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Tips on Avoiding a Town Car?

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Old May 7, 2012 | 6:55 am
  #16  
 
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Just curious...is there anybody here who likes the Town Car?
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Old May 7, 2012 | 9:57 am
  #17  
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Originally Posted by razorbite
Just curious...is there anybody here who likes the Town Car?
I sure do.

When I have a driver, and I am sitting in the back.
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Old May 8, 2012 | 6:37 am
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Originally Posted by razorbite
Just curious...is there anybody here who likes the Town Car?
When I'm up visiting family, I'll gladly drive my mom's because we can fit 4 adults easily (5, if necessary) with 2 that have issues getting into SUVs. It also fits grandma's walker in the truck (with enough space to throw her if she gets too annoying, too ). When I'm renting, no thanks. I'm either with myself or 1 other most times and if we need something bigger, we have no issues stepping up into something big.
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Old May 8, 2012 | 1:53 pm
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Originally Posted by drzoidberg
On a related note, how come Avis is still employing large numbers of Mercury Grand Marquis and Ford Crown Vics as Premium vehicles?
Man they have a ton of these up at BDL. Out of 6 or so cars my team rents each week one of us is bound to get a Grand Marquis or Crown Vic. I was the lucky one this week. I can't believe they label this as an upgrade. Sure it may be big and fast but the interior is like taking a trip back in time. It's also a gas hog as compared to say a Nissan Altima

Originally Posted by WIRunner
I sure do.

When I have a driver, and I am sitting in the back.
^^
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Old May 8, 2012 | 10:32 pm
  #20  
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Best way to avoid it? Tell them no I am not driving that car, works every time
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Old May 9, 2012 | 2:45 pm
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Originally Posted by razorbite
Just curious...is there anybody here who likes the Town Car?
It has a large trunk so it is good for disposing of large objects, that is why the mobsters like(d) them.
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Old Jul 8, 2012 | 2:53 pm
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Being from the UK I love renting the Town Car.Most of the vehicles here are horrid front wheel drive rice burners so when I vacation in the States it's good to be able to rent a good old fashioned RWD seperate body and chassis car.I guess I'm mad....I own a 68 Camaro and a 2006 Grand Cherokee
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Old Jul 18, 2012 | 1:55 am
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And another vote for the Town Car/DTS.

There is no other sedan available at the big rental car companies that can match the passenger space, trunk size and ride comfort of a Lincoln Town Car.

A CTS is a luxury class car? Come on... trunksize is 13.6 cu ft according to the Cadillac website. When I just look at the pictures I already feel cramped. That's a Fullsize car in my book, maybe Premium.

I'm not too impressed with the Lincoln MKT either... it's not even a Sedan, looks more like a station wagon.

The only car arriving at the horizon that will probably match the Town Car/DTS is the Cadillac XTS. Not sure if we ever will see one of these at the rental station.

Last edited by Hammer; Jul 18, 2012 at 2:19 pm Reason: I meant the "Lincoln MKT", not "Lincoln MKS"
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Old Jul 18, 2012 | 4:54 am
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Originally Posted by Hammer
There is no other sedan available at the big rental car companies that can match the passenger space, trunk size and ride comfort of a Lincoln Town Car.
Agreed. But one can get an SUV that offers the same passenger/luggage space with a smooth ride. MKT immediately comes to mind. Even a loaded Explorer or Tahoe/Suburban/Yukon would fit that bill in my opinion. Sure, they're not sedans, but they handle like the Town Boat, err Car, and have plenty of space and amenities to match the outdated large sedans.


Originally Posted by Hammer
A CTS is a luxury class car? Come on... trunksize is 13.6 cu ft according to the Cadillac website. When I just look at the pictures I already feel cramped. That's a Fullsize car in my book, maybe Premium.
Fully agree with this! Since it has "premium features", I'd put it in the Premium Class, with the Taurus Limited. However, I would not say that it's full size, as it's definitely cramped.


Originally Posted by Hammer
The only car arriving at the horizon that will probably match the Town Car/DTS is the Cadillac XTS. Not sure if we ever will see one of these at the rental station.
Probably will see some at Avis. They have a history of getting newly released GMs. They can put a lot into service at once and gain street visibility to attract potential buyers to showrooms. However, with Avis going the way of non-"domestic" manufacturers for higher level cars (BMW, Infiniti, Hyundai, etc.), I don't think they will be as prevalent as the Town Car/DTS once were in rental fleets.
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Old Jul 18, 2012 | 2:35 pm
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Originally Posted by IAHtraveler
Agreed. But one can get an SUV that offers the same passenger/luggage space with a smooth ride. MKT immediately comes to mind. Even a loaded Explorer or Tahoe/Suburban/Yukon would fit that bill in my opinion. Sure, they're not sedans, but they handle like the Town Boat, err Car, and have plenty of space and amenities to match the outdated large sedans.
Actually, I dont like SUVs, mainly because of the open trunk area, I prefer a closed separate sedan trunk. Since you mentioned the Tahoe/Yukon... in the non-XL version (like Yukon XL or Surburban) the trunk of these SUVs is pretty small. You really need to get rid of the third row seats (and that's a bit complicated with a rental car - what do you do with the seats???) to get some decent trunk space.

And if they handle the same as the Town Car, then why not take a Town Car?



Originally Posted by IAHtraveler
Fully agree with this! Since it has "premium features", I'd put it in the Premium Class, with the Taurus Limited. However, I would not say that it's full size, as it's definitely cramped.
A CTS might be a nice Premium rental if you really get the Premium trim (and if you can live with the cramped passenger space and the tiny trunk). But if it's the base model, its not even a Premium. Not sure if all stations really make the difference... I've seen base-class CTS models sitting at rental stations, not sure if these are marked as PCAR/LCAR.



Originally Posted by IAHtraveler
Probably will see some at Avis. They have a history of getting newly released GMs. They can put a lot into service at once and gain street visibility to attract potential buyers to showrooms. However, with Avis going the way of non-"domestic" manufacturers for higher level cars (BMW, Infiniti, Hyundai, etc.), I don't think they will be as prevalent as the Town Car/DTS once were in rental fleets.
We'll see. Even a XTS is only interesting in Luxury or higher trim, the base model is probably not worth the money (that's another advantage of the Town Car - there is only one trim and that has everything a TC can have )
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Old Jul 26, 2012 | 11:01 am
  #26  
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Originally Posted by Hammer
The only car arriving at the horizon that will probably match the Town Car/DTS is the Cadillac XTS. Not sure if we ever will see one of these at the rental station.
The general manager for Avis in Tampa told me that GM is not selling Cadillacs to fleets anymore, so we won't be seeing the XTS any time soon.

Here's how we ended up at LAX.

I called the Avis counter two days prior to our arrival at a time of day when I knew they wouldn't be too busy. I asked if they could put aside an Infinity M37 for me and the agent told me that the M37 was not in the luxury car category, but rather in the cool car category. I checked online and M37 wasn't listed under any category. Later that day, I called and got another agent. After a very long hold (like 10-15 minutes), I hung up and called the 800 number. They told me the M37 IS in the luxury category. Made another call, this time they transferred me to the manager, who said, no problem he'll put aside an M37 for me. When we got to Avis, they had some Hyundai model and not an M37 for us! Uggh!.

The agent was very helpful though, and ran around, found us an M37 and brought it over. The delay was no more than 10 minutes and well worth it as we put 500 miles on the car in 7 days. It had sat radio and nav, so we didn't have to keep mounting our Garmin on the windshield.
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Old Jul 26, 2012 | 11:38 am
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