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October 28, 2005
Economy Size means SMALL
My colleagues and I travel with lots and lots of good Case material, propaganda, what have you...and at least a suitcase or two (even though we wear the same clothes every day we travel!). So we usually reserve mid-sized cars when we rent vehicles in our travel territories. However, I am one that prefers the tiniest rental car available. Please don't tell me a Dodge Intrepid is a mid-sized car. It is a BOAT. And please don't tell me that the next smaller size is a Dodge Stratus. That, too, is way too large for me. Even a NEON is pushing my size limit! One company I rent from offers a REAL compact car - a nice little Ford Focus hatchback. This is a small car. Real small. It is not that I'm uncomfortable driving a big car. In fact, they tend to be pretty comfortable, luxurious, even. In my real life, I drive a Honda Civic, nice and small. So the purpose of renting the smallest car when I'm traveling to recruit students?
Quick lanes changes, Illegal left hand turns, and oh, yes, repeated U-Turns.
No matter how many mapquest, yahoo, whatever directions we print out and clutch against the steering wheel while we spill coffee on ourselves, or rip frantically from the passenger seat to scream, "Right on WHAT Street?", we get tragically lost. No matter how many times we may have visited a high school or found a college fair in the dark, we are always running late, we are always speeding, and we are always Oh-So-Close to our destinations but seemingly unable to remember exactly what direction is north, south, east, you get the idea.
So, a small car makes for much easier cutting people off, cutting across lanes, scooting into a gas station to ask for directions AGAIN, doing one of those "emergency and authorized vehicle ONLY" U-turns on an interstate, and the ability to get into a very, very small parking spot to sprint into the appointment you've been running late for.
My other, more personal reason for renting a small car is to explore the city I'm in - usually Baltimore or Washington, DC - where parking is expensive and at a premium. Running in to a non-chain neighborhood restaurant to pick up a takeout order? Parallel? No problem! In a Ford Focus.
Posted by jkw4 at October 28, 2005 11:35 AM
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