NYR 7-13-11 - rental cars

Today I picked up the rental car that we'll be using for the next couple weeks.

I, of course, rented a cheap car and refused to be upsold no matter how many times the website told me it would be "just another $22" to get the next grade higher. (Remember that number the Budget guy pulled on Jimmy a few months ago? On the little quick jaunt home that turned into an eternity? Yeah, well the cost of renting that midlife crisis red Mustang still smarts.)

So I rented a Toyota Corolla since that's what I drive at home and am comfortable with it. When I went to the Hertz office, the woman didn't know that I was coming in because apparently she didn't bother to check her computer. She told me that all she had fueled up and clean (and her idea of "clean" is questionable) was a Mazda 5. I asked what that was and she told me it was a mini-minivan. I asked if it costs the same as the Corolla rental and she said "yes" so I was sold.

Now here's why I like rental cars. Nay, love rental cars:

1. There are new buttons and radio controls and cup holders and plugs to be found. I'm a sucker for new buttons and radio controls and cup holders and plugs. We couldn't find the cup holder for the middle row of seats until we read the instruction manual. There was a whole little caddy thing folded up inside the seat that had to be pulled out. Once we got it out, it had cup holders and a storage area. How cool is that?

2. Rental cars are usually new. This particular car is a 2012 model which would make it 9 years older than the Corolla I currently drive. Nine years means it's shinier and smells newer and still has the factory floor mats which aren't stained from spilled soft drinks and mud-caked shoes.

3. A rental car's a short-term investment in a new car that you soon get to turn back in. I love driving this Mazda but maybe in two weeks, I'll be tired of the upholstery because it's too sweaty or I'll find out that I really do want more than 2 plugs in a mini-minivan (because after all there are more than 2 electronic gadgets that could need to be plugged in at any one time).

4. This particular car has 3 rows of seats so if Jimmy, Mac and I get tired of each other on vacation, we could all sit on a different row and have our own space. (Of course, we'd have to leave our luggage behind because with the third row of seats up, there would be no space in the way back for suitcases, but I'm just saying we could do that.)

5. In a rental car, you don't really worry about the pesky things you worry about with your own car. I'm not concerned about what sort of gas mileage this car gets or when the last oil change was. I'm just driving it, knowing that I can turn it back in in 2 weeks and the oil change is somebody else's problem.

I will enjoy the Mazda 5 for the time being, knowing that all too soon I'll be back in my 2003 Corolla with dents and scratches and chips on the windshield and Wal-Mart floor mats and only two plugs.

For my 2-week ride in a Mazda 5, I am truly thankful.