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Rental 4x4s Report

Unimog

Unimog

Eric
Location
Stansbury Park, UT
I rented two different 4x4s over the last week and wanted to rave and gripe about them somewhere.

First vehicle, I needed to transport some cargo from Stockton, CA to Utah, so I rented a pickup from Hertz in Oakland, and drove it back to Utah in a day. They assigned me a new Silverado crew cab with 7500 miles on it. Not sure what drivetrain, but I'm assuming the newest generation of 5.3/4L60.
The good:
  • Nice tie downs in the bed!
  • It got great mileage! When the speed limits were around 70, I was getting about 23. In Nevada, I kept it a little above 80 and still got about 21, according to the trip computer.
The bad:
  • The suspension on this truck sucked! It is a rental, so I am open to the fact that someone in the first 7500 miles could have rented it and used it as a prerunner. It was like driving a 1973 olds 88 with worn out front shocks! I swear that going over any uneven pavement or bridges would cause it to completely lose composure!
  • Drivetrain was ok, but felt like a 20 year old drivetrain. I rented an F150 with the 10-speed earlier this year to transport a motorcycle - maybe that just has me spoiled.
  • Interior was just ok. Seats not really comfortable, etc.
  • I've owned two Blazer/jimmy's and 2 suburbans. I consider myself a GM guy, but I couldn't love this truck.
Second vehicle: My wife and I wanted to spend a few days in LA. My son just bought a house down there and we wanted to check it out. I rented a midsize SUV through Hotwire for $21/day. It ended up being honored by NU Rentals. I wanted something that would hold 4 people that we could explore dirt roads. NU Rentals is located in the Westin LAX lobby, so much nicer shuttle than the rental car center. Check in process at NU was horrible. There were 4 people in line and it was taking about 10 minutes per customer. By the time I got to the front, they said: "we don't have any SUVs. You can have a Wrangler or a minivan". I said I would take the wrangler, thinking that we might not be able to transport 4 comfortably. They ended up giving me a brand new wrangler unlimited sport with 400 miles on it. Tons of warnings about not going off road and huge fees if you return it full of sand, etc!
The good:
  • Loved the 2.0 turbo motor and drivetrain! Not a powerhouse, but plenty adequate with stock tires on the freeway and everywhere else. Even at 80 mph, it still had oomph to pass. I don't know what tranny this has, but it always seemed to have the right gear for what we are doing.
  • Great mileage! I drive really conservative, but it got 26-27 mpg according to the computer.
  • 20 Gallon tank was a plus - only had to fill up once.
  • Surprisingly quiet on the freeway with no headliner. Easy to carry on a conversation at 75 mph.
  • Fun to blast down dirt roads. My son has taken up paragliding, so he took me paragliding in the mountains above San Bernardino.
The bad:
  • The sport had manual windows and manual locks. There is no way to unlock the rear doors without reaching from the inside and unlocking. No way to unlock the tailgate without a key.
  • The key fob was gigantic! Maybe twice the size of a normal key fob. It did have keyless ignition, which I am a fan of, but without even being able to unlock remotely, it was super inconvenient to lock/unlock and then carry this giant fob around!
  • Radio in the jeep had a defect and kept rebooting. The radio was a touch screen, with maybe a 4" screen. Not the best, but at least with CarPlay and bluetooth.
I liked this thing enough that I would buy one for tooling around in as long as it had power locks. I would also chance from NU rentals again as long as you are patient with the check out process. They have a fleet of these wranglers, so I'm guessing this kind of substitution happens regularly. I literally had the wrangler for 4 days for about $100 with taxes!
 
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