My wife and I were rear-ended a few weeks ago. No damage to us, but the car suffered a few scrapes and scratches. We weren't at fault, so the car is in for repairs. And we have temporarily acquired a rental car.
Our car is a Saturn Vue. A 2007, with the V6 engine. This is a small SUV with a surprising amount of power. We don't have the all wheel drive version, just the front wheel.
The rental is a Dodge Caliber. It's not a bad car. It's just not ours.
"We only have two rules for the car," they told me before I signed the paperwork, "No smoking and no pets." Neither is a problem for me - my wife is allergic to smoke and the cats don't like riding in the car. And we don't like having the cats in the car, either.
So at least the interior doesn't smell like smoke or dogs.
The steering wheel and the pedals are the wrong distance apart - when I can reach the pedals comfortably, I feel like I'm hugging the steering wheel. When the steering wheel is comfortable, the pedals are a stretch. And the steering wheel blocks too much of the instrument cluster - I wound up having to decide what I was okay with not seeing. The car is just not designed for someone with my proportions - the armrests are too low. I like to rest my elbow on the armrests while I drive, and I can't do that in this car. And I hit my head on the door frame every time I get into the car.
The ceiling is too low; I feel like I'm driving a cave. The fact that the windows are too small doesn't help. And they're small all the way around; the blind spots in this thing are terrible. I normally hate changing lanes - and that's in a car with decent vision out the sides and rear of the car. I can't see where I'm going to be heading in this thing.
There is static on the radio - it has built-in Sirius, but the rental agency doesn't pay for it, so I can't listen to it. So I'm stuck with the static.
The acceleration profile is too different from our car, too. When I push the pedal, I expect it to go. This one? Doesn't. I suspect it has a standard four-cylinder engine - and I'd wager this car weighs about the same as my Saturn.
The suspension is awful, too. I can feel every bump on the road - and taking a speed bump? Not fun. At all. I don't know if the suspension is shot because it's a rental car, or if some smartass thought a sports suspension would be the way to go for this car, but it makes for an uncomfortable drive.
And it's interesting - "Nimble" is not a word I usually think of to describe an SUV, but, compared to my Vue, the handling in this car is downright sluggish. Combining this with the poor blind spots mentioned above, and lane changes really suck. I'm just glad my commute doesn't generally involve much swerving or dodging.
And I miss my heated seats.
I'm only supposed to be in this thing for a few days before I get my car back. I just hope I can manage without going insane in the meantime.
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