I recently joined PhillyCarShare, primarily for travel related to work.It really is surprisingly simple, except for the whole figuring out how to use the gas card thing. It took a call to figure out what the pin was. And then another call to figure out why the car wouldn’t start (it won’t start unless the gas card is returned to its holder). But I suppose those problems could’ve been avoided if I had read the manual in more detail. But their customer service was prompt and polite, so no big sweat.I’ve decided to use this as an opportunity to test drive all different sorts of cars. Today I checked out a Toyota Scion xB.Pros:
- It drive fairly smooth and is fairly responsive, especially for a car that’s somewhere in between a station wagon and jeep in size.
Cons:
- It has a weird size and shape that made me constantly misjudge how big/small it was. It’s too big to feel close to the road. But too small to intimidate other drivers. Ultimately, not ideal for city driving.
- It takes forever to accelerate. You can finish whole novels and movies in the time it takes to go 0-60. Although once you get to a high speed, like I mentioned it feels pretty steady.
My verdict: Good for those who need space or like reading or watching movies while driving, but I will never rent one again.
January 26th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
The gas card is pretty easy. Just swipe, enter the PIN, pump, and put the card back. (The PIN is printed next to the fuel-card holder, in case you forget.) The holder keeps the fuel card from walking away. Sounds like it did its job!
I agree about the boxy Scion xB. I actually like the funky shape, but it drives, well, like a box.