Posted 06 July 2011 - 11:19 PM
the car has all the features, and a fair amount of internal space, as well as the "history", which is probably why it's so popular
the A pillars are exactly in the wrong place - unless you sit up really close to the steering wheel (which only slides up and down, and not in and out) it is right smack in your view - going around some of the corners in these towns, you can't see what is coming at you
the chairs themselves are incredibly hard and unsupportive - they are more like bistro chairs, intended to let you sit for a few minutes and then be so uncomfortable as to make you want to get up and go for a walk
ours had a moon roof, but no mechanism - they literally just bonded in the sunroof - complete waste, though it might be so that you didn't feel so much that you were in a box
there is a button on the dash for "city" or "highway" but i'll be danged if i can tell the difference in performance
i have never driven a car where i had to spend so much time in 1st gear - forget about even trying to take the most modest of hills in town in second - won't happen
it does 0-60 in about a week - i thought i'd see how long it took to get to 100, but it was still accelerating at the time of writing this
i think if i set off the airbags, the rocket propulsion might help it pass the 3 wheeled delivery cart
seriously, i'm not sure it would do 100mph - at 100kph you feel like you're moving pretty well - the tach doesn't lend itself to making you think the car would go very fast - the shift lights on it are annoying - redline is below 6k and the shift lights come on extremely early - if you shifted at those points you might get the best economy, but you won't get anywhere any time soon
the handling is not even something i would call handling - the roadholding is piss poor, but at least the cornering sucks
it is more like a balancing act between roll-over and twitchiness - the car jumps at every opportunity or wiggle in the road, has no idea where it's weight balance is, and i am pretty sure that is so confused by being so round all over that it thinks it is also round on the bottom
the transmission is smooth and quiet, and the clutch is decent - reverse requires an antiquated pull up on a tube
we had to drop the back seats to get our 2 22" rollies and 2 shoulder bags to fit in the car - the space is big enough for a day's groceries but that's about it
all in all it is pretty much a turd - that being said, i still like it more than the punto POS we had last year - at least it has a small turning radius and is easier to maneuver
the upside is that because of the fiasco 2 years ago, hertz sent me a $100 coupon - the rate i had negotiated on the car was already ridiculously low, and then after the coupon, was danged near free
so, i just drive it and laugh my butt off, knowing that while the roads between towns might be more fun in a lotus, there is no way to drive one in town, and this is probably the best thing we could have gotten
later today i'll post some pics of the car and of perugia
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