I saw somewhere (on here maybe?) that it’s a better idea, finances permitting, that you hire the car you have on your shortlist for a couple of days. Which means you get to have the car itself for a couple of days and you truly know whether or not it’s suitable. Problem is getting the actual car you booked along with the spec you’d like. Not sure if it’s viable but I’d rather spend the money on doing that rather than a test drive for 30 minutes.
Good idea, but the challenge with that is that rental companies almost never guarantee a specific model of car, just a category. Sometimes you might be lucky, sometimes not.
Have to say that in all my car buying & leasing years I’ve only ever been unable to test drive the car that I wanted once, and that was because the dealership was closing and they just didn’t care. I’ve sometimes had to travel to test drive the correct spec car though, as different seats or suspension setups can completely affect the suitability of a car.