DurocShark
Lifer
My 8 days in California last week came with a PT Cruiser from Hertz. (Mini rant: They call the PT and even Toyota Corollas midsize. WTF? Those were my choices. Bleh.)
First thing I noticed is how uncomfortable the seats are. The stock seats both in my 84 Volvo and my 78 Bus are way more comfortable. Second thing I notice is the cool retro clock high in the center dash. I liked that. The instrumentation looks cool too. This car is soooo all about appearances...
I open the power sunroof and check it out. The plastic (!) wind deflector is held up by two tiny spring metal strips. They're about 1 1/2" long and 1/2" wide. That's it. Boy, those'll last. The interior is all crappy plastic. Horrid. Plastic hubcaps too. I didn't realize anybody used steel wheels anymore. 😉 I liked how the seats mount. I mean, the frames are just bolted to the beautifully flat floor. Easy swap. 🙂
Pulling out of John Wayne's underground garage where I picked the car up, I chirped the tires with just an inch of pedal travel. Oohhh... I was thinking this was gonna be fun. Pull out onto the street and floor it to see what it's got. A great big long pause and.... nothing. Oh, sure, it made lots of noise, but didn't go anywhere. I got no more accelleration out of WOT than 2" of pedal. And that pause is HORRIBLE. WTF? Cruising on the freeway, punch it to pass someone and it pauses for a looooong time before going. Just nasty and dangerous too... What if I was trying to avoid an accident?
Signifigant torque steer to the right when taking off from a dead stop, even when going easy.
Mileage was miserable for a car this size. It has a little mileage display and the best I could get, taking it easy on the freeway, was 19mpg. Dropped to 17 around town. My 78 VW Bus gets 20+ for goodness sakes.
The car never really got comfortable. I was VERY happy to turn it back in on Saturday. Overall a huge disappointment. I was really looking forward to trying it. Ahh, well. At least I'm driving my bus again today! Ahhh... heaven....
First thing I noticed is how uncomfortable the seats are. The stock seats both in my 84 Volvo and my 78 Bus are way more comfortable. Second thing I notice is the cool retro clock high in the center dash. I liked that. The instrumentation looks cool too. This car is soooo all about appearances...
I open the power sunroof and check it out. The plastic (!) wind deflector is held up by two tiny spring metal strips. They're about 1 1/2" long and 1/2" wide. That's it. Boy, those'll last. The interior is all crappy plastic. Horrid. Plastic hubcaps too. I didn't realize anybody used steel wheels anymore. 😉 I liked how the seats mount. I mean, the frames are just bolted to the beautifully flat floor. Easy swap. 🙂
Pulling out of John Wayne's underground garage where I picked the car up, I chirped the tires with just an inch of pedal travel. Oohhh... I was thinking this was gonna be fun. Pull out onto the street and floor it to see what it's got. A great big long pause and.... nothing. Oh, sure, it made lots of noise, but didn't go anywhere. I got no more accelleration out of WOT than 2" of pedal. And that pause is HORRIBLE. WTF? Cruising on the freeway, punch it to pass someone and it pauses for a looooong time before going. Just nasty and dangerous too... What if I was trying to avoid an accident?
Signifigant torque steer to the right when taking off from a dead stop, even when going easy.
Mileage was miserable for a car this size. It has a little mileage display and the best I could get, taking it easy on the freeway, was 19mpg. Dropped to 17 around town. My 78 VW Bus gets 20+ for goodness sakes.
The car never really got comfortable. I was VERY happy to turn it back in on Saturday. Overall a huge disappointment. I was really looking forward to trying it. Ahh, well. At least I'm driving my bus again today! Ahhh... heaven....
