Faults:

This was a rental so I didn't have it long enough to know.

General Comments:

I rented this car for a week. I had no expectations from the onset. But a few key things stuck out after having driven it.

No.1, the engine. If you never popped the hood most would assume it had a V6. Instead it has a 1.5 liter turbocharged engine. I was impressed with not only how much pep and pickup it had with instantaneous acceleration, but the overall fuel economy it returned. It was a genuinely fun car to drive. You can really feel the torque. And it had zero problems getting up to highway speeds and keeping up in 75MPH traffic. Even with me driving aggressively I was getting over 30MPG. It made a satisfying sort of "growl" when the gas was pressed.

The engine was probably the best thing about the car. Comfort wise it was acceptable. I am a smaller male and I found the seats to be fine. But I think someone taller or larger would have issues.

Now keep in mind that these are pretty cheap to start with. The variant I rented costs around $25,000 new. And as such some things will definitely be cheap. Granted this was a rental car and as we know, rental cars are often abused. The one I rented had 60,000 miles already. The interior was made out of a lot of really low-rent plastics and materials. The carpet was starting to pull away from the seams in places. A piece of trim around the trunk was coming off. The sound system was anemic and sounded sort of "tinny". But again, keep in mind this car costs less than most bottom of the barrel econo-cars and so some of those things could be excused.

The infotainment system, the layout of the controls, and the dash were designed in a sensible and easy to understand manner. I was able to figure all of it out almost immediately. The pairing with my phone was seamless and reliable. What's even better was that besides the infotainment system, the majority of the controls were all actual physical, mechanical controls. I also felt that for a cheap car it did come with a LOT of unexpected features such as heated seats, dual climate zones, a large sun roof, power seats and mirrors, and a whole slew of accident avoidance systems, cruise control, a backup camera, and lane departure controls. In fact it came with more features that than my wife's Subaru that cost $10,000 more. But the overall cheapness of the materials used gave me an impression that it will wear a lot quicker. The cheap cloth covered seats already had a lot of visible wear as well as some of the seams coming apart. Again - I had to keep in mind this was a rental car that had probably been thrashed within an inch of its life.

The handling and cabin noise level were pretty good. It was quiet. But it wasn't a sloppy couch on wheels like other large American sedans I've driven in the past. We even had to go off-roading on some rough gravel roads on our way to a national park and the traction control system worked great on loose gravel. The back seats had a lot of room too and we were able to haul 4 adults pretty comfortably.

As far as long term reliability? I'm not sure. Putting a turbo on anything makes me raise my eyebrows. That and I wonder how much stress is being placed on the little engine in an effort to squeeze as much power out of it. At 60,000 miles the engine seemed fine. And given that rental agencies do the absolute minimal maintenance on these things I'd imagine a more careful private owner could do more to ensure its longevity. I also again had to remind myself that this was a cheap car. And so even if it made it to 150,000 miles that's pretty decent.