Rental car disappointment

[LVSteve]

Went traveling again this week. Airport guy directed me to a 2020 Hyundai Elantra with under 1k miles on the clock. Cool, I thought, another type I have yet to drive. Sadly, the weirdness began before I left the parking structure.

When I first turned the key I was assailed with a mechanical odor from the HVAC system. I put this down to the weather trapping bad combustion products in the garage. Nope, I kept getting follow up snorts all the way to my hotel.

The mechanical weirdness started when I got on the freeway. Up until then I had been impressed by the smoothness of the drivetrain, good noise suppression and excellent ride. So, up the on ramp, accelerate to cruising speed and engage the cruise control. WTH??? The revs just jumped up 800 rpm. Disengage cruise, settle the car on a balanced throttle and the revs stayed down. Engage the cruise again, and the revs jump.

About this time i realized that the car had switchable drive modes. I cycled through them but that didn't change the odd behavior with the cruise control. Then I remembered that this CVT has a manual mode with fixed ratios if you flip the gearshift to the left. I did this and set it in "top gear" with the display reading 8. That got the revs down, and engaging the cruise changed nothing. Speed was maintained and the revs stayed low. Put the shifter back into D and the revs jumped again.

The same transmission is fitted to the Accent I had as a rental a while back, and it displayed none of this nonsense, so clearly there was a problem. I dropped my stuff at the hotel and took the Elantra back to the airport to discover that they had no more cars. "Do you mind having a truck?", the guy asked. "Sure!"

I'll talk about that in another post. It's a shame this example had issues, because in terms of ride and refinement the Elantra drives like a larger car.

 

[rwsmith]

My two favorite rental cars.....

I had to drive down the New Jersey Turnpike for about an hour in a big car that I believe had had the shocks removed. I pitched and rolled like boat on the ocean in bad weather.

My second favorite was a Dodge Nitro van that we drove from here to the middle of West Virginia. That thing was so STIFF that I felt every bump in the road, for hours going and coming.

I like renting cars so I can see what's out there. But that hasn't stopped me from having trouble a-plenty with cars that I buy.

 

[NYlakesider]

Went traveling again this week. Airport guy directed me to a 2020 Hyundai Elantra with under 1k miles on the clock. Cool, I thought, another type I have yet to drive. Sadly, the weirdness began before I left the parking structure.

When I first turned the key I was assailed with a mechanical odor from the HVAC system. I put this down to the weather trapping bad combustion products in the garage. Nope, I kept getting follow up snorts all the way to my hotel.

The mechanical weirdness started when I got on the freeway. Up until then I had been impressed by the smoothness of the drivetrain, good noise suppression and excellent ride. So, up the on ramp, accelerate to cruising speed and engage the cruise control. WTH??? The revs just jumped up 800 rpm. Disengage cruise, settle the car on a balanced throttle and the revs stayed down. Engage the cruise again, and the revs jump.

About this time i realized that the car had switchable drive modes. I cycled through them but that didn't change the odd behavior with the cruise control. Then I remembered that this CVT has a manual mode with fixed ratios if you flip the gearshift to the left. I did this and set it in "top gear" with the display reading 8. That got the revs down, and engaging the cruise changed nothing. Speed was maintained and the revs stayed low. Put the shifter back into D and the revs jumped again.

The same transmission is fitted to the Accent I had as a rental a while back, and it displayed none of this nonsense, so clearly there was a problem. I dropped my stuff at the hotel and took the Elantra back to the airport to discover that they had no more cars. "Do you mind having a truck?", the guy asked. "Sure!"

I'll talk about that in another post. It's a shame this example had issues, because in terms of ride and refinement the Elantra drives like a larger car.

My wife travels a bit and rents about 10 cars a year. The drones at the rental outfits will not volunteer any info you have to ask them questions. Like where is the gas door release, how do you open trunk, ETC. My wife has learned not to leave the lot without finding out what this car has that makes it "fun" to operate.

Every car company has different ways of doing things and worst yet different models and trim packages have different MOs.

Spend a few minuets in the lot with someone that knows about about what your renting, it will keep your blood pressure in a safe zone!

 

[Sistema1927]

We were in Hawaii this past January, and rented a Toyota Camry. I was so impressed that we bought one in February for the wife. We have already had a couple of road trips, and the combination of ride, efficiency, and comfort are second to none.