Rental Car, Not So Miserable...

I am writing this in response to my most recent blog about the "misery" or driving a rental car when on vacation. First of all, I must say that it was not as terrible as I had originally thought it was going to be; in fact, it was an eye-opening experience all together! The car I ended up getting was the Nissan Versa, a small four door that had a surprisingly peppy 4 cylinder. The car was white and anyone who has ever experienced the Floridian sun knows that any light color paint is your best bet. The car had a black cloth interior which didn't seem to bother me too much because at no point and time did I ever burn the back of my legs; leather will do that to you of course! The car had standard "steelies" which were covered by silver hubcaps which were, most certainly, nothing to write ho me about. The standard non-xenon headlamps did a nice job of illuminating the roadway for me the few times I drove in the dark and the in-dash display glowed of amber. The automatic drivers-side-window was also a nice touch!



There was nothing ergonomic or exciting about the center console although I will say that the 6-cd changer as well as auxiliary jack came as a surprise to me; neither were used. The center cup holders were blocked in by the gear shifter and the rear ones were too much of a pain to use. The car, in relation to its overall look, was actually more spacious on the inside than one would guess. We were able to fit four adult-sized individuals comfortably. As stated in my previous blog, performance is usually not relevant to any rental car you get and that proved true this past week. The Versa's little 4 cylinder did get us to where we needed to go but there was not "left-lane driving" on any of the excursions. I will note that, because of the small engine, it seemed as if it wasn't ever necessary to stop for gas! we managed to drive nearly 400 miles on a little over a tank (all of which were highway miles). Another nice feature about the Versa is that it took the lowest grade gasoline so filling it up didn't run my pockets dry.

Overall, the Versa worked out just fine and helped us reach all of our fun destinations, not in a hurry or comfortably, but it managed. I will say that for the starting price of the Versa being under $10,000 you get a decent car. The little 1.6lt. engine wont suck down the gas and the amount of space in the cabin doesn't make you feel like your riding in a compact. The base model also comes with six standard airbags and a tire pressure monitoring system (Nissan USA). Will I ever own one? Not if I can help it. Will I ever rent one again? Yes, because at the end of the week the Hertz bill didn't put that big of a dent in my already-empty pockets!