US Car Hire - interesting options

US Car Hire - interesting options

Author
Discussion

Sammo123

2,105 posts

181 months

Thursday 7th March
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Snow and Rocks said:
That would do!

How did you go about booking it? Just full size pickup online? Did you get to pick that specific model or just luck of the draw?
I think I booked it through Kayak and then went to the local hire branch which was in a shopping mall to collect it.

I got there for when they opened only to be told a truck was being brought over from another branch and that it wouldn’t be there for a couple of hours. I felt sorry for the poor woman behind the desk. She had absolutely nothing left to even give me another option so we just sat and waited.

s p a c e m a n

10,779 posts

148 months

Tuesday 9th April
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This thing has been awesome over the past week and I haven't had the slightest issue in parking or driving it around. It's comparable to our discovery back home in size due to the larger sized parking spaces and junctions over here, it hasn't been tight anywhere but you can't just blindly drive it about in car parks without thinking ahead.

It came with parking sensors all around, a reversing camera, radar cruise control and lane assist so it's an absolute doddle on the main roads, has a massive Bose sound system and the Aircon blows down from the roof and through the seats, basically it's worth every penny and I wouldn't be driving anything else over here now.

gtb4

160 posts

194 months

Tuesday 9th April
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Or for a more memorable experience go to www.turo.com and rent a Cybertruck. There’s loads to choose from but here is one …

https://turo.com/us/en/truck-rental/united-states/...

You’ll need to make sure you’ve got the insurance covered btw. And maybe a second mortgage.

Snow and Rocks

Original Poster:

1,891 posts

27 months

Tuesday 9th April
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s p a c e m a n said:


This thing has been awesome over the past week and I haven't had the slightest issue in parking or driving it around. It's comparable to our discovery back home in size due to the larger sized parking spaces and junctions over here, it hasn't been tight anywhere but you can't just blindly drive it about in car parks without thinking ahead.

It came with parking sensors all around, a reversing camera, radar cruise control and lane assist so it's an absolute doddle on the main roads, has a massive Bose sound system and the Aircon blows down from the roof and through the seats, basically it's worth every penny and I wouldn't be driving anything else over here now.
That looks ideal, thanks for the update. Who was that from and what category did you book?

As for the Cybertruck - think I'll give that a miss. Why would I want an EV to go on road trip tour in a country where the distances are huge and the fuel cheap? Our Model Y gives also gives me more than enough Tesla in my life!

s p a c e m a n

10,779 posts

148 months

Tuesday 9th April
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It's a full size SUV from budget. I booked it through.... https://www.autoeurope.co.uk/

They tried giving me a ford expedition at Miami airport as they said they didn't have any Tahoe's in stock, then said I could upgrade to an escalade for £25 a day. When I said no they magically found that they had a Tahoe sitting downstairs hehe

Oh and I think that its something like a 6 litre V8, is rear wheel drive and will light the tyres up if you floor it from traffic lights


Edited by s p a c e m a n on Tuesday 9th April 12:50

s p a c e m a n

10,779 posts

148 months

Tuesday 9th April
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Loading it up for the next stop this morning so a couple of photos. It's 7 seats, the rear flip up and down electronically and the tailgates electric. We get 2 full sized suitcases head to tail in the boot with last row of seats flipped down making it a 4 seater. This is a Tahoe, I think it's the suburban that has a longer boot but you could probably live inside that. The back half of the car is tinted so you can't see anything unless you go looking. It has android and apple car play, auto headlights and wipers. The drivers seat goes up and down and the steering column is electric adjustable in all directions, my wife can drive it with her little dinosaur arms.








ashleyman

6,987 posts

99 months

Tuesday 9th April
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When I was in LA last we rented a Luxury Elite SUV through Enterprise which is Range Rover Sport, BMW X7, Maserati Levante or similar. When we got to the pick up location we had the choice between an Audi Q5, Maserati Levante or a Defender 130.

Personally the Q5 I wouldn't say is on the smaller side vs a proper Range Rover and shouldn't have been offered but we ended up taking the Defender.

djc206

12,353 posts

125 months

Tuesday 9th April
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s p a c e m a n said:
It's a full size SUV from budget. I booked it through.... https://www.autoeurope.co.uk/

They tried giving me a ford expedition at Miami airport as they said they didn't have any Tahoe's in stock, then said I could upgrade to an escalade for £25 a day. When I said no they magically found that they had a Tahoe sitting downstairs hehe

Oh and I think that its something like a 6 litre V8, is rear wheel drive and will light the tyres up if you floor it from traffic lights


Edited by s p a c e m a n on Tuesday 9th April 12:50
Standard Tahoe is a 5.3L V8, some come with a 6.2L, I had one of the latter a couple of years ago. If you lift off the throttle and it properly burbles it’s probably the latter. Does it have “premier” on the back?

Nowt wrong with an Expedition, great car and broadly the same as a Tahoe.

Truckosaurus

11,305 posts

284 months

Tuesday 9th April
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djc206 said:
Nowt wrong with an Expedition, great car and broadly the same as a Tahoe.
Indeed. I've driven both and preferred the Ford. The twin turbo V6 is a very good engine. The base V8 in the Tahoe seemed very un-V8-like and ran in fuel saving 4 cylinder mode most of the time.

Crook

6,774 posts

224 months

Tuesday 9th April
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djc206 said:
s p a c e m a n said:
It's a full size SUV from budget. I booked it through.... https://www.autoeurope.co.uk/

They tried giving me a ford expedition at Miami airport as they said they didn't have any Tahoe's in stock, then said I could upgrade to an escalade for £25 a day. When I said no they magically found that they had a Tahoe sitting downstairs hehe

Oh and I think that its something like a 6 litre V8, is rear wheel drive and will light the tyres up if you floor it from traffic lights


Edited by s p a c e m a n on Tuesday 9th April 12:50
Standard Tahoe is a 5.3L V8, some come with a 6.2L, I had one of the latter a couple of years ago. If you lift off the throttle and it properly burbles it’s probably the latter. Does it have “premier” on the back?

Nowt wrong with an Expedition, great car and broadly the same as a Tahoe.
We had an Expedition last autumn to drive across Alaska then switched to a Nissan Armada when we got to LA.
Ford was the better drive, the Nissan hated anything other than a straight flat road. Ford was a turbo V6 v V8 in the Nissan and there was nothing in it performance wise but the Nissan was definitely more fun for pulling onto the freeway with a more amusing soundtrack.

The Nissan was a random upgrade through Hertz Gold club (free to join and you get a discounted rate) but if you book through Amex travel on their website with your Amex card you'll get an even better discount but possibly not the Gold club upgrade possibility.

Booking something stupid is part of the US holiday experience.

djc206

12,353 posts

125 months

Tuesday 9th April
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Truckosaurus said:
djc206 said:
Nowt wrong with an Expedition, great car and broadly the same as a Tahoe.
Indeed. I've driven both and preferred the Ford. The twin turbo V6 is a very good engine. The base V8 in the Tahoe seemed very un-V8-like and ran in fuel saving 4 cylinder mode most of the time.
I drove an expedition max ~3300 miles coast to coast in January, it served me very well. There’s little in it with the Chevy for me, I wouldn’t be disappointed receiving either of them. If a 6.2 Tahoe/Yukon was on offer though I’d take that just because proper V8.

s p a c e m a n

10,779 posts

148 months

Tuesday 9th April
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Yeah this thing says premier on the back, it's normally saying anywhere between 16 and 21 mpg and $60 to fill up from 1/8 of a tank. We've had it a week so far started in Miami, drove to Sarasota and did another 100ish miles a day for 4 days. Drove to Bradenton and stayed there 2 days, drove up to Daytona and then down to cape Canaveral and have been driving around for a couple of days and I think that I've filled the thing up 4 times.

djc206

12,353 posts

125 months

Tuesday 9th April
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s p a c e m a n said:
Yeah this thing says premier on the back, it's normally saying anywhere between 16 and 21 mpg and $60 to fill up from 1/8 of a tank. We've had it a week so far started in Miami, drove to Sarasota and did another 100ish miles a day for 4 days. Drove to Bradenton and stayed there 2 days, drove up to Daytona and then down to cape Canaveral and have been driving around for a couple of days and I think that I've filled the thing up 4 times.
It’s identical to the one I rented from Boston in 2022 then! Mine was wearing New York plates which made it that much more obnoxious in Maine. Also a good chance it’s the 6.2 like you thought.

Fleckers

2,861 posts

201 months

Tuesday 9th April
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i had an upgrade in February of a midsize SUV to a Chevy Suburban Z71 at St Louis airport in Missouri and delivered it to Dallas Texas via Route 66, Kanas, Oklahoma and big part of Dallas

it was massive and just me driving it through ice and snow storms, super comfortable

75Black

773 posts

82 months

Tuesday 9th April
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My last 2 trips to Tampa I rented a convertible ecoboost Mustang which I loved...however this past Christmas I purchased my own Mustang, and will be going out to Tampa again in September this time with my dad, and I'm looking at the standard pick up truck option with Alamo which states it's a Ford F-150 (or similar). Never driven a large US pick up and when in Rome....

Are they hard to get used to/drive, or will it be ok for a first timer on those wide open roads?

djc206

12,353 posts

125 months

Tuesday 9th April
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75Black said:
My last 2 trips to Tampa I rented a convertible ecoboost Mustang which I loved...however this past Christmas I purchased my own Mustang, and will be going out to Tampa again in September this time with my dad, and I'm looking at the standard pick up truck option with Alamo which states it's a Ford F-150 (or similar). Never driven a large US pick up and when in Rome....

Are they hard to get used to/drive, or will it be ok for a first timer on those wide open roads?
Piece of piss, they’re just an SUV with a patio. If you’re concerned some of them do a smaller pickup such as a Tacoma/Ranger/Colorado

75Black

773 posts

82 months

Tuesday 9th April
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djc206 said:
75Black said:
My last 2 trips to Tampa I rented a convertible ecoboost Mustang which I loved...however this past Christmas I purchased my own Mustang, and will be going out to Tampa again in September this time with my dad, and I'm looking at the standard pick up truck option with Alamo which states it's a Ford F-150 (or similar). Never driven a large US pick up and when in Rome....

Are they hard to get used to/drive, or will it be ok for a first timer on those wide open roads?
Piece of piss, they’re just an SUV with a patio. If you’re concerned some of them do a smaller pickup such as a Tacoma/Ranger/Colorado
Fair enough, shouldn't be an issue. Definitely looking to swanning around for 5 days in an F150.

djc206

12,353 posts

125 months

Tuesday 9th April
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75Black said:
djc206 said:
75Black said:
My last 2 trips to Tampa I rented a convertible ecoboost Mustang which I loved...however this past Christmas I purchased my own Mustang, and will be going out to Tampa again in September this time with my dad, and I'm looking at the standard pick up truck option with Alamo which states it's a Ford F-150 (or similar). Never driven a large US pick up and when in Rome....

Are they hard to get used to/drive, or will it be ok for a first timer on those wide open roads?
Piece of piss, they’re just an SUV with a patio. If you’re concerned some of them do a smaller pickup such as a Tacoma/Ranger/Colorado
Fair enough, shouldn't be an issue. Definitely looking to swanning around for 5 days in an F150.
Nah sure it won’t be, yeah they’re great vehicles, extremely comfortable.

Forester1965

1,482 posts

3 months

Tuesday 9th April
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Last time I was in the States I'd arranged a Shelby Mustang. When I arrived at the hire place, the previous hiree had killed the Mustang's clutch, so they gave me a new Z06 Corvette for the same price. Bonus.