So I rented a Hyundai

Here I sit in Toronto in February. What better time to be on Canada than February? Anyway, so I rented a Hyundai Accent . At the rental place, the woman was like "Well, for only $2/day more, you can have a real car instead." I said, "Just gimme the Hyundai." It has like 800 miles on it.

Compared to the Cheby Cobalt I last rented a year or so ago in Tampa, I'd have to say I think that I'd pick the Cheby. The Accent is pretty gut-less. The interior has that same "right out of the injection mold" feel as the Cheby. The radio is a total POS, and the radio buttons are so cheap that I haven't seen anything that bad since $19 8-track radios in the 70's. I don't know what the mileage is yet, but I suspect it isn't too good based on the gas guage. God help you if you have to accelerate into traffic. Drop the hammer it it goes "weeeeeeee, I think I can, I think I can..." The heater does work well, though, which is a real plus for right now. Of course, all the locals are saying how fantastic the weather is because the ice actually melted some.

Oh, my flight up here sucked big-time. We got hit in NW AR with that bad storm Tuesday night/Wednesday morning that killed 9 in OK. Then I flew through it to Cincinatti, where it caught up with me and delayed my next flight out 4 hours. Then I flew through it again to Toronto, where it caught up with me again. I felt like telling the pilot he missed a pot hole back there, did he want to go back?

People in Toronto don't drive like Arkansans do. I'd say it was more of a "Toronto-istan" than the last time I was here about 6 years ago. It's a little disconcerting seeing someone not terribly skilled at driving that looks like they have been driving a motor vehicle all of 2 years come barreling down at you at a stop light or wizzing through traffic. Not that there's not some real nut cases in Arkansas too, just different.

Anyway, the Cobalt was bad. This Accent is worse. I'd take my 21 year old Rolla over this easily.

I guess you should have ponied up the extra $2 Doc...

wonder what verison of the accent you got? the DOHC version is not bad.. especially mated to the manual.

and yes.. hyundai radios are usually pretty bad

That extra two bucks x 3 would probably have had to come from my pocket, not that of The Borg, so, that's why I went with it. So far, it has got me from the hotel to the seminar office and back, so it is doing it's job. I would strongly suspect this is a base model, and it's an 4 door auto. I also think my Rolla has a bigger trunk. Actually, I think the Esprit may have a bigger trunk, or it's pretty close. It does beat the Esprit in Back Seat room. Of course, I could drive wherever I was going in the Esprit with one passenger at a time, go back and get the next passenger x 2 and still get there before this thing would with 3 passengers.

Nice to see you put your typically positive spin on things. I was in Toronto today. You should have told me you were here. I would have waited til next week. I hope you are at least enjoying some Torontos fine international cuisine.

Well, I wanted lunch at an Indian restaurant. My boss was game, but the rest of the team wouldn't eat if we went to one, so we went to a Kelley's or something and I had a veggie burger. I really wanted some northern style (not southern, although OK, I much prefer northern) saag paneer, peas pilau, some samosas, pakoras and naan. Oh well.

An automatic transmission usually kills all of the fun to be had in a 4-cyl, modern econobox. If it's got no torque and no RWD, you really do need a stick shift to play with.

I love trashing around in crappy little rental cars. I had one of those in minnesota and did some dirt trails near a construction site.

Be on the look-out for cars that you can not get in the US like 4 door Yaris hatchbacks and Nissan X-Trail SUV's (sized like Geo Tracker 4 doors)

If someone cuts you off in Montreal, it was on purpose - they knew you'd deal with it.

If someone cuts you off in Toronto, they had no idea you were there.

I rented a Hyundai about a year ago to drive from Vegas to California for rally school. Nice car for the long trip, actually. Even had satellite radio, which is important for that area. I don't remember what Hyundai it was, it was Accord-sized. Inoffensive with a big trunk and a V6.

The second day finished with rallycross training. Umm, don't buy used rental cars, kids.

My son just turned in a Kia Rio rental. Said it was the most gutless pos he had ever driven. Couldn't wait to get back his wrecked Escort.

When we looked at the Hyundais at the auto show, we were impressed with all of them. Except the Accent. It really was bargain-basement quality. But, still a better value than the obscenely priced Aveo.

I remember when I bought my Tiburon all those years ago.. I tried an accent.. a 1.6 GT with the DOHC and then I tried what would become my tib... there was no comparison.

Thanks to Delta Airlines a few years back, I had to rent a Hyundai to go from San Antonio to Nashville in order to fly home. After the first day, and 900 miles I thought it was an o.k. car, about one generation behind the Japanese. It got good mileage, the stereo was adequate, was quieter than the Toyota I rented last year, and kept up with traffic. A decent car, not a great car.

Dr.: I had that car a few weeks ago when it had 8 miles on it. Really though...Toronoto, Hertz, Blue Accent, 8 miles on the odometer.

I was fine with it. Anything with an auto and FWD is incredibly boring anyway. I guess when you're used to driving $100 and $200 beaters, a little upholstery goes a long way ;).

They were really excited about -6 (Celcius) temps that day.

Clem

Hey, these are record highs in these parts, and I think this is one of the warmest weeks on record!

Yeah, TO drivers pretty much suck, and I think Keith nailed it best: they generally aren't malicious, just....blind.

Nathan

We own the gutless of gutless Accents. The wife's DD is a 2000 GL with the 1.5L SOHC 92hp beast. At least it has a 5-spd. average 38.5mpg, just don't get in a hurry.

As for the new ones, the rental cars area $10,900 car new. What did you expect?

Bobzilla wrote: As for the new ones, the rental cars area $10,900 car new. What did you expect?

That $10,900 will buy approx. 17 running E30s, or 6 Miatas that will out accelerate and handle it. No real point... that just sounds funny.

I should start the Grassroots rental company...

• econo: CRX or Swift

• mid: E30, Civic 4 door

• full: E28, P-71

• sport: E36M3, C4 Vette

• vert: Miata

• truck/tow: F-250SD

• passenger: Pick a 90s mini-van

There's only one vehicle in yourrental fleet I'd drive! OK, 2.

Bobzilla wrote: There's only one vehicle in yourrental fleet I'd drive! OK, 2.

But I could buy the whole fleet plus spares for close the $10,9k :)

yeah, but will any of them be covered underwarranty for the next 10 years or 100k miles?

Who needs a warranty when the whole car is $600? If they rent for the whole week they get to keep the car.

Yeah, but your talking one NEW car (gutless or not) against several USED cars. To us, yeah we would go for the several used cars but we are not the average car buyer, we are the minority of car buyers. The average person would go for the one new car instead of the several used cars. And frankly there are people out there that no business being in a vehicle with more power than a Hyundai Accent.

You folks need to stop analysing a joke when you run across one. Sheesh... can't a guy just make schit up to pass the time while his jobs run?

Hess - sorry for the threadjack... you all may return to discussing the finer points of a rental Hun-DIE. I will return to alternating between musing quietly to myself about how many E30s fit in 10k and staring at Megan Fox pics on the interwebs.