US V8s – experiences and musings….
Discussion
Given there’s a fairly regular set of threads on the relative merits of American cars – either how good/bad or ‘what to hire’ and I’m just back from a trip driving a Camaro SS coupe, Camaro SS convertible and a Corvette convertible back-to-back over 3 weeks it seemed a good excuse for a thread with some observations. I also added in some comments on previous ‘decent’ rented cars in the US.
As it’s more a mini-review/comments on cars rather than a ‘my holiday’ report I’ve put it in GG, rather than the backwater of Holidays and Travel.
On business and whole-family trips to the US I just rent ‘regular’ cars to get around, but when just me and the wife travel on our annual break (since our ‘kids’ are in their 20s now) we choose something a bit more ‘special’. In terms of ‘regular’ rental cars though, I drive a hire car in the UK most weeks and apart from the obligatory auto-box in US rentals, I don’t see a whole lot of difference in drivability, handling or performance ‘like-for-like’ either side of the pond these days. The Americans still have a penchant for velour upholstery on the mid-range saloons, but in truth although there are the occasional gems or dogs, most are much of a muchness. But here’s some of the more fun stuff…
We had a Corvette convertible in Vegas this year. Still the daddy of US ‘sports’ V8s. Fastest by a long way, and best handling. A la TVR, Corvettes are fibreless/plastic panels over a separate chassis (although steel box sections I think, rather than tube). There’s so much TVR-like about the Corvette – most obviously big V8 power in a relatively light car, but little things like electric/press-button door locks. But unlike every other non-TVR convertible I’ve driven, this had no scuttle shake at all. Roof up or down the whole car is rock solid – and un-TVR-like, is devoid of squeaks, rattles, thumps…or indeed the smell of fibreglass. OK the dashboard and door panels are plastic, but none the worse for it really and this is rental spec rather than top spec trim. I’ve owned a Cerbera and currently have a Maserati – both of which are considered to have some of the best interiors around and so I really should lament the lack of leather, swoopy curves and piping, but in truth so long as it’s comfy and functional I’m happy enough with plastic.
This particular Corvette had 30K miles on it and given the traction control wasn’t locked-on I’m assuming it had seen more donuts than an American copper and had been ragged mercilessly. But apart from one little handling foible was tight and rock solid. The only problem was with the active handling switched off (‘competitive driving mode’ selected!) going very rapidly over dips and crests the car seemed to be diagonally out of kilter. I’m sure the geometry just needed re-set; after all it was just a rental hack. But rental hack or not – and even with the auto box – I’m reckoning it would destroy any out-of-the-box TVR on a track day. I love TVRs, but I am just blown away by Corvettes, and I’ve never driven a top-of-the-line Z06 (yet!).
It always seems such a shame to me that TVR were coming oh-so-close towards the end, and had they gone with the LS motor instead of the S6 and spent their energies on handling, styling, rawness etc then who knows where we’d be.
Anyway, back to the Vette. Like or loathe the plastic interior, it’s a comfy (and leather seated) place to be. Obviously it’s just a 2-seater, and there is a full-height bulkhead behind the seats on the convertible so no storage there. I wonder how it is for taller drivers though; I’m only around 5’9” and the seat was nearly as far back as it would go. The boot is a real good size for the car – flat bottomed and basically fully rectangular. Ours had a manual roof and I was real impressed with the folding mechanism. One single clip at the front and the front fold up. Nip out the car and the back now just lifts; a single button releases the hard tonneau under the back of the hood to allow the whole thing to drop into the front of the boot then drop the tonneau back down. A number of convertibles I’ve driven lose the ‘top half’ of the boot space with the folded hood. What I liked about the Corvette was that basically it’s just one long boot and the hood drops in to maybe the front third of it. Hood-up there is no restriction on boot space.
As per most US rentals the car had an auto box. This could be run in a sports/manual mode with paddle-shift. Unlike the Maserati Cambiocorsa (and other performance paddle-shifts) this is a conventional torque converter slush-box, but surprisingly quick to shift and hook-up in manual mode. Auto was fine toodling about, but with a decent amount of power on tap the kick-down was sometimes too harsh and pretty much always unnecessary.
What always impresses me about the Corvette is how it does everything so well. My wife always wanted an MX5, but had long since given-up bothering with manuals – she’s a great passenger but a very sedate driver. Anyway, I bought her an auto-MX5; I think it’s a hateful noisy underpowered thing but she likes it. She will drive the Maserati in auto but is a bit intimidated. She won’t even sit in the seat of the Tuscan with the motor running - terrified! Her comment on the Corvette was ‘this is a nice little car – I’d like one of these if it was right hand drive’ – so at one end of the spectrum it’s a real ‘harmless’ easy-to-drive car, especially around town (where the Cambiocorsa box in the Masser makes it a real chore). But open it up and it flies.
This is the second one we’ve hooned around the deserted desert roads in and the brakes are great, the handling is top-notch and the big V8 is just effortless. 1500RPM at 70mph in 6th, then revving to 6500 when called upon.
But we were at Vegas on the way back from Hawaii where we had a Camaro SS Convertible…
I had this immediately after handing the also-black Camaro SS Coupe in at LAX. Apart from the soft-top, everything as per the coupe…but with the scuttle shake from hell. Actually, not the worst ever – that prize goes to the Shelby Mustang we had a few years earlier – but serous movement between the front have and back half of the car. This is despite the doors also having ‘pins’ and brackets to accompany the door locks to try to stabilise things.
There aren’t too many places to go fast in Hawaii (and I got a speeding ticket for 45mph the last time I was there) so for performance, see the LA write-up on the Camaro coupe. I’ll just limit this to the differences in the convertible.
The coupe has real poor 3/4 visibility with a deep C-pillar, and all I can say is the convertible isn’t any worse. So anyone pulling out on a slip-road and struggling to see traffic behind in the convertible and cursing their choice shouldn’t – the coupe is no better.
The boot is the same size as the coupe (more comments against the coupe) but there’s an extendable pull-out cover that has to be in place before the hood can be dropped, and this limits the boot to sod-all deep with a little bit full height at the very back. Hood up and down is quick and easy – just a single manual clip/handle at the front and everything else is electric. Unlike the Corvette though there’s no hard tonneau cover – there’s a cloth cover that you’d need to clip on manually but a apart from just looking a bit untidy there’s no problem driving with the hood retracted without the cover. The hood only robs boot space when retracted – there’s no change to interior space versus the coupe that we had in LA…
I’ve rented a Camaro before and have done some high miles so I was happy to have another. Quite a nice interior for a US car, and a neat feature at night is there’s a trim ‘line’ on the interior door panels that glows a blue/green. Totally pointless, but looks quite cool.
The obvious thing is the V8 motor which really dominates the car. The handling is perfectly adequate and the brakes are OK, but this is more of a GT than the Corvette. I’d have no qualms about running one of the road in the UK – I’d quit like one actually – but it’s not the tool for a track day. But it is a 4-seater, but in the vein of a 2+2. More space back there than a Mustang (or a Cerbera), but nothing like the room of the Maserati 4200.
In common with a few other American cars I’ve driven (and my Grand Cherokee) it has loads of toys, but keeps then fairly well hidden. Just sitting in the driver’s seat for the first time it looks like all you have is the normal instrument panel and 4 (looking purposely aftermarket) gauges on the transmission tunnel. But fiddle about with some switches and you’ve got a full head-up display with quite a few options to play with; put it in reverse and a screen for the reversing camera comes up in the rear-view-mirror with your predicted path plotted with dotted lines based on the steering angle.
Although I really like Camaros, there’s no single 'stand out’ feature, but that’s no bad thing really. They’re fast enough, handle well enough, stop well enough, cruise well and are fairly comfortable…and I think they look great in black…although not as great as a Challenger in orange, but more later…
The bad bits? Only 2 things annoy me really - the rearward 3/4 vision is dreadful (coupe and convertible), but I guess that’s the price you pay for the styling, and the boot [trunk
] is real awkward. It’s not a big boot to start with, but the opening to get luggage in and out is so much smaller than the size of the lid suggests. And because the opening is so shallow even though the boot itself is large enough to take reasonably sized suitcases you can’t actually get then in or out! Luckily we always travel real light.
Now last year we had a Dodge Challenger in Vegas – in Orange with big chrome wheels!
I thought it looked magnificent, but I’ve come to see that Challengers in particular really do rely on the colour. I’ve seen a few in red, grey and black and they look nothing special to me; in fact the plain red ones look pretty poor I think.
I drove this separated by a year either way of Camaros so its not quite a back-to-back comparison, but I did do our usual Vegas ‘test route’. On the face of It the Challenger and the Camaro are pretty similar – close enough I think to make a decision based on looks rather than outright performance. I don’t recall it feeling or handling significantly better or worse than the Camaros. It does have the Hemi engine (like my humble Jeep) so I’ve a soft spot for the motor, but then again I’ve just bought an LS motor for the Tuscan so I like those too!
There really is just one strong memory of the Challenger, and this is I just could not get a comfortable driving position. Sure the seats adjust back and forward and up and down; the steering adjusts too, but I could never get it quite right and after a Vegas-to-LA trip my back was aching. It could just be my shape or that particular car, but while I’d have a Challenger again for toodling round town or honing, I wouldn’t take one if I was planning a long road trip.
The year before (2010) we had a Camaro again.
Vasques rocks anyone? Looked for the Gorn, but no sign…just the Camaro. I’ve said all I can about Camaros, but this one didn’t have the head-up display…or maybe I just didn’t find it!
In 2009 we had a Corvette Coupe – this was the ZHZ model which is/was a Hertz-only designation.
I don’t actually know the difference between the regular Vette and the ZHZ, but as above it’s a mighty impressive piece of kit. At the time I drove this car I had the Maserati for high days and holidays, the Tuscan for track days, and a Ford Ranger as a daily driver and tow-car for the Tuscan. I said to my wife at the time that if there was a RHD Corvette I’d sell the lot and buy one. With a bit of work it would be awesome on track days; smart enough to turn up at nice restaurants; long legged enough to go touring; and robust enough to pop up to Tescos and sit in traffic.
Oh, and I did like it in yellow! I really can’t come up with anything negative against the Corvette. The only comment I’d make is one of practicality. We rented the coupe as I guessed it would be a better luggage carrier than the convertible. Well, yes and no. There’s the potential of more ‘height’ with the ‘hatchback’ over the luggage area, but if you fill it up to the glass then things are visible to prying eyes. If you fill to the level of the cover, then the boot space is no greater than the convertible with the roof up…which is fairly large (but shallowish).
This car didn’t have all the handling toys (‘competitive driving mode’) of the white convertible we had this year, but it did handle better...which makes me think this year’s car maybe needed a geometry check. Desert roads can be really uneven with dips, crests and subsidence and the way this car tracked solid, straight and true and absolutely obscene speeds was nothing short of unbelievable.
But before the Corvette, in 2008 we had a Sheby Mustang in Vegas.
A real hooligan’s car; I couldn’t believe that they’d have a rental car that popped and banged on the overrun…and on an auto box. As standard, the traction control is locked on…but google is your friend. Not as fast as the Corvette, but the most magnificent sounding car ever.
Mention Mustangs though and the immediate response is solid rear axle and cart springs. In truth, it’s not something you’d really notice. Maybe if there was an IRS Mustang to compare back-to-back to the standard car you would spot the difference, but all cars handle differently and the Mustang isn’t sufficiently different to make the rear axle a big issue. I look at it the same way as rear-engined 911s. You ‘know’ the engine is in the back, but if you couldn’t hear it and no-one had told you you’d be hard pressed to tell. So I’d hazard a guess that if you drove a Mustang without knowledge of the rear suspension you’d never guess it wasn’t IRS.
You’d be more likely to notice the hard suspension and the scuttle shake from hell; yup, this car really did have a hinge in the middle. I have never, before or since, driven a car with so much scuttle shake…and that includes other Mustang convertibles. I can only assume it was exacerbated by what I guess is harder than standard suspension – the standard convertible was no-where near as bad.
And so by comparison here’s the ‘standard’ Mustang convertible we had in Vegas the year before (2007).
This was actually just the V6
. We planned to do a lot of miles, and at that time none of the V8 cars had unlimited mileage, so a V6 it was. Obviously it looked the part, but the V6 wasn’t a patch on the V8; still we knocked up a fair few miles in it.
In terms of the practicalities, if the front seats are adjusted for normal folks, then there really is zero rear legroom – far less than the Camaro or Challenger, and they aren’t exactly generous. Bootspace isn’t too great either, but unlike the Camaro the opening is a decent size so at least you can fill the space you do have.
Well, there we have it – a wee write-up on some US V8 muscle. I’ve rented loads of other mundane stuff, with maybe only the 300C V8 I had for a family trip in 2008 being of note.
Of course you get 300Cs in the UK as RHD so nothing really special I guess, but I liked it for a big-ish saloon.
In summary though, the Corvette really is the king; an astonishing car and even the convertible is rock solid and had a decent boot. I’d find it hard to pick between a Camaro, Challenger and Mustang and would be happy with any; it would be down to price or colour for me! However, if there is a ‘special edition’ car (like the Shelby Mustang) then that would sway it. Although all 3 are 4-seaters, in reality you wouldn’t get 4 adults in there comfortably – with front seats adjusted as I’d have them the Mustang was smallest in the back. With the exception of the Corvette, the convertibles are significantly less rigid than the coupes.
OK, since I’ve done the ‘summer’ cars, I also rent V8 SUVs/4x4s for the annual Tahoe ski trip, so here are a few comments on these
This April (2012) we had a Ford Expedition (at least I think it was an Expedition). I’d driven big SUVs before and have a Grand Cherokee as a daily driver, but this thing was massive. The ‘console’ between the 2 front seats was actually another fold-up seat, with the corresponding width. And no matter how big it was up-front, the luggage area was massive. We carry skis (mine in a ski box) and we’ve always have to fold down one of the rear seats to put them ’through’ to the passenger area to accommodate the length in all other 'large' SUVs. This thing took skis end-to-end in the luggage area alone!
Not really worth commenting on handling as it was a massive SUV, but performance-wise it could fairly pick up its skirts and run when the loud pedal was pressed. And it sounded nice. You do rather feel like a captain at the helm of these things rather than a driver at the wheel, but I quite like the whole feel of them. Although I’d love to have one in the UK, it really is too big.
But my SUV of choice is the Chevy Tahoe.
We had a white one in 2011 (with daughter)…
And a black one on 2010. Big, but not too big (at least for US roads and parking). Comfortable, cruises well on the roads and fairly nippy. We also had the [unplanned] opportunity to test both in deep snow, ice and slush. I can’t say they were any better than any other 4x4, but on mountain passes closed to all bar chains and 4x4/winter tyres and in blizzard conditions they performed well up and down steep sections. But while these are well-sized for the US (they fit in parking spaces!) they’d really be too big for the UK.
So on to the Jeep Grand Cherokee from 2009.
These are smaller than the Tahoes, and as is probably becoming clear now I do like American V8s so I have one of these as the daily car at home – a 5.7 Hemi. This was the same, and I do like them.
Not much they don’t do relatively well; understated (IMHO), not too big, fairly quick (for a 4x4).
Easy to criticize the plastic dash and trim, bit it wipes clean…and it’s not a Range Rover (which is important to me – awaits flaming!).
I’ll end with the 2008 winter rental – a GMC Envoy.
If I’m being honest I’d never heard of an ‘Envoy’ before I picked it up at SFO; I’d actually ‘ordered’ a Chevy Tahoe and this came as the ‘or similar’ clause.
A something-or-other V8, and this one had bling chrome wheels. Not too much of note – it drove well enough and was comfortable. The only thing was it was the first car with ‘displacement of demand’ I’d driven; and also the only one that told you on the dash as and when it was switching off and on cylinders. Very impressive how it was so seamless; you certainly couldn’t tell by engine note or ‘feel’ if it was running on 4 or 8 cylinders.
Other than that, not too much to write home about.
So my SUV conclusion is in the US my 4x4 of choice is a Chevy Tahoe; the Grand Cherokee a great car but not really big enough to cut it as a proper SUV across the pond. But plenty big enough here.
OK - back home now and the next task is to drop the just-built 7-litre LS7 in the Tuscan...but that will be another story....
As it’s more a mini-review/comments on cars rather than a ‘my holiday’ report I’ve put it in GG, rather than the backwater of Holidays and Travel.
On business and whole-family trips to the US I just rent ‘regular’ cars to get around, but when just me and the wife travel on our annual break (since our ‘kids’ are in their 20s now) we choose something a bit more ‘special’. In terms of ‘regular’ rental cars though, I drive a hire car in the UK most weeks and apart from the obligatory auto-box in US rentals, I don’t see a whole lot of difference in drivability, handling or performance ‘like-for-like’ either side of the pond these days. The Americans still have a penchant for velour upholstery on the mid-range saloons, but in truth although there are the occasional gems or dogs, most are much of a muchness. But here’s some of the more fun stuff…
We had a Corvette convertible in Vegas this year. Still the daddy of US ‘sports’ V8s. Fastest by a long way, and best handling. A la TVR, Corvettes are fibreless/plastic panels over a separate chassis (although steel box sections I think, rather than tube). There’s so much TVR-like about the Corvette – most obviously big V8 power in a relatively light car, but little things like electric/press-button door locks. But unlike every other non-TVR convertible I’ve driven, this had no scuttle shake at all. Roof up or down the whole car is rock solid – and un-TVR-like, is devoid of squeaks, rattles, thumps…or indeed the smell of fibreglass. OK the dashboard and door panels are plastic, but none the worse for it really and this is rental spec rather than top spec trim. I’ve owned a Cerbera and currently have a Maserati – both of which are considered to have some of the best interiors around and so I really should lament the lack of leather, swoopy curves and piping, but in truth so long as it’s comfy and functional I’m happy enough with plastic.
This particular Corvette had 30K miles on it and given the traction control wasn’t locked-on I’m assuming it had seen more donuts than an American copper and had been ragged mercilessly. But apart from one little handling foible was tight and rock solid. The only problem was with the active handling switched off (‘competitive driving mode’ selected!) going very rapidly over dips and crests the car seemed to be diagonally out of kilter. I’m sure the geometry just needed re-set; after all it was just a rental hack. But rental hack or not – and even with the auto box – I’m reckoning it would destroy any out-of-the-box TVR on a track day. I love TVRs, but I am just blown away by Corvettes, and I’ve never driven a top-of-the-line Z06 (yet!).
It always seems such a shame to me that TVR were coming oh-so-close towards the end, and had they gone with the LS motor instead of the S6 and spent their energies on handling, styling, rawness etc then who knows where we’d be.
Anyway, back to the Vette. Like or loathe the plastic interior, it’s a comfy (and leather seated) place to be. Obviously it’s just a 2-seater, and there is a full-height bulkhead behind the seats on the convertible so no storage there. I wonder how it is for taller drivers though; I’m only around 5’9” and the seat was nearly as far back as it would go. The boot is a real good size for the car – flat bottomed and basically fully rectangular. Ours had a manual roof and I was real impressed with the folding mechanism. One single clip at the front and the front fold up. Nip out the car and the back now just lifts; a single button releases the hard tonneau under the back of the hood to allow the whole thing to drop into the front of the boot then drop the tonneau back down. A number of convertibles I’ve driven lose the ‘top half’ of the boot space with the folded hood. What I liked about the Corvette was that basically it’s just one long boot and the hood drops in to maybe the front third of it. Hood-up there is no restriction on boot space.
As per most US rentals the car had an auto box. This could be run in a sports/manual mode with paddle-shift. Unlike the Maserati Cambiocorsa (and other performance paddle-shifts) this is a conventional torque converter slush-box, but surprisingly quick to shift and hook-up in manual mode. Auto was fine toodling about, but with a decent amount of power on tap the kick-down was sometimes too harsh and pretty much always unnecessary.
What always impresses me about the Corvette is how it does everything so well. My wife always wanted an MX5, but had long since given-up bothering with manuals – she’s a great passenger but a very sedate driver. Anyway, I bought her an auto-MX5; I think it’s a hateful noisy underpowered thing but she likes it. She will drive the Maserati in auto but is a bit intimidated. She won’t even sit in the seat of the Tuscan with the motor running - terrified! Her comment on the Corvette was ‘this is a nice little car – I’d like one of these if it was right hand drive’ – so at one end of the spectrum it’s a real ‘harmless’ easy-to-drive car, especially around town (where the Cambiocorsa box in the Masser makes it a real chore). But open it up and it flies.
This is the second one we’ve hooned around the deserted desert roads in and the brakes are great, the handling is top-notch and the big V8 is just effortless. 1500RPM at 70mph in 6th, then revving to 6500 when called upon.
But we were at Vegas on the way back from Hawaii where we had a Camaro SS Convertible…
I had this immediately after handing the also-black Camaro SS Coupe in at LAX. Apart from the soft-top, everything as per the coupe…but with the scuttle shake from hell. Actually, not the worst ever – that prize goes to the Shelby Mustang we had a few years earlier – but serous movement between the front have and back half of the car. This is despite the doors also having ‘pins’ and brackets to accompany the door locks to try to stabilise things.
There aren’t too many places to go fast in Hawaii (and I got a speeding ticket for 45mph the last time I was there) so for performance, see the LA write-up on the Camaro coupe. I’ll just limit this to the differences in the convertible.
The coupe has real poor 3/4 visibility with a deep C-pillar, and all I can say is the convertible isn’t any worse. So anyone pulling out on a slip-road and struggling to see traffic behind in the convertible and cursing their choice shouldn’t – the coupe is no better.
The boot is the same size as the coupe (more comments against the coupe) but there’s an extendable pull-out cover that has to be in place before the hood can be dropped, and this limits the boot to sod-all deep with a little bit full height at the very back. Hood up and down is quick and easy – just a single manual clip/handle at the front and everything else is electric. Unlike the Corvette though there’s no hard tonneau cover – there’s a cloth cover that you’d need to clip on manually but a apart from just looking a bit untidy there’s no problem driving with the hood retracted without the cover. The hood only robs boot space when retracted – there’s no change to interior space versus the coupe that we had in LA…
I’ve rented a Camaro before and have done some high miles so I was happy to have another. Quite a nice interior for a US car, and a neat feature at night is there’s a trim ‘line’ on the interior door panels that glows a blue/green. Totally pointless, but looks quite cool.
The obvious thing is the V8 motor which really dominates the car. The handling is perfectly adequate and the brakes are OK, but this is more of a GT than the Corvette. I’d have no qualms about running one of the road in the UK – I’d quit like one actually – but it’s not the tool for a track day. But it is a 4-seater, but in the vein of a 2+2. More space back there than a Mustang (or a Cerbera), but nothing like the room of the Maserati 4200.
In common with a few other American cars I’ve driven (and my Grand Cherokee) it has loads of toys, but keeps then fairly well hidden. Just sitting in the driver’s seat for the first time it looks like all you have is the normal instrument panel and 4 (looking purposely aftermarket) gauges on the transmission tunnel. But fiddle about with some switches and you’ve got a full head-up display with quite a few options to play with; put it in reverse and a screen for the reversing camera comes up in the rear-view-mirror with your predicted path plotted with dotted lines based on the steering angle.
Although I really like Camaros, there’s no single 'stand out’ feature, but that’s no bad thing really. They’re fast enough, handle well enough, stop well enough, cruise well and are fairly comfortable…and I think they look great in black…although not as great as a Challenger in orange, but more later…
The bad bits? Only 2 things annoy me really - the rearward 3/4 vision is dreadful (coupe and convertible), but I guess that’s the price you pay for the styling, and the boot [trunk
] is real awkward. It’s not a big boot to start with, but the opening to get luggage in and out is so much smaller than the size of the lid suggests. And because the opening is so shallow even though the boot itself is large enough to take reasonably sized suitcases you can’t actually get then in or out! Luckily we always travel real light.Now last year we had a Dodge Challenger in Vegas – in Orange with big chrome wheels!
I thought it looked magnificent, but I’ve come to see that Challengers in particular really do rely on the colour. I’ve seen a few in red, grey and black and they look nothing special to me; in fact the plain red ones look pretty poor I think.
I drove this separated by a year either way of Camaros so its not quite a back-to-back comparison, but I did do our usual Vegas ‘test route’
. On the face of It the Challenger and the Camaro are pretty similar – close enough I think to make a decision based on looks rather than outright performance. I don’t recall it feeling or handling significantly better or worse than the Camaros. It does have the Hemi engine (like my humble Jeep) so I’ve a soft spot for the motor, but then again I’ve just bought an LS motor for the Tuscan so I like those too!There really is just one strong memory of the Challenger, and this is I just could not get a comfortable driving position. Sure the seats adjust back and forward and up and down; the steering adjusts too, but I could never get it quite right and after a Vegas-to-LA trip my back was aching. It could just be my shape or that particular car, but while I’d have a Challenger again for toodling round town or honing, I wouldn’t take one if I was planning a long road trip.
The year before (2010) we had a Camaro again.
Vasques rocks anyone? Looked for the Gorn, but no sign…just the Camaro. I’ve said all I can about Camaros, but this one didn’t have the head-up display…or maybe I just didn’t find it!
In 2009 we had a Corvette Coupe – this was the ZHZ model which is/was a Hertz-only designation.
I don’t actually know the difference between the regular Vette and the ZHZ, but as above it’s a mighty impressive piece of kit. At the time I drove this car I had the Maserati for high days and holidays, the Tuscan for track days, and a Ford Ranger as a daily driver and tow-car for the Tuscan. I said to my wife at the time that if there was a RHD Corvette I’d sell the lot and buy one. With a bit of work it would be awesome on track days; smart enough to turn up at nice restaurants; long legged enough to go touring; and robust enough to pop up to Tescos and sit in traffic.
Oh, and I did like it in yellow! I really can’t come up with anything negative against the Corvette. The only comment I’d make is one of practicality. We rented the coupe as I guessed it would be a better luggage carrier than the convertible. Well, yes and no. There’s the potential of more ‘height’ with the ‘hatchback’ over the luggage area, but if you fill it up to the glass then things are visible to prying eyes. If you fill to the level of the cover, then the boot space is no greater than the convertible with the roof up…which is fairly large (but shallowish).
This car didn’t have all the handling toys (‘competitive driving mode’) of the white convertible we had this year, but it did handle better...which makes me think this year’s car maybe needed a geometry check. Desert roads can be really uneven with dips, crests and subsidence and the way this car tracked solid, straight and true and absolutely obscene speeds was nothing short of unbelievable.
But before the Corvette, in 2008 we had a Sheby Mustang in Vegas.
A real hooligan’s car; I couldn’t believe that they’d have a rental car that popped and banged on the overrun…and on an auto box. As standard, the traction control is locked on…but google is your friend. Not as fast as the Corvette, but the most magnificent sounding car ever.
Mention Mustangs though and the immediate response is solid rear axle and cart springs. In truth, it’s not something you’d really notice. Maybe if there was an IRS Mustang to compare back-to-back to the standard car you would spot the difference, but all cars handle differently and the Mustang isn’t sufficiently different to make the rear axle a big issue. I look at it the same way as rear-engined 911s. You ‘know’ the engine is in the back, but if you couldn’t hear it and no-one had told you you’d be hard pressed to tell. So I’d hazard a guess that if you drove a Mustang without knowledge of the rear suspension you’d never guess it wasn’t IRS.
You’d be more likely to notice the hard suspension and the scuttle shake from hell; yup, this car really did have a hinge in the middle. I have never, before or since, driven a car with so much scuttle shake…and that includes other Mustang convertibles. I can only assume it was exacerbated by what I guess is harder than standard suspension – the standard convertible was no-where near as bad.
And so by comparison here’s the ‘standard’ Mustang convertible we had in Vegas the year before (2007).
This was actually just the V6
. We planned to do a lot of miles, and at that time none of the V8 cars had unlimited mileage, so a V6 it was. Obviously it looked the part, but the V6 wasn’t a patch on the V8; still we knocked up a fair few miles in it.In terms of the practicalities, if the front seats are adjusted for normal folks, then there really is zero rear legroom – far less than the Camaro or Challenger, and they aren’t exactly generous. Bootspace isn’t too great either, but unlike the Camaro the opening is a decent size so at least you can fill the space you do have.
Well, there we have it – a wee write-up on some US V8 muscle. I’ve rented loads of other mundane stuff, with maybe only the 300C V8 I had for a family trip in 2008 being of note.
Of course you get 300Cs in the UK as RHD so nothing really special I guess, but I liked it for a big-ish saloon.
In summary though, the Corvette really is the king; an astonishing car and even the convertible is rock solid and had a decent boot. I’d find it hard to pick between a Camaro, Challenger and Mustang and would be happy with any; it would be down to price or colour for me! However, if there is a ‘special edition’ car (like the Shelby Mustang) then that would sway it. Although all 3 are 4-seaters, in reality you wouldn’t get 4 adults in there comfortably – with front seats adjusted as I’d have them the Mustang was smallest in the back. With the exception of the Corvette, the convertibles are significantly less rigid than the coupes.
OK, since I’ve done the ‘summer’ cars, I also rent V8 SUVs/4x4s for the annual Tahoe ski trip, so here are a few comments on these
This April (2012) we had a Ford Expedition (at least I think it was an Expedition). I’d driven big SUVs before and have a Grand Cherokee as a daily driver, but this thing was massive. The ‘console’ between the 2 front seats was actually another fold-up seat, with the corresponding width. And no matter how big it was up-front, the luggage area was massive. We carry skis (mine in a ski box) and we’ve always have to fold down one of the rear seats to put them ’through’ to the passenger area to accommodate the length in all other 'large' SUVs. This thing took skis end-to-end in the luggage area alone!
Not really worth commenting on handling as it was a massive SUV, but performance-wise it could fairly pick up its skirts and run when the loud pedal was pressed. And it sounded nice. You do rather feel like a captain at the helm of these things rather than a driver at the wheel, but I quite like the whole feel of them. Although I’d love to have one in the UK, it really is too big.
But my SUV of choice is the Chevy Tahoe.
We had a white one in 2011 (with daughter)…
And a black one on 2010. Big, but not too big (at least for US roads and parking). Comfortable, cruises well on the roads and fairly nippy. We also had the [unplanned] opportunity to test both in deep snow, ice and slush. I can’t say they were any better than any other 4x4, but on mountain passes closed to all bar chains and 4x4/winter tyres and in blizzard conditions they performed well up and down steep sections. But while these are well-sized for the US (they fit in parking spaces!) they’d really be too big for the UK.
So on to the Jeep Grand Cherokee from 2009.
These are smaller than the Tahoes, and as is probably becoming clear now I do like American V8s so I have one of these as the daily car at home – a 5.7 Hemi. This was the same, and I do like them.
Not much they don’t do relatively well; understated (IMHO), not too big, fairly quick (for a 4x4).
Easy to criticize the plastic dash and trim, bit it wipes clean…and it’s not a Range Rover (which is important to me – awaits flaming!).
I’ll end with the 2008 winter rental – a GMC Envoy.
If I’m being honest I’d never heard of an ‘Envoy’ before I picked it up at SFO; I’d actually ‘ordered’ a Chevy Tahoe and this came as the ‘or similar’ clause.
A something-or-other V8, and this one had bling chrome wheels. Not too much of note – it drove well enough and was comfortable. The only thing was it was the first car with ‘displacement of demand’ I’d driven; and also the only one that told you on the dash as and when it was switching off and on cylinders. Very impressive how it was so seamless; you certainly couldn’t tell by engine note or ‘feel’ if it was running on 4 or 8 cylinders.
Other than that, not too much to write home about.
So my SUV conclusion is in the US my 4x4 of choice is a Chevy Tahoe; the Grand Cherokee a great car but not really big enough to cut it as a proper SUV across the pond. But plenty big enough here.
OK - back home now and the next task is to drop the just-built 7-litre LS7 in the Tuscan...but that will be another story....
Nice summary of the V8 options.
Just travelling back from 3 weeks around the Western national parks. Saw a lot of tourist mustangs, but we had a humble Jeep 'Patriot' which was ok as long as you didn't go uphill, overtake or go round corners. Or brake or change gear.
Great for cruising, dirt roads and just lobbing all our camping stuff in though, and getting really dirty inside and out looking for Ghost towns in the desert. Best feature was some nicely illuminated cup-holders.
Was never sure what grade of fuel it preferred or how to get it into 4WD, but it was reliable enough despite it saying it needed an oil change just as we started a 2500 mile trip...
Just travelling back from 3 weeks around the Western national parks. Saw a lot of tourist mustangs, but we had a humble Jeep 'Patriot' which was ok as long as you didn't go uphill, overtake or go round corners. Or brake or change gear.
Great for cruising, dirt roads and just lobbing all our camping stuff in though, and getting really dirty inside and out looking for Ghost towns in the desert. Best feature was some nicely illuminated cup-holders.
Was never sure what grade of fuel it preferred or how to get it into 4WD, but it was reliable enough despite it saying it needed an oil change just as we started a 2500 mile trip...
Great write up- I got married in one of the Shelby GT-H's and have driven most of the others. I agree with you the Corvette is easily the best 'sports' car available to rent commonly in the US.
If you get the chance you should try a 5.0 Mustang before it gets replaced- they're great cars.
If you get the chance you should try a 5.0 Mustang before it gets replaced- they're great cars.
Good write up, echoes my experiences, have had a V6 old shape Mustang vert and it was ok, Camaro V6 was nice but a bit slow and you cant see out properly, just had a V8 Mustang GT and that was great, traction control wasnt locked on and it was manual, very quick car. Other one was a Dodge Caravan which had 286 BHP, strangely it didnt feel a whole lot quicker than our 140 bhp Galaxy when we got home, plenty of space though.
Vette next.
My tip for US rental is not to rent a Satnav, they are essential but expensive to rent, just go to Best Buys, Wal Mart or similar and buy one or take your own with US maps on.
Vette next.
My tip for US rental is not to rent a Satnav, they are essential but expensive to rent, just go to Best Buys, Wal Mart or similar and buy one or take your own with US maps on.
What a great write up!
The OH and I are going to the states next summer, and I wanted to do exactly this - hire some V8 muscle around Vegas (although we'll be starting in San Francisco). Do you mind me asking where you generally rent these cars from? By the looks of it Hertz et al have some Mustangs/Corvettes etc but it's not always guaranteed what you'll get. I specifically want a V8, and probably convertible, for 2-3 weeks.
The OH and I are going to the states next summer, and I wanted to do exactly this - hire some V8 muscle around Vegas (although we'll be starting in San Francisco). Do you mind me asking where you generally rent these cars from? By the looks of it Hertz et al have some Mustangs/Corvettes etc but it's not always guaranteed what you'll get. I specifically want a V8, and probably convertible, for 2-3 weeks.
Mastodon2 said:
First of pic of you with the white Corvette, is that the Valley of Fire national park by any chance?
Nope - Red Rock Canyon. Not as impressive as Valley of Fire by a long shot, but closer to Vegas. This was Valley of Fire with the yellow ZHZ a couple of years back. Road to Valley of Fire along the north shore of Lake Mead is a particular favourite 
V6Paul said:
Do you mind me asking where you generally rent these cars from? By the looks of it Hertz et al have some Mustangs/Corvettes etc but it's not always guaranteed what you'll get. I specifically want a V8, and probably convertible, for 2-3 weeks.
I always just use Hertz. At one time I used to shop around but Hertz always came up with the goods at a decent price so I just use them. Not sure if you can still do it, but you used to be able to sign up on line for their 'gold' club, and it means you skip the lines when you pick up the car.As to 'exact model', certainly with Hertz it's pretty clear. Most of the 'regular' cars (and that INCLUDES the V6 Mustang convertible) have 'or similar' in small print. Just look for it. We got a Chrysler Sebring once - possibly even a better driving car than the Mustang and we took it from New York all around Cape Cod and New England, but it sure doesn't look the part. But for the more 'special' stuff, in bigger print they will be presented as 'rent this exact model'...and as it says, you get that exact model - all you miss is colour choice. So when you book just look for 'or similar' or 'rent this exact model'; it'll be one or the other.
The Corvette still comes up as limited mileage (100 miles per day I think) but now all the other V8 cars seem to be unlimited. Clearly you can drive as many miles as you want in the 'limited mileage' Corvette, you just pay an additional rate per mile when you drop it off.
If you are booking with Hertz check the payment in advance versus payment on collection rates. Curiously its sometimes cheaper to pay on collection. Also, if you have a choice of collection locations then check each one for prices and availability. Obviously if you're picking up at an airport then you've no choice, but if you're collecting in a city then check each location. For example in Vegas we've found the same car was cheaper collecting at Caesars Palace rather than the Wynn across the road. And this year we collected the Corvette from the Cosmopolitan as Caesars (1/2 a mile up the road) wasn't showing any availability...all Hertz locations though.
Edited by tvrolet on Sunday 7th October 19:02
charltjr said:
davepoth said:
Going for a Crown Vic on my next trip. I'm hoping it's awesome in a crap way. 
You won't be disappointed, it's the funniest thing I've ever driven.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff