Compact Car: Will it be big enough?

[EvertonCJ]

Hi everybody. I wonder if somebody could help. We fly out on August 3rd with Virgin. There are 2 adults in our party along with 2 children aged 10 and 13. We have hired a 4 door compact car with Dollar and having read the Virgin website, I am wondering will this be big enough for us all. We take 4 medium size cases with us and a couple of small bags for the plane. Friends of ours will be on holiday with us and they have hired an economy car for just 2 adults. The plan is to put a couple of our cases on the back seat of their car for the journey to SSR. Is this feasible or should I bite the bullet and hire something bigger? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[howlongtillsummer?]

We always take a compact and have never had any problems with it. There are only three of us though, but we do buy lots and lots. We usually have at least five bags. I think it should be ok for you but you can upgrade when you get there if you need to.

 

[Lizzybear]

We had a compact a couple of years ago (Dodge caliber) and it only fitted 2 cases in the boot, we put 2 on the backseat. There's only the 2 of us but with 4 it may be a case of the kids being a bit squashed in the back for that trip from the airport to the resort and back, should be OK the rest of the time. Personally i'd go for the intermediate if possible as the cost isn't much more, we got one last year (Chrysler Sebring) as we needed to be able to put all our cases in the boot (we were travelling around rather than staying in one hotel) and it swallowed 3 cases and a holdall no problem plus it's more spacious inside

 

[Netty]

you would be better having an intermediate car, i personally think an economy will be too small for 4 of you, no fun for the kids being uncomfortable in the back

 

[castanea1985]

For the difference in price, I'd go for an intermediate... then you won't be worrying!
The last thing you want is to 'hamper' the shopping, for the size of the car!

That's one of the reason's I always get the car hire sorted... so we've got something big enough for the shopping!

Tracy xx

 

[Dimplenose]

We had an intermediate in 2005 (our last trip) and were given a Chrysler PT Cruiser. It was much bigger inside than the Neons (compact) we'd previously had but the boot much, much smaller.

We always managed with 2 suitcases, and all our handluggage in the Neon. We put an extra case between the kids on the way home, but we did do DTD check in so it wasn't too bad.

 

[loobylou44]

The last time we went our children were 11 and 13, and we had an intermediate car, we had 4 cases and only 3 fitted in the boot, so I think a compact will definitely be a squash.

 

[EvertonCJ]

Did I read somewhere else that Dollar don't stock economy cars so give you a compact car automatically? I was thinking that if the couple that we are travelling with have a compact car as well, then between us we should be able to fit everything in comfortably. If not, does anybody know the cost of upgrading from compact to intermediate with Virgin?

 

[Netty]

Have you booked with virgin hols? as they have free car hire, but you still have all the insurances to pay, alot of people just don't bother with their car hire and go and get their own instead as it works out much cheaper.

 

[team harris]

I think you may need an intermediate car. Never managed to get more than 2 cases in the back of a compact and your children aren't that small and will be uncomfortable with luggage in the back with them - ideal to share luggage between friend's car, but will there be enough room for hand lauugae to espescially on the return journey when you've bought heaps of goodies.It's easy to upgrade on arrival, hanging back often gets you a free upgrade too

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Just had a look on the Dollar website for your dates (i presumed two weeks)
£255.94 for a Compact

they state the compacts are
Ford Focus
Dodge Caliber (chrysler)

You could go to the local Ford and Chrysler dealers and see what the boot sizes are like to give you an idea (you could take the cases (empty) and see if they would fit, tell them you want to see how good the car is on your annual holidays in the UK)

 

[Netty]

Just had a look on the Dollar website for your dates (i presumed two weeks)
£255.94 for a Compact

they state the compacts are
Ford Focus
Dodge Caliber (chrysler)

You could go to the local Ford and Chrysler dealers and see what the boot sizes are like to give you an idea (you could take the cases (empty) and see if they would fit, tell them you want to see how good the car is on your annual holidays in the UK)

if it is a dodge caliber then it is far too small, we had one for 23 days and there was just the 3 of us, my dd was aged 15 at the time, when we picked it up from the airport we had 3 suitcases and 1 had to go on the back seat.. we struggled going back to the airport with more luggage. my sis in law had the same car on the same holiday and there was 4 of them-two being aged 19 and 14 and how they managed i dont know

 

[EvertonCJ]

Thank you Obi Wan Kenobi. We already have a Focus as one of our family cars so I am familiar with the size. The boot is small, but there is plenty of leg room for our daughters. We have booked a flydrive with Virgin for 17 nights. We have booked a Compact car for ourselves and an Economy car for two friends that we are travelling with. The total cost of the Platinum package insurance was £619 for the two cars. Next year I will book the cars seperately, but did it at the time of booking the flight for convenience. We will probably stick with the Compact car for ourselves as our friends have said we can put a couple of cases on the back seat of their Economy car. Once again, thank you everybody for your advice. It has been very helpful.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Thank you Obi Wan Kenobi. We already have a Focus as one of our family cars so I am familiar with the size. The boot is small, but there is plenty of leg room for our daughters. We have booked a flydrive with Virgin for 17 nights. We have booked a Compact car for ourselves and an Economy car for two friends that we are travelling with. The total cost of the Platinum package insurance was £619 for the two cars. Next year I will book the cars seperately, but did it at the time of booking the flight for convenience. We will probably stick with the Compact car for ourselves as our friends have said we can put a couple of cases on the back seat of their Economy car. Once again, thank you everybody for your advice. It has been very helpful.

Just had a look on the Dollar car hire for 17 days (compact now £318.43)
The economy is a Chevrolet Aveo! (£298.17) looks like the price difference is tiny
http://www.chevrolet.com/pages/open/default/family/aveo.do

 

[EvertonCJ]

Obi Wan Kenobi, thank you for looking. As you said, the price difference is very small compared to what we have paid. It is nice to know that we are not being ripped off.

 

[Trouty]

We had a Caliber two years ago and whilst fine for general driving around for two adults and two under 10s the boot space is small so struggled to get the luggage in.
Last year we went 'full size' with Avis and got a Hyundi Sonata which was excellent. All luggage fit great and plenty of room/comfort for all four of us.

Compact will be fine if you had no luggage