I needed to rent a car for a week to ensure I can get to a commitment in Spokane Valley next Wednesday morning. I elected to rent a simple, economy-class car while at home in Spokane to last me a week.
I selected a Hyundai Kona because I’d driven its bigger brother, the Hyundai Santa Fe, last Spring while UPGRAYEDD was in the shop for heavy maintenance.
The Santa Fe was quite nice. Comfortable. Quiet drive. Entirely capable. Therefore, I’d assumed that the Kona wouldn’t be too terribly different than the Santa Fe.
But Enterprise selected instead for me a Ford EcoSport, because it’s “comparable”.
Oh, bother.
I was witnessing the evolution of language and culture before my eyes and ears. This was clearly some strange new use of the word “comparable” with which I was previously unfamiliar.
The Ford EcoSport had difficulty with the most basic of tasks like its handling in a straight line on the Interstate. Its susceptibility to airflow changes from passing vehicles. Its neurotic behavior when taking a deep breath while driving.
God help you if you’ve need for the back seat for actually sitting. It would be unrealistic to expect anyone to fold and contort themselves into the space. Even the Scavenger’s Daughter leaves more room to breathe.
In fairness, this one does have about 39,000 miles on its odometer. A bit of wear in the steering components is to be expected.
I’m also not at all a fan of the UI of the sat-nav, or lack of any logic in its interface. UI and UX are concepts that the designers probably thought were overrated and in no way important to the existence of living beings.
The good news: they did include steering wheel and seat-heat. A pleasant surprise.
Also, it does have power windows and door locks and even an automatic A/C and heating system. No fiddling needed. Just set it and forget it.
If the Ford designers’ goal was to make the occupants want to not be in the car any longer than is absolutely needed to move from one point to another, they’ve succeeded. In fact, I think they’ve well-surpassed that already lofty goal as I don’t want to be in the vehicle at all and even thinking about warming up the Shoe Leather Express to walk to work at 4AM.
The good news is that this is only temporary until Wednesday.
The better news is that the Ford EcoSport was retired from service in 2022.