04 Chevy Venture Rental report

5 of us ( 3 men, 2 women ) rented a 04 Chevy Venture this past weekend. Went from Lubbock TX to Albuquerque New Mexico. We barely got over the the speedlimit as the person driving didn't want to get a ticket. 3 days driving, No Police in sight. I didn't drive the van, nor did anyone else. Limit was 70 in TX , 75 in New Mex.

There was plenty of room for legs in the second & third row rear seat. It seemed to ride alright, Had a slight wind noise around the RF door seal. Power everything, rear seat air & heat controls.

One bad thing was every time the hatch gate was lifted some piece of luggage would fall out. The rear window doesn't open on its own.

Dual Power Sliding doors were amazingly slow and very difficult to try to slide open & close manually. I wasn't allowed to open the hood to look at the engine. I said to the driver we may need oil. He said, Its not mine I don't care if it blows up, they ( meaning National Car Rental ) will have to come out & get us.

Lot of tension on this trip.

I couldn't play the radio because the others wanted to " talk " the whole trip. Driver did turn it on to change the clock setting when we hit the mountain time zone. I started pressing the seek button to see if it got any stations in the middle of the desert & it actually got quite a few. I made a comment to that and the driver replied with a smart ass answer. Then from the back, Shut That Off !

Sitting up in front in the passenger seat, head pressed against the windshield, you can't see any hood. Standard cloth seats was pretty comfortable. Owners manual was still in the glove box, so I read up on the AC / Heater controls to find out what all the picture symbols mean. I can read an english word dash cluster , but have trouble with picture symbol controls that are for the no speaka de english crowd.

We used one tank of gas, the Driver wouldn't tell me how many actual miles we went so I couldn't figure out what we got on the gas mileage. Driver said, who cares what the mileage is. I said, Well I'd like to know ! An odd look from the driver came about when the other guy said , Harryface always keeps track of the mileage & the gas on the trips we take with the Bonneville..

One woman ( the no talker ) said nothing to me the entire trip.

Driving through Alb Q we passed an exit for Martin Luther King Dr I read the sign outloud in a slight accent. I whispered to the other guy that was with us, We in the "heart" of the city now. The no talker heard me and angrily said, What's that supposed to mean ?!!!

I said, Honey if you don't know, I ain't a gonna tell ya. Driver looked over at me.

Well, 3 of the four will never be traveling with me again !

At least we did stop to see the famed Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo.

========= Harryface =========

1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE 3800 V6 ( C ), Black/Slate Grey _~_~_~280,033 miles_~_~_

~_~_~_~_U.S.A._~_~_~_~_~_

~~~The Former Fleet ~~~

89 Cavalier Z 24 convertible 78 Holiday 88 coupe 68 LeSabre convertible 73 Impala sedan
Reply to
Harry Face
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"Harry Face" wrote

Good plan, sounds like you got a bunch of losers to travel with. We traveled down to Spokane once years ago with another couple in the car. Big mistake...never made it again.

Ian

Reply to
shiden_Kai

I would have kicked the drivers ass!

Brian

Reply to
NoSpam

Wow, sounds like you were taken away by the People In Black. If you ever come to Houston, let me know. You would enjoy traveling with me. Windows down, ear plugs in, stereo up all the way. Speed 100+, It's easy to get used to. One spot in West Texas I was at 127 mph for several miles. I have to stop and look at rocks, caves, and senoritas though. Frost bit my ears climbing up the front face of El Capitan two winters ago. Hey, What the boss does not know, I'm not about to tell. It's all on company time. Next week I get to go back to DFW again. Will rent a Ford Escape. Nice SUV. Has a 6 cd changer. Techno, Rave, Trance, Metal...

Reply to
=?x-user-defined?Q?=AB?= Paul =?x-user-defined?Q?=BB?=

Ugh...

The wind noise is really from the shape of the mirror, they should have put sport mirrors on it.

Yeah bad design, it should be like the Tahoe.

Yeah the manuals are easier to open and close, otherwise gotta rely on the power motors.

Its a 3.4, the gearing is decent however so it has good pickup for a minivan... as for letting the motor blow up, yeah thats fun in the middle of nowhere, uhm NO.

What, no rear audio controls?

I hate roadtrips with people who are annoying...

Reply to
Paradox

PDX

No the van did not have rear audio controls. There was a spot for them in the overhead temp cotrols. The wind leak noise was coming from the upper rear of the passenger front door. Those hollow weatherstrips don't seal like solid rubber did in the days of old..........

========= Harryface =========

1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE 3800 V6 ( C ), Black/Slate Grey _~_~_~280,033 miles_~_~_

~_~_~_~_U.S.A._~_~_~_~_~_

~~~The Former Fleet ~~~

89 Cavalier Z 24 convertible 78 Holiday 88 coupe 68 LeSabre convertible 73 Impala sedan
Reply to
Harry Face

Paul,

I'm not sure I want to run 127 mph with the glass rolled down, it be a little hard hearing that radio blare " how, how, how"

========= Harryface =========

1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE 3800 V6 ( C ), Black/Slate Grey _~_~_~280,033 miles_~_~_

~_~_~_~_U.S.A._~_~_~_~_~_

~~~The Former Fleet ~~~

89 Cavalier Z 24 convertible 78 Holiday 88 coupe 68 LeSabre convertible 73 Impala sedan
Reply to
Harry Face

Yes. That was with the glass up. Reduces drag and stops skin burn. Actually, anything over about 85 and I put the glass up, turn the radio off, and concentrate on driving.

Reply to
=?x-user-defined?Q?=AB?= Paul =?x-user-defined?Q?=BB?=

I have had road trips like those. It sucks. The worst one was when I got sent on a resque mission. A counsin of a good freind was stuck way out in PA. Her Caravan had an engine fire, she had no insurance. My firend couldn't get away from work to go get her. Or that was his excuse. So he offers to rent me a Car, and pay me for my trouble.

Im thinking Road Trip, plus $300 for doing it. Kewl!! The car was a nice one from Avis, a 1999 Bonniville SSE. With 22K miles, yet in very impressive condishion. Dark Charcoal cloth seats, silver exterier, 16 inch wheels, fog lights, In-dash CD player.

On the way out, which took 9 hours, I pegged it out on a lonely streach of PA highway. 120 and smoth as a baby's backside. Music cranked, front windows down, fog lights on. Rockin thru the night.

The Return trip sucked. My friend did tell me she had 5 kids, hince a car that seated six. He also told me she would probably fill the trunk. He didn't tell me all 5 kids were monsters, and theiir mother a large, mean, big mouth who's idea of parenting is yelling as loud as possible.

Not only did the trunk get stuffed to capasity. She piled so much in the car, the kids were sitting on stacks of blankets like booster seats. I did make them buckle up. That caused her to yell for 50 miles.

Ever time I got doing the speed limit she would freak out and insist I was speeding. The kids constantly were yelling. She put rap on (I dislike that music). So I have 5 yealling kids, 1 ugly bi**h that won't shut up nagging me, and music I can tollerate on the radio. The return trip was 14 hours of hell.

On the plus side, I liked the car so much, I rented it for an aditional

2 days, out of my own money. I did look under the hood, and the car looked to have been well kept. I asked at AVIS about buying it when turned in. Unforchantly I didn't get the oppertunity. I was really impressed with that car. Even more then with my 1993 Park Ave that I had at the time. Charles
Reply to
Charles Bendig

If you think all that is bad then you obviously haven't spent a hour with my ex-wife in the passenger seat. It was so bad that I even felt sorry for the damn car!

Reply to
kato

Sounds like fun....... Next time, eat a lot of beans before the trip and make sure you order a beer or two with every meal on the road. Stop using deodorant, mouthwash, soap. Always make them wait for you (be the last person back to the van) , and talk at length about some boring subject that no one would give a damn about.

My drummer does that all the time and it drives me nuts.

Jay S

Reply to
Jay S

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