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Well, it's not really going to be an in depth review, just a bit of fun!
Just got back from the US after a 2 week trip - LA / Palm Springs / Las Vegas. We usually rent a convertible, but decided for a change to go for a large saloon.
When we went to pick up the car I asked the guy if I could get the one with the shiney wheels, and his reply was "That's the Hemi, you got the V6". I said "They didn't tell me about the Hemi" and he said "aw go on then, you get a free upgrade today".
I was a happy man, $10 in his sky rocket and off we went.
First thing I noticed is how big it is... IIRC it is based on the old Merc E Class chassis, but sits much higher. It's typically Chrysler and American with cheap plastics, but seemed to have all the toys.
For anyone that doesn't know, the Hemi is the 5.7 litre V8 which kicks out about 340bhp but it weighs 1940kg... same as a tank
It will hit 100mph in 15secs but they are not allowed to go round corners
Overall the car is complete shite... the steering is pitiful... there is no feedback and there is a delay from when you move the steering wheel to when the car actually moves!
On the freeway (motorway) it's almost deadly when you have to swerve, and actually feels a little scary. You get used to it and adjust your driving to suit.
The gearbox is nearly as bad as the steering. It's only got a 5 gear autobox and its clumsy on the downshift and makes the car feel much slower. You nail it to overtake, it has 3 seconds thinking time, 3 seconds downshifting time and then your off with loads gruff noise.
To be honest, the V8 didn't even sound that great.
Was it good at anything?
Well I suppose so. We flew direct from Manchester to Las Vegas, got the hire car and drove straight to LA. We hit LA at 6ish, so bang in rush hour, and got to our hotel and I didn't feel too bad after a 4 hour drive.
It sat comfortably at 90mph for virtually the whole journey - I backed off at Pasadena as the LA highway patrol becomes a more frequent sight.
Fuel consumption was evil on that journey, I was driving fast as I was worried about getting tired and we averaged 14mpg on the 240 mile drive.
Was it good at anything else?
errrr not really. The air con was average, which was not good when it was averaging 110F when we left LA (avg mid 80's there).
I like the way that if you are really fat, when you pull the key out of the ignition the seats and steering wheel go back automatically to let the pie eaters get out easier
Having said all that, as a hire car it was fun. I particularly like switching off the ESP and nailing it in multi storey car parks to get that authentic American tyre screeching
Some pics of our biege weapon:
Mullholland Drive... it was so bad on this road...
Palm Springs
It finally found it road it liked and easily reached a tasty 128mph (according to the sat nav)
2 years ago, the missus and I went to Canada and hired a Cadillac, 4.6 Northstar engine thing.
Went OK (expected a lot more from a 4.6 tho), handled like a large yank car but the roads are hardly twisty.
The car worked though and did what it was meant to. Comfy cruiser, low stress motoring, air conditioned seats!! they were brilliant! electric everthing, very well equiped and cheap to hire.
People, esp here in UK, are obsessed with having cars that are "sporty" without buying a sporty car in the 1st place so you get all these german cars that handle well but have relatively hard suspension with oversized wheels and low profile tyres. I don't mind harder suspension on a sports car but not a cruisy saloon, that defies the point. At least an option of one or the other rather than "firm" (i.e. std) or "hard" (i.e. sports susp). Problem is most cars that offer this nicer ride have lower image and/or depreciate lots (omega, large french cars, rover 75s etc.)..............sorry going off on another....
We hired a Mustang convertible over there. Not a great car by any means but considering the distances and the types of roads over there (I did the Vegas-LA-San Fran route), it wasn't a bad car at all. It wafts a hell of a lot, but it's damn comfortable at 80+mph.
I saw one of them parked up outside the <cough>Asda Home store</cough> over by lakeside at the weekend. Mahoosive wheels which were chrome spinners and the guy had replaced the badges with big B's looking like Bentley It was blingtastic black with a 4 character private plate. He thought he was the dogz dangliez that guy.
Car Review
hire car. Shame it wasn't in black!
and the guy had replaced the badges with big B's looking like Bentley 
It was blingtastic black with a 4 character private plate. He thought he was the dogz dangliez that guy.