Florida car hire help?

[ThunderSpook]

I was looking at hiring a Challenger in Orlando next year. The R/T is coming up as £1200 for just over 2 weeks, compared to £650 for a standard challenger (or similar). I don’t really need a car for the whole time, but looking at Hertz for example it only seems to be their airport location that does Challengers. We’ll be at Disney to start with and none of their locations near Disney have them.

I know Alamo are on site at Disney, but for a standard Challenger they want £2200!

Any suggestions? Will be for 2 adults and 2 children.

[Matt Harper]

Adenauer said:

Matt Harper said:

In which case, make sure you get a m/y 2017 R/T or younger. These cars have an active exhaust system, same as Scat Pack, SRT 392 and Hellcat - 2016 and older don't. Trust me, it makes a very significant difference.

I can't see me being able to request that from Hertz, somehow, Matt

I don't think there is any problem with requesting that you are not fobbed-off with an older car. Although it doesn't make a significant performance difference, the active exhaust system on these cars is better (more free-flowing and angrier sounding) than almost all aftermarket options - Zoomers being the exception. If waking up the neighbors with your cold starts and making a glorious racket at WOT is your intention, you need a 2017 or younger R/T.

[Matt Harper]

ThunderSpook said:

I was looking at hiring a Challenger in Orlando next year. The R/T is coming up as £1200 for just over 2 weeks, compared to £650 for a standard challenger (or similar). I don’t really need a car for the whole time, but looking at Hertz for example it only seems to be their airport location that does Challengers. We’ll be at Disney to start with and none of their locations near Disney have them.

I know Alamo are on site at Disney, but for a standard Challenger they want £2200!

Any suggestions? Will be for 2 adults and 2 children.

What would stop you getting an Uber to the airport location? From WDW it would be less than $20 during the daytime.

Don't bother with an SXT Challenger, they are a little light on grunt, for such a heavy car.

How old/big are your kids? Rear leg room is modest (behind the drivers seat, particularly - assuming a normal sized human being at the wheel).

[captain_cynic]

Matt Harper said:

How old/big are your kids? Rear leg room is modest (behind the drivers seat, particularly - assuming a normal sized human being at the wheel).

This is what's always surprised me about 'Mercan muscle cars is despite how big they are, rear leg room is woeful.

Even the last gen Camaro, that was based on the VF Holden Commodore and whilst I'm no fan of the Dunnydore, rear leg room is one place I cant really fault it.

[ThunderSpook]

They are only 5 and 7 so shouldn’t be an issue hopefully, and I understand the boot is a decent size.

I just didn’t fancy the idea of spending 2-3 hours heading back to the airport to sort the car out.

Are you saying if I can’t stretch to the R/T then it’s not worth getting a Challenger? Last time I went to the states was 2009 and I hired a Mustang. It was only a V6, but to me it was still a Mustang

[shep1001]

AutoEurope are good, they compare all the top 'in terminal' vendors if you collect from the airport. We just paid £380 for 14 days with Dollar for their luxury model.

They use Chevrolet vehicles so it was an Impala. Their 'large' car is the Cruise which I paid £280 for 14 days earlier this year and the 'full size' option which was about £20 more expensive would have been the Malibu.

If you liked the mustang you can still get them through Alamo but the likes of Thrifty & Dollar have swapped to the Camero. Two weeks for a Camero now was about £580

Edited by shep1001 on Friday 28th September 16:56

[ThunderSpook]

I’m guessing the Camaro is a bit smaller and might not be big enough for a family of 4 with bags?

[Matt Harper]

ThunderSpook said:

They are only 5 and 7 so shouldn’t be an issue hopefully, and I understand the boot is a decent size.

I just didn’t fancy the idea of spending 2-3 hours heading back to the airport to sort the car out.

Are you saying if I can’t stretch to the R/T then it’s not worth getting a Challenger? Last time I went to the states was 2009 and I hired a Mustang. It was only a V6, but to me it was still a Mustang

Aged 5 and 7, you should be fine and yes, the boot is significantly bigger than Mustang and Camaro (the actual boot aperture is the issue with the Chev).

If booked in advance, collection from the airport takes minutes and the drive from WDW is about 20 minutes (all highway).

Yes, I am suggesting that the 6cyl Challenger is underpowered and therefore a bit of a slug. 305hp might sound adequate, but this car weighs over 4000lbs. Mustang with similar output is nearly 500lbs lighter and that makes a big difference. Even the R/T is soft, compared to it's Mustang (GT) and Camaro (SS) rivals. For a Challenger to be properly fast, it needs the 6.4 Apache engine - or a supercharger.

[djc206]

ThunderSpook said:

I’m guessing the Camaro is a bit smaller and might not be big enough for a family of 4 with bags?

A Mustang is not big enough for 4 with bags. I own one and unless those in the back are under 5ft6in tall and have no legs then the mustang will be truly awful on anything other than very short journeys. Two suitcases in the boot will see it pretty much full because it’s an awkward shape with a small hatch.

We just rented two pickups in the States and they were great fun. The F150 had the 5.0 V8 that I’ve got in my Mustang so had a bit of poke.

[ThunderSpook]

djc206 said:

We just rented two pickups in the States and they were great fun. The F150 had the 5.0 V8 that I’ve got in my Mustang so had a bit of poke.

Ooh, didn’t think of that idea. Are they expensive and who does them?

[djc206]

ThunderSpook said:

Ooh, didn’t think of that idea. Are they expensive and who does them?

We rented one from Enterprise and one from Hertz. The first was about $100 for the day but we booked it the day before and only had it for one day which is never the cheapest way to rent, that was the 5.0 F150), the second was about $50/day booked for 4 days (GMC Canyon V6), think a Silverado wasn’t much more maybe $10/day but they didn’t have one available sadly.

[Dave Brand]

Far be it from me to question the wisdom of the obvious experts in these matters, but for real-world driving is a V6 Challenger really underpowered?

I'm just back from three weeks with a Charger, basically the same car with a bit more length, a bit more weight & a bit less power ("only" 292BHP). Driving conditions varied from 80mph freeways, some hilly bits of the Trans-Canada highway & some serious twisties in Montana. At no time was I thinking "I need more power". One of the best bits of the car was the transmission, a ZF 8-speed, very quick, almost telepathic, to change down when you're "making progress".

Of course, for all those mountains in Florida you need a lot of power!

. . . & they had a Toyota Camry ready for me!

[djc206]

Dave Brand said:

Far be it from me to question the wisdom of the obvious experts in these matters, but for real-world driving is a V6 Challenger really underpowered?

I'm just back from three weeks with a Charger, basically the same car with a bit more length, a bit more weight & a bit less power ("only" 292BHP). Driving conditions varied from 80mph freeways, some hilly bits of the Trans-Canada highway & some serious twisties in Montana. At no time was I thinking "I need more power". One of the best bits of the car was the transmission, a ZF 8-speed, very quick, almost telepathic, to change down when you're "making progress".

Of course, for all those mountains in Florida you need a lot of power!

. . . & they had a Toyota Camry ready for me!

It’s underpowered in the sense that most hot hatches have that power these days and less weight. It’s not really underpowered in the tdue sense just not very exciting to drive, and they’re supposed to be muscle cars so should be a NA or supercharged V8 with all the associated noise and drama.

[Sheepshanks]

djc206 said:

It’s underpowered in the sense that most hot hatches have that power these days and less weight. It’s not really underpowered in the tdue sense just not very exciting to drive, and they’re supposed to be muscle cars so should be a NA or supercharged V8 with all the associated noise and drama.

OP is going to Florida though - the amount of Police, of various sorts, around would put me off any sort of driving that produced noise and drama.

[djc206]

Sheepshanks said:

OP is going to Florida though - the amount of Police, of various sorts, around would put me off any sort of driving that produced noise and drama.

Doesn’t seem to bother the locals

[Matt Harper]

djc206 said:

Dave Brand said:

Far be it from me to question the wisdom of the obvious experts in these matters, but for real-world driving is a V6 Challenger really underpowered?

I'm just back from three weeks with a Charger, basically the same car with a bit more length, a bit more weight & a bit less power ("only" 292BHP). Driving conditions varied from 80mph freeways, some hilly bits of the Trans-Canada highway & some serious twisties in Montana. At no time was I thinking "I need more power". One of the best bits of the car was the transmission, a ZF 8-speed, very quick, almost telepathic, to change down when you're "making progress".

Of course, for all those mountains in Florida you need a lot of power!

. . . & they had a Toyota Camry ready for me!

It’s underpowered in the sense that most hot hatches have that power these days and less weight. It’s not really underpowered in the tdue sense just not very exciting to drive, and they’re supposed to be muscle cars so should be a NA or supercharged V8 with all the associated noise and drama.

This might be a more appropriate way to look at Mopar's "Brotherhood of Muscle" offerings:

V6 Pentastar = tough-looking, but somewhat lame generic rental car
V8 5.7L Eagle = Effortless cruiser
V8 6.4L Apache = Aggressive bruiser
V8 6.2 S/C Apache = Basement priced insanity

Renting the latter two is not possible in Orlando, from a mainstream company - though you can rent a Scat Pack from Avis in ATL, Las Vegas and LAX, I believe.

It is my understanding that a lot of car-oriented people rent "muscle cars" (a misnomer in itself, as these are technically "ponies") to experience something a little different from the normal rental car offering. You don't really get that with a 6 cyl Charger/Challenger.

Despite being a dedicated Mopar fan and a Challenger owner, if I was coming here on vacation and the choice was Hertz/Avis performance offerings, of the 3 pony-cars offered, (Mustang GT, Camaro SS and Challenger R/T), the Challenger is the least exciting of that group - but arguably the nicest to look at.

[ThunderSpook]

Let’s be honest, when it’s a family of 4 you’re not allowed to have fun driving most of the time Having something that looks stunning may be enough. I would like a V8 though, hadn’t appreciated they even did a V6 Challenger.

Any other options worth looking at?

[Matt Harper]

Run of the mill rental options will be Mustang - 4cyl 2.3L 310hp Eco-boost or V6 3.7L 300hp N/A, Camaro - 4cyl 2.0L 275hp Turbo, Challenger - 3.6L V6 N/A.

Another possibility that would afford a degree of the US V8 experience (though in a more muted form) would be Chevrolet/GMC Suburban/Yukon/Tahoe SUV or Ford F150, Chevy Silverado or Ram 1500 pick-up truck.

Full size sedans - Cadillac CTS and Chrysler 300 likely to be 6cyl these days...

[ghost83]

I used Andy at discount Florida car hire got a Jeep Grand Cherokee for 2 weeks with all insurances for 420 in may

[Adenauer]

ThunderSpook said:

I was looking at hiring a Challenger in Orlando next year. The R/T is coming up as £1200 for just over 2 weeks, compared to £650 for a standard challenger (or similar). I don’t really need a car for the whole time, but looking at Hertz for example it only seems to be their airport location that does Challengers. We’ll be at Disney to start with and none of their locations near Disney have them.

I know Alamo are on site at Disney, but for a standard Challenger they want £2200!

Any suggestions? Will be for 2 adults and 2 children.

You need to clear out your cookies or something as that seems bonkers.

I've hired a Challenger R/T from Hertz for 10 days in January, pick up and drop off at Tampa Airport.

Your Vehicle:
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(V4) Dodge Challenger R/T
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Rental Duration
1 Week at 503.49 USD 503.49 USD
3 Extra Days at 64.95 USD 194.85 USD
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