Why Chevy makes the best rental cars: You'll get the core tech you want
Why Chevy makes the best rental cars: You'll get the core tech you want
Here'due south a tin can't-lose way to go the most useful rental motorcar: Ask for a Chevy. Chevrolet in item and GM in general accept been out forepart delivering useful technology that can't be taken away from you lot, no thing how cheap the rental company is when it comes to buying its fleet of cars. If you rent a Chevrolet, you'll go a car with a color LCD in the center stack, and compatibility with Android Auto and Apple tree CarPlay.
Most importantly, through Android Motorcar or CarPlay, you've got admission to a navigation organization yous already know how to utilize — Apple tree Maps or Google Maps — that displays up high on the car's 7- or 8-inch centre stack LCD. No longer are you lot reduced to taking quick glances downwards at the map on the phone display that's precariously perched in the cupholder or balanced atop the steering cavalcade, resting (until you hit a bump) against the instrument cluster.
2016 Chevrolet Malibu
Jackpot: upgrade to Chevrolet Malibu with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto
On a recent trip to the West Declension, I had a day of downtime between two sets of meetings and rented a car to drive the Pacific Coast. My criteria for renting typically starts and ends with price. Unfortunately, the cheaper the car, the less probable it is to have an on-board navigation system. That'due south peculiarly the case when you choose an economic system or compact car. If you want navigation, you lot employ your phone's GPS maps or pay upwards to $xv per day for a windshield-mounted GPS unit.
At the rental counter, where you discover out exactly which make and model yous get, I thought the woman in front of me lucked out landing a Kia Soul, a fun motorcar to drive. When it was my plough, I got upgraded to a Chevrolet Malibu and hitting the jackpot: It'south the best midsize car yous tin buy today. It supports both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. That meant I was able to apply Apple Maps, on an 7-inch screen, located loftier up on the dashboard.
Chevrolet just sells LS and in a higher place to rental fleets
For car buyers, across the Chevrolet line as it is with most every other automaker, in that location's a reduced-features entry trim line (the industry term for a model variant) that serves mostly to present a low teaser cost to buyers. Dealers sometimes only stock plenty to satisfy the customer waving the paper advertisement that offers a Malibu for $22,000. (Or to prove they had one or ii in stock, but information technology's "just been sold.") Some corporate fleets are built around these cars. On most Chevrolet lines, that'south the L trim line, followed by the LS, LT, and sometimes LTZ or Premier.
With the LS trim line, y'all typically become the Chevrolet MyLink infotainment organization that includes a 7-inch colour brandish (trim lines with built-in navigation have 8-inch displays), control of phone-based apps, and admission to Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. In a discussion, again: jackpot.
What keeps you from getting a stripper Chevy, an L without MyLink and CarPlay / Android Auto? A Chevrolet spokesman says, "Chevrolet but sells LS [trim lines] and in a higher place to rental fleets."
As a bonus, when you rent a car with MyLink or a like color LCD infotainment interface, it's easier to control your phone's music playback capabilities with a graphical interface than with a tiny ii- or 3-line text brandish. Nigh every car sold today has at least one USB jack, and then with a rental machine you tin can at least connect your phone for easily-free calling and also play music from your phone or music player.
Why Chevrolet saw the calorie-free
The cost of adding a color LCD display to a car isn't much – well under $100 (to the automaker), fifty-fifty for automotive-grade displays that have to hold up at the least for the duration of the iii- or four-year warranty. It'due south not much more than than the cost of keeping a CD thespian (at present 34 years former) in the dash. USB and a color LCD is a satisfier for renters.
It's also a satisfier for people who buy used rental fleet cars when they reach 6 months to two years of age (or achieve a mileage cap). It'southward easier to sell a used rental motorcar with a color LCD, electrical windows (some entry trim lines are yet hand-creepo), nicer upholstery, admission to CarPlay and Android Car, and sometimes the more affordable commuter assists: bullheaded spot detection and lane departure warning. It's what buyers desire.
Majority of Ford rentals (but non all) take Sync iii
Look for more automakers to follow the lead of Chevrolet and Full general Motors over the next year or ii. Ford, for instance, will brand Sync iii (the one that actually works) bachelor on all models for 2017. Typically, there's an entry trim line Ford with the legacy Sync 2 (it won't run CarPlay or Android Machine), a heart trim line where Sync 3 is optional, and i or ii loftier trim lines where it's standard. On the Ford Escape (photograph inset), Ford'due south best seller that isn't the F-150 pickup, if yous get the entry Escape S as a rental car, you're out of luck. If you get the high end Escape Titanium, it'southward always there. If you wind up with a mid-grade Escape SE, it may or may non be there depending on whether the rental company opted to go for the 201A Equipment Group ($1,395 list) which has Sync 3 and also Sync Connect (OnStar-like telematics), bullheaded spot detection, backup sonar, rear cross traffic alarm, and a 110-volt outlet.
A Ford spokesperson said, "Sync is available in 100% of machine rental fleets, which includes cars and SUVs. Within the rental fleet, 40% of vehicles have the bones SYNC system and 60% have the premium SYNC 3 system." In other words, you lot've got a 6 in 10 chance y'all'll be able to employ your smartphone's maps and guidance renting a Ford. That beats a flashback from virtually five years ago, when an ExtremeTech editor and spouse went on holiday in Hawaii, rented a Ford assuming bones Sync was almost universal, and discovered the car lacked even a USB jack. The rental agent noted they could still play all the CDs they brought along. "All the CDs?"
The Ford spokesperson added, "Sales for the car rental fleets closely mirror retail sales. For example, retail sales for vehicles with Sync 3 is effectually 64% compared to sixty% of car rentals with Sync 3. Generally speaking Sync is offered on our base series, is standard on the mid-series with an selection for the premium Sync 3, and Sync 3 is standard on the premium serial."
What other automakers do
Availability of infotainment interfaces with admission to Apply CarPlay and Android Machine remains spotty. Honda has washed an excellent chore with the 2016 Honda Borough, both for rental fleets and private buyers. Other than the entry Civic Lx, all trim lines (EX, EX-T, EX-Fifty and Touring) have Apple tree CarPlay and Android Auto, and only on the Touring is navigation standard, which is fine with the many buyers who simply demand navigation occasionally. But when they exercise, they'd like the display to be big and easy to glance at.
The problem is, information technology's hard to know which trim level awaits you. The odds the rental clerk knows about AirPlay / Android Auto compatibility would exist adjacent to nix, every bit are the odds they'll give you a bunch of keys and let you walk the parking lot until you lot find a car to your liking. And then you're ameliorate off asking for a automobile brand where you know yous're likely to go what y'all desire.
For the 2016 model year, companies non offering CarPlay or Android Auto include BMW, Fiat Chrysler (Chrysler, Contrivance, Fiat, Jeep, Ram), and Toyota (Lexus, Toyota, the shortly-to-depart Scion). Toyota has said it won't offer CarPlay or Android Auto for the foreseeable future; instead it will develop an open standard called SmartDeviceLink that is based on Ford Sync.
Among other automakers, those with at least some 2016 models with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto include Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, and Volvo. For GM, every brand offers CarPlay on the bulk of its models.
Bottom line: As of 2016, the odds of your rental auto having USB for music playback are good. For navigation via your telephone using Android Auto or CarPlay, that's still a couple years off from beingness universal. And that's why information technology'south worth request for a Chevrolet when you rent, starting with Malibu. But retrieve that cars in the rental fleet may still include some 2015 or 2014 models.
Source: https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/233662-why-you-should-ask-for-a-chevy-next-time-you-rent-a-car-youll-get-the-core-tech-you-want
Posted by: schultzplefuspritir.blogspot.com
0 Response to "Why Chevy makes the best rental cars: You'll get the core tech you want"
Post a Comment