I'm grateful they don't make truly stripped down models of cars anymore, because those were always what would end up in the rental car inventory. Every time I'd rent a car, it felt like I was taking a step back in time.

Now all rental cars actually have some reasonable set of features, without you having to pay for any up-sells.

You should try renting in New Zealand. It literally is a step back in time, lots of companies mostly rent very old (20 years plus) Japanese models. So cheap though.

So the rest of the economy should suffer to subsidize your rental.