Renting a 2008 Chevy Impala currently

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: Cheesehead

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
Yeah, not my first choice. Drove an Avalon in 2007 down WPB in Florida. Was a very nice car. Wallowed like a Hippo, but was well screwed together, nice leather, huge, bit bland on the inside again, very much like the Imp, but overall owned the Impala. 3.5 motor was very nice, plenty of punch when you needed it.

The Avalon had 50% more power - that might have helped a bit. It was also a lot more expensive - and, probably, a lot more reliable.

Yeah, I know. It had ~265hp AFAIK, and it felt like it in a straight line. Not a bad cruiser at all. It really ate up the miles as we were driving all over from Miami up to WPB to Orlando and everywhere between for two weeks.

It also sucked about 3.8 weeks from your life just sitting in it 😉

 

[JulesMaximus]

One thing I like about this car is how quiet it is inside. Not Lexus quiet but definitely better than my Maxima. And the trunk is much deeper. Back seat still doesn't compare in comfort or legroom and my Maxima drives much better.

Nothing about the driving position is comfortable or geared toward the driver. The driver seems like an after thought. Getting in the car, my foot hits the parking brake pedal every time (whatever happened to the handbrake?), the door sills are too high to comfortably rest your arm on and the seats are way too wide and provide zero lateral support.

This pig just won't respond when you press down the go pedal though despite having the exact same size engine and drive train layout as my car (which is 5 years older and responds much much better). You want to accelerate, so you press down further on the gas, and nothing happens, so you press down a little more, and nothing happens, so you press down a little more, and then it kicks down and starts to move forward. The transmission is complete rubbish, it never seems to know what to do when you accelerate.

One more thing, how does a fullsize sedan in the year 2008 not come equipped with ABS standard?

I hate this car.

Edit-Oh, and Kudos to Enterprise, the oil life indicator is at 0%...confirming the sticker on the top of the windshield that this car is overdue for an oil change. About 6000 miles overdue if that sticker is accurate.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
The brakes are decent but the steering wheel and the gas pedal are connected to mush, the seats suck ass and I cannot, for the life of me, find a comfortable seating position. Hard plastic abounds in the dash, the door panels, the console, and the steering wheel. There is plood aplenty and it isn't fooling anyone...it just looks like brown wood inspired plastic.

dashboard strokers ftw!

It's funny, the guy who picked me up from the body shop was driving one of their BMW 328 rental cars. It was equipped with cheap plastic steering wheel, fake leather seats and I wasn't overly impressed with the materials in that car either. I asked him what that sedan rented for and he said anywhere from $75-200 a day. I'm paying $28 for this car which is bigger...but that's about it. The BMW isn't anywhere near worth the price they're asking for it though...not by a long shot.

 

[BUTCH1]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
One thing I like about this car is how quiet it is inside. Not Lexus quiet but definitely better than my Maxima. And the trunk is much deeper. Back seat still doesn't compare in comfort or legroom and my Maxima drives much better.

Nothing about the driving position is comfortable or geared toward the driver. The driver seems like an after thought. Getting in the car, my foot hits the parking brake pedal every time (whatever happened to the handbrake?), the door sills are too high to comfortably rest your arm on and the seats are way too wide and provide zero lateral support.

This pig just won't respond when you press down the go pedal though despite having the exact same size engine and drive train layout as my car (which is 5 years older and responds much much better). You want to accelerate, so you press down further on the gas, and nothing happens, so you press down a little more, and nothing happens, so you press down a little more, and then it kicks down and starts to move forward. The transmission is complete rubbish, it never seems to know what to do when you accelerate.

One more thing, how does a fullsize sedan in the year 2008 not come equipped with ABS standard?

I hate this car.

Edit-Oh, and Kudos to Enterprise, the oil life indicator is at 0%...confirming the sticker on the top of the windshield that this car is overdue for an oil change. About 6000 miles overdue if that sticker is accurate.

The Impala uses a 3.5L push rod engine with a four speed auto. It generates 211 HP and probably outweighs your Maxima by a several hunderd pounds. The Maxima uses a DOHC 3.5L with 4 valves per cylinder good for 265 HP, I don't know what kind of tranny you have but these engines are the same displacement and that's where the similarity ends. For a better comparison a Malibu V6 also is also DOHC and 3.6L, this generates 260ish HP and might be closer to what your used to. I agree with the ABS thing, any car but the cheapest should have this as standard IMO..

 

[Q]

Yeah they are ugly

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Edit-Oh, and Kudos to Enterprise, the oil life indicator is at 0%...confirming the sticker on the top of the windshield that this car is overdue for an oil change. About 6000 miles overdue if that sticker is accurate.

Agreed. Enterprise is crap. I have rented from them in desperation a couple of times and their cars are always stripped down (Hertz typically rents Impalas with leather and a sunroof, which is at least nice to have) and poorly maintained. Not to mention the fact that the Enterprise offices are almost always run-down boxes that look like a trailer without wheels. I think I'd rather do the Top Gear $1,000 used car challenge than rent from Enterprise.

ZV

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: BUTCH1

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
One thing I like about this car is how quiet it is inside. Not Lexus quiet but definitely better than my Maxima. And the trunk is much deeper. Back seat still doesn't compare in comfort or legroom and my Maxima drives much better.

Nothing about the driving position is comfortable or geared toward the driver. The driver seems like an after thought. Getting in the car, my foot hits the parking brake pedal every time (whatever happened to the handbrake?), the door sills are too high to comfortably rest your arm on and the seats are way too wide and provide zero lateral support.

This pig just won't respond when you press down the go pedal though despite having the exact same size engine and drive train layout as my car (which is 5 years older and responds much much better). You want to accelerate, so you press down further on the gas, and nothing happens, so you press down a little more, and nothing happens, so you press down a little more, and then it kicks down and starts to move forward. The transmission is complete rubbish, it never seems to know what to do when you accelerate.

One more thing, how does a fullsize sedan in the year 2008 not come equipped with ABS standard?

I hate this car.

Edit-Oh, and Kudos to Enterprise, the oil life indicator is at 0%...confirming the sticker on the top of the windshield that this car is overdue for an oil change. About 6000 miles overdue if that sticker is accurate.

The Impala uses a 3.5L push rod engine with a four speed auto. It generates 211 HP and probably outweighs your Maxima by a several hunderd pounds. The Maxima uses a DOHC 3.5L with 4 valves per cylinder good for 265 HP, I don't know what kind of tranny you have but these engines are the same displacement and that's where the similarity ends. For a better comparison a Malibu V6 also is also DOHC and 3.6L, this generates 260ish HP and might be closer to what your used to. I agree with the ABS thing, any car but the cheapest should have this as standard IMO..

Wow...a push rod engine? No wonder this thing is such a pig.

The transmission in my car is a 4 speed auto. It is a fairly light weight car though for a 4 door sedan.

 

[PricklyPete]

Impala's really aren't competitive. In today's market...the only benefits are size, cheapness, reliability, and relatively good gas mileage for the size...so it pretty much is perfect for rental market..and crappy in any other market.

That's way so many people feel that a slightly refreshed G8 would be the perfect replacement for the Impala on the retail market.

 

[Knavish]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Wow...a push rod engine? No wonder this thing is such a pig.

The transmission in my car is a 4 speed auto. It is a fairly light weight car though for a 4 door sedan.

Complain about the impala all you want, but please don't start moaning about push rod engines again. Doesn't the latest Corvette ZR1 also have a pushrod engine and do quite well for itself?

----

According to Wikipedia, the 3.5L is a 60 degree V6 which replaced the old chevy 2.8 / 3.1 / 3.4 liter 60 degree V6s that were mainly used back in the 80s & 90s. Those engines were all pushrod based except for one DOHC version of the 3.4. They were always pretty low end V6s -- just intended for use in non sporting mid sized sedans. Even the DOHC 3.4 was a step down from the old 3.8L 90-degree pushrod V6.

 

[zoiks]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Edit-Oh, and Kudos to Enterprise, the oil life indicator is at 0%...confirming the sticker on the top of the windshield that this car is overdue for an oil change. About 6000 miles overdue if that sticker is accurate.

Agreed. Enterprise is crap. I have rented from them in desperation a couple of times and their cars are always stripped down (Hertz typically rents Impalas with leather and a sunroof, which is at least nice to have) and poorly maintained. Not to mention the fact that the Enterprise offices are almost always run-down boxes that look like a trailer without wheels. I think I'd rather do the Top Gear $1,000 used car challenge than rent from Enterprise.

ZV

I rented from Enterprise at least 3 times this year and each time they gave me stripped down cars. Not only that, the cars weren't clean at all and in each case and 2 out of the 3 cars that I rented were old at over 30k miles. One Jetta that I got as a rental from Enterprise had a problem with the transmission. On the highway, the car lost all power for a few minutes and the check engine light came on (it soon went away after a while). I returned the car to Enterprise and told them about it. While I was in the office getting a substitute car, I glanced through the window and saw them give the same car that I had returned to another customer.
One other thing that I noted is that they never seem to have enough cars for customers. As soon as one car is returned by a customer, it's recycled immediately and given to someone else (frequently without cleaning).

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: zoiks

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Edit-Oh, and Kudos to Enterprise, the oil life indicator is at 0%...confirming the sticker on the top of the windshield that this car is overdue for an oil change. About 6000 miles overdue if that sticker is accurate.

Agreed. Enterprise is crap. I have rented from them in desperation a couple of times and their cars are always stripped down (Hertz typically rents Impalas with leather and a sunroof, which is at least nice to have) and poorly maintained. Not to mention the fact that the Enterprise offices are almost always run-down boxes that look like a trailer without wheels. I think I'd rather do the Top Gear $1,000 used car challenge than rent from Enterprise.

ZV

I rented from Enterprise at least 3 times this year and each time they gave me stripped down cars. Not only that, the cars weren't clean at all and in each case and 2 out of the 3 cars that I rented were old at over 30k miles. One Jetta that I got as a rental from Enterprise had a problem with the transmission. On the highway, the car lost all power for a few minutes and the check engine light came on (it soon went away after a while). I returned the car to Enterprise and told them about it. While I was in the office getting a substitute car, I glanced through the window and saw them give the same car that I had returned to another customer.
One other thing that I noted is that they never seem to have enough cars for customers. As soon as one car is returned by a customer, it's recycled immediately and given to someone else (frequently without cleaning).

This is certainly true of the Enterprise I rented from on Monday. The car had just been returned by a guy who drove it to Arizona and back. They vacuumed it and washed it and gave it straight to me. I wonder if they even checked the oil.

They had maybe 6 cars on the lot, 3 of which were stripped down BMW 3 series. I wonder what kind of fleet deals they get on those cars. I'd bet they buy the same model BMW uses for their fleet loaner cars and then charge $75-200/day for them.

 

[AMCRambler]

I thought the Malibu was their "fleet vehicle".

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: AMCRambler
I thought the Malibu was their "fleet vehicle".

Pretty much all of their vehicles are fleet vehicles.

 

[BUTCH1]

Originally posted by: Knavish

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Wow...a push rod engine? No wonder this thing is such a pig.

The transmission in my car is a 4 speed auto. It is a fairly light weight car though for a 4 door sedan.

Complain about the impala all you want, but please don't start moaning about push rod engines again. Doesn't the latest Corvette ZR1 also have a pushrod engine and do quite well for itself?

----

According to Wikipedia, the 3.5L is a 60 degree V6 which replaced the old chevy 2.8 / 3.1 / 3.4 liter 60 degree V6s that were mainly used back in the 80s & 90s. Those engines were all pushrod based except for one DOHC version of the 3.4. They were always pretty low end V6s -- just intended for use in non sporting mid sized sedans. Even the DOHC 3.4 was a step down from the old 3.8L 90-degree pushrod V6.

I have the 3.5 in my '05 Malibu and it's fine by me. While slower, (7.6 0-60 vs 6.5) than newer V6's (Accord, Altmia, 08-09 Malibu) it makes up for it in fuel savings, I get 22/26/31 with this car. I can imagine that in the Impala it's probably a tad slower as it's a bigger car.

 

[MovingTarget]

Originally posted by: RU482
I always say, GM should stick to what they do best...making good used cars

/owns an Impala
//Try something with at least an LT3 package (not the rental LS crap)
///meh

/fiancée owns the LTZ model. Big difference in power between that and the LS versions. Still a damn nice car.