

Yeah, or "grind 'em 'til you find 'em" or "grind me a pound while you're at it!"

My last rental was from Avis/Budget at the St. Louis Lambert Field Airport last summer, and my experience was pretty much the exact opposite of yours. I got lucky and they gave me a Mini Clubman - the slightly taller 4 door version of the Cooper - for the standard mid-sized car (Camry or similar) rate, because that was what they had on hand.

That thing was a real kick in the pants to drive! It was roomy inside, good seating position, good steering feel, plenty of power for acceleration, nice intuitive controls. We liked it so much we even talked about maybe making one as our next vehicle when we replace Barbara's Kia Borrego.

So anyway, we get in the car and head out. The first 60 miles or so was all freeway from St. Louis to Farmington Missouri. The little Mini was fairly quiet inside and rode pretty well on the Interstate. Maybe a little stiff in the suspension, but not uncomfortably stiff or loud. So far so good.

Then we got off the freeway and onto the 2-lane roads through the woods of the Ozark foothills from Farmington Missouri going south into the bootheel and on into Arkansas. Trust me when I say these roads are somewhat "challenging" if you aren't used to them.

Barbara describes these roads as a roller-coaster ride - because they are one sharp winding turn after another, and most of the curves are sharp enough to have a "cautionary" 40mph or 45mph warning sign posted. Plus there are almost no flat sections. You're constantly going uphill or downhill through the rolling foothills, frequently dropping 30, 40 or 50 feet in elevation and then going right back up that same amount of elevation - all within 1/10 of a mile. So it is left-right-up-down constantly. Like a roller coaster ride.

This seems normal to me since I grew up driving those Ozark-mountain back roads. Those kinds of roads are where I first learned how to drive, no big deal - right?.

So here we are in this hot little 4-door hatchback headed south at around midnight, and I'm just happy as a clam. That little Mini cornered like it was on rails with almost no body roll, and to say it was peppy would be an understatement.

Barb looks over at me and says, "You might want to slow down a little - you know you're doing 70, right?". I looked down at the speedo and damned if she wasn't right! I was actually doing closer to 75, but from her perspective in the front passenger seat it just looked like 70! The tires never squealed a peep in any of those sharp curves at that speed, the Mini cornered so flat, and I was so focused on the road ahead that I didn't realize just how fast we were going!

So, I guess sometimes, you just get lucky with what the rental car company gives you - and other times not so much.

 

[Kiwi cop]

I caution against using rental cars as test subjects when evaluating a vehicle. Karen and I are currently on our second MG ZST “Essence” in 2 years. The first we kept for 20 months and traded it in at 20,000 km when we found we had the cash to do so. 3 months and just over 2,500 km later on our second one. And I will trade it in again on another ZST sometime next year. (After a lifetime of buying second hand I like driving new cars for 12-18 months and trading up while there is still a lot of value left).

But…. You really do need the owners manual to figure out some of the controls. Why many rental companies remove them is beyond my understanding, although you can find them online.

Yes, the lack of steering wheel adjustment is a pain, but the ability to adjust the seat electronically instead of mechanically with the ZS and the lower spec ZST helps.

Other than town driving I shift the transmission into “sport” mode, which helps with the ride, and unlike our former Mazda CX-3 the cruise control still works in that setting.

One thing that took time to adjust to was the 5 second push on the air con fan switch to turn it on or off, otherwise the HVAC system is not too bad (yes the “burst” function on the windscreen setting works well too). The touch screen controls are not as responsive as the ones in the Mazda were, but you can get used to that.

The ride is much quieter than the CX-3, although that may be due to the tyres. Rental companies are notorious for going cheap with replacements.

Luggage room is good (again better than the Mazda) and the entertainment system easy to use. I have no idea why Avis UK would disable it.

The GPS is more user friendly and has more direct routes available. Our Mazda once sent us zig-zagging along rural roads when traversing a smaller highway to avoid the lower speed zones around small villages instead of taking us direct, so I never used it again. And Apple play works too.

What I really love though is the adaptive cruise control, although it does slow a bit much on bends. Set it at the max speed and it adjusts for slower traffic and following distances automatically.

Last year we had two rental cars in the U.S. the first, a five month old Honda HR-V with 12,000 miles on the clock at pickup, which was a good car with many of the ZST features, only lacking side mirror warning. But it developed some faults (door locks not always working, Apple Play stopping and starting unexpectedly, low tire pressure warning when tires were right) and became due for an engine service half way through our trip.

The replacement was a 15 month old 38,000 mile, Kia Forte that I didn’t like. The folding key was loose and I kept thinking it was going to break off in the ignition. Luggage space was great but driver/passenger view restricted due to the lower (sport sedan) body over the mini SUV style. And it was a basic version. Would I write one off based on the rental experience? I would probably look to see if there was a higher spec’s model available first.

So in short, I like the new MG’s. Here in Kiwiland they are great value for the price. Compared to the CX-3 (now CX-30) there is an $8,000 price difference,, and the new MG EV is the lowest cost full EV available in this country.

 

[Muss Muggins]

So, to recap, there was nothing wrong with the vehicle. You just didn’t like that particular model. With rentals , I just take what they give me and work around it. I always look at it as “Well, I ain’t gonna buy one of these, but I didn’t die . . .

Every so often I get a rental car that just grates on me for a variety of reasons. Then there are the curveballs thrown by rental companies. Got one again during my recent trip to the UK. Meet the MG ZS as supplied by Avis/Budget.

Hardly an MG of my youth. A Chinese company owns the rights to the brand, and this is one of their offerings in the UK. Yes, it's yet another small crossover type SUV about the size of a Nissan Rogue, or maybe the smaller Rogue Sport.

At first glance it doesn't look too bad. It has excellent LED headlights, 17" rims, and a fair amount of space inside. However, when you look closer there are some issues. First off, the steering wheel does not adjust for reach. This is a common complaint for me with many smaller vehicles. It's like the designers plonk the wheel as close to the dash as they can to give the illusion of space. For me, it means I cannot get a driving position that suits my legs and my arms. To steer properly on a twisty road (Britain has a few of those ) I have to cramp my legs a fair bit. The materials are distinctly low rent with hard plastic everywhere. The cupholder fitting was missing from the center console so that was another mark against Avis. Fortunately the door bins were huge and swalloed all manner of drinks bottles. Seats were a fake leather that got stupid hot in the sun. Thanks for that reminder of cars of 1968.

Then there is the dash, a digital monstrosity with no way I could find of altering the format to emulate analog dials or adjusting the illumination at night. Simply hateful. Oh, and with no manual, you have to work out for yourself what all the screen do and how to access them using the steering wheel controls.

Then there is the multifunction display in the middle of the car. It included the full set of HVAC controls with certain functions repeated on hard switches below, thank the stars. One switch engages all you need to clear the windscreen in one go, very handy when a sudden shower sends the humidity to the max. Even the lowest illumination on that screen was brighter than I like at night. I would describe how awful it was to use when tuning the radio etc, but it was 20 minutes after I picked up the car and well into my journey on a schedule that I discovered the rental company (I think) had disabled the navigation and entertainment modules. No, it didn't have Apple Carplay, either.

To call my wife and I unhappy would be an understatement, but I knew what would happen if I tried to take it back. Had I turned around immediately, I can almost guarantee that Avis would not have had another automatic available. They were recently kicked out of Heathrow Airport itself and are squatting in the car park of a Holiday Inn with limited cars. If I called and complained after a couple of days when I had the time, they would have insisted that the car be returned to Heathrow for a replacement. I had better things to do, so we soldiered on. This led to some interesting diversions due to the lack of a usable nav system and my wife being a confirmed non-navigator.

The driving experience? Now we get to the crux of the matter. This thing rides an MG from the 50s, i.e. hard. The tire pressures were dead on, and later Web research revealed this is a common complaint. The ride became flat out tiresome on Southern England's pockmarked freeways and surface streets. The stiff suspension did mean that it cornered rather well, despite the poor driving position. It certainly didn't push like the 2022 Renault we had last year. That thing had understeer worse than a shopping cart.

The stiff suspension also did little to isolate the cabin from road noise. There were certain concrete freeways where the noise was deafening. The dead entertainment module became less of a concern on that type of road.

Still, thanks to the road noise, you never heard the engine, a 1.0 turbo 3-cylinder. Ye-e-e-e-sss . Not exactly a ball of fire even with just two of us and some luggage. Merging onto 70 mph freeways made me very glad that the UK generally uses loooong acceleration lanes and that the traffic already on the freeway was generally sympathetic to those joining. Economy was OK so long as you didn't have to cane it up hills too much. Around town it was nowhere near as economical as you might think, something I have noted with low-powered cars in the past.

So now you know. If your rental company in the UK tries to tell you the MG ZS is an equivalent to a Renault, Citroen, or Nissan, they are lying and you should decline.

 

[6518John]

I have always had one motto with rentals—DRIVE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT!

 

[The Last Standing Knight]

Insofar as I know, I've never even seen a Chinese car, yet China is the world's largest producer of cars. Twenty-six million in 2021 compared to our 9M at #2 and Japan's 8M at #2.

Based on Steve's review, guess I'm not missing much.

I've seen only a few over the years. Many are not street legal in the US (and for good reason). Most were used on large, closed campuses (manufactoring, so forth).

The ones I have gotten a chance to look at closely I was not even in the same galaxy as impressed with. If you are in your Ford/Toyota/Dodge/etc and you get hit in the parking lot of a Wally world with a loose shopping cart you have no problem. If you are in one of these Chinese made that same impact becomes a motor vehicle accident with injuries.

 

[rwsmith]

Two bad rentals......

I've never had a serious problem with a rental, but two will live in infamy.

Got a Dodge Nitro van for a long trip. The thing was so stiff it beat me to death.


Also, once got a car in Newark for a trip south to a conference that was much farther than I anticipated. It had NO shocks. The axles must have been shackled right to the frame. The turnpike was a really rough road for a highway. We have stretches of hard highway road here for different reasons but the don't last more than a few miles. (The secondary roads are horrible, however) Anyway, I fought to keep that thing on the road for couple of hours. And driving it locally wasn't a picnic either. Then I had the drive back to Newark.

 

[CH4]

First off the maroons put the steering wheel on the wrong side.

Sounds like the cockpit of a Japanese commode.


I recently saw my first non MG, MG in Manila. Quite popular there. Looks like every other Asian crossover. Also not the MG of my youth. My mom had a bright yellow 1979 MGB. A lot of fun to drive.

 

[Dave_n]

Being an old Fogey who spent my first 29 years in the UK, I only ever drove manual shift cars, including an MG TC (1947 vintage) and what was the TR1 (yes they did exist, Triumph Roadster 1) which had 3 on the column (on the RHS) and a bench seat, quite entertaining for the young man and girl friend as she was on the left and you had your arm free!!! Then in the US, a Triumph Spitfire and currently (many years later) a Miata with 6 on the floor and A/C!!! So when I go back to the UK (twice this last year), no problems with a manual shift. Dave_n

 

[BC38]

Being an old Fogey who spent my first 29 years in the UK, I only ever drove manual shift cars, including an MG TC (1947 vintage) and what was the TR1 (yes they did exist, Triumph Roadster 1) which had 3 on the column (on the RHS) and a bench seat, quite entertaining for the young man and girl friend as she was on the left and you had your arm free!!! Then in the US, a Triumph Spitfire and currently (many years later) a Miata with 6 on the floor and A/C!!! So when I go back to the UK (twice this last year), no problems with a manual shift. Dave_n

A "3 on the tree" Triumph? I never even knew such a thing existed!

Having grown up here in the heartland of the USA, driving farm tractors and hay trucks, a manual transmission has never been a problem for me either. In fact, until I got into my 50's and stick shifts became nearly obsolete, I avoided slush-boxes whenever possible. I even bought a 1992 Taurus SHO because it was the only US made sedan on the market with a manual transmission.

But these days there are virtually NO manual transmission cars available in the US, unless you want to buy a bottom-of-the-barrel stripped-down econo-box OR a high-end euro-performance car.

There simply aren't any "average" cars offered with a manual transmission anymore. There are definitely no "made in America" products to choose from.

So it is no wonder Millenials and Gen-Zs have no clue how to drive one....