BiggD23

than being given a Mazda 626 to drive while they work on it. Ugh! No pickup whatsoever, no high-end acceleration, no nothing. And it only has 9k miles on it! Someone must have really beat this thing, unless they are all this slow. Is my Max done yet?

Anuj

just be happy they didn't give you a neon or a cavalier..

NT2SHBBY

that brings me to my comment on the new Mazda 6.....WTF??? I sat in it at the NY Auto Show and all I have to say is this...the Miata sat better!!!!

BiggD23

I actually test drove a Mazda 6 before I got my Max and I was not impressed. I really like the way the car looks but that's about it. It wasn't as quick as I thought it would be and I thought the interior was horrible. Especially for the price.

But the rental is Mazda 626...do they even still make these? This one only has 9k miles on it so it must be reasonably new.

jjs

Yep, up to 2002.

NT2SHBBY

yeah they still make em...I thought the new ones were much better looking than the previous gens....oh well guess once Ford buys a company, you know quality goes down the drain!!

SR20DEN

iTrader: (7)

Thank you for the flashback.

Blu

iTrader: (63)

I got a cavalier

skandalouz

iTrader: (2)

i once got a geo metro as a rental car.

jjs

I think I would have opted for my lawn mower!!!

Seriously, had over time a Grand Prix, Saturn L200, and Neon. ALL of them made me appreciate my car more.

SR20DEN

iTrader: (7)

Id count the Metro as an upgrade.

BiggD23

You didn't like the Grand Prix? I considered getting a Limited Edition before I bought the Maxima.

jjs

Nope. Felt cramped and I hate ALL GM buttons/switches that look like they belong on a Preschool toy. I mean bulbous, grey, cheap and huge. Also didn't think much about the acceleration, etc. Guess GTP's, etc are in a different league, but 'stock' GP's suck.

NT2SHBBY

Cramped?? did you drive a wide track edition? (post 97?) because the 99 I leased had PLENTY of room....and PLENTY of power....you must've rented the 3.1 liter V6...which sux *****!!

I had the 3.8 200hp edition (non SC)....it had plenty of power....as a matter of fact, before the maxima that was the most power I ever had to the front wheels....with the traction off I could smoke those tires endlessly on the GP...

my problem with the GP was the build quality or lack there of...at 3 years old, with 80k on the clock, the blower motor was dead (no HVAC) and the car had no suspension left

Maxman2000

iTrader: (5)

What is you max in for???

jjs

Wasn't a rental (worked it out as a loaner...Shhhh!!) so I didn't care...think what you may, I thought it sucked. It was a 2k2 and it felt cramped, end of story.

NT2SHBBY

it probably saw one of your purple cows and ran the other way

Maxman2000

iTrader: (5)

Maxman2000

iTrader: (5)

BiggD23

It's getting the leather put in and having a couple scratches and a ding that were there when I bought it taken care of.

snuffle18

My buddy calls me the other day and his quote was, "I got you beat" And I was like what ya talking about. "He is like I just bought the new mazda6." This happed a couple of day after I found out that ford was making the motor on those things. I went for a ride in it this past weekend and I kept my comments to myself. I closed the door and thought it was going to fall off. All I had in my head was "FOrd Escort" lol. He actually thinks that car would smoke my max. The mazda just feels like a cheap car...... And to think he is paying about 5 bills a month. WTF is he thinking????

Jakester

iTrader: (1)

I agree with the sentiments of the original poster, nothing makes me appreciate my max more than when I drive a different car. I travel for business and, rent cars every week, this week it is a Mustang, and, it is awful!!!!!

255HP_03_SE

The best rental I had was a Saab 9-3 convertible that I drove 145MPH on the autobahn for a few days.

Whooooo hooooo!

vito1281

I'll let you guys know how this car is...I'm doing the Mazda Rev It Up driving "school", and we'll be using the 6 cyl 5 speeders there.

MetaOrbit

iTrader: (19)

That's odd...last time I took my car in I got a G35..

jjs

And upfront you paid for that 'free loaner' in a higher Infiniti price than a Max!!

MetaOrbit

iTrader: (19)

Touche.

BiggD23

That is too funny. Before I got the Max I had a 2001 Grand Am GT leased and that was my biggest complaint, I thought I was the only one who noticed! The buttons for traction control and the emergency blinker were about the size of a fist.

jjs

Not at all!!! Hell, the controls on my Ram are designed for gloved hands and are no where near as 'clunky' as those lousy things!!

max...to the ma

he deserves to be taught a lesson! or kicked in the rear!

cpdc1030

The 626 espescially with the 4-cylinder is a pathetic car. Once I had one as a rental (and I was renting a FULL-SIZE car class...last time I rent from Dollar) that I had to drive to Windsor and back from Toronto (about 800km) in one day. The damn thing was so underpowered that I had to keep mashing the gas just to keep up with traffic. Even with cruise control on at 120 km/h the engine was droning loudly and begging to be driven slower. Just for the heck of it my friend took over and pushed it as fast as it would go...and when we finally got there he found that the speed is governed at a whopping 165 km/h.

And to top it off. In the end, I got worse fuel economy than my Max gets! 9.5 l/100km on the freeway!

PrinzII

iTrader: (2)

The best rental car for me was a Mark VIII.

The last rental car I had (Sable) had no cajones whatsoever and actually had worse mileage than the Max. They tried to give me a new Intrepid but the brake indicator light came on.

Previous to my '94, I had a Malibu, Alero, and Grand Am after the engine in my Caprice died. The Malibu's alternator croaked during the third week of rental.

AKM2k5

Yeah, mazda garrantees that the 626 will reach 6 mph in exactly 26 seconds.....

unrealii

iTrader: (8)

I did that two weeks ago. I didn't see anythign wrong with the car. I felt it was on par with the maxima in terms of interior quality. However, it greatly lacked the torque the maxima has to offer. In and all, it's not a bad car. At first I didn't think too much of it, but after the mazda rev it up, I want one

Axel

iTrader: (3)

Try renting a 2 litre diesel for 3 weeks (in Europe). When I got back to my Max, I thought I was driving an M5! Unfortunately, that feeling only lasted a day...sigh...

cwerdna

The worst rental I've ever had was a Chevy Metro. UGH! What a POS! At least it was the 4 cylinder model and not a 3.

From 0-40 it was acceptable... above that I really had to flog it. Going back to my Max was like night and day. Manual steering, lack of power and noise really sucked along w/the interior cheapness.

The car had quite a few miles on it for a rental (over 30 or 40K) and I'm surprised there weren't signficant rattles though. The other thing that surprised is that the wiper control actually felt pretty decent like one from a recent Toyota.

The best rentals I've had were maybe a 4 cylinder 2K3 Altima (crap interior though), V6 Mustang, a 2000 era Chevy Monte Carlo, and a 97 Maxima.