Misunderstanding my Accent

Filed in archive on February 2, 2006

When in Phoenix covering the auctions for 4 Drivers Only I had the dubious privilege of renting a Dodge Neon. It wasn't what I'd asked for. I was after the least-costly car I could find, in this case a Hyundai Accent.

The Advantage desk clerk proudly proclaimed that he was bumping me up a class at no charge. I'd get a Neon. "I don't want a Neon" I said, "I want the Accent." He smiled as though I was some kind of idiot and asked, "why would you take an Accent when you could drive a Neon?" "Because its a better car, it's more comfortable, and it's a lot more fun to drive." Seeing that he still wasn't convinced I added, "I know this because I'm an automobile journalist and I test new cars all the time." Finally we agreed on an Accent but somewhere on the ride to the Advantage lot the messages became mixed. I ended up with a Neon and it wasn't fun.

This time next year he'll try to rent me the Neon's replacement, a Dodge Caliber. Early reviews are not promising but I'll check with my test drive buddy Colin Hefferon, who was at the media launch in Phoenix this week. As Internet reviewers Colin and I rarely get invited to such events but someone who writes for a bunch of throwaway papers and couldn't attend asked Colin to replace him.

According to a study released this week by automotive research company R.L. Polk, 35 percent of first-time buyers consider the Internet to be their most important source of information; just 3.6 percent ranked newspapers as their No. 1 tool.