got back from Orlando today - man these trips are stressful

this one even more so than previous ones because i got fed up with a rental Hyundai Elantra from Enterprise and exchanged it for a Mercedes E-Class from SIXT so my costs went up and was under even more pressure to make something of each day there

all i wanted was a Toyota Camry but it wasn't an option - it was either Elantra or the Mercedes and i just couldn't deal with that fucking piece of shit Elantra

it wasn't even that Elantra had no acceleration - i could deal with that - but it just simply couldn't cool the cabin in Florida in August. it would only be able to cool properly after about 20 minutes on the highway and that just wasn't working for me.

the AC in the E-Class mercedes was WAY better. it seems to have electric compressor ( it's a mild hybrid ) so it can provide some cooling even with the engine stopped but more importantly it ramps up to powerful cooling at normal speeds whereas Elantra needs freeway speeds for half-decent cooling because the compressor is belt driven by the engine so at low RPMs it does very little.

this switch ( from Elantra to 2024 E-350 ) made all the difference. in the Elantra i felt like i was in hell in Orlando. in the Mercedes suddenly it was paradise. same weather - different Air Conditioner.

from what i remember Camry had good AC too. but my Volvo has the best AC of all ( when it works, which lately is half the time ) because it delivers 100% cooling even when parked with the engine off because it's a plug-in hybrid. the tiny battery in Mercedes can only power AC at half power for about a minute before the engine has to turn back on.

i also felt the lack of electric torque in the mercedes that i have grown accustomed to in my Volvo PHEV.

but that was E350. the E53 AMG is a PHEV and should be very, very good.

but one thing bothered me though - the door arm rest was digging into my knee in a painful way. horrible design. not a deal breaker but big enough issue to look at other options. if the door armrest wasn't painful to lean the knee on the E53 would be a perfect car.

overall i preferred the renting experience from Enterprise versus SIXT but the car selection from SIXT is just perfect whereas with enterprise it's all trash.

the Camry is pretty much the best car you can get from Enterprise, but when i asked for Camry the black girl gave me Elantra even though she liked me and gave me a huge discount but ultimately didn't understand shit about cars and thought Elantra was a Camry equivalent ( it's a Corolla equivalent ).

had i reserved the car in advance online ( definitely how i will do it from now on ) maybe i would have been able to get something less atrocious than Elantra but honestly Camry is still a huge downgrade from E-Class.

i was actually pleasantly surprised by how nice the new E-class is. no wonder it won car of the year. the seats were perfect. the screen is HUGE and super sharp. WIRELESS android auto ( plus Mercedes' own navigation when android won't connect ).

very nice car. too nice in fact - for the 4 cylinder engine in the base E350. the car deserves better. and with E53 it gets the drivetrain it deserves and the big battery that can run the AC at full blast without starting the engine.

but if you want a non-painful armrest you have to step up to S-Class ( or go with BMW ).