Report: Teacher Rents Toyota, Races It

In a story coming to you out of your author's hometown, we have a teacher who rented a Toyota Supra on Turo ... to set a land-speed record.

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Porsche to Strangers: Borrow Our Cars

Having already introduced a subscription service for its vehicles, Porsche decided to continue experimenting with alternatives to traditional car ownership. The luxury brand plans to launch two pilot programs on both U.S. coasts (condolences to America’s Heartland) aimed at encouraging drivers to get behind the wheel of a Porsche for brief periods of time.

The first, overseen by Porsche Cars North America, will test exclusively within the Atlanta area, near Porsche’s North American headquarters. Called Porsche Drive, the pilot program launched a few days ago and offers hourly to weekly rentals of new Porsche cars and SUVs. Meanwhile, a second joint venture with peer-to-peer car rental company Turo will service San Francisco and Los Angeles starting next month. That endeavor focuses on the sharing of already purchased (new and vintage) Porsche vehicles by owners inclined to share them.

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QOTD: Would You Turo, on Either Side?

I learned something today that made me almost physically ill: Have you ever flown in or out of SFO, the wacky San Francisco Airport with its wacky fake TSA that takes bribes to let cocaine come through the screening process? Did you rent a car? And did you take that crappy-ass AirTrain that basically goes all around the Bay Area before dropping you off at the rental car facility approximately 42 minutes after you got on the thing?

Did you know that SFO charges eighteen dollars a ride for the AirTrain? They aren’t charging you; they are charging the rental companies, who pay eighteen bucks per contract for an “AirTrain fee” in addition to an amazing amount of other surcharges. No wonder it’s such a nightmare getting a car at SFO.

Of course, you don’t have to rent a car. You could take an Uber, or you could “rent” through Turo. The mandarins of San Francisco don’t like that, so they are taking Turo to court. That in and of itself is pretty much enough incentive for me to use Turo the next time I fly there. Whatever the Government of San Francisco is for, I’m probably against.

How about you? Would you Turo? And would you rent your own car through Turo?

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  • Jkross22 Their bet to just buy an existing platform from GM rather than build it from the ground up seems like a smart move. Building an infrastructure for EVs at this point doesn't seem like a wise choice. Perhaps they'll slow walk the development hoping that the tides change over the next 5 years. They'll probably need a longer time horizon than that.
  • Lou_BC Hard pass
  • TheEndlessEnigma These cars were bought and hooned. This is a bomb waiting to go off in an owner's driveway.
  • Kwik_Shift_Pro4X Thankfully I don't have to deal with GDI issues in my Frontier. These cleaners should do well for me if I win.
  • Theflyersfan Serious answer time...Honda used to stand for excellence in auto engineering. Their first main claim to fame was the CVCC (we don't need a catalytic converter!) engine and it sent from there. Their suspensions, their VTEC engines, slick manual transmissions, even a stowing minivan seat, all theirs. But I think they've been coasting a bit lately. Yes, the Civic Type-R has a powerful small engine, but the Honda of old would have found a way to get more revs out of it and make it feel like an i-VTEC engine of old instead of any old turbo engine that can be found in a multitude of performance small cars. Their 1.5L turbo-4...well...have they ever figured out the oil dilution problems? Very un-Honda-like. Paint issues that still linger. Cheaper feeling interior trim. All things that fly in the face of what Honda once was. The only thing that they seem to have kept have been the sales staff that treat you with utter contempt for daring to walk into their inner sanctum and wanting a deal on something that isn't a bare-bones CR-V. So Honda, beat the rest of your Japanese and Korean rivals, and plug-in hybridize everything. If you want a relatively (in an engineering way) easy way to get ahead of the curve, raise the CAFE score, and have a major point to advertise, and be able to sell to those who can't plug in easily, sell them on something that will get, for example, 35% better mileage, plug in when you get a chance, and drives like a Honda. Bring back some of the engineering skills that Honda once stood for. And then start introducing a portfolio of EVs once people are more comfortable with the idea of plugging in. People seeing that they can easily use an EV for their daily errands with the gas engine never starting will eventually sell them on a future EV because that range anxiety will be lessened. The all EV leap is still a bridge too far, especially as recent sales numbers have shown. Baby steps. That's how you win people over.