LA Nights - Fast Cars, Slow People
So on our second attempt to use a rental car agency for a sports car we had a little more luck. We got the car we ordered for one thing. For another thing there was actually room in the trunk for something a little more substantial than a thong. Not much more but we managed. Our choice this time was the Nissan 350Z and it came in a nice bright fire engine red, just the thing for attracting the Highway Patrol from miles around. Mary was particularly struck with the plethora of dials, gauges, buttons, switches and other informational displays, most of which caused her to wonder aloud if it really was necessary to know the precise number of volts put out by the alternator. At least I assume it was the alternator. As I've commented before, I don't know anything about cars and it could easily have been the voltage supplied by the on-board nuclear reactor.
This time we were only in town for three days so we placed all of our clothing and necessaries in one rollaboard bag. This fit in the trunk with enough room to spare for Mary's large purse and a laptop bag. After carefully arranging everything, we then had to remove it all from the trunk so we could put the top down. It turned out that there was some sort of sensor in the trunk that would prohibit one from lowering said top if there was anything in said trunk that might interfere with said top. Fortunately we were able to find a helpful Hertz employee quickly that knew just what the problem was. With top down we reloaded trunk and were on our way. Right into Friday afternoon rush hour traffic. In LA. On Halloween. Right around the fifteen hour mark in the perpetual traffic jam that constitutes regional LA traffic patterns we realized that our timing might be somewhat questionable. Possibly. Hard to tell, we were somewhat faint from hunger. We skipped breakfast and there was no snacks served on board United Express ("We Don't Have to Treat You Like Cattle - We Just Like To!"). By the time we got to the hotel and got checked in we had just enough time to eat a piece of fruit and then get back on the road to a really rad Thai place Mary had heard about. We had tickets for the theatre downtown around two hours later. An hour plus into our journey and with the location of the Thai place still off somewhere in the hazy distance we decided to cut our losses and go straight downtown.
We arrived with enough time to get a turkey wrap that we shared. Around intermission we both realized that if we sat through to the end of the play, which I was enjoying by the way, I and/or Mary would probably pass out from low blood sugar or go into a cannibalistic frenzy. We left. And encountered yet again, the traffic that is LA on a Halloween night that falls on a Friday. We gave up after an hour or so our attempt to get to the Thai place and resolved to return to the hotel and get room service. Following Mary's fine tuned directions and keen sense of LA traffic patterns, we went a slightly round about route that may have entailed driving through
Anyway, the 350Z is a pretty awesome car as I discovered during the 25 minutes Mary let me drive. I now have a slight inkling of what those Top Gear guys are going on about. When you slam your foot down on the accelerator, which I pretty much only got to do in the hotel driveway, the rush is pretty intense. Mary says I spent a lot of time saying "weeeeeeee!" and "WEEEEWEEEEEE!" or something like that.
The one and really the only real disappointment with the car was that it wasn't as sparkly clean as I would have liked. It's also had a few more miles than I'd normally expect - around 17 thousand. But the fun!
So compared to the Solstice, which to be honest we didn't really drive - well it's ahead on points. The 350Z has an actual honest to god trunk which is a pretty big factor in its favor. The car we reserved was actually present and accounted for when we arrived at the car rental place which really shouldn't be a selling point but is this time. And it was LA and driving around in a cool sports car, well, what more needs to be said?
I'm not sure if I'd ever rent this particular car again, even though I enjoyed it. It's a little embarrassing to have to plant your hands on both sides of the door jamb to lever yourself out. Last night the hotel valet made motions to helping me out which was humiliating beyond all measure. But I'd probably rent another sports car, especially if it's a convertible and I was in some place where there was a lot of sun. And if they equip the car with little ejector seats that pop you out of the car without lots of groaning and puffing.
Strictly speaking, a car doesn't define who I am. So I have no real need to get a cool or impressive car when on business or vacation travel to enhance my masculinity. My scores on Gears of War are more than sufficient to attract the opposite sex. But driving around with the top down is pretty fun and legal and all and how often can you say something like that?
