I am renting a Chevy Cobalt while the Bug gets some work. It is such an epic fail I had to mention it. When I first saw this car I thought to myself "well if nothing else Detroit should be able to throw together a decent little base compact vehicle that is atleast a solid runner". There is not much too this car other than drive train/chassis it has roll up windows and manual door locks. From a bare bones perspective and the sheer simplicity of the set up: auto/4cyl front wheel drive, this thing should be bullet proof. Most Asian entry level vehicles like this are no thrills, but you will get a solid drive train that will last forever and usually a decent chassis. This car has 25k on it. It has not been crashed from the looks of it: no variance in paint or body panel integrity. The whole front clip is creaking and moaning like an old row boat. Shock towers rattle drive train clunks, steering wheel vibrates and rattles. It already feels loose as hell. You have to purposely try to fail on such a simple set up. It is not worth its weight in scrap metal.
neighbor drives a 2-door cobalt that she's wrecked god knows how many times...thing still runs pretty good, though. I've had to drive it around a couple of times and with the exception of the color (deep deep purple...almost black-gray looking at night), it's not a bad choice for her DD.
keep in mind just how much abuse rentals take... i would NEVER buy one used, just from what i've seen my friends do with them (D to R at 80mph, jumping curbs, general off-roading silliness)
I drive a rental car about twice a month and I hate most of the american cars I get. The only cars I've felt comfortable in is the a Ford Fusion (which I believe was designed by Ford Europe) and a pontiac vibe (aka a Toyota matrix). Sometimes I drive up to six hours a day and sitting in a impala or sebring really makes you understand why ergonomics are so important.
My family had a malibu as a rental for a few days. It was nice and quite, but no more spacious in the back than an impreza. Also, there is a plastic trim piece on the rear door that sliced open my finger when I closed the door. It was just a bit left over from the molding process that SHOULD have been trimmed off, like the other 3 doors.
this was my first thought. my buddies in statesboro use to throw together the $40 or $50 bucks a day for a weekend and buy the insurance on rental cars just for fun. they would spend the weekends jumping them, doing burnouts, hitting trashcans, locking brakes, tray sliding (mcdonalds style), you name it. a rental car is not something to compare a test drive to.
Ergonomics rules. I'm a designer and that is the first thing you should consider. 2010 if they last that long they intro the electric car, I'm bettin they do. Corvette Zo6 is badass; they paid attention to ergonomics too.