Chevy Uplander

[tbrenk]

Has anyone rented one from National? They have it offered as a minivan. We are three adults and three kids in car seats. We will have 4 suticases. I wan tto make sure it will be roomy enough.

 

[pumpkinboy]

While the Uplander is the car displayed most of the time on both Alamo and National, unless you go at a really busy time, you will likely be able to get something better like a Grand Caravan or something. However, when we flew into BWI for Memorial Day Weekend, all that was left in the category was a Buick Terrazza, which was very tight for my family (two adults, 2 kids, DS's wheelchair and luggage). The Terrazza is simlar to the Uplander, and though it is a very comfortable car for transporting people, it was ill-suited for transporting my 9 yr old's wheelchair. It might work fine for your 4 suitcases and six people though.

For us, we are considering renting from Thrifty in the future so that we can be assured of a Caravan at minimum, and more likely a Grand Caravan, which will fit DS's wheelchair in the back. Renting when there are lots to choose from is best practise here, since then you are most likely to be able to find something that suits your needs. Late in the evening is generally a bad time to rent, while mid-day and early afternoon have tended to bring better results, in my experience.

Good luck!

 

[tbrenk]

While the Uplander is the car displayed most of the time on both Alamo and National, unless you go at a really busy time, you will likely be able to get something better like a Grand Caravan or something. However, when we flew into BWI for Memorial Day Weekend, all that was left in the category was a Buick Terrazza, which was very tight for my family (two adults, 2 kids, DS's wheelchair and luggage). The Terrazza is simlar to the Uplander, and though it is a very comfortable car for transporting people, it was ill-suited for transporting my 9 yr old's wheelchair. It might work fine for your 4 suitcases and six people though.

For us, we are considering renting from Thrifty in the future so that we can be assured of a Caravan at minimum, and more likely a Grand Caravan, which will fit DS's wheelchair in the back. Renting when there are lots to choose from is best practise here, since then you are most likely to be able to find something that suits your needs. Late in the evening is generally a bad time to rent, while mid-day and early afternoon have tended to bring better results, in my experience.

Good luck!

Thanks..I figure even if it is tight with the bags, we shoudl be ok. We could always squeeze bags in on the sides or by our feet from the airport to our condo. Besides that, it will be used for going to stores or out to eat.

Thanks!

 

[minniebeth]

We're a family of five who likes to bring a lot of stuff with us when we travel and have a car seat and a stroller as well. We've gotten a Chevy Uplander several times and have liked the newer models. There was plenty of room and some really nice features including a recessed trunk area for a lot of luggage, etc.
For a temporary rental, we've had no problems with it and liked it for our purposes.

 

[raven69david]

We were a family of 6 (4 adults, 2 infants w/car seats & strollers) and we didn't fit in the Uplander. The van is a mini mini-van, which is what we like to classify it as. There are two versions: the standard Uplander and the extended Uplander. I've pretty much only seen the standard Uplander at Alamo/National. We ended up going with another type of minivan that had a DVD player which kept the kids entertained while we went from place to place. My DD is used to watching her Disney movies in our Odyssey so she felt very relaxed after a long plane flight watching her movies.