Had to get back to Savannah to pick up a truck to drive my stuff to Greenville, so I did a one way rental

"E90M3" (e90m3)
03/29/2018 at 22:09 • Filed to: E90M3 rents

I did this last week to get the M3, and I got a Hyundai Sonata. I need to write about that car, but that will be at a later date. I want to talk about the car I rented today. I was in a Lyft headed to the airport to pick up my rental when I got a notification from my Avis app telling me I had been “upgraded.” What had I been upgraded to? This:

That’s right I got a mall rated Jeep.

I like to approach every car I haven’t driven with an open mind. This was an exception, I expected this to be shit. So after 3.5 hours and 220 miles has my opinion changed? To sum it up, no, it’s shit. That said, let’s delve into what it’s like to drive.

It’s not a bad looking car, but after that it’s all down hill. The seating position felt a little weird. I never felt like I got really comfortable in it. Maybe I should have spent more time adjusting the seat, but it just felt awkward. The pedal and steering wheels position felt strange; didn’t feel like a natural seating position.

The drive itself started alright. Last week I couldn’t find the damn button to take the Hyundai out of eco mode and that car was slow. This car lacked that button, but it was still just as slow. It had a nine speed transmission. That is too many. I understand it’s to get good fuel economy, but it needs to shift down more. I had the cruise at 79, I would get to a hill then I’d be doing 78, then 77, then 76, then 75, then 74, then finally the car would down change and try to get back to my set point. Except, it would only drop to 8th or 7th, so it took 9 million years to get back to my set point. Driving it without cruise on wasn’t much of an improvement. I basically had to floor it to get any performance out of it. Maybe I’ve been spoiled by my BMWs, but this was just slow.

The stereo was trash, but then this is an economy car not a Bentley. It did at least interface with my iPhone decently. The touch screen was the same interface my friend has in his 2015 Challenger, and it’s alright. I prefer iDrive because of the knob, but maybe that’s just me.

The steering was alright, it wasn’t over-boosted and extremely sensitive like a Hyundai. It was also hilariously terrible in corners, then again I think that’s another instance of my BMWs spoiling me. I never remember having to brake for interstate interchanges, I did in this. It was pretty understeery in those corners. I could tell it was electric, but it wasn’t too dead.

It also had “Jeep” or the Jeep grill everywhere. I found it too be too much of a gimmick. You bought this car for the looks or something, sorry it’s shit. Have some random Jeep grills to make you feel better.

To conclude, I finally found a rental I hate more then a Hyundai. It’s terrible; but something else. Anything else. This car is shit.

DISCUSSION (18)

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > E90M3
03/29/2018 at 22:14

It’s a cheap thing you wouldn’t understand

BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
03/29/2018 at 22:18

This^^^^^^^^^^

MM54 > E90M3
03/29/2018 at 22:20

When they announced the Renegade I had some hope it may be the return of the original Cherokee idea. I checked out the one at the Detroit auto show that year and was immediately let down. Like you said, the whole interior is a “Hey it’s a Jeep!” gimmick laid on heavily enough to make anyone short of a fanatic cringe. Functionally it’s very clearly a crossover, the chassis design had “can go offroad” pretty far down on the engineering requirements. Such a disappointment.

BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo > E90M3
03/29/2018 at 22:20

Necessary Car Renting with E90M3

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > E90M3
03/29/2018 at 22:34

Your experience hives pretty well with the test drive I took in one back when they came out. I’d still like to drive the 1.4/6MT sometime because the 2.4/auto was the worst part of that car. PS - Avis upgraded my Jetta to a Passat. The Jetta is a better car to drive but I just drove 4 passengers plus me to dinner and back so having the extra space was actually an upgrade.

Chuckles > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
03/29/2018 at 22:43

I have no regrets about pulling you out of the greys.

E90M3 > FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com
03/29/2018 at 22:50

A manual would at least give me control of what gear I was in.

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > Chuckles
03/29/2018 at 22:58

Kinja'd!!!

Nom De Plume > E90M3
03/29/2018 at 23:26

An unnamed relative thinks it the height of comedy to crawl down a freeway on ramp with theirs and tell everyone to hold on tight they’re about to punch it. Which they do and about the time you let out a groan at the bad joke you start wondering if it might self destruct.

Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection > E90M3
03/30/2018 at 07:17

For what it’s worth, my wife and I like ours. I’m 6’3” and my wife is 5’3” and the manual seats in our base model 1.4/6M are not hard to get a good seating position for either of us. What a lot of people don’t seem to understand is that it’s a cheap Italian hatchback wearing a Jeep suit. Approach it that way and it makes more sense.

Funktheduck > E90M3
03/30/2018 at 09:22

I’ve noticed you keep trying to move closer to me. I’m ok with the implications but I just wish you were a little more open about it....

In all seriousness. How do you like Greenville? I had a friend who used to go there pretty often.

TorqueToYield > E90M3
03/30/2018 at 09:56

My neighbor has one and put a ridiculously large “JEEP SINCE 1941" sticker on it and I silently scream “IT’S A FIAT” every time I walk my dog past it.

E90M3 > Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection
03/30/2018 at 10:57

I don’t know, I knew it was fiat underpinnings, still didn’t like it. I guess the thing that bothered me was how dimwitted the cruise control was.

E90M3 > TorqueToYield
03/30/2018 at 10:58

When I connected my phone to it, i realized it had an Italian VIN. Calling this thing a Jeep is just a marketing gimmick.

E90M3 > Funktheduck
03/30/2018 at 10:58

I like it a lot. It was the. It was the city I was targeting during my job search.

i86hotdogs > E90M3
04/18/2019 at 09:12

The manual is much better than the auto...as long as you keep it in boost.

E90M3 > i86hotdogs
04/18/2019 at 09:18

I believe the one I had was equipped with the 2.4 N/A engine.

i86hotdogs > E90M3
04/18/2019 at 09:44

The auto had the 2.4 Tigershark excusively; the 1.4 had the m anual . I have the 2.4 in my 200, and I empathized with you about the transmission. It takes a legitimate second to decide what gear to shift into. I literally had to plan ahead to pass cars on the road.