drzoidberg

Please note that this thead is a continuation of a prior thread - which may be found at http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/natio...-cars-dca.html


Typical Day at DCA's National EA/ES:

To the left of the picture, in front of the stop sign, is the Emerald Aisle. To the foreground right is the Executive Selection. Up ahead is the National mini-office, and behind the mini-office are the Luxury and Premium cars. Behind the photographer are the Minivans/SUVs.




Now that I gave away my car, I'll be renting more often from National! Expect more DCA updates in the future.

ES was really well-stocked for 2:30pm on a Friday.

EA

- A few PT Cruisers/HHRs
- 1 x Chevy Malibu
- 1 x Chrysler Sebring
- 1 x Jeep Patriot
- 1 x Toyota Camry

ES:

- 1 x Chrysler 300
- 1 x Ford Fusion
- 1 x Hyundai Santa Fe
- 1 x Chevy Equinox
- 1 x Kia Sorento
- 1 x Buick Lucerne Super (they still make Buick Lucernes?!)
- Usual mix of Chargers/Impalas

Premium:

- Several Taurus Limiteds
- Chrysler 300s
- lone Grand Marquis that nobody wants, haha
- 1 x Caddy STS (might be Luxury?)

I was eyeing some 2011 Grand Cherokees parked in the Alamo aisle, when I lo and behold, a 2011 Ford Edge drove up from the wash. Having driven the 2010 Edge, I absolutely LOVE the 2011. Got a 2011 Edge Limited with AWD, rearview backup camera, Sirius, Sony sound system (pretty awesome stereo). I'm pretty tech savvy, but had trouble learning the Ford touchscreen system, might have to read the manual.

Expect a 2011 Edge review soon!

drzoidberg

Saturday at 8pm, pretty full selection. Was going to take a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee from the Alamo side (they also had a Ford Escape and Chevy Equinox since the ES on National was pretty devoid of SUVs), but decided to just go with the Escape.


EA

- A few PT Cruisers/HHRs
- 1 x Chrysler Sebring
- 1 x Jeep Wrangler with oversized tires, lol
- 1 x Toyota Camry
- 1 x Chevy Impala

ES:


- 1 x Chrysler 300 Touring
- 1 x Chevy Traverse
- 1 x Dodge Caravan
- 1 x Ford Fusion
- Usual mix of Chargers/Impalas
- 1 x Grand Marquis

Premium:

- Several Taurus Limiteds
- Lincoln MKZ
- 1 x Ford Flex
- 1 x Lincoln MKS (might be Luxury?)

drzoidberg

Sunday 3pm.

Selection was identical to Saturday night's (see above post), but EA also had a Dodge Nitro, and ES had a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Tuneman1984

Very nice updates drzoidberg. How come the old DCA thread was shut down?

drzoidberg

Just some housekeeping by peteropny; the previous DCA thread had ballooned to gynormous sizes.

peteropny

Exactly, I may also do the same to some other "larger" location threads in the future. This is especially helpful since very "old" reports can be totally irrelevant after a year or so. Not sure when (if) I'll ever get around to do this since it can be quite time consuming to do.

drzoidberg

I might have to take new pictures of the ES/EA for the DCA thread.

BTW, congrats on your 10,000th post above!

peteropny

Thanks!!! Although not sure if its something to be proud of or embarassed of

Tuneman1984

I echo my congratulations and all makes sense regarding the housekeeping. It is true that the aisle selections in November 2008 aren't much use today, but it is fun to see what could have been back then! Or at least I think it's fun...

drzoidberg

Saturday morning is a bad time to grab cars, 10am. Also, the bad difference between Saturday and Friday pickup is that the Alamo lot was full of returned cars, and not available for additional selection.

Was tempted to grab a 2011 Ford Fiesta hatchback (checked off as midsize), but upon sitting in the car, found that I could not adjust the left mirror far enough. Additionally, being 6'1" meant my driver's seat was all the way back and literally touching the rear passenger seat.

EA

1 x Chevy Malibu
1 x Ford Fusion SE (which I took)
1 x Ford Focus SES
Usual hodge podge of crap Chrysler products

ES

1 x Town Car
3 x Grand Marquis
- Usual mix of Impalas/Chargers
1 x GMC Terrain
1 x Buick Lucerne
1 x Ford Fiesta parked at the end

Premium

1 x Lincoln MKZ

NZinDC

Friday 5.30pm. Very bare selection.

EA

Only two cars - don't remember what but I think some mid-size sedans.

ES

1 x Dodge Charger
1 x Grand Marquis
A few Chevy Impalas
I think there may have been a Chrysler 300 down the end
1 x Toyota Camry came in as I pulled out

In a hurry and took the Charger - quite happy with these when they have v low miles.

drzoidberg

Monday morning, 10am. Surprisingly poor selection.

EA

1 x VW Beetle
1 x Kia Soul
- PT Cruisers/HHRs
- Chrysler Sebrings
- Some Toyota Corollas on the Alamo side

ES
- Camrys, Chargers, Impalas
- 1 x Grand Marquis
absolutely nothing of interest

3Cforme

A Ford Fiesta on ES? That's a bigger joke than a Kia Soul as Standard.

Auto Enthusiast

ERAC car classes tend to run small, at least one size down, since classification is more by purchase price than size. The Fiesta is relatively new, and Ford is trying to introduce Americans to this more European concept of what a subcompact car experience should be. Ford is therefore probably not clamoring to dump them on fleets just yet. If a rental company has one, it was probably a more expensive purchase, so they can't offer a "good deal."

drzoidberg

It was parked askance at the end of the ES, since it was marked as midsize, it was probably intended to be parked on the EA, but somehow got dumped on ES.