Type of car

[shagster330]

We are travelling to Disneyland (California) from the UK.

We need to hire a car whilst we are in San Diego to travel to Disney. We want something a bit unusual. We were thinking of hiring a SUV (4X4) as we need something big enough to get all our luggage and push chair into.

Our party will include me, my wife and two kids

Has anyone hired one of these vehicles. Any comments or alternatives will be greatly appreciated

 

[matty624]

The year before last we hired a full size car. Big mistake! We have two small children, so need (at least until this year) 2 push chairs and the usual luggage a family needs with two small children in tow. It wouldn't fit in any of the full size cars on offer. The 'helpful' rental person offered us a Vitara sized SUV, which was no better. In the end, we did what we always do now, and upgraded to minivan. A minivan is the only sure way of getting all your luggage (at least ours!) in the car, without some sort of Krypton factor certification anyway...
Ian

 

[lisag1]

Hi Shagster,

We had a V8 Ford Expedition with all the extras last year (Sat Nav etc) and my husband was absolutely over the moon with it!!!! We had originally hired an 7str from Alamo at MCO but decided to upgrade to the SUV at the airport as it still sat 7people but hubby said it was awesome to drive. (must be a man thing

)

Lisa

 

[allie5]

We have a had a Jeep Grand Cherokee in the past and the luggage space was immense! You can stack to the roof if you need too, so pushchairs can be laid over the top of cases.

We have had a mini-van as well, and yes, the luggage capacity of these is even bigger (if you dont need the back row of seats for passengers). We put the pushchair on these.

DH didnt like driving the mini-van nearly so much as the Jeep.....I would go for a large (Jeep, Expedition, GMC Jimmy) SUV if you can over the van, which DH reckoned was heavy to drive. Plus, the Jeep was much more fun, and we took it off-road on one of the beaches.....coooooool

 

[UKDEB]

We've hired a Dodge Durango in the past which is fairly big, but nowhere near the size of a Ford Expedition - those things are enormous. The trouble is, you seem only able to specify "SUV", not the particular model or even the size - it all depends on what vehicles the rental company has at the time you turn up at the desk. We'd pre-booked an SUV and the Durango was the <i>only</i> vehicle they had. Not a problem for dh, as it was what he wanted at the time anyway, but I wasn't impressed because it had literally just come back into the garage and hadn't been cleaned. I'm not sure that all SUVs would be big enough for your requirements.

 

[DizneyDaze]

We too have had the Dodge Durango and we liked it. Enough room for four and plenty of luggage room. I am sure Deb is right that you cannot specify beforehand which model of SUV you want but you maybe able to make a request once there. If not a 7 seater is nice you still have the height, which is one of the things we like best, you can see much more. We have travelled from SanDiego to DL before and parts of the road are really nice so a 4x4 or 7 seater is a great choice.

What time of year are you going you might be in luck and see the
whales!

 

[shagster330]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

It hasn't changed my mind on my first choice. I think we will still get an SUV. We will just have to take the luck of the draw as to which type we get. If we don't fit we will request something bigger when we pick it up

Unfortunately we just miss the whales in SD, we are there in mid November