belanger

Any prospective buyers who are actually interested in driving the car for more than 5 minutes and without a sales guy, there's a red '01 available for rent in SF. It's pricey, but well worth the investment. I had it for a little under 24 hours, but was able to get some freeway driving in on 101 -> 92 -> 280, city driving, driving with the top up and down, parallel parking, an enjoyable ride down the Skyline ridge in Marin and even was able to see how it fit in my garage. Most importantly, I learned how low the front of it is relative to SF curbs.

I was able to do all this in about 115 miles, which was only 15 over the limit you get($0.50/mile over, so an extra $7.50). It's an '01, but it already has ~21,000 miles and is a bit tired looking. Unfortunately, it has a number of scratches, but the engine still sounds good. Frankly, I had just about ruled the S2K out of my sportscar purchase until that rental and now it's at or near the top of the list, so if any of you lurkers are debating a Stook, I whole-heartedly recommend this.

Here are the details for those interested:

National Car Rental(aka Specialty at this location)
1600 Mission Street
415-701-1600
$224/day, with a 2-day weekend minimum
100 miles + $0.50/mile over
Insurance: ~$25

I called around 4:30 on Saturday and they still hadn't rented it. I explained that I just needed it for a couple of hours to evaluate it and asked if there was a cheaper rate, so they gave it to me until noon on Sunday for $112. Note: I tried the same thing on Friday and was shot down hard, so cavaet emptor. Some of the guys there were very cool, others were, well...


-MB