My '14 Buick Encore was pushing 100K when it was hit-- both front quarter panels, hood, grill. Just found out less than two days ago that it was totaled. $11,000! Even the insurance appraiser was floored by parts cost, he anticipated about five grand before pricing. Grill alone from a third party was well over a thou. Maybe prices are going up in anticipation of tariffs--who knows?
We're leaving for a cruise out of Galveston early next week. Planned on driving, thought I'd have a rental car. One or two days to pull the trigger on a purchase and I had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon, so I did something I've never done before. Went to Hertz and gave 'em $14.2 for a 2017 Kia Soul+ with 38K. Had I extra time I'm sure I could have done better with a private transaction, but I needed a car, no time to haggle. Something I hope never happens again.
Some thoughts after driving car last evening:
Compared to the Encore, the Soul is short on electronics. Has Sirius/XM (think I get three months and can transfer my account) and bluetooth but lacks GM's OLM, instant mileage indicator, tire pressure indicators, all of which I found useful. Doing some light, mixed, driving my mpg was running at 30 mpg. I reset the indicator (not reset for ??? and it was showing 11! I guess people beat the [censored] out of rental cars but who would want to pay for gas at that rate? The Soul and Encore were on my finals chart last time and chose the Encore because it seemed much airier and open. Got used to the smaller windshield in the Soul in no time at all.
The 2.0 liter Soul has quite a bit more power than the 1.4 Encore, drives as quietly, handles better and is as comfortable. Will kind of miss the power seats, but that's no big deal. The small GM turbos have the reputation of needing expensive intake manifold work to replace PCV valves, and the other PCV in the valve cover had already needed replacement twice. It was running well but throwing constant CEL codes indicating that all winter. It also had constant AC leaks and threw the engine compartment fuse box (about $600 at dealer).
I've owned Hyundai 2 liters and Kia 1.6 liters in the past and had no trouble with much of anything, but in the Kia, I was always careful to use Top Tier gas. Car runs great, but who knows what quality gas was used in rental-- at least the St. Louis area is overwhelmingly Top Tier. I'll probably throw a bottle of Techron in the first fill just for good luck. Car has a 12/12 powertrain warranty from Hertz which would duplicate the Kia warranty.
Oil change sticker was from CarQuest. Lady doing the paperwork knew nothing about oil except that it was synthetic. A bit overfilled and was a bright orange color-- at least for any oil I've seen. What does CarQuest Amalie look like? May cut it over to MaxLife, since I had good luck with that on my Encore. No OLM so I'll probably change about every 5K.
This is the HQ of Enterprise, so Enterprise car sales stores are all over the St. Louis metro area. Hertz sales outlets are far less ubiquitous and usually sell cars for several thousand less than Enterprise model for model. Think a '17 Soul+ at Enterprise was listed for upper $16's rather than low $14's. I'm a bit scared to buy a rental, was forced by time into pulling the trigger without negotiation (I normally ENJOY negotiation), and hope things work out. At least the oil was changed with some regularity, something that doesn't always happen with lease returns.
We're leaving for a cruise out of Galveston early next week. Planned on driving, thought I'd have a rental car. One or two days to pull the trigger on a purchase and I had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon, so I did something I've never done before. Went to Hertz and gave 'em $14.2 for a 2017 Kia Soul+ with 38K. Had I extra time I'm sure I could have done better with a private transaction, but I needed a car, no time to haggle. Something I hope never happens again.
Some thoughts after driving car last evening:
Compared to the Encore, the Soul is short on electronics. Has Sirius/XM (think I get three months and can transfer my account) and bluetooth but lacks GM's OLM, instant mileage indicator, tire pressure indicators, all of which I found useful. Doing some light, mixed, driving my mpg was running at 30 mpg. I reset the indicator (not reset for ??? and it was showing 11! I guess people beat the [censored] out of rental cars but who would want to pay for gas at that rate? The Soul and Encore were on my finals chart last time and chose the Encore because it seemed much airier and open. Got used to the smaller windshield in the Soul in no time at all.
The 2.0 liter Soul has quite a bit more power than the 1.4 Encore, drives as quietly, handles better and is as comfortable. Will kind of miss the power seats, but that's no big deal. The small GM turbos have the reputation of needing expensive intake manifold work to replace PCV valves, and the other PCV in the valve cover had already needed replacement twice. It was running well but throwing constant CEL codes indicating that all winter. It also had constant AC leaks and threw the engine compartment fuse box (about $600 at dealer).
I've owned Hyundai 2 liters and Kia 1.6 liters in the past and had no trouble with much of anything, but in the Kia, I was always careful to use Top Tier gas. Car runs great, but who knows what quality gas was used in rental-- at least the St. Louis area is overwhelmingly Top Tier. I'll probably throw a bottle of Techron in the first fill just for good luck. Car has a 12/12 powertrain warranty from Hertz which would duplicate the Kia warranty.
Oil change sticker was from CarQuest. Lady doing the paperwork knew nothing about oil except that it was synthetic. A bit overfilled and was a bright orange color-- at least for any oil I've seen. What does CarQuest Amalie look like? May cut it over to MaxLife, since I had good luck with that on my Encore. No OLM so I'll probably change about every 5K.
This is the HQ of Enterprise, so Enterprise car sales stores are all over the St. Louis metro area. Hertz sales outlets are far less ubiquitous and usually sell cars for several thousand less than Enterprise model for model. Think a '17 Soul+ at Enterprise was listed for upper $16's rather than low $14's. I'm a bit scared to buy a rental, was forced by time into pulling the trigger without negotiation (I normally ENJOY negotiation), and hope things work out. At least the oil was changed with some regularity, something that doesn't always happen with lease returns.
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