Rental after rental after rental aka life with my Promaster

"cbell04" (cbell04)
12/23/2018 at 13:00 • Filed to: ProMaster

The van has been back to the dealer 4 times in the last 59 days. I’ve only driven it 7 days of those 59. I have had some rentals right now I’m in a Nissan Armada this thing is a beast (only put on 300 miles in it so far but I’ll have it for about at least a couple thousand) before that was a base base base 4cyl taco that I racked up 3700 miles in God was that thing slooooooooow

And before that I had a Kia pretty decent little cuv knocked out another 3500+ in that

Oops had to do a repost apparently I posted it to 12 a.m. instead of p.m. O h and if anyone’s w orried about the old Promaster sitting all alone at the dealership don’t worry she has good company

DISCUSSION (32)

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > cbell04
12/23/2018 at 12:40

If that Promaster is a new vehicle it’s way past time to look into your states Lemo n Law. Most states have a limit on the number of repair attempts or days out of service before a vehicle is required to be bought back by the manufacturer. They are also probably required to pay you for the costs of any rentals incurred due to the vehicle being out of service.

Svart Smart, traded in his Smart > cbell04
12/23/2018 at 12:59

I work in accounts payable for a food and restaurant company, and one of the vehicles in the delivery fleet is a 2016 Ram Promaster with <50,000 miles on the odometer. Earlier this month we paid around $7k to have a new transmission, transmission cooler, and radiator installed after the failure of those components.

shop-teacher > cbell04
12/23/2018 at 13:08

That's ... Incredible. I mean, what the duece?

cbell04 > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
12/23/2018 at 13:15

It’s got close to 200,000 miles on it it actually ran pretty well for the first 80,000 been nothing but a nightmare ever since. It's a fleet vehicle I've made my case about what should be done but ultimately my company essentially leases it from another company and so on and so on so no one really takes ownership and these kind of things just Fester we have a huge Fleet

E92M3 > cbell04
12/23/2018 at 13:19

Well.. on the brightside you'll have lower than average mileage on your Promaster.

cbell04 > Svart Smart, traded in his Smart
12/23/2018 at 13:20

I could send you pictures of every receipt but 4 years 190000 miles it’s been over $35,000 of maintenance that does include tires and oil changes and brakes but still that doesn't include all the downtime all of the work has been very lengthy I never get the car back in a day or two it's always a week or two

cbell04 > shop-teacher
12/23/2018 at 13:23

Hey man P ro Masters going to ProMaster. I am loving this Armada though like a big floaty tank with 390 horse pretty fun Beast

cbell04 > E92M3
12/23/2018 at 13:33

Not exaggerating one bit but in 4.5 years that I’ve driven the ProMaster I’ve driven 6o thousand miles in rentals meaning I’ve spent over one year in rentals too!!!! I drive 55000 a year pretty consistently I track this using apps and an aftermarket GPS that I moved to any vehicle I I’m in . So 4.5 x55000=247500 and im only at 188000 = 59500 unaccounted miles. Geez add in about $33,000 of bills to keep it running poorly at that.

fintail > cbell04
12/23/2018 at 13:48

Armada is a Hertz, right? I had one for 10 days last month. I hated the seats, laughed at the antique electronics, but was amused by the truckiness.

VincentMalamute-Kim > cbell04
12/23/2018 at 13:54

I almost bought a ProMaster. Went with a Transit. Thank you for confirming my decision!

WilliamsSW > cbell04
12/23/2018 at 14:00

Amazing that the old Range Rover is the most reliable vehicle in that picture.

Enjoy the rentals - at this point, I would rather that ProMaster just stayed in the shop permanently, if I were you.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > cbell04
12/23/2018 at 14:11

Since it’s a commercial vehicle it is probably exempt from Lemon Laws anyway.

cbell04 > fintail
12/23/2018 at 14:44

Yeah it definitely shows its age but these seats are so bad really no excuse for that at all. Still 1 billion times better than a 4-cylinder taco so I'm happy

Cé hé sin > Svart Smart, traded in his Smart
12/23/2018 at 14:53

Was that an automatic one? They’re fearfully expensive when they go wrong.

Top tip: buy manual vans. Less to go wrong.

Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks > cbell04
12/23/2018 at 16:39

Fuck, it’s time to call Lehto, man. Seriously.

Tristan > fintail
12/23/2018 at 17:09

This is surprising- I've had a few Nissan rentals, and I've hated everything about all of them EXCEPT the seats... I've always liked Nissan's seats. I've never driven an Armada, though.

P5guy now GTIguy > cbell04
12/23/2018 at 17:32

What is it that you do? Have the rentals been better or wrose than the Promaster at what your job requires you to do?

fhrblig > cbell04
12/23/2018 at 17:46

Mine just got rear ended while it was parked. No note of course. But at least they hit it where it caused the least possible damage. It’s really just the corner cap of the bumper, no sheet metal damage. Plus, they destroyed their own headlight judging from the amount of clear plastic on the ground.

Kinja'd!!!

The hinge is just dirty, no damage. 53k and counting, and I'm knocking on wood every day.

fintail > cbell04
12/23/2018 at 18:58

No discernible lumbar support, no lateral support, bad lower back support. I could go for a couple hours, but was then feeling it.

Definitely better, these offer a bit of equipment for the money, not a stripper.

fintail > Tristan
12/23/2018 at 18:59

I seem to recall people like Altima seats, but I haven’t driven one.

This thing had big seats with no lateral support/bolsters, impossible to discern lumbar support and an odd lower back feeling.

pip bip - choose Corrour > cbell04
12/23/2018 at 19:04

ditch the Promaster.

Tristan > fintail
12/23/2018 at 22:37

The one redeeming quality of the Sentra I rented a couple of years ago was the seats. Cushy with just the right amount of support. The rest of the car was trash. The Pathfinder I rented recently in Oklahoma was pretty comfy, but nothing to write home about. Again, the rest was trash, but it at least had carplay/AA. I haven’t gotten an Altima yet.

duurtlang > cbell04
12/24/2018 at 01:08

Quite impressive how Chrysler screwed up the drivetrain in these. I don’t believe the Fiat drive trains these vans wer e designed for (4 cylinder turbo diesel with manual transmission) are problematic at all.

Forrest > cbell04
12/24/2018 at 01:40

Other than being really slow, how was the Tacoma? I am vaguely interested in getting a new V6 Manual Tacoma.

cbell04 > Forrest
12/24/2018 at 09:18

The the V6 has double the horsepower of the 4-cylinder I bet it’s an absolute hoot. It would really be hard to compare they must be like two different trucks. T he rental I was in h ad zero options every single button was a blank. It didn’t really have any redeeming features about the truck honestly. The fact that they sell so many has to mean that the higher trim better engine is just that much better of a truck cuz I couldn’t see anyone wanting to buy what I drove. And that’s kind of the other problem the resale value on these are so high basically a new one and one just off lease are like the same price. I’d probably go used F-150 with the 2.7 EcoBoost in 2 wheel drive extended cab. That’s all the truck I would ever need but I’m not a truck guy. I had one as a rental as well for a couple of thousand miles and averaged 23 miles to the gallon not too bad and tons of power too was actually a lot of fun to drive comparatively

Forrest > cbell04
12/25/2018 at 01:27

Very nice. I also like the idea of a F150 Ecoboost, but sadly it isn’t available with 3 pedals. I tend to like to row my own gears in pickup trucks.

fintail > Tristan
12/25/2018 at 12:25

I can’t see how anyone buys a new Sentra or Pathfinder (what an insult to the name). As cheap used cars, maybe, but these things seem to be made as fleet fodder. GM got into hot water with this 15 years ago, I wonder if Nissan can avoid that. Nice that they had AA/Carplay anyway, a couple Mopars I rented had it, it should be standard everywhere.

I had a basic Sorento in my latest rental car escapade. It wasn’t offensive or uncomfortable, but not something I would choose over many others.

Tristan > fintail
12/25/2018 at 16:01

The Pathfinder has lots of standard shiny baubles to attract crossover buyers who don’t care about cars. I can see the attraction.

My wife’s (company-owned) RAV4? Every time I get behind the wheel I wonder what human being would ACTUALLY sit in one, test drive it, then say “yes, THIS is the vehicle for me!” Everything about it is misery. Worst of all: they sell like hotcakes.

fintail > Tristan
12/26/2018 at 18:37

Cars for people who don’t like cars - that’s the business model for the CUV segment in general, along with the beloved Sentra and quite a few others. Every time I see one on the road I am on guard just a little extra.

Tristan > fintail
12/27/2018 at 01:07

Facts. Also related: 3 days ago I passed 5 white Priuses in a row doing 10 under on I- 205. Strangely the were all in the right hand lane...

fintail > Tristan
12/27/2018 at 09:34

Must have been a convoy of some kind. Around here they like to go slow in the carpool lane, creating a bottleneck.

Tristan > fintail
12/27/2018 at 11:15

They spanned two generations and were all in varying states of neglect with different cage-free vegan coexist bumper stickers... They didn’t look affiliated at all!