I rented an Audi and now I want one. Thanks Silvercar.

Silvercar’s motto is “Car rental that doesn’t suck,” but it might as well be, “Do you really want to drive an Impala or a Focus?” At least, that’s what my Silvercar agent said to me when she dropped me off at my terminal. I was hesitant to try Silvercar at first since the cost ($50/day after coupon code, regularly ~$75/day depending on location and day) was easily twice as much as a regular rental, but am so glad I decided to splurge and live a little. 

I still had to take a shuttle to get my rental car since I flew into LAX (there are no exceptions), but that’s where the similarities with other car rental companies end. The whole process was easy, pleasant, and made me want to ditch Enterprise / Avis / etc. for good. In fact I already made Silvercar reservations for my next two trips to LA this summer.

Why did I like it so much? Great customer service aside, driving an Audi was an experience, especially after driving Hondas or Toyotas for most of my life. For the first time ever I could actually feel the road as I was driving…that much was clear after the first 20 seconds. It was like being introduced to In-N-Out (or Shake Shack) after eating McDonald’s your whole life. 

Unfortunately, the navigation system was a joke. First of all, there wasn’t even a backup camera. My 2012 Toyota Camry has a backup camera…how does a 2013 Audi A4 (which is equipped with wifi) not have a backup camera? I’m told that the 2014 A4s do have them, but still, it really makes me wonder who is making those decisions at Audi, and whether they would hire me instead. Second, the display is not a touchscreen…it relies on a touch dial to enter addresses, and touch dials are from the devil. Third, the navigation was confusing and unintuitive — you read instructions from the bottom up (really??!?), and it shows you a whole lot of extraneous information about exits that you’re passing on the freeway (but aren’t taking). It literally took me several minutes to decipher the directions as I was driving (see picture below). 

Sadly, Apple’s CarPlay system won’t make it into US models until 2016…otherwise I would totally buy an Audi today. Until then I guess I’ll just have to use Silvercar.