Tuesday, November 27, 2007
I was very impressed with the Ford Focus I had in the South Island. It looked great, was fun to drive, good steering feel and weight. I didn't like the terrible throttle response, but maybe that's because I'm not used to driving automatics.
In the North Island we got a Toyota Corolla. I'm really not happy. I'm looking at this mostly from a performance point of view, which most drivers probably don't care about. Also, this car is the previous generation and has about 40k kilometers on it.
When I was at the rental desk and given keys to a Corolla, I requested a Focus. The lady told me she didn't have one, but I should be glad since the Corolla is "more comfortable." Uh oh. What she calls "more comfortable" I call "dead." The Corolla is one of the softest, most boring cars I've ever driven. It has no feeling/feedback in the steering or the pedals. Everything is numb.
I'm really glad I had a Focus on the South Island's twisty roads; the Corolla would be scary in the mountains. There's no way I would have been able to drive fast through the twisties, and the Corolla does not have enough power to pass. When I stomp on the pedal it takes at least 3 seconds before the car downshifts with a huge jerk.
Also: The turn signal and wiper blade stalks are reversed. Annoying! The radio controls are impossible to reach from either front seat without leaning way forward. The brake pedal is further right than in the Focus, which is where I would expect it.
In the US, rental car companies allow you to bring your car back with less gas than when you took it, but they charge you more than the market rate to fill it up.
New Zealand has a different scheme. You get the car full and at rental time you can opt in to return the car empty, paying *less* than the market rate for a tank of gas. The scheme here is if you bring the car back not completely empty, the rental car company wins.
I wonder how many people they sucker into taking them up on this offer. I bet the lower cost of gas convinces a lot of people that it's a good deal. But it's pretty much impossible to plan to return the car with a totally empty tank.
In the North Island we got a Toyota Corolla. I'm really not happy. I'm looking at this mostly from a performance point of view, which most drivers probably don't care about. Also, this car is the previous generation and has about 40k kilometers on it.
When I was at the rental desk and given keys to a Corolla, I requested a Focus. The lady told me she didn't have one, but I should be glad since the Corolla is "more comfortable." Uh oh. What she calls "more comfortable" I call "dead." The Corolla is one of the softest, most boring cars I've ever driven. It has no feeling/feedback in the steering or the pedals. Everything is numb.
I'm really glad I had a Focus on the South Island's twisty roads; the Corolla would be scary in the mountains. There's no way I would have been able to drive fast through the twisties, and the Corolla does not have enough power to pass. When I stomp on the pedal it takes at least 3 seconds before the car downshifts with a huge jerk.
Also: The turn signal and wiper blade stalks are reversed. Annoying! The radio controls are impossible to reach from either front seat without leaning way forward. The brake pedal is further right than in the Focus, which is where I would expect it.
In the US, rental car companies allow you to bring your car back with less gas than when you took it, but they charge you more than the market rate to fill it up.
New Zealand has a different scheme. You get the car full and at rental time you can opt in to return the car empty, paying *less* than the market rate for a tank of gas. The scheme here is if you bring the car back not completely empty, the rental car company wins.
I wonder how many people they sucker into taking them up on this offer. I bet the lower cost of gas convinces a lot of people that it's a good deal. But it's pretty much impossible to plan to return the car with a totally empty tank.