Originally Posted by
3Cforme
I'm going to challenge your logic. If you're covering enough miles to make the difference in fuel economy significant between Premium and Compact, you want nothing to do with a Compact. National's midsizers are bad enough: Nissan Sentras and Chrysler 200s being far too common.
A Sentra is a midsize?
The only compact cars I'd be willing to take on a long journey are the Ford Focus and the Mazda3. The Focus to me feels solid on the road like most small cars don't; it feels like a real car. I don't know how common they are at National though (I'm a recent convert from Avis...)
Personally I'd still take a Premium and burn the extra fuel, at least at US prices. Let's see; if you're doing 80mph at 25 mpg rather than 40 mpg you're spending roughly an extra $3.50 an hour for fuel. But you're feeling comfy, looking cool, and you're relaxed and comfortable knowing that you've got enough power underfoot to overtake and merge with no worries. Is that worth an extra $3.50 an hour? How could it not be?
My logic has always been that driving a powerful car makes you live longer. Not because of safety, just because of blood pressure. Anyway, I consider it a worthwhile investment.