Everyone has their own thing in life, whether it’s dancing, soccer or simply eating good food. For me, that thing is cars. The easiest way to explain my passion would be to buckle you into the passenger seat of my car and go for a spin. Sadly, I can’t since my car is 500 miles away covered in a blanket of snow.

This is essentially the car enthusiast’s worst nightmare. Imagine being in a candy shop filled with all of your favorite sweets and not being able to touch them. The treat is so close, yet so far away. No matter how much you yearn to taste that candy, it’s not going to happen. That’s exactly how I feel when I’m walking around campus and see someone rumble by in their Camaro ZL1. I’m left helpless listening to their exhaust crackle and pop as they pull away from a light.

After a couple weeks of not driving, I decided that the wait to go back home was too much. I needed to get my fix of driving thrills, so I turned to something that had never even crossed my mind before coming to Syracuse University: Zipcar.

Now, Zipcar certainly didn’t have car people like me in mind when they were choosing what renters can drive, like the Toyota Prius, one of the most popular cars around campus. The car may just have the most lifeless driving experience of any car made on the road today. While it’s quite good at doing other things, the Prius is not a car that fits the bill for the fast driving I’m used to.

Luckily for me, Zipcar decided to make the Ford Focus available to rent. Now some may protest, but I believe the Focus makes for a pretty decent driving experience.

While it’s fun to thrash around in your own car, tearing around some backroads in a rental is an experience I would recommend to anyone who loves driving. It’s well known by those who are into cars that the hobby isn’t cheap. Things break on cars, and it’s rare you come across a repair that most people would say is inexpensive. That’s where the allure of driving a rental really comes in. Instead of being paranoid that this pull could be the one that finishes your clutch, you’re more concerned about how much rubber you can burn off those tires.

Former “Top Gear” host Jeremy Clarkson said it best when he claimed that a rental is, “The fastest car in the world.”

Even though I’m driving a fun car, it still doesn’t fill the void of driving a real sports car. Zipcar only offers cars with automatic transmissions, which instantly neuters the driving experience. Rowing through the gears on a proper manual transmission is an irreplaceable experience that no flappy-paddle automatic could ever replicate.

Going for a drive fixes just about any problem in my life. No matter how I’m feeling, mashing the accelerator pedal to the floor and tearing up some twisty roads will always bring a smile to my face. Unfortunately, there’s no real direct replacement for that kind of a thrill here when I’m without my car. Zipcar offers a real opportunity to scratch the itch of not being able to drive, but it’s not quite the same.

At the end of the day, cars to me are all about having fun and putting a smile on my face. Taking a day with a Zipcar certainly did that for me. A lot of people drive to get from point A to point B. For me, the journey is the point.

Published on January 26, 2016 at 12:06 am