I drive a MY02 M3 LR. My lovely wife and I were in Seattle a couple of weeks ago (loved that stay!) and rented a Model Y LR from Hertz for our stay. Turned out t be a MY02 MY LR, FSD, with 34.8K on the ODO. I enjoyed driving the MY but I have some comments and questions, hence my post on this forum.
I loved the trunk space (took 3 full size suitcases with ease). My M3 can take only 2, and that's a struggle. However, the all around visibility is really poor compared with my M3. I also noticed, surprisingly, that this MY is quite a bit higher off the ground than my M3 - that took getting used to when stepping out of the car, but I figured out later as explained below.
What really bothered me was the drive dynamics - the car was jittery on the highway at highway speeds, pulling mostly right over a ~10-car gap. That's light, but if it was mine, I'd have a 4-wheel alignment done. I really didn't believe this is a typical MY behavior. So, with the ride height thing still in my mind, my first thought was to check the tires when I got to my hotel - my wife thought I was insane doing this. In my mind, I had a few days to enjoy this MY. Turns out the vehicle had the 20" wheels all around - that explains the height thing. But I was shocked that the rental company had a set of G'Year Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5 (M+S @ 101W rating) at the rear, coupled with a set of Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02 (101 Y rating) at the fronts. This could explain the jittery ride. All four wheels had extensive curb scrub on them, and one actually had a "large" gouge on the wheel rim. Obviously, at some point a/some renter had sever curb contact - his may explain the slight pull to the right. The rental check-in person is one of the best I have ever encountered during my travels. But, I am conflicted whether to have the rental agency fix this - Ultra High Performance M+S tires at rear vs summer only at front is conflicting + misalignment. What do you think?
Hertz used a Tesla key-card for this rental. I think it is modded for rental people because I couldn't get all the functions my phone would have provided, even when paired. But that makes sense. On my M3, I tap the key card at camera location. I found out that on the Y, I have to tap much lower than the camera location. I almost returned the car due to this - I locked car using voice command but couldn't get back in. Car was eventually unlocked by calling customer service, but we eventually figured it out - it basically was me to RTFM - digitally or not.
I don't know how other rental companies do this, but I have to give a shout out to Hertz because several weeks to my rental they sent me several emails and tutorials to familiarize me with the car. Extremely useful for a non Tesla owner renting a Tesla for the first time.
I loved the trunk space (took 3 full size suitcases with ease). My M3 can take only 2, and that's a struggle. However, the all around visibility is really poor compared with my M3. I also noticed, surprisingly, that this MY is quite a bit higher off the ground than my M3 - that took getting used to when stepping out of the car, but I figured out later as explained below.
What really bothered me was the drive dynamics - the car was jittery on the highway at highway speeds, pulling mostly right over a ~10-car gap. That's light, but if it was mine, I'd have a 4-wheel alignment done. I really didn't believe this is a typical MY behavior. So, with the ride height thing still in my mind, my first thought was to check the tires when I got to my hotel - my wife thought I was insane doing this. In my mind, I had a few days to enjoy this MY. Turns out the vehicle had the 20" wheels all around - that explains the height thing. But I was shocked that the rental company had a set of G'Year Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5 (M+S @ 101W rating) at the rear, coupled with a set of Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02 (101 Y rating) at the fronts. This could explain the jittery ride. All four wheels had extensive curb scrub on them, and one actually had a "large" gouge on the wheel rim. Obviously, at some point a/some renter had sever curb contact - his may explain the slight pull to the right. The rental check-in person is one of the best I have ever encountered during my travels. But, I am conflicted whether to have the rental agency fix this - Ultra High Performance M+S tires at rear vs summer only at front is conflicting + misalignment. What do you think?
Hertz used a Tesla key-card for this rental. I think it is modded for rental people because I couldn't get all the functions my phone would have provided, even when paired. But that makes sense. On my M3, I tap the key card at camera location. I found out that on the Y, I have to tap much lower than the camera location. I almost returned the car due to this - I locked car using voice command but couldn't get back in. Car was eventually unlocked by calling customer service, but we eventually figured it out - it basically was me to RTFM - digitally or not.
I don't know how other rental companies do this, but I have to give a shout out to Hertz because several weeks to my rental they sent me several emails and tutorials to familiarize me with the car. Extremely useful for a non Tesla owner renting a Tesla for the first time.
