Opinions wanted $80 Focus/$130 Escape

[JC Butterfly]

Hello all,

I am having a case of being unsure what rental option I want and maybe you can help me weigh the pros and cons.

Just for husband and myself, minimal luggage.

Car Rental period= Friday, May 28 - Monday, May 31

I have never driven an SUV of any size and think it would be a fun experience to have sometime. I have been quoted a rate of $130.

Or I could get a Ford Focus for $80 for the weekend.


Staying on property, not sure how much driving I will actually do.

Would it be better to save the $50 difference between the two? Or would I have so much fun driving the SUV that it's worth the extra cost?

Thanks!
Brenda

 

[elgerber]

I would not pay extra for the Escape. We hardly ever use our car on property. A Focus has plenty of room, and they are actually pretty fun to drive. I would save your money.

Erika

 

[DBC]

Originally posted by JC Butterfly
Hello all,

I am having a case of being unsure what rental option I want and maybe you can help me weigh the pros and cons.

Just for husband and myself, minimal luggage.

Car Rental period= Friday, May 28 - Monday, May 31

I have never driven an SUV of any size and think it would be a fun experience to have sometime. I have been quoted a rate of $130.

Or I could get a Ford Focus for $80 for the weekend.


Staying on property, not sure how much driving I will actually do.

Would it be better to save the $50 difference between the two? Or would I have so much fun driving the SUV that it's worth the extra cost?

Thanks!
Brenda

Hi Brenda,

As an owner of a small SUV (Honda CRV) and a larger one (Ford Explorer) I can guarantee you that you won't get $50 worth of pleasure out of driving the Escape on normal roads for the weekend. If you're planning on driving up the mountain at Blizzard Beach I'd say maybe...

The smaller SUVs really drive a lot like a car anyway.

Spend it on drinks and next time you're in NH you can drive one of mine for the weekend!

 

[pumpkinboy]

Ditto on the Focus. Nice peppy engine and pretty good handling for a small car make it fun to drive. As for the Escape, well, it's a small SUV, nothing special; there are better small SUV's out there, and frankly, the Focus is just more fun to drive. I doubt you'll do much driving anyway, being on-site and all.

 

[shatzjsl]

My car is a Focus and I enjoy driving it. It is fine for four people.

 

[DCSingle]

You might also consider the cost of gas at the current sky high (and surely rising over Memorial Day) prices. I bet the Focus gets almost twice the miles to the gallon of the Escape.

 

[JC Butterfly]

Thank you all for your great advice . . I guess you're echoing what I basically knew anyway -- that the money is better spent elsewhere so I called Budget to cancel the Escape and added my Fastbreak number to the focus reservation, turns out that the price dropped down to $62 for the weekend, whoo-hooo!

I'm stuck in Madison paying $2.15 per gallon of gas anyway so it's always a "relief" to go down south for the cheaper gas prices.

And to DBC

Now if I can just convince my husband to go to NH so I can drive an SUV . . . great offer!

Thanks again to all,
Brenda

 

[DemoBri1]

I'm not so certain that the gas prices will be that much cheaper down South. I know when we were down in December, we paid just as much for gas down their as it was in Chicago. Maybe with the new "summer blend" the prices will be different.

Brian