Well we are over here on the West Coast for a family holiday. Alamo messed up our reservation and we have a Ford Escape - A Honda CRV size car when we ordered a seven seat minivan. The rental clerk tried to persuade me this was an upgrade and said "I won't charge you the extra" - yeah right! My travel agent already has a stiff e-mail straight from the Blackberry in SF to his desk in Manchester demanding a refund.
Anyway - more interesting things to report are: -
San Francisco has loads of US made hybrid cars (mainly Ford) used as taxis including the Ford Escape and a large four door saloon thing (Crown Victoria?).
We have also been in New York where we drove a ten year old Focus which is identical to the European Focus except the engine was not so willing. A decent drive though, unlike the Escape which has steering so slack that you cannot feel any road under the tyres whatsoever. Its dangerous!
There is a really nice looking Ford Edge which is a large 4x4 of a size between the Hyundai Santa Fe and Volvo XC90. Five seats only, but a good boot and very comfortable.
The lack of lane discipline continues although the overall economy of cars surprises me. Better than you would expect for the volume of traffic. Coming out of San Francisco at rush hour the Car Pool lane (three occupants or more) really works and we blew past a new occupant Rolls Royce stuck in the slow lanes.
There are a lot of different models here from the Japanese makers, although I assume many of these cars are made in the US. Some of the designs are really great to look at, but some are weird and others look good at first and then you realise they only work if you change cars every three years or less.
I am surprised by the number of older cars here, especially those which are reasonably well maintained for their age. Not classics but just ten year old cars or even older which are not bashed or scraped or even looking that tired. Far more than we see in the UK. Must be the lack of the company car culture.
More to report in a couple of weeks....
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Espada, you should have stuck to your guns and demanded the 7-seater. The Escape is billed by Alamo at about 10% less than the 7-seater minivan.
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Oh don't worry Biggles. My travel agent is onto it and we are scheduled for a swap over in a day or so.
The problem was they sent me to a small office on the fringe of the city centre with a limited supply and the rest of the outlets had nothing suitable either.
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Sounds about right. We booked a Intermediate 4WD thru Alamo (using Trailfinders) 6 months before our trip. On arrival at Alamo O'Farrell/Union Sq office on Dec 28th they tried to fob me off with a 2WD Chevy Tahoe. No good for crossing snow covered passes with chain control in place! And fitting snow chains invalidates the insurance.
After 2 hours we got a SOFT TOP Jeep Wrangler and told to drive to Sacramento airport to exchange. A waste of time. Eventually, 25 minutes before closing on New Years Eve, we finally got a Dodge Ram double cab pick up from the Enterprise office in Placerville. It took several transatlantic phone calls and many hours of hassle, but part of life's learning process.
Trailfinders got us a 50% refund and the huge Dodge 5.7 ltr Hemi was more fun than any Rav4!
Have a great trip..hope you get to Yosemite and my second home, the Tahoe area.
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My sympathies Espada. Mrs. H and I ended up with an Escape three years ago in Canada. Not a particularly impressive device; the best I can say about it was that it was as bland as the Kia C'eed I took to Bristol today without the Kia's fuel economy.
Wew had tried to hire a Mustang but the Canadians aren't that adventurous.
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warning ON has his antenna firmly tuned to seed bashing..................
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Hallo Espada, thanks for the report. Interesting read about the number of older cars on the road. I have not been to the States in 15 years, save for a transit stop but I thought their cars were regarded much more as consumables and thought most run of the mill cars out there were finished by the time they got to 10 years.
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I got to NYC last night and had ordered a minivan as I have kit to transport. Despite a months notice, no minivans available, and I've been landed with a Chevy Suburban SUV.
5.3 V8, larger than my imagination can handle, and despite the massive engine, not really all that fast. The ride is pretty pants too, you feel every little imperfection in the road. No idea on thirst so far, but I can't imagine it's going to be economical, although I believe it can shut down 4 cylinders when cruising.
Given that I have to drive NYC - Chicago and back next week, I'm going to try and get it exchanged if I can.
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>> although I believe it can shut down 4 cylinders when cruising.
>>
We had a Cadillac Escalade in Florida recently - that could shut down half of its 6.2L V8 when cruising (the dash computer said "V4" when in that mode) and it was probably the most economical large SUV we've had there.
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I'll let you know. It can allegedly get 26 mpg (~32 UK mpg) on the motorway. We shall see..
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My mistake, that was a figure from someone that had already converted to proper mpg. So, I'll have to see how close I can get to 26 mpg...
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I guess I am being old-fashioned, as ever, but how on earth can you have a seven-seater minivan?
In US terminology, how big is a 'minivan'?
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Well after disappearing into the twilight zone of Yosemite (no cellphone service and so no Blackberry) I got a message to go to San Jose airport for an exchange. Now in a Chrysler Voyager Town and Country with amazingly flexible seating, very comfortable, very roomy and what we wanted in the first place!
Very impressive as a family bus with a gearlever just in the right position for fingertip changing. Pity about the economy of 18mpg.
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>> Well after disappearing into the twilight zone of Yosemite (no cellphone service and so no
>> Blackberry)
At least you made it out again without a bear hanging on your wifes arm!
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10816235
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>> how big is a 'minivan'?
>>
'minivan' is same as the traditional people carrier here - original renault Espace / Ford Galaxy type of thing. Dodge Caravan would be the typical US minivan.
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The Ford Escape we had was a faux 4x4. Clearly only 2wd (despite being claimed as an upgrade by the counter clerk on SF) its cabin was less roomy than a gold although the boot was fairly square and sizeable. Still far too small for a family of five with luggage - and I only take a toothbrush! The ride was too wallowy in the mountains, the steering was dangerously lax and there was not a great deal of power. The autobox had no proper manual override so not great in the mountains (again) and the seats were uncomfortable.
The Chrysler is more comfortable, but I am not sure how I will like a 300 mile trip init in one day.
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Just got back from Florida this morning. Normally order something 'interesting' when it comes to the car hire (Mustang in Texas was pretty dire though)..but this time with a flight delay and a 2.5 year old that I swear never sat still for a whole 9 hours i was too tired and ratty to bother much and just stuck with my original 'full size' category...and got a Chevrolet Malibu...an utterly gutless front wheel drive Omega sized thing, with a 4 cyl engine. The trip computer said its' ave fuel was 22.5mpg and I certainly wasn't thrapping it, far from it. What a dreadful car.
On another previous trip to Texas I went for an 'upgrade' to a premium designation and got a 4 cyl, Toyota Camry which was virtually brand new. Was intially disappointed that this was a so called 'premium car'...but if i'm honest I quite liked it... for what it was. Still had plastic wheel covers on steel wheels, no sunroof, cloth interior.
The Jap products are definitely better than the home grown...by far.
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"....but this time with a flight delay and a 2.5 year old that I swear never sat still for a whole 9 hours i was too tired and ratty to bother much and just stuck with my original 'full size' category..."
And don't they play on the fact???
"Would you like to upgrade blah blah......?"
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I just got back from a short break in Banff, Canada where I hired a Mazda 3. I don't know what engine it had, but it's the first car I've driven since my 1987 Sierra 1.6 which slowed down on hills. I was following a pickup pulling a caravan, and on a hill moved out to pass him, but then moved back when I noticed I was slowing down and he was pulling away from me!
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Having had the Chrysler Town & Country (a Voyager to us) for a few days I though I would give a brief overview.
Basically a large MPV with seven seats in a 2/2/3 arrangement with the four seats at the front/middle being individual chairs. The drivers is electric but no memory and the steering wheel adjusts for rake but not reach. The middle chairs can fold into the floor into what are otherwise hidden cubby holes. Very useful for storing the laptop when out during the day. The rear seats split 1/3 2/3 and also fold into the floor. When not folded there is a very useful deep well behind them. I have not looked but I assume there is no spare wheel.
Therefore the car is very suitable for a family of five with loads of luggage and a very impressive family car. We are all happy as passengers........
As a user (but not driver) the car is also impressive with electric sliding side doors and an electric tailgate. Lots of internal lights and power points including an AC 110V outlet! No idea how to use it yet.
As a driver the car is less successful. The good point is the position of the gear lever, which enables good manual override of the gearbox when going up and down gears. That is where things go downhill. The driving position is OK, but the rear view mirror is as waste of time and the door mirrors have so little convex(ness?) that overtaking or pulling out is impossible without a look over the shoulder when one would not normally be required. The gearbox has a huge gap between 3rd and 4th which is no good for hill driving and the engine manages about 22mpg (Imperial) for a trip when even my old Outback would have gotten 28mpg. Rather poor for a modern car. In auto mode the box refuses to kickdown unless provoked in which case it drops about three ratios and lurches ahead at speed.
The suspension like all US cars is too wallowy and all my three kids and Espadrille have felt sick at times whereas we have all agreed that the S-Max would have been more comfortable in this sense although less roomy overall.
Overall - adequate, but not for me in Manchester unless I needed something much larger (I don't) and the suspension was improved.
Anyway the last long trip is tomorrow (San Luis Obispo to Anaheim LA) and thereafter local trips in LA, and giving the car back on Friday afternoon. So TTFN. In New York State early next week visiting the Catskills for some immersion in the y**dish culture (Oy vey!) and hopefully I will get the car I asked for!
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Odd?
You would think I could use the word 'Yi ddish' without offending the swear filter. Ah well! and to think I don't even support Spurs..............
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...Odd?...
Very odd - 'Yi ddish' is not swear word, be you a Jew or a Gentile.
I'm the latter, but I do support Spurs - Come on you Lilywhites!
Last edited by: ifithelps on Mon 2 Aug 10 at 05:51
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It probably does not like the y-i-d part, which I think most would consider an anti semetic insult.
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True, but just as African Americans call themselves n******r, so ultra orthodox Jews refer to fellow Jews as "a y-i-d".
Anyway - back to cars eh??
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Yes back to cars!
At Newark Airport we got a Dodge Grand Caravan which is the same as the Chrysler we had but with less toys, a smaller engine and less gears. Thank the lord we only had it for three days and I was drinking beer for one of those!
Anyway back to the UK. Got the S-Max back from the valet parking and just threw all the luggage in the back and drive off. No fiddling around trying to make it fit like I had to in the much larger Chryslers, because it has a 2-3-2 seat arrangement not 2-2-3. Not only that, the S-Max is far quicker, more economical and has better ride and handling than the Chryslers.
Why do Ford not sell these in the US like they sell Fiestas and Foci? They would do really well. They have all the toys the Yanks want and some, and are so much better.
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USA driving - Biggles
