My solution - visiting Europe - how to get a rental car that doesn't suck…

[Hirschaj]

Renting a car in the US is a mess right now.

This has not been my experience. I have rented a few times over the past 6 months (at airport and off airport) with no issues at all. Maybe I just got lucky but maybe you were just unlucky. ?

 

[daveo4EV]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/another-strong-quarter-hertz-looks-090031668.html

 

[daveo4EV]

so far so good
I got to Nurburgring no problem
superchargers across the street from Lindner Congress hotel - no problem
charge from 12% to 96% in less than 40 minutes while checking into the hotel - no problem.
park underground @ Lindner Congress hotel and note the 5 EV charging stalls - no problem

original Tesla navigation estimate from near Ultrich to Nurburgring - arrive @ 42% SOC

flog the Model 3 long range in some un-restricted sections of german highway @ 220+ kph - no problem

the car is _NO PORSCHE_ but it handled the german highway's at speed way better than most 4-door sedans, with ample power/torque and acceleration to live/breath/participate in the the German "drive right" philosophy - the car was magnifcant on the way to the ring and virtually _ANY_ option Hertz offers (other than the Merc sedan's) would have been inferior

I arrived at Nurburg Ring at 12% SOC (vs. original 42% estimated) - but it was due to my engagement of ample speed on the unrestricted speed sections - Tesla auto pilot by the way is vastly superior to "matching" posted speed limits as I went between un-restricted and restricted high sections…

the car is good - not porsche good, but vastly better than most people want to admit, and vastly superior to many many many typical alternatives that are not Porsche's…

today I'll be driving from the Nurburgring back to AMS-Airport/Hertz to drop the vehicle off in preparation for our return to home…

so far I haven't paid any charging fee's and charging the Tesla at Europe's vast/accessable/reliable L2/DCFast charging networks has been trival, reliable, and convenient (so far free/included). Time impacts have been minimal - the Model 3 at 12% ripped off 200 kW charge rate 2 min after plugging in…and simply raced to 50% where it started to slow down - but 96% was achieved before I knew it…and I had to leave my lunch early to unplug the vehicle (car was ready before I was finished with lunch at near by italian food).

 

[daveo4EV]

Achievement Unlocked: Drive balls out fast lap @ Nurburgring in a Porsche GT3 & GT4 RS…

2 days at Nurburg ring - complete
I had a fabulous time w/Porsche Track experience at Nurburgring

I drove the GT4 RS
I drove the 2022 GT3
I spoke and ate lunch with actual Porsche mechanical engineers (one did the RWS system on my 2018 GT3)

I have much much much internal Porsche perspective on many topics both EV and non-EV related

I learned things about the Taycan…
I learend things about Porsche software…
I learned things about Taycan brakes…

I need to organize some thoughts and I'll be dribbling out thoughts/observations once I return home and decompress

But I got the last lap of the day in a 2022 GT3 following my instructor in his GT4 (he's done more than 18 months of testing/driving @ nurburg ring in his 9 years working for porsche) - he is super quick at the ring - and I was on his bumper in the GT3 for the entire lap -

We...
Were......
Flying..........
it....
was......
a........
fast..........
lap…

the new 2022 GT3 is magic - simply magic - so composed, so powerful, simple soooooo good.

and to get out of a GT4 RS that I had become sympatico with and right into the GT3 with in 7 min and doing two hot-fast laps @ the ring back to back in two very very good but very very different cars was amazing…

the GT4/GT4-RS is simply an awesome car in it's own right - nimble, quick, fun and so so so good - but it has one unrecoverable glaring flaw…

and it's called GT3

if the GT3 didn't exist the GT4/GT4-RS would be king of the mountain - but like the little brother that can't get no respect - the GT3 is simply better - hands down better - and yet the GT4 RS I was in is so damm good and yet so different I simply am in awe of Porsche and it's abilities to do mechanical engineering (however ask me about hte software issues we had while we are at the ring - well that's a different story)

Porsche's strengths are mind-blowingly good - their mechanical engineer skill and attention to detail is unparalleled - and yet their software and digital efforts continue to match Tesla's mechanical achievements…

I love my Taycan - it's soooo good as a daily driver - but the GT3 @ the ring is simply unfathomably better

and it fits my long held position (publicly posted on this forum)

Drive your EV to the track (Tesla or Taycan)
Track your GT3
Drive back home in your EV

nearly perfect scenario…

the ring was amazing - I'm still on cloud 9 - and in less than 2 days - and 900 km of "ring time" - I managed to go from zero to pretty damm quick…there is room for improvement, but I'm no longer rookie/slow…the ring tested my 13 years of track experience - and there is no question that even 2 or 3 years ago the ring would've been even more challenging to me personally - there were "moments" as I was learning the ring and it's speed - that only my past experience kept me from writing a check to porsche for the insurance deductible of my GT4 RS…OMG it is such a challenging track…

I had an amazing time.

 

[daveo4EV]

so far so good
I got to Nurburgring no problem
superchargers across the street from Lindner Congress hotel - no problem
charge from 12% to 96% in less than 40 minutes while checking into the hotel - no problem.
park underground @ Lindner Congress hotel and note the 5 EV charging stalls - no problem

original Tesla navigation estimate from near Ultrich to Nurburgring - arrive @ 42% SOC

flog the Model 3 long range in some un-restricted sections of german highway @ 220+ kph - no problem

the car is _NO PORSCHE_ but it handled the german highway's at speed way better than most 4-door sedans, with ample power/torque and acceleration to live/breath/participate in the the German "drive right" philosophy - the car was magnifcant on the way to the ring and virtually _ANY_ option Hertz offers (other than the Merc sedan's) would have been inferior

I arrived at Nurburg Ring at 12% SOC (vs. original 42% estimated) - but it was due to my engagement of ample speed on the unrestricted speed sections - Tesla auto pilot by the way is vastly superior to "matching" posted speed limits as I went between un-restricted and restricted high sections…

the car is good - not porsche good, but vastly better than most people want to admit, and vastly superior to many many many typical alternatives that are not Porsche's…

today I'll be driving from the Nurburgring back to AMS-Airport/Hertz to drop the vehicle off in preparation for our return to home…

so far I haven't paid any charging fee's and charging the Tesla at Europe's vast/accessable/reliable L2/DCFast charging networks has been trival, reliable, and convenient (so far free/included). Time impacts have been minimal - the Model 3 at 12% ripped off 200 kW charge rate 2 min after plugging in…and simply raced to 50% where it started to slow down - but 96% was achieved before I knew it…and I had to leave my lunch early to unplug the vehicle (car was ready before I was finished with lunch at near by italian food).

to those Porsche's fans on watching this thread - my Taycan Turbo would be even better than the model 3 for the same drive - it would've been amazing for the same trip - and equally easy.

the Model 3 is good and I'm happy I rented it.
there is NO QUESTION however the Taycan would've been even better and much more composed/planted than the M3-LongRange

but a Taycan wasn't a rental option - the Model 3 was - and it is not a porsche - but it's way better than a lot of alternatives…

but driving a Taycan to the Ring to flog a GT4/GT3 and then driving a Taycan back - yeah that would've been even better - but I'll settle for the 3 - you can do a lot worse as a rental car.

and driving an EV to the ring - almost _ANY_ EV is preferable to me than most/nearly-all gas alternatives…

 

[daveo4EV]

the ring is…

complex
technical
fast
unforgiving
dangerous
challenging
long
amazing
mind blowing

alas as with all racing there is the opportunity for physical damage

the event was not without it's track closures due to unfortunate circumstances and most likely driver error - track closures happened for the event due to accidents - I can only hope the driver's are ok as once this occurs no personal/status information is shared (as it should be that way) - all we know is the event happened…

alas there are 4 fewer GT3's in the world on Aug 3rd, vs. Jul 31 - this makes me sad/frustrated

I desparately want a new GT3 as it's just so so so good - and there are no allocations to be had - I've tried nation wide - and to see 4 GT3's "retired" this past few days - well - it's sad…I can't get a GT3, but 4 were retired these past 2 days…sometimes the world is strange.

 

[Jhenson29]

I desparately want a new GT3 as it's just so so so good

There’s one at my dealership for $300k if you want it.

 

[TaycanHero]

Clearly you have some skill and experience, but follow any expert in any vehicle on a known route and you will feel like a pro.

Remove them and it all goes to sh*t.

Earlier this year I was doing downhill biking, following a highly skilled pro all the way down. You would think I was pro-level. I am not. I followed their line.

Did other runs with no expert to follow and then all the accidents started happening... Curiously those at the back who could not see the pro at the front (which sometimes was me) and then accidents kept happening.

It's almost like a physical version of Chinese Whispers where every amateur sat behind the pro makes small mistakes and that gets worse as it heads to the back of the line as each person tries to mirror what the person ahead of them is doing.

An exact principle applies in a car, on a racetrack where you need to make microsecond decisions at speed on a challenging course or you'll wipe out. Follow a pro turn-for-turn, line-for-line, who's driven that course for thousands of hours and you feel like Lewis Hamilton, even though you may have never navigated that course.

Remove said pro and all of a sudden your speed goes pedestrian or you're being towed - which is likely what happened those three other drivers you mention. Had they been following a pro (or sat directly behind them, rather than behind other amateurs), they would quite likely still have their cars and would be waxing lyrical about how "amazing" their driving was. As you are now doing.

Does sound awesome and I one day hope to do what you did at Nurburgring.

 

[daveo4EV]

Clearly you have some skill and experience, but follow any expert in any vehicle on a known route and you will feel like a pro.

Remove them and it all goes to sh*t.

Earlier this year I was doing downhill biking, following a highly skilled pro all the way down. You would think I was pro-level. I am not. I followed their line.

Did other runs with no expert to follow and then all the accidents started happening... Curiously those at the back who could not see the pro at the front (which sometimes was me) and then accidents kept happening.

It's almost like a physical version of Chinese Whispers where every amateur sat behind the pro makes small mistakes and that gets worse as it heads to the back of the line as each person tries to mirror what the person ahead of them is doing.

An exact principle applies in a car, on a racetrack where you need to make microsecond decisions at speed on a challenging course or you'll wipe out. Follow a pro turn-for-turn, line-for-line, who's driven that course for thousands of hours and you feel like Lewis Hamilton, even though you may have never navigated that course.

Remove said pro and all of a sudden your speed goes pedestrian or you're being towed - which is likely what happened those three other drivers you mention. Had they been following a pro (or sat directly behind them, rather than behind other amateurs), they would quite likely still have their cars and would be waxing lyrical about how "amazing" their driving was. As you are now doing.

Does sound awesome and I one day hope to do what you did at Nurburgring.

i did several laps on my own at good pace - passing several gt3’s in my gt4 rs

 

[daveo4EV]

at AMS 32 stall super charger topping off to requested 75% before return - start out at 148 kw (150 kw max) - arrive 19% SOC from 94% soc at hotel start - at 81 kw now at 60% SOC - estimate stop time at 18 min - then ditch car back to hertz - 6.1 km from super charger

car has been great!

 

[daveo4EV]

car returned all is well - it did it’s job!

 

[ithinkmac]

Thanks for the trip report. Jealous.

-ThinkMac-

 

[LXSC]

rent a Tesla Model 3 from Hertz - now Tesla has their problems, and no they are not perfect. But in my experience I'll take (and actuallly have taken with this trip) a Model 3 over most _ANY_ normal car - especialy the stuff that you tend to end up with in a rental fleet…

I'll let you know how it goes - but it's got to be better than the rental car I just got out of in iceland - OMG I'd forgotten how bad cars can be…

we're all spoiled with Porsche's/Audi/Land rovers etc…

Tesla has it's issues NO doubt - but it's a better car than most of what most people are stuck driving - and it's a way better car than any of the choices the various rental companies were offering me - when Hertz offered me a Model 3 Long Range - I didn't hesitate to click on it - and again have 8 days in a SUCK toyota in Iceland all of you would've preferred a Model 3 or Model Y also…

we'll see how this goes - I pick up the Model 3 on friday - to drive to germany for Nurburgring Masters course w/Porsche…gonna be fun!

Try Auto Europe. call them before you go there. 1 (888) 223-5555 Your Credit card may provide insurance if so you can reject insurance. They can provide you all the major rental companies. including SIXTH. Make sure to print out the receipt and paper work.