Status: PP
Location: EWR
Booked: intermediate
Offered: Buick... Encarta? Escritoire? Emporium? E-something SUV with 60,000mi
Received: new Volvo XC60, ~1,000mi

Seems this location got a bunch of new Volvos because they were pretty numerous. Nice upgrade! Terrible touchscreen controls for the HVAC, little engine is farty-sounding but there's an electric assist so it moves pretty well. Don't think it's sold as any kind of hybrid and there's no situation where I was driving on volts. Terrific seats as expected from Volvo. Weirdly-sized touchscreen makes CarPlay look odd; it's almost a square. The audio crapped out tonight: no radio, CarPlay, no blinker-click or seatbelt nag. Turns out the fix is to force a reset of the whole system.

National is our other rental car vendor but they are usually more expensive than Avis, sometimes around 50% more. But they were competitive for a same-day rental. I picked out a new Mazda CX-50 and while it drives really nicely and has decent (not great) power, within an hour my butt was going "OW OW OW" and I had another 90min to go. This was the worst car seat I've ever experienced. Just an FYI.