Maybe it is common but I've never come across it.
I am in New Orleans right now and have just taken back my 3 day rental - a Toyota Tacoma pickup - one of these, very nice and shiny in black. www.toyota.com/tacoma/
First thing was how high up it is. I doubt SWMBO wouldn't have been able to get in and out as she has minor hip problems. I don't have a tape measure with me but I'd say the door opening is getting on for 2ft off the ground, with no step (just above my knee height).
Next it was OK to dive, usual autobox, and felt quite economic. I did about 400 miles in three days and when I filled it it took just over $40 and a (US) gallon is only $2.67 (just over £2) so about 15 gallons - so actually the maths tells me that it wasn't THAT economical after all.
Anyway my main query is steering and braking. It had a really tight turning circle, which is handy when you do U turns on the highway here. But the tighter you turned it, the less it wanted to move. On it's tightest lock it was like the handbrake had been left on, and forcing it to move you could hear the tyres scrubbing along the tarmac. Is that normal? I wondered if is rwd and maybe that'd be why, though it almost felt dangerous sometimes as you have to give it some quite serious beans to get it to move and that resulted in a lurch forwards.
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Hope you're having a wonderful time Smokie!
Perhaps some sort of protection from doing doughnuts (donuts over there)?
Could be traction control?
Last edited by: zippy on Fri 16 May 25 at 02:09
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>> the tyres scrubbing along the tarmac. Is that normal?
Yes thats normal for one of those, indeed most of the big US 4x4 trucks with basic drive trains, Huge tryes, and live rear axles.
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I would say normal depending on the tyres, diff, drive axle and 4X4 configuration. I would imagine it being fairly agricultural. If it was normally FWD with occasional assistance from the back then it should be good. The other way I an imagine it wanting to push on the path of least resistance for the drivetrain hence forward even with some lock on.
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Was it 4x4? That's typical behaviour with the diff locks on
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I don't know if it was 4x4, it would have only been a boringly cheap one I expect, from Sixt, so nothing special engine-wise. Though there were knobs and buttons which I didn't know what to do with so I just didn't touch them. One was something about towing IIRC.
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Out of curiosity, how much for 3 days rental ?
Fortunately, when I stay with friends in CA, they let me borrow one of their cars…normally their old Toyota V8 pick up which really guzzles gas. I won’t be visiting them for a few years.
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It was horrendously expensive, which was why it was only for 3 days rather than the 8 we are here for.
It was $242 (c £180) incl second driver (which was not necessary and hardly worth it but daughter was keen to drive here). That's more than I've sometimes paid for my 7 week rentals in Portugal (though I usually only have something like a Seat Ibiza size). I could have had a more ordinary car for maybe $180 but we fancied something "different".
On another note, I bought a Jazzy pass yesterday which covers you for all the buses, streetcars and the ferry for a day. It was 80 cents! About the only cheap thing here!! I'd plotted out my itinerary for the day using Google but broke it after the first stop (St Louis Cemetery no 3) as I realised that with waiting times for Saturday/bus services and some difficulty locating stops I'd been too ambitious. Lunch was fine though, a 6" hot Peacemaker Po'Boy (shrimps, oyster, cheese and bacon) and a couple of pints of Amber here www.mahonyspoboys.com/ It was nearly $50 though, incl tip...
Last edited by: smokie on Sun 18 May 25 at 15:07
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>>Horrendously expensive...
Sounds like you're having fun!
Last time I went to the USA, it was about $2 to the £, so it seemed good value.
I recall being dragged in to "Red Lobster". I know it's not the best, but the kids loved sea-food and got treated to lobsters which are so much more expensive here.
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That is normal for a rental-spec 4x4, the gears can almost be felt through the steering wheel at full lock. Shoguns and Hiluxes are particularly bad for it, although 4wd on both can be disengaged.
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No-one explained that to me on handover... I didn't know it was 4wd!!
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Pickup - weird steering/braking - zippy
