orci

Hi,

I'm Scandinavian, and not very familiar with the US car models.

I've booked a Dodge Charger or similar from the Dollar Thrifty group at EWR for 12 days this August.

What do I do if they don't have the Charger available and offer me another car? Which car should i pick?

So far I only know I should avoid the Taurus at all cost.

jackal

Different locations have different models, but our lineup is the Dodge Charger, Chevy Impala, Pontiac Grand Prix, and Ford Taurus (except I think we've sold all of our Tauruses--they're not that bad, only slightly bad...). Impalas are nice--nicer than the Chargers, I think, and with a more powerful engine, too. The Grand Prix is cool (sporty) but not quite as comfortable or large as the Charger or Impala.

One Budget location I dealt with recently considered the PT Cruiser a fullsize car. AFAIK, no Dollar location would in their right mind consider that anything close to a fullsize, but YMMV...

orci

Good advice. Thnx

It's only wifey and me so if I don't get the Charger I think I'll check out the Pontiac if they have it

leland

Trust me, you don't know want the charger. It's massive and slow. That said, hopefully they won't stick you in a minivan.

gnargel

[QUOTE=leland;8103882]Trust me, you don't know want the charger. It's massive and slow./QUOTE]

Just returned from the US, rented a charger in LAX. I really wanted the charger and got it. They had about 8 full size on the parking lot. I could just have a look at all the cars and pick the one I preferred and drive away with. Not sure whether they use the same system in EWR.

I really liked the charger. It is massive, but not at all slow. Normally when I rent a car in the US, after pressing the gas pedal you just hear a roaring sound but you don't really accelarate. The charger creates a roaring sound too, but it does actually does accelarate really fast. The fuel economy is horrible though.

The other options I had were a crown victoria and an ugly Japanes car, think it was a Toyota.

To my surprise the car I rented had satellite radio (sirius), Dollar didn't tell me this, my girlfriend found it by accident.

Go for the Charger, it's a lot of fun to drive and looks like a true american car!

Oh, become a dollar express member (for free), you can skip the lines and they can get really long.

ColoBill1

Someone correct me if I am mistaken, but seem to recall the Thrifty location at OMA rents their PT Cruisers as "compact" cars. Another location where I rented (SEA?) has them as a "midsize". You would think the same company should certainly standardize type cars within a class, no? I really don't care that they may be franchise locations. No excuse to vary and surprise/confuse a customer.

jackal

Actually, with most Dollar and Thrifty locations, the PT cruiser is a "specialty vehicle"--it's in its own class. (At least it is at ours and at the others I've been to.)

It's based on the Neon platform but is very versatile for that size (I've seen people do wonders with cramming luggage in the back of it), and so it's been known to substitute for and/or "be a free upgrade from" both compacts and (more rarely) midsizes. But I'd never consider it anything close to a fullsize.

orci

Hey guys..

Just came back from the US.

I arrived kinda late in the day, so they didn't have a Charger. So I got the Chrysler 300T. 3 days earlier I had an Yaris in Iceland, so this was quite the upgrade.

There was no line when i got to the rental place, and i got the car within 10-15 minutes i guess.. The woman at the counter was slooow.

The car had a few dents and bruises so i did a thorough check of it before leaving the premises. I also rented a garmin unit to help me with directions.

All in all i had a good experience renting from Dollar EWR and would recommend it.

Oh, when I came back to EWR there were 4 other cars being returned at the same time as mine.. they were all 300's. So it seems they have a lot of 300's at EWR.

jackal

I'm always curious what Europeans think about big, heavy, powerful American cars. The 300 is probably the epitome of that. What were your opinions (disregarding the crazy drivers in the NY/NJ area)?

Glad you got a good car! Hope you had fun.

orci

Spaaarta!

The 300T was comfortable and there was little noise inside the car even when we did 80mph on the concreteslabbed-interstate. I had no complaints from the wife and we were both quite relaxed

However being a BIG American car it probably weighs twice as much as my European car it takes some time getting used to the sluggish handling, and it feels like it takes forever to stop.. like time stands still when you put your foot down.. I got used to it though. I had some problems with one of the tires over inflating itself to about 50kpa so I had to stop and let out some air a few times. Oh yeah.. and the brakes a rubbish, they get hot really fast. We went driving in hilly PA.. yikes.. i could really feel the vibrations. Is there a way to put it in "low gear"? I missed my manual transmission.

jackal

The 300s have a couple of different styles of gearshifts depending on the trim line/engine size, but you should have been able to either move the lever to one or two positions below the "D" mark (on Chrysler cars, commonly "3" and "L" or "1") to downshift or, if the car had AutoStick technology, paddle the shifter to the left to force a downshift.

The 300 is big and heavy even for an American car, so of course not all American cars are quite that extreme. But nothing quite compares to the silky ride of the 300 going over bumps and holes in the road...

YVR Cockroach

Isn't the 300 (and its Charger, Challenger and Magnum stablemates) based on an old mid-sized Mercedes-Benz chassis? I thought it was based on the (300)E that came out in the mid 80s. Yeah, it is big and heavy but a blast to drive on highways.

jackal

The Charger, etc. are based on the Chrysler LX platform, which is a Mercedes-based platform but is (AFAIK) a new development.

Read more at the Wikipedia article on the platform.