Enterprise Car Rentals Etc etc

[needsducktape]

So I had several rentals over the last few weeks due to car repairs, accidents and visiting neighboring cities (not wanting to put the miles on my car).

My First rental was a Toyota Yaris sedan-
Pretty tame car, does not remind me of my moms 2010 Corolla as I thought it might.
Gets better gas mileage than I expected but the steering felt very "loose" and did NOT inspire confidence on the highway, but city was fine. I HATE the off center gauge cluster layout even after a 4 days I could not get used to it. But as with my toyotas of the past, I felt it was built to be simple but reliable.

Chevy sonic: I was totally surprised by how much I liked it. I thought I would dislike the motorcycle instrument cluster layout but it totally worked. Its blue and bright and does not get washed out as with some digital clusters -and most important the Tach is still analog (Just like my sport bike) I was very impressed with the interior quality (considering my last Chevy rentals: Cobalt & Aveo...horrible)
The steering and drive felt very similar to my old VW golf (that is a good thing)
I would be interested to drive a manual transmission Sonic, I bet it would actually be fun!

This was in no way scientific just my opinion.

 

[michaelluscher]

An american made car superior to a japanese car???
Get ready....

 

[rjundi]

Originally Posted By: michaelluscher
An american made car superior to a japanese car???
Get ready....

Sonic is really a GM Korea car with a dabble of US touches. Neat car if you don't have lots to spend on a brand new vehicle.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Even though the Sonic is the successor to the Aveo, it's lightyears ahead in every aspect.

 

[wander2039]

Originally Posted By: rjundi
Originally Posted By: michaelluscher
An american made car superior to a japanese car???
Get ready....

Sonic is really a GM Korea car with a dabble of US touches. Neat car if you don't have lots to spend on a brand new vehicle.


Well too bad is has the chevy name plate. Would be a good addition to the other Korea built car with Ford name plate in our driveway.

 

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: rjundi


Sonic is really a GM Korea car with a dabble of US touches. Neat car if you don't have lots to spend on a brand new vehicle.


Actually most of the car is a co production of the GM Germany/Europe (Opel) division and their Asian Korean division (Daewoo)

This car is called the Opel Corsa in Europe.

The reason why it handles and drives like VW is because the suspension was designed in Germany by Opel.

I'll have to test drive one of these in a manual transmission version.

 

[michaelluscher]

That's kinda why I would buy one, it speaks to my age and with a 1.4 turbo + 6 Speed would be loads of fun. The looks are good, and reasonably priced.

 

[rjundi]

There are some real nice choices in this segment like Sonic and FIT. Remember the old days of what they offered

 

[antiqueshell]

The one thing I would like even more is to have GM resurrect the Opel name in the USA and make it the Youth oriented/ performance car division...

The Opel version of the Sonic (Opel Corsa) has nicer design elements in my opinion and the suspension probably slightly more oriented towards European preferences.

 

[needsducktape]

Originally Posted By: antiqueshell
The one thing I would like even more is to have GM resurrect the Opel name in the USA and make it the Youth oriented/ performance car division...

The Opel version of the Sonic (Opel Corsa) has nicer design elements in my opinion and the suspension probably slightly more oriented towards European preferences.


Toyota was smart in creating Scion- I think Chevy would benefit similarly.
The Sonic really did remind me of the Vw Golf/GTI of a few years back -quite impressive for an "entry level" car.

 

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: needsducktape

The Sonic really did remind me of the Vw Golf/GTI of a few years back -quite impressive for an "entry level" car.


Which generation of the Golf did it remind you of most the Rabbit GTI (1976-84) or the MKII Golf GTI (1986-1992)?

 

[Hootbro]

Originally Posted By: needsducktape


Toyota was smart in creating Scion- I think Chevy would benefit similarly.
The Sonic really did remind me of the Vw Golf/GTI of a few years back -quite impressive for an "entry level" car.


Chevy/GM already tried a similar concept back in the 1980's and 1990's, it was called "GEO". To a lesser extent, the SATURN brand was also suppose to capture a similar youth market with niche vehicles but like all things GM, they start great and then the Mothership corporate steers the train off the tracks.

 

[antiqueshell]

Geo brand really didn't have a connotation of
youth or performance from my recollection I'm old enough to remember the brand....

Saturn was not really about performance or youth but more about trying to drag japanese import owners into a domestic brand...also not so much about youth or performance. Even though near the end of the brands life they did bring a very heavily modified and decontented Opel Vectra (Saturn L series) to the USA. It was cheapened to the extreme and after the US division got their hands on it any pretension of sportiness or european style was eliminated.

The Opel name and product would be much more about, the only Opel product that made it unmolested to the US in recent history was the Opel Astra of a few years ago....by then Saturn was on its way out and there was no advertising budget to sell it.

I actually own one. Very nice car...and amazingly the US management kept hands off which resulted in a very Golf like experience and excellent handling, nice euro styling, and high build quality. It's been a very reliable car too and I got a GREAT price on it.