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I went down south to close on our house and needed a rental for 10 days. I get to the Hertz counter and had a Crown Vic reserved. The guy said we have either a Vic or a Bonneville or LeSabre. I was like, please, I don't want any GM crap, the last time I was there I rented an Impala which was the biggest POS I've driven in a long time; I think I scared my wife a few times taking some turns at the speed limit, she was like SLOW DOWN...just give me something with low miles please!
So the agent says I have one of those new Ford 500's, do you want to try that? Now I've heard/read all of the negative press on the new 500, it's underpowered, blah blah blah. Yeah, I'll take that! 4500 mi. on the clock and a nice shade of dark red metallic to boot. I get in, hmm nice big side mirrors that must have been lifted from the F150 parts bin. Nice seating position. The column stalks are so big that I grabbed the wipers the first few times to shift into park haha. Not as underpowered as they are saying, you're not going to take on a G35 for instance but totally acceptable for everyday use. I like the way the blinker returns at the last turn of the wheel like a euorpean car. It was good on gas too, I think I filled it up twice in 10 days. Huge trunk.
Now, for the bad. The rear windows don't open all the way which I believe to be a safety hazard. There is a horrible chime that sounds when you don't buckle up within 30 sec. I can put my belt on like a big boy, thank you. I also didn't care for the fact that I couldn't shift from D to N without pressing the shift button. Before backing up, I like to pop the car in neutral and roll before reversing. With the button pressed that seemed like a accidental reverse waiting to happen. Worst of all this particular car made a horrible noise from the front end while turning the wheel. At first I thought it could be a CV joint but it made the noise while standing still. Then maybe I thought the lugs were loose? I hate having to diagnose rental cars. Finally, I stopped caring but it was a little unnerving thinking the front wheel could fall off. In all fairness, it was a rental and who knows what it's been through in it's short life. I didn't tell Hertz b/c I didn't want to be blamed for any potential damage.
Would I buy one? No way but it wasn't a bad car to spend a week + in.
posted by 69.113.106...
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