Post by alf on Feb 15, 2024 17:00:25 GMT
Just back from a few days in Spain "celebrating" my 50th... Previously I hired a battered but functional Focus from Alicante airport, for €8 for 3 days, on one of my best ever value trips (also to Calpe) pre-COVID. This time I specified automatic (which I find easier on the "wrong" side) and 6 days was still only £47, choosing the company based partly on ratings.
The car was an interesting look at a modern vehicle. Its a sort of crossover hatch, effectively SUV ride height with a slinkier body. It looks OK, and it was certainly comfortable and easy to drive. As a hire car the dash/screen/controls were very good, simple displaying the current speed against speed limit in a clear fashion and big numbers on the dash (something OEM's find so hard) and with far less clutter than most. The nav screen was decent, and best of all, my one foray into the settings (to switch off the The view out is utterly pointless abortion of a "safety feature" that is lane assistance) was very simple. They have put a button close to the driver under the screen with a car symbol, press that and the first option on the (better than most) touch screen was exactly that. Much easier than most cars.
The engine on this 130bhp petrol model (a quick look at Citroen's website doesn't tell me what size it is without getting bored) was decent too. It was rough in a 4-pot DI sort of way at low revs, but with as little lag as any turbo (I'm assuming) I have used, it pulled well at low revs on a part throttle and revved smoother than you would think from it's near-diesel slow speed roughness. My only issue with these ubiquitous modern engines being that you get so much on a part throttle and low revs, when you really want more, there is not much. I'm spoiled, I know. The gearbox was efficient, only on some extremely steep mountain roads did I put it into Sport mode when it struggled. Efficiency wise I didn't work it out, but on a full tank on collection it was showing 640k or so, after I drove for an hour it was more like 780, when I filled up the one time before collection it was showing over 900k, so pretty good.
The massive elephant in the room however, is the handling. On good tyres, with 9k km on the clock and feeling fresh, it handled like a boat. And that was with me driving like a saint just wanting to avoid any hassles on return (ironically, see below). I expect if I dropped off the audible driver behaviour warning device so she could have a coffee (shes not a fan of me ragging unknown cars) there would be decent modern-car grip behind the extremely off-putting levels of body roll and sensations of weight transfer, but I find no pleasure in going past that discomfort to access it. Every "raised" platform vehicle I have driven, from the Q3 (which I got to know well enough to push more) through Disco sports and E and F Paces (which I have slalomed and tracked to my displeasure) to this, has the same behaviour. It's presumably basic physics but it just makes the most enjoyable part of driving in my world - the sensations of pitching a car into and through a corner - impossible to enjoy. Even if the thing will actually grip. They also just feel less safe for emergency manouvres at speed - which can be needed however you try and drive (thanks, deer, and dopey drivers). This is what the public wants, so I get that the OEM's make them, but the public are wrong. The Focus estate I hired in Austria a decade ago, as an example, was a cooking model hire car with as much space, but it spanked this thing dead for driver involvement, enjoyment, and handling ability.
As for the hire company.... I drove it like a saint for three long motorway trips, parked it securely with nothing alongside, and on return they spent ages going over it and came up with the circled "new damage" on the plastic wheel arch cover, for which they made me feel they were doing me a favour for charging "the lowest possible" €185. Now my hire car experiences in Spain have generally involved a well beaten-up vehicle, that they then gave zero f*cks about on return, so - especially given I didn't trust the nasty bastard in one of the pics on collection - I should have fine toothed combed it on collection, taken a million photos, and argued my case. I was a tad worried about various hairline scratches a few inches long, but they cared not about them. Weirdly they spent ages looking in the boot at the parcel shelf as well, which was unseated on collection (I had to stop and put it back in) and reviews of Drivalia (previously Leasys) Alicante have plenty of people stung for fees for parcel shelf damage, as if they mis-seat it hoping you will slam the boot on it, and snap off some tiny plastic fixing they can then charge you €185 for. I have insurance for big hire car damage but it appears not to cover small bodywork issues. First time I have been stung in many hires, it left a bad taste as I had tried to look after the damn thing so well, and while there are plenty of similar reviews, there are enough 5-star ones with no comment to cancel them out, the other hire companies had much worse reviews overall. See what you think of the damage - it could not really be a third party, looks like it's been driven up a big kerb or something to me, gently - it was not me. Oh well........ I'm now going to eviscrate them with a pithily-written review on every platform I can find, to make myself feel better....
The car was an interesting look at a modern vehicle. Its a sort of crossover hatch, effectively SUV ride height with a slinkier body. It looks OK, and it was certainly comfortable and easy to drive. As a hire car the dash/screen/controls were very good, simple displaying the current speed against speed limit in a clear fashion and big numbers on the dash (something OEM's find so hard) and with far less clutter than most. The nav screen was decent, and best of all, my one foray into the settings (to switch off the The view out is utterly pointless abortion of a "safety feature" that is lane assistance) was very simple. They have put a button close to the driver under the screen with a car symbol, press that and the first option on the (better than most) touch screen was exactly that. Much easier than most cars.
The engine on this 130bhp petrol model (a quick look at Citroen's website doesn't tell me what size it is without getting bored) was decent too. It was rough in a 4-pot DI sort of way at low revs, but with as little lag as any turbo (I'm assuming) I have used, it pulled well at low revs on a part throttle and revved smoother than you would think from it's near-diesel slow speed roughness. My only issue with these ubiquitous modern engines being that you get so much on a part throttle and low revs, when you really want more, there is not much. I'm spoiled, I know. The gearbox was efficient, only on some extremely steep mountain roads did I put it into Sport mode when it struggled. Efficiency wise I didn't work it out, but on a full tank on collection it was showing 640k or so, after I drove for an hour it was more like 780, when I filled up the one time before collection it was showing over 900k, so pretty good.
The massive elephant in the room however, is the handling. On good tyres, with 9k km on the clock and feeling fresh, it handled like a boat. And that was with me driving like a saint just wanting to avoid any hassles on return (ironically, see below). I expect if I dropped off the audible driver behaviour warning device so she could have a coffee (shes not a fan of me ragging unknown cars) there would be decent modern-car grip behind the extremely off-putting levels of body roll and sensations of weight transfer, but I find no pleasure in going past that discomfort to access it. Every "raised" platform vehicle I have driven, from the Q3 (which I got to know well enough to push more) through Disco sports and E and F Paces (which I have slalomed and tracked to my displeasure) to this, has the same behaviour. It's presumably basic physics but it just makes the most enjoyable part of driving in my world - the sensations of pitching a car into and through a corner - impossible to enjoy. Even if the thing will actually grip. They also just feel less safe for emergency manouvres at speed - which can be needed however you try and drive (thanks, deer, and dopey drivers). This is what the public wants, so I get that the OEM's make them, but the public are wrong. The Focus estate I hired in Austria a decade ago, as an example, was a cooking model hire car with as much space, but it spanked this thing dead for driver involvement, enjoyment, and handling ability.
As for the hire company.... I drove it like a saint for three long motorway trips, parked it securely with nothing alongside, and on return they spent ages going over it and came up with the circled "new damage" on the plastic wheel arch cover, for which they made me feel they were doing me a favour for charging "the lowest possible" €185. Now my hire car experiences in Spain have generally involved a well beaten-up vehicle, that they then gave zero f*cks about on return, so - especially given I didn't trust the nasty bastard in one of the pics on collection - I should have fine toothed combed it on collection, taken a million photos, and argued my case. I was a tad worried about various hairline scratches a few inches long, but they cared not about them. Weirdly they spent ages looking in the boot at the parcel shelf as well, which was unseated on collection (I had to stop and put it back in) and reviews of Drivalia (previously Leasys) Alicante have plenty of people stung for fees for parcel shelf damage, as if they mis-seat it hoping you will slam the boot on it, and snap off some tiny plastic fixing they can then charge you €185 for. I have insurance for big hire car damage but it appears not to cover small bodywork issues. First time I have been stung in many hires, it left a bad taste as I had tried to look after the damn thing so well, and while there are plenty of similar reviews, there are enough 5-star ones with no comment to cancel them out, the other hire companies had much worse reviews overall. See what you think of the damage - it could not really be a third party, looks like it's been driven up a big kerb or something to me, gently - it was not me. Oh well........ I'm now going to eviscrate them with a pithily-written review on every platform I can find, to make myself feel better....
