Anyway, in the last few months due to travelling for some job interviews, taking some weekenders to Tahoe and other parts in CA and the fact that my car's engine siezed (had oil so no-one knows why it siezed), I've had the occasion to rent a bunch of newish cars so I thought I'd give some tiny reviews and ask if you guys have any perspective about what's a great new car to buy these days, in backwards chronological order.
Note: I gave each of these a little bit of extra credit considering they're rental cars. If how I drive rental cars is any indication then these poor things have been beat the hell up before I rented them.
2018 Toyota Prius - "D-" :

God, where to begin whith this thing. My family has always been a "Toyota family" since before I was born but I cannot give this thing a pass. Every single thing about this car is somewhere on the range between Meh and WTF. I don't mind slow acceleration but this thing does everything like it's 90 years old. Quick mechanics aside: hybrids have CVT transmissions which are essentially a couple of pulleys which work out the right ratio between torque and speed. Instead of a clutch which makes a direct connection or a torque converter which spins up such that the fluid makes an almost connection (then locks up in some cars), a CVT kinda squirts power into the wheels after taking its time. So with a hybrid, when you push the gas, first the tiny engine starts to rev, then after a delay the computer tells the electric motor to give some torque, then the pulleys figure out a ratio and you start to accelerate. So whether I'm going in the parking lot at 10mph or on the freeway at 65, the torque response is just as lackadaisical.
Then there's the rest of the car, fucking quirky at best. The tires are so small that grooved roads pull you left and right like a tesla in one of Musk's bullshit boring tunnels. There's no trunk release button (base model problem probably). The headlight control is out of this world. In 30 years of driving I've never had a car that when you turn on the headlights the taillights don't automatically come on. You have to turn the stalk a second time for the taillights. What possible use case is there for this "feature"? Taillights take like 1% of the power of headlights so I can't even think of a situation where I need headlights but would be upset that the taillights are on as well. The seat controls are weird, the styling is awful, and the usb jacks are behind the center console so how the hell am I going to charge my phone while its sitting on the dash for navigation.
The absolutely only redeeming characteristic of this car comes down to one number: 41.5. This is the average gas mileage I've gotten driving around the bay area the last few days. If I was someone who thought that an extra $50 a month in gas would kill me then I might give in to buying one of these.
2017 Dodge Charger SXT (B+):

Rented this thing after my car died and I was committed to a weekend in Carmel-By-The-Sea. Carmel is next to Pebble Beach (Concourse de Exelence) and as such is a magnet for folks pushing hot cars like Ferrari's, Lambos, Porsche's, etc. I usually don't care that I drove there with a beater as I'm not like that but since I needed to rent a car anyway I checked out Turo.com to rent someone's unique car. I hadn't considered Turo before I read a Jalopnik article about a couple of "car reporters" who rented a KITT car in SoCal and planned to drive it 6 hours to San Fran for a convention. In that case the car died after 10 miles and I was impressed to hear that Turo not only flatbedded the thing but also charged the costs to the owner because it wasn't the renters' fault the car died.
I almost went with a Porsche Cayenne but the wife wanted something "newer" so went with a Charger SXT. Had to pick it up in person at this guy's shitty apartment complex in Pleasanton. Only a V6 unfortunately but it did look hot, all jet black but missing neat logos like Hemi. This one rode really smooth, the suspension must be set on "boat" but still handled pretty well. Though only a V6, it was still one of the fastest things on the road and had no problem keeping up with Porsche's and BMW's weaving in and out to move fast in moderate freeway traffic. It did 120 like nothing so that's pretty good and still clocked around 18mpg average. I probably am at fault for warping the guy's brake rotors by the end of the trip but fuck it, not my car. Seats were leather and very comfortable. Stereo was almost loud enough and the bluetooth connected automatically nicely when I started the car. Overall, if I was the kind of person to buy an american "muscle" car then this wouldn't be a bad choice (maybe paint it orange and put some stars and bars on the top and pretend I'm in dukes of hazzard).
2018 Ford Explorer (B-)

Rented this thing for an impromptu trip to Lake Tahoe for some snowmobiling. Very comfortable ride, plenty powerful (much better than the Jeep Cherokee I tried a couple years ago). My issue with the Explorer is one thing: it's way too fucking big for me. I'm not sure who came up with the cars "moores law" but someone seems to have decreed that every year every single particular car model must get bigger. The Explorer back in the 90's was a lithe little thing, barely larger than my 2003 Vibe was. This thing's big and the hood is almost flat and seven feet long so to navigate some of SF's parking garages I literally had to hang half my body out of the window and then still my wife had to get out and give me directions in one particularly small garage. Not sure why it has to be so god damn big.
2018 Toyota Rav-4 (B+):

The wife and I are probably about to buy one of these to replace my 2003 Pontiac Vibe (Toyota Matrix). I probably have to do a Toyota because I can't get out of my head the fact that most Toyotas my family have had ran to almost or over 200k miles with relatively minimal repair costs. I'm sure American carmakers are much more reliable than they were in the '70's but I'm not sure I'm ready to take the chance yet.
Anyway, this is a cute functional little SUV. The ride wasn't as comfortable as the wife would have liked (probably rental car beaten up and base model issue, hopefully) but overall pretty capable and comfortable. Big enough inside but not such a huge truck that it pisses me off in parking garages. My main complaints are pretty common to all modern cars: It's fucking Naggy. I don't need my car to tell me if I get close to the edge of the lane, I've been driving for 30 years. I don't need it to beep incessently as I back up or if I park in a spot with a wall in front of it and the front end warning won't stop going off. Why the hell can't I get a modern car with a bluetooth stereo but none of the naggy bullshit.
2018 Nissan Altima (A):

As a child I was emotionally traumatized by my parent's horrible experience with a Datson B210 so as such I've always shied away from buying anything with a "nissan" logo on it. Their B210 had every badly engineered problem that you can think of, from an engine with too thin cylinder walls , windows that would break at the slightest slam of the door, a transmission that would make 80's Chrysler proud: bottom line this thing was reliable in the way that a Yugo was a real car.
That said, this was one of the most enjoyable rental cars I've had in the last year. Rented this thing while interviewing at Teradata in San Diego. I made it a one day fly down and fly back thing so didn't get too much time to spend in this car but just the few hours driving around San Diego were really enjoyable. The ride was smooth but tight, the acceleration was adequate, the features made sense, it was easy to park. If I wasn't committed to a SUV and scared of Nissan reliability then I would probably choose this.
What cars do you guys like? Any suggestions?