Oppo Rental Review - The White Knuckle Toyota Prius

"Pistol Whipped Cream" (heynickhere)
07/18/2016 at 16:07 • Filed to: None

This weekend we spent some time in Charlotte, NC. I usually like to rent from National where I get to choose my car, but I needed to keep my points with Hertz and they gave me a free day. I booked online and ended up with this beaut.

2015 Prius in its natural habitat at the local Bojangle’s.

This was the first time I had the opportunity to drive one so we loaded our stuff up and off we went. I actually didn’t hate it as much as I thought I would. It definitely isn’t Quick by any means but it does scoot when you are going down hills with the pedal to the floor.

This was a base model so the interior wasn’t very impressive. It did have cruise control though (last time we were in NC, Hertz gave me a Dart without it). I did find it really roomy on the inside though. I was expecting a compact but was pleasantly surprised. I didn’t like the layout of the cup holders but we made do.

One of the cup holders is hidden under some black plastic. Watermelon Milkshake courtesy of Cook-Out

We averaged 53 MPG over about 250 miles driven and I was happy with that because I wasn’t trying to be economical at all. I wouldn’t recommend it as a DD, but it did the job. It could have been worse...

nope nope nope nope nope

DISCUSSION (18)

Ash78, voting early and often > Pistol Whipped Cream
07/18/2016 at 16:13

Nice...they make the Dart without cruise control? I had a $15k Golf in 1995 and everyone was like “WTF? Your car doesn’t have cruise?! Haha!” The crazy thing is that in modern cars, it’s virtually zero cost to have one (the older, pre-DBW versions were usually vacuum controlled and justified a higher price).

Pistol Whipped Cream > Ash78, voting early and often
07/18/2016 at 16:15

Yeah I was definitely surprised, they wanted to charge me to trade it for something else. Spent about 4 hours on the highway last time without it and hated life. Won’t make that mistake again.

Aaron M - MasoFiST > Ash78, voting early and often
07/18/2016 at 16:17

In modern cars it may actually cost more not to have cruise...having every car equipped with the necessary physical controls (because the logic is already there as you say) is less costly than having to manufacture cars both with and without controls.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Pistol Whipped Cream
07/18/2016 at 16:25

Yup, I would gladly pay any price to have cruise control. I learned the hard way that no I cant “just deal with it for 7 hours, how bad could it be?”. I basically couldn’t feel my right leg anymore after that trip and my back was killing me. Cruising for that long in my Miata is soooo much easier thanks to cruise control. Even though I generally avoid the highways, the car is perfectly comfortable while using cruise control to just zip along all day. That damn Accent with no cruise control was the most hated vehicle I ever drove! I even enjoyed the Spark I had once more just because it had cruise.

Pistol Whipped Cream > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
07/18/2016 at 16:26

Yes THIS! I was physically sore after having driving from Raligh to Charlotte.

Ash78, voting early and often > Pistol Whipped Cream
07/18/2016 at 16:27

I did some 12+ hour nonstop drives in that old car, but it had a very positive throttle pedal that was easy to modulate. I lived without it for quite a few years, but can’t imagine going back. Then again, a lot of cruise controls really suck (especially on hills) and I end up using the pedal again.

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > Pistol Whipped Cream
07/18/2016 at 16:28

Have driven a rental Accent. Wasn't that bad, really. I'd take one of them over a Focus with the crappy DCT any day.

Nothing > Pistol Whipped Cream
07/18/2016 at 16:34

I just got back from San Diego. I was stuck in an Elantra. What an incredibly crappy car that is. Are any sold that aren’t rentals? Just after I was teased too “we’ve got a special going on, I can get you in a Mustang convertible for the same price....oops, that ended yesterday.” What made it worse was strolling past the line of 5 Shelby GT-H Mustangs. So pretty.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Ash78, voting early and often
07/18/2016 at 16:36

I think the cruise control sucking or not also depends on the motor itself. I know for my car, I can stay in 6th gear on anything that isn’t a literal mountain climb while at highway speed and cruise does just fine. But in the rental Camaro I had, 6th gear was very much an overdrive and any slight incline would cause many problems for cruise control since the car really needed 5th gear to continue at speed. Cruise control with a manual is the best. None of that surge to 6000 rpms crap because the car decided it needs to speed up 3mph real quick!

Ash78, voting early and often > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
07/18/2016 at 16:39

Agreed...the Golf was slow, but 5th gear was short and you were always in the meat of the powerband. My ‘98 Passat had a V6 with peak torque at 3200RPM, which was right about 75mph in 5th gear (also a 5MT). Neither car was a speed demon, but you could definitely tell that Autobahn tuning was more important than efficiency. Our current Honda is faster and more powerful than both of them (on paper), but it has a super-tall 6th and cylinder deactivation, so the cruise control goes nuts (and sucks up a lot of fuel) on anything more than flat ground under 75mph.

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > Ash78, voting early and often
07/18/2016 at 17:18

My 2005 Focus has roll up windows, no cruise control and no tachometer. And has rear drum brakes too.

No USB or AUX ports either... just a single disk CD AM/FM head unit... and the CD part doesn’t work anymore.

And I have taken my car on some longer trips. You get used to the lack of features.

Ash78, voting early and often > Manwich - now Keto-Friendly
07/18/2016 at 17:30

Out of all those things, the lack of cruise surprises me most. Everything else costs money (see my comment above). Lack of cruise never really bothered me, nor did lack of Aux inputs. But I DD a 2001 model car, so I don’t feel like I’m missing out. I get into the wife’s 2015 and I’m just like “Too much shit, don’t care." and I sort of zone out. At best, I'll pair my phone with the stereo, but even then I'm like "Hmm, in my car I can just use earbuds and they sound better."

Jack Does Cars > Pistol Whipped Cream
07/18/2016 at 17:36

Bojangle’s and Cook-Out is key to any North Carolina experience.

Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection > Pistol Whipped Cream
07/18/2016 at 17:42

My only question is “Why Charlotte on a random rainy weekend in July?”

I live here - well, right across the river in Mount Holly, but I don’t really know about any goings-on in town anymore.

Pistol Whipped Cream > Jack Does Cars
07/18/2016 at 17:46

Not ANY. EVERY NC experience.

Pistol Whipped Cream > Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection
07/18/2016 at 17:47

Used to live near UNCC. Came out and did some hiking near Winston-Salem and spent some time with friends that I haven’t seen in a long time. Just happened to be rainy.

Decay buys too many beaters > Pistol Whipped Cream
07/18/2016 at 18:35

How does it do on the No Lift Challenge?

Jack Does Cars > Pistol Whipped Cream
07/18/2016 at 18:41

But as someone who’s lived in North Carolina all of their life, is it a bad thing that I really, really dislike Bojangle's?