Should I rent a car beofre I buy it?

Question

I have a big truck now and I want to get a small car (to save gas) and I'm not sure what I want. Test drives don't give me a good enough idea of the car. Some of the cars I'm currently reasearching are Toyota Yaris, Honda Civic, Chevy Colbalt, and others. I do a lot of highway driving and the reviews I've read don't seem that great for some of these. I want to see for myself how they handle without some sales man sitting next to me. So should I rent the cars I might want to buy to get a better idea of how it handles?

Answer 1

Get the full coverage when you rent and you can test the crash rating also......save this test for the last thing!

It is a great idea to rent if the car you want is rent-able

Answer 2

If you can find those models to rent then yeah it's a great idea.

Answer 3

Yes, I think that's an especially good idea, given you're coming from a big truck.

  My husband rented cars he was considering more than once, although in his case he was traveling for work so his employer paid for the rental.  He tried out 2 or 3 different cars that way.

Given that you're coming from a truck, even if you rent  a car just one  one time, it will at least give you a  base of comparison of 'the feel' of a car to start with (how roomy is it, ceiling height, how does it handle, how big is trunk space, is the seat comfortable, etc).  Then when you test drive another car, you can think "Hmmm, this one doesn't handle as smoothly as the rental did."

Answer 4

yea that is a good idea but.

more often than not, you will not find too many Honda's or Toyota's because they do not offer rental companies fleet or discount prices.

please take the toyota yaris off your list I've just taken a 620 mile road trip in one and it was terrible.

the engine is noisy and unrefined, the brakes are poor without the ABS, the center guages are annyoning, the Hwy ride feels unsafe and unstable.

the Honda Fit is 10 times the better car.

Honda Civic is a very good car, the cobalt not so much.

1. Honda Fit (base) - $15,385

2. Mazda 3i Sport (sedan) - $17,205

3. Hyundai Elantra SE - $17,945

I also co drove a Kia Rondo on a similar round trip and was very impressed with it's room and nice ride as well as it's low price.

The Rondo's ace: msrp. Actually, it's four aces. My nearly fully-loaded tester stickers at a family-friendly $21.5K. Considering a starting price in the high 16's, I'm going on record as saying the Rondo is the best family-car value in the U.S.(from article below)

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/kia-ron...

Answer 5

hmmm thats a good thought that way in a week you will know if you want it the civic si is sweet i like them look great