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I have a 2000 mile drive coming up in a few days and I am renting. Escape, Patriot or Juke are the three available models I could pick up on the day of the trip. Of the two, I have rented the Patriot and it was a Ok car. Know nothing about the other two.
On long trip, size matters. Get the one with the highest and widest seats. I would expect that to be a Escape.
I rented a Juke once and never got out of the parking lot. It was so uncomfortable I turned around and asked for a different car, but I am over 6 feet tall and over 200 pounds (and I have long legs). Smaller people may do better in them.
I believe the patriot to be the worst car ever made. (Or maybe it was the compass, I mix the two up often).
Maybe it has changed in the last few years, but the last time I drove a Patriot I couldn't believe how noisy it was. I worked for a Dodge dealer, so I know it was the belt driven transmission. That alone would have me considering the others over it.
Juke was out for me too on the count of just the looks alone. I can't see myself walking up to that thing every morning even for 3 days. They might have a sedan too but sitting high for such long distances definitely helps.
Probably Escape not really knowing anything about any of them. Not a real big fan of auto journalism, but it puts the Escape up at the top and the Patriot towards the bottom. What does that really mean? Nothing really. Rogue isn't that well received and sells like hotcakes.
Personally, I'm a hatchback guy myself. Most of these compact crossovers that offer little more utility than a hatchback don't make any sense to me personally. Juke's really more an unpractical hatchback. Like an uglier, less practical Mini Cooper regular 4 door. Unless you're large though a little ugly, unpractical hatchback like the Juke would probably be fine for a short trip. Even for two people probably fine. More than two and you get into that back seat. And since it has less trunk space than a Corvette, you better be packing light.
Personally, I get large sedans if renting sight unseen. No one knows what the hell rental companies are doing (well actually, we all do). That way when I show up and my large sedan turns out to be a Nissan Altima, at least it's an Altima and not the Nissan Sentra they call an "intermediate." Might not be as comfortable but you can usually pack four people into your "full-sized" Altima if the usual happens and you get an intermediate when you pay for a full-sized rental... God help you if you figured you could save some bucks and need to pack four people plus bags into a "intermediate" Chevy Cruze or Nissan Sentra.
Last edited by Malloric; 07-25-2017 at 05:13 PM..
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