Mike's rental car review thread

MikeNH · December 11, 2012

So I do a "rental car review" thread on another site I am on. It has fallen by the wayside since I moved to MI as I rarely rent cars for work now- I used to fly almost weekly before. My employer switched from Hertz to National and as a perk, we all got elite status or whatever it's called with them for switching. Anyhow, here are my thoughts/experiences with it so far-

Overall, I think the 300 is a good looking car. The previous generation was bold looking but I don't think it aged well at all (not to mention the interior was not up to par with the rest of the car). Only time will tell how the look ages but now it isn't quite the standout visually it was in 2004 or whenever it came out. The front looks very Audi-ish, especially with the LED treatment in the headlights. I'm not a huge fan of how the rear bumper is minimalist/almost flush with the trunklid though.

Opening the trunk was a big surprise compared to past Chrysler products I have driven- it actually looks like a finished product. Other models had a ugly, poorly taped wire harness strung up one hinge and some had no trim on the underside of the trunk either. The 300 has carpet/trim all over, including nice hinge trim to hide the wires.

Inside was where the biggest change took place. They're a bit late to the game compared to GM and Ford, but Chrysler is making some seriously nice interiors finally. Everything inside lines up nicely, no big gaps and buttons don't feel cheap when pressed. It has a touch screen interface for almost everything (no nav on this model, which is typical of rental fleet vehicles as the rental company would much rather charge you $15/day to rent their GPS) and it seems to be laid out well. Along the bottom are icons for all core functions so changing the station or adjusting the climate control is pretty easy- I was able to figure it out while driving down the highway to my customer's facility. One little detail that jumped out was the electronic seat controls were actually reachable- lots of cars I've driven require me to squish my hand into a tight spot to adjust the seat with the door closed. The only thing I didn't like was the "shifter" for the new 8-speed transmission- it's just different enough from every other console shifter on the planet to be difficult. It doesn't feel like it is actually hooked to anything but it does have several detents as you move from park to reverse or drive. But I found I was constantly overshooting to park when I wanted to go from drive to reverse. It also requires you to push the brake and the shifter button to move from ALL gears- most autos let you go from reverse to drive with no button push or brakes so again I found myself having difficulties in parking lots as it wouldn't shift how every other automatic I've ever driven does.

Shifter weirdness aside, that 8-speed is a sweet unit. I had driven a Challenger with the new 3.6 last year but it was coupled with the old 5-speed automatic and in that the power didn't feel terribly impressive and the transmission often seemed befuddled when I'd floor it and it wouldn't drop a gear immediately. With the 8-speed, the 3.6 is a great match in most situations. About the only time it starts to feel like it has run out of steam is at higher speeds- the upper RPMs feel a bit flat. Frankly that is surprising for a DOHC engine as they typically have strong top end power.

Bottom line is I like this car and would love to get my hands on a V8 version. Also, I'm sure it varies airport to airport but the National lot here in Houston had some pretty sweet cars for me to pick from- including the Hyundai Genesis which I see very few of on the road.

Zembonez · December 11, 2012

The SRT/8 version is probably fun.

Zane · December 11, 2012

drove the SRT a few months ago..

http://www.autoinsane.com/2012/08/21/reviews/road-tests/300-srt8-chryslers-hottest-sedan-scorches-hearts-and-pavement/

MikeNH · December 17, 2012

Well even by the end of the week I still hated that stupid shifter. I don't understand why Chrysler wants weird interfaces with the 8-speed- first this and the Ram with the dial I have to assume is no better.

Bad Bowtie2 · December 18, 2012

Maybe Dodge/Chrysler should go back to that old 1950's "PUSH-BUTTON" transmission selector??

LOL!!!

MikeNH · December 18, 2012

Maybe Dodge/Chrysler should go back to that old 1950's "PUSH-BUTTON" transmission selector??

LOL!!!

Commercial trucks use that. I'd still prefer a column shift or console type.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

waumo1 · December 19, 2012

I'm looking forward to driving the 300 SRT8 at the SRT Track Experience this spring as well as the other SRTs. Last time I was at the Track Experience was 2010/11 models and I really liked the 300 SRT at that time. The "Banker's Hot Rod". If the 300 SRT8 is produced with the Supercharged 6.1L in 2013, I may just have to get one.

MikeNH · January 16, 2013

This week National gave me a fairly new 2013 Fusion. This is probably the best looking sedan on the market today, I really love how it looks. Overall it is a very nice car; comfortable, extremely quiet on the road, fit and finish appears excellent too. As much as I love technology, this car has too much happening inside though. The radio has animated menus so when you scroll through it has a 3D look that is a bit distracting honestly. The steering wheel is worse- it has buttons for cruise control, audio, bluetooth and two 5-way button pads- one for the LCD on the gauge cluster and one for the HAL9000 in the center stack. I also hate the turn signal stock- I've read about Ford doing this but this is the first time I've actually used one- the thing does not "click" into place, it simply has two positions in each direction- a slight push will do a short sequence of turn signals, like the lane change function on our trucks and a further push will lock it on till you turn but it always springs back to center and it doesn't seem to self-cancel as readily as a normal one would. This, like the stupid shifter in the Chrysler 300 is another example of automakers breaking something that worked fine before. I can see no benefit to this setup and it will only serve to baffle other people who are used to the way turn signals have worked for decades now. Other than that, I do really like the car though.