Last summer I rented a V8 Camaro. I booked some crappy 6-cylinder Impala and sweet-talked the lady into giving me the Camaro. Did a road trip over a few days from Washington DC to NYC. Was awesome, had a lot of fun.
Couple of weeks ago I was in the US for business. Office rented me some 4-cyl thing but again I was able to sweet-talk the lady into giving me a V8 Dodge Challenger (in bright red). Covered about 1200 miles in it driving from SF to LA and then back up again a day later. No pics yet, but I'll upload one soon.
Both cars were amazing, very "American", very classic muscle cars and a nice different experience from European cars. I paid a total of US$200 for the Dodge Challenger for five days renting from Oakland and returning to SF. Was a bit more for the Camaro, but not much more - it's way cheaper to rent a decent car out there than in Continental Europe. Rented from Avis both times. Petrol is cheap, I was filling a full tank for like US$60-70. I did a lot of miles on both trips.
But... be careful speeding.
On the drive back up to SF I was driving a leetle bit fast. Out of nowhere a California Highway Patrol Crown Vic pulls up, red lights blazing. Smokey dun got me. Reckon I must've been caught by a Cessna (in Cali at least, they have speed enforcement planes!). Anyhoo, I pull over, CHP guy steps out, wearing the classic brown uniform.
Comes up to my window, I'm a bit nervous 'cos I was going quick, looks in and asks for license and registration, tells me I was pulled over for speeding. Comes back after writing the ticket to say I'll have to go to court in March (!) but I later find out that this is apparently standard operating procedure - they give you a court date but then send you a fine. Told me I was doing 108 (!) in a 65... driving safely but too fast for the road.
... I got my fine the other day... on a nice letter from the California Supreme Court titled "THE PEOPLE VS [me]".
Fine? US$900. Ouch. They don't kid around. And don't think you can ignore it if you've got any plans to go back...
