Rental Cruisers

[Freezinghot]

I hear time and time again about people renting a cruiser and hating it with a passion, of course not many rental cars are worth a darn anyways for obvious reasons. Cheap, cheap cheap. I understand the economics of it.
Was curious if anyone has driven a Rental Cruiser, and if so their experiences with them. I hear they just have a lack of options and pretty much dull as can be, has anyone rented anything other than a base model ? Not quite sure what options that the base models had, but what i hear (from their mouth not mine!) that its similar to sitting in a lawn chair lol.

[PTmanboy]

I have an ex-rental. It`s a great beginers car. No ashtray is the BEST! Cloth seats that stain easy, hubs that are hard to keep clean in the lugs, no sunroof and no horsepower. The slowest thing next to a horse drawn buggy.

[leftoverture]

Rental cars are often specially optioned, mass-produced "fleet" cars. Same is true of Cruisers. Lots of people are driving them because they usually get sold to the public after 15k-25k miles of rental use. Most of these fleet cars are optioned about the same, but many manufacturers offer more than one level of option package (and they're all automatics). Not sure what Chrysler did with the rental Cruisers, but I know many of them lack cruise control. Sometimes, you can only get certain option combinations in the rental fleet cars.

My first PT Cruiser driving experience was in a rental, circa 2005 or so. It had the cloth seats and was missing the parcel shelf, but otherwise was equipped similar to our 2001. It drove like crap, had a front end vibration and a pull to the left (I think a prior renter had hit a curb or something). I also remember having the remote buttons right on the key which I absolutely hated because I kept bumping the panic button.

Based on that car I would never have bought one but my wife wanted a Cruiser so we got our 2001. It has been a great car, but you are correct that they are slow.

[yaris]

my pt in an ex-rental, base model, manual transmission, cloth seats, no cruise, no ac... but looks and drives like new, I don't have anything bad to say about it

[leftoverture]

Originally Posted by yaris

my pt in an ex-rental, base model, manual transmission, cloth seats, no cruise, no ac... but looks and drives like new, I don't have anything bad to say about it

You sure it was a rental? A manual transmission in a rental would be pretty rare.

[Freezinghot]

I suppose it all depends on the condition of the rental and the driver preference. I have friends that refuse to admit that my 04 limited with all black leather interior is a comfortable car. They drove the rentals prior to seeing mine and made up their mind then and there.
Its a real shame

[bugatti]

mine is the base model and dont have a cruise control nor a shelving in the back !! but it is automatic doors, windows and transmission which i like. drives great and i like it !!! i dont think that the rentals is any different from mine !

[yaris]

Originally Posted by leftoverture

You sure it was a rental? A manual transmission in a rental would be pretty rare.

at least it what the dealer told me...

[azphotog]

And no AC doesn't make sense either

[heifetz17]

Most rentals here are not wholesaled to dealers or auctions until they have between 40k and 50k miles usually. They're usually two model years old.

That being said, when we get rental cruisers at our dealership, they're base models, as mentioned on here. They usually have automatic trannys, but lack power locks, cruise, ac, etc.