It will be 90 minutes- 2 hours, depending on where in Tucson the hotel is, and what time of day you're traveling. Leave the airport in PHX between 4 & 6 PM, you'll have slow going the first 20-30 minutes; likewise, Tucson bulks up at rush hour and has no east-west superhighways.

Not much between Phoenix and Tucson but Picacho Peak, Casa Grande, and a couple of Dairy Queens. Look to your right (west) at Marana, and you'll see one of our airplane storage/junk/rehab yards: lots'o big planes parked next to one another, waiting for a banana republic to buy them.

There are off-airport rental agencies, but they can be a pain to get to. If you're only in for a day or two, it probably isn't worth it. More than that, it might be. Budget has a place not far off at either a Roadway Inn or Howard Johnsons, I think on 24th St. I recently spied a Hertz at 3rd Ave & Indian School, associated with the Mercedes Dealership there, maybe a 15 minute cab ride from the airport.

Let me know if can be of more help.

JP