Here's our report. We (US citizens) spent 1 week starting Sept. 27 driving between Montreal and Quebec city. We had no bad experiences with anyone during the trip. We tried a bit of French but all Canadians did reach out to us with very good English. The prices in the restaurants seemed reasonable to very good. Gasoline a bit pricey. Avoided the big chain hotels and stayed at smaller ones which we really enjoyed. Fall colors were great at Maurecie, Frontinac and Mount Scotch Cap. So glad we did do the trip!

P.S. Would recommend avoiding Routes Car Rental. Many people unhappy for slow service, demanding insurance payments, and not documenting dents at pick up. We had our reservation cancelled for being 1 hour late (caused by their slow shuttle and long service line at pickup). At YUL, would recommend using a rental company that is in the airport vs. Routes which has shuttle to remote site.