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The Toyota Highlander by Alamo
When looking for a comfortable 4x4 to rent during the summer my usual procrastination was curtailed by price when I was distracted by an extremely good deal (at the time) being offered by Alamo via the car rental pages of this web site (http://www. orlandovillas. com/car_hire. aspx). At approximately £45 less per week than the competition, it was worth taking a chance on what type of 4x4 vehicle may be offered.
After arriving at the Alamo car rental office at Tampa airport, and having gone through all of the various document familiarities, I was quite amazed when the assistant simply pointed us in the direction of the full sized SUVs and told us to pick which ever one we wanted. This is certainly a great way of choosing the car that is just right for you. We had the choice of make, model and colour as well as being able to check out the vehicle for any damage etc before committing to it.
The primary reason for selecting the Highlander was luggage space, for which this vehicle has ample. Based on its more expensive sister, the Lexus RX range, it easily took our 4 full sized suit cases, a large box and 4 pieces of hand luggage. We knew we had some large items to collect from a couple of stores during the trip too, so the cavernous interior space was a real plus point.
The vehicle we chose was a 3. 3 litre V6 in AWD (All Wheel Drive) format. The engine was extremely smooth, quite and very swift indeed. Above all we found the vehicle to be very good on fuel by American standards, achieving around 20mpg, which meant we did not need to visit fuel stations too often (I would point out that we have rented 4x4s that have achieved only 12mpg! ).
As a driver of the vehicle the suspension had a very ‘European’ feel being firmer than many equivalent vehicles and having extremely good cornering capability. Although firmer at no point did the ride feel ‘jittery’, quite the opposite I would say. Steering was supplied through a full power assisted system but it still felt positive probably because of the inherent automatic anti-skid/traction control.
All of the controls were logical and easy to operate. The in car stereo was of a good standard, not as good as the unit on the Cherokee Jeep, but better than the unit on the Dodge Nitro. It included a CD player which my daughters appreciated, and would have been perfect if it had included an MP3 player input.
I would certainly recommend the Toyota Highlander as a good sized and comfortable SUV. Consequently I have now rented this vehicle on 2 occasions.Page added on: 12 December 2007
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