[PascalsWager]

Car is in the shop, and insurance served up a 2013 Ford Taurus Limited.

What a total piece of shit.

Heavy, FWD, weak 4 cyl, <25 mpg highway, jumpy throttle, cruise-ship handling, atrocious seats/interior ergonomics/overall interior materials. No heated seats? No digital speed readout on dash? No actual dash buttons, just 'sensors' to 'press' (rest on)...and the damn seating position is one of the worst I've ever been in.

Why would anyone buy this car?

After just 3 days of this awful machine, I'm beginning to wonder if $$$ for dealer work is worth it just for the loaner? LOL


Apologies, rant over. I need my E90 back stat.

I'll appreciate the 'cool story brah' replies.

-PW

[Nebraska330xi]

Originally Posted by PascalsWager

Car is in the shop, and insurance served up a 2013 Ford Taurus Limited.

What a total piece of shit.

Heavy, FWD, weak 4 cyl, &lt;25 mpg highway, jumpy throttle, cruise-ship handling, atrocious seats/interior ergonomics/overall interior materials. No heated seats? No digital speed readout on dash? No actual dash buttons, just 'sensors' to 'press' (rest on)...and the damn seating position is one of the worst I've ever been in.

Why would anyone buy this car?

After just 3 days of this awful machine, I'm beginning to wonder if $$$ for dealer work is worth it just for the loaner? LOL


Apologies, rant over. I need my E90 back stat.

I'll appreciate the 'cool story brah' replies.

-PW

Had hail damage repaired last year and I got a Toyota sienna loaded with auto open rear door. Sick whip bruh. The steering was so light you could "throw" it fully to the left or right. Any ways I'm sick of work so I'll keep telling stories. I get c-classes when I get my oil changed and even the 2014 ones with AmG logos isn't better than my 330!

[Falafel Combo]

I had a 2013 Ford Taurus last time I was in North Carolina and absolutely loved that thing. The build and quality felt solid, stable at high speeds, quiet cabin and I especially liked the steering. It was truly enjoyable to drive. I was thinking "damn Ford, it's about damn time you made a decent car!" No, obviously it's no BMW, but at the very minimum it makes the BMW seem waaaaay over priced. You make it sound like a POS car, but I disagree.

[infidel335]

I feel your pain. I've been put in a Chevy Aveo twice when my car was in the shop and was furious each time. I had to turn the A/C off to merge onto the highway.

[Mardio]

Never driven one but I would be curious to know if the SHO is better. I remember the 90s SHO was a beast with power.

[MrPig]

Better highway MPG than my STI ...

[cuiter23]

Why didn't the dealer give you a BMW loaner?

[PascalsWager]

Originally Posted by cuiter23

Why didn't the dealer give you a BMW loaner?

The car isn't at the dealer - insurance is covering a shattered headlight from road debris, car came from Enterprise via Geico.

To be fair, the Taurus is a quiet and smooth highway car. The Sync system is intuitive and the hvac/radio/info controls are clear. The screen is a bit of a reach and lean forward. (I dont have i-Drive on my E90). The exterior looks aren't bad although its a 'tall' car.

While overall build quality may be enhanced to the 500 debacle, I still think the cockpit layout, seats and interior materials are poor. Somehow the Fusion comes off as the more refined, enjoyable vehicle (cockpit and driving experience).

Yes, it's not an (entry level) luxury sport sedan. I guess its the little things you start to take for granted? Good seats, firm steering and handling, and excellent tactile experience, clean lines...

[techie182]

IMO worst car is Hyundai. Weak engine, light weight metal plates, super light steering wheel. I don't think it people will survive the highway crash with it.
Bought 2013 Hyundai Sonata for parents. Should've done more researching before buying it.
Surprise they didn't give you newer bimmer for loaner. My dealerships gave me 2013~14 bimmers and tried to get me trade my car in.

[mike-y]

Originally Posted by cuiter23

Why didn't the dealer give you a BMW loaner?

some dealers don't have a big fleet of loaners to give out, so they rent you a car.


Last time I had a rental, I got a 2012 toyota corolla S. I wasn't expecting much, but was pretty disappointed with how bland the interior was, and how cheap feeling it was. Didn't drive badly per se, but man, was that car boring.

I turned it in and swapped it for a Ford Focus SE to go on a weekend trip with my GF. wow, what a difference. The Focus had wayyy better seats and interior trim. It also had Sync which was really nice, 2 LCD screens, and the one in the gauge pod had customizable options for the display. it just seemed like you got so much more in the focus, both in styling, and quality of the materials.

I also really liked how the Focus felt and drove compared to the corolla. Both were slow, so there wasn't much to compare speed wise, but the focus seemed to be a bit better on the highway.

Also, at the end of our trip, I filled up the tank on the focus. we went 430 miles on a single tank which calc'd at 39.99999 miles per gallon.

[NormE91]

The last time the dealer gave me a rental it was a Chevy Captiva. It's a small SUV that is apparently made only for the rental industry. It really sucked, but it was simple and got the job done. Hate complaining when I'm not paying!

I got a Chrysler 300 once, and while I didn't really like the car the comfort access worked really well. Every BMW loaner I've had the CA was iffy, and I was surprised Chrysler could make a system that worked better than BMW.

[jeffro535]

OMG, I travel so much for work, I typically get upgraded, but upgrades are in the eye of the beholder. Normally they try to upgrade me to the biggest boat they have. Other times it's a 328 or a F37 A couple of times, I refused the boat and they at least gave me the nicest chevy cruze they had. Not a great car, but at least it'll go around a corner at more than 3mph and can merge ok (at least the turbo can).Now if they could just do something with their idiotic infotainment system.

[Dark_Knight_335]

You could have no car at all...it could always be worse.

[duky]

Rentals are bittersweet for me. I hate them most of the time (Ford Focus I drove recently was pretty decent though) but I love the feeling when I get back into the driver's seat of my car. Makes me appreciate it all over again

[DOMs335D]

It seems a few years ago I would get one econo drive after the other and I have to agree with one poster that the Corolla was by far the worst. No idea how they outsell the focus, for the small difference in price I would pick the focus 10 out 10 times. Recently it seems they always have a bmw loaner for me so I am happy... (remember no car handles like a rental car haha)

[Meeni]

Rentals are a good way to sample the market. You have good surprises occasionally. I liked a lot the Cruze (even the stripper the rentals give you). Not comfy, no pretensions, but it was a pretty fun FW platform. I hated the Chevy Malibu, its the opposite, all trying to look mean and slick, but everything is poor quality, looks cheap and drives like a boat. Most of the time they are just forgettable

[bahasad]

Originally Posted by techie182

IMO worst car is Hyundai. Weak engine, light weight metal plates, super light steering wheel. I don't think it people will survive the highway crash with it.
Bought 2013 Hyundai Sonata for parents. Should've done more researching before buying it.
Surprise they didn't give you newer bimmer for loaner. My dealerships gave me 2013~14 bimmers and tried to get me trade my car in.

You must have had a bad one. I drove a rental 2013 Sonata 2.0T for a 1500 mile round trip to Upstate New York/Canada. It was great. Ample power, great fuel economy, lots of space inside, good interior features. First Hyundai ever and I was mighty impressed. I could see it as a very good daily driver with less headaches and niggles compared to our BMWs.

[Wycy]

I've had 2013 Ford Fusion rentals twice in the past year, and I felt like I had incredibly different experiences both times. I thought the first one felt like an awesome car, great interior, great drive feel. I thought the second one felt like crap. I have literally no idea what the difference was between the two (different model? different trim level? no idea). It could be a YMMV type of thing depending on exactly which configuration of the car you have.

[galahad05]

I'm hoping to try out a Ford Focus rental one of these days.
I'll probably just get another minivan though.