{"id":1022,"date":"2012-05-15T23:17:31","date_gmt":"2012-05-16T04:17:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/?p=1022"},"modified":"2012-05-15T23:17:31","modified_gmt":"2012-05-16T04:17:31","slug":"am-i-really-that-picky-my-rental-car-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2012\/05\/am-i-really-that-picky-my-rental-car-adventure\/","title":{"rendered":"Am I Really That Picky? My Rental Car Adventure."},"content":{"rendered":"

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Many of you know that I have my pet peeve about rental cars. When I reserve a particular size of car, I would really like that size. I’ve been renting vehicles most of the times I travel to Omaha for my AF Reserve duty, and rarely do I receive what I’ve reserved.<\/p>\n

Call me cheap, but when I don’t expect to do any more than shuttle myself to\/from my job every day, I don’t need more than the smallest, most fuel efficient car available. Some of you may remember my adventure with the Ford Mustang that I rented in late February 2011<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This time around, I was pleasantly surprised when the car rental dealer attendant told me that they had a “subcompact car” waiting for me. That was what I had requested.<\/p>\n

A Toyota Yaris<\/a>. It starts at $14K new. Probably among the least expensive cars on the market. \u00a0And that’s what you get. It’s a very very simple, low powered, basic car. Hooray for 30+ mpg and hooray for it being nice and nimble in the tight Offutt AFB parking lots near the building where I work.<\/p>\n

But as you can see from the picture above, I couldn’t even fit my single wheeled duffel bag in the back. I wasn’t expecting that. BOO! I was able to toss the bag into the back seat, and I guess I should be thankful that there even was a backseat. It could have been a Smartcar, right?<\/p>\n

This car has mostly manual controls (except the power windows and automatic transmission), a very basic stereo (with an MP3 jack, at least), and the dashboard information — such as the speedometer, odometer and engine lights — was in the middle of the car<\/a>…instead of right behind my steering wheel on the driver’s side. Why is it like that? I’m not sure at all.<\/p>\n

From what I read, the 2012 Yaris doesn’t have that centralized dashboard anymore<\/a>. Phew!<\/p>\n

With a 106hp engine, you can imagine the cars trailing behind me when I am trying to climb a hill, say, near I-680 and Dodge St. in Omaha, where you’re climbing up into the elevated express lanes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here’s a better view of the car.<\/p>\n

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It maneuvers quite well. But not very powerful, which is evident on hills.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many of you know that I have my pet peeve about rental cars. When I reserve a particular size of car, I would really like that size. I’ve been renting vehicles most of the times I travel to Omaha for my AF Reserve duty, and rarely do I receive what I’ve reserved. Call me cheap, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[13,23,616,243],"class_list":["post-1022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-air-force-reserves","tag-automobiles","tag-ranting","tag-rental-car"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t