The University of Minnesota just sent a message to its email list this morning announcing the availability of Zipcars on campus. Zipcar rents cars on an hourly and daily basis. There are three vehicles available at the UMN - Toyota Matrix, Mazda 3, and Honda Element. Sweet choice of cars!

http://www.zipcar.com/umn/find-cars

University students/staff get a discount, but anyone over 21 with a clean driving record can rent, so it might be a good option if you're looking for an extended test drive.

the Zip car francise (?) here in Chicago has an E as well. thats a good idea to use it as an extended test drive car... :)

Gotta love the nick, LieutenantLefse, considering I have some of "that" blood in my veins. As a youngster, it was always fun to watch my dad set the dinner table for unsuspecting guests by replacing the cloth dinner napkins with lefse. When he'd butter it and eat it, it was always good for a cheap laugh.

I'm slightly concerned though -- do your parents actually know you bought a brightly colored vehicle!? Didn't they impress upon you that bland is best? :roll:

Hah - well the SOP Element is close enough to red to pass muster with my family. I never really went through the rebellious phase as a teenager, so instead I'll probably be protesting against Scandinavian blandness for the rest of my life, but in little ways like watching artsy movies and buying odd-looking cars.

Wait a minute - are you trying to tell me off-white is not a color? :confused:

And there is nothing bland about lutefisk. Squishy, smelly, and ugly, yes, but definitely not bland.


:D

mmmm-- herring, potato bologna, rice pudding, lefse.... mmmm

Hah, the U even made an ice sculpture of an Element for the Zipcar announcement:

12014

we have something called FlexCar in our area, and they have an Element in their fleet. I was considering renting it for a couple hours, but my Honda dealer let me test drive ours over night.

http://www.flexcar.com/seattle/

http://www.flexcar.com/company/photos/photo_15.jpg

thats a great photo, but isnt it san francisco, not seattle?? :confused: :) :)

lol, yeah, I stole it from their website