What size car?

[suzycute]

Hi
I'm new to this forum but have been reading some of the recent threads with interest. I would be grateful for some help with choosing a car size.

We have booked a 4 door intermediate car for our trip to Disney in July but am not sure it will be big enough - "we" are mum and dad and two girls aged 18 and 16 - any advice would be appreciated! Thanks

 

[GarryK]

Hiya

We've had a 4 door intermediate every time we've gone with our 2 girls. Granted, they were only 6 and 9 the first time but this year they'll be 11 and 14. Even though yours are older I don't see any problems with this car for you apart from perhaps boot (trunk) space when going to/from airport with all the case luggage.

You may need to put one case or bag in the rear with the girls at this time but for the rest of the holiday I'd say the car would be more than ample.

Garry

 

[vicky1bfc]

We have an intermediate for 4 of us,i would think it would be plenty big enough for you.
The only time we didn't get one was when dollar had run out of them.They gave us a 8 seater Now that was a bit to big.

 

[tartangirl]

The I4 car is quite big and will have plenty of space for day to day travel.

The only question is how much luggage are you taking? If you have more than 2 large suitcases you may find it a squeeze to/from the airport. You'll get 2 large and a couple of smaller suitcases in the boot but probably not 3 large suitcases.

 

[wendye]

Can anyone tell me if a full size 4 door car will be big enough for 4 adults and my 6ft tall 16 year old son? On our last trip we took the upgrade offered when we picked up the car from Alamo - it was a 4 x 4 Jeep Grand Cherokee so we had loads of room in that. If I had booked the car hire separately I would have booked one of these but I decided to book a flydrive through Virgin Holidays and they don't do the 4 x 4. If we are going to be tight for space I may well upgrade it when we get there. We all fit into a Nissan Primera here at home so I think we should be ok but as we have only been once before I don't have much past experience to go on.

What does everyone think?

 

[vicky1bfc]

Wendye
I would think you would struggle with a full size for all of you.
We had a full size for 3 adult's and 2 young children and it was a squeeze with Using it day to day.Then on top you going to have all your luggage,i don't think it would all fit in.

 

[bozzly]

I always book the smallest car there is with Dollar (2 door).
When I get to the check in desk they ask if I want to upgrade, I always say no. They keep insisting I upgrade and I keep saying no.
When they give up they give you the keys to your car and low and behold, you have a upgraded car anyway !!
In other words..they dont have the 2 door cars I book and try to get money out of you when you get there to upgrade. When you refuse, you get the upgraded car anyway.
This has happened every time I travel.

 

[vernon]

Like Bozzly I've used that tactic to pay for the cheapest car and know that the chances are I'll get a free upgrade, it's always worked for me BUT it's not a tactic I would use if I knew I couldn't make do with the smallest size car they offer , in the unlikely event the blighters actually have one and give it to me.

Wendye I think you're going to struggle in a full size not only seating but more importantly luggage space. I would consider a 7 seater minivan in your situation. The extra space when touring around is going to greatly increase everyone's comfort levels. IMHO there is little as nasty as getting into a REALLY HOT car at the end of a hot ( and sweaty day) in the parks to squeeze up next to a hot and sweaty person and drive 30-40 (or more if going to Tampa) minutes. The A/C may cool the car down eventually, but for those in the back seats the parts of their bodies that are pressed up against the others will remain hot and damp for the entire journey (I've made myself feel quite queezey just thinking about it ROFLMAO ) . It will be MUCH cheaper to order the bigger car here than wait and upgrade at the airport.

Suzycute, the aspect for you is, IMHO, not seating, but luggage space, as a father of two teenage daughters who did a little ( UNDERSTATEMENT!!!) shopping their last trip I know that by the time they were ready to go home they filled up my boot ( trunk) space on their own. If your family travel light, then you may be ok, but if everyone has their own suitcase, you're going to find it difficult. One thing that may help you to deal with luggage space is to make sure your family make use of soft luggage. Obviously you're going to need some hard suitcases, but if you can get by with two hard cases and use sportsbags type soft luggage that can fit in and around the hard cases you'll be able to deal with a much smaller trunk. Again it's much easier to fit 2 or 3 sports bags into the back seat spaces than it is to fit one hard/solid suitcase. It's only going to be getting from and most likely TO the airport that's going to be the issue, but leaving a suitcase (or daughter) behind is not going to be an option so selecting bag/luggage types with boot/trunk space in mind is going to make life a lot easier for you.

 

[wendye]

Thanks everyone for your replies so far. We do tend to travel fairly light and will likely as not be using holdall type bags with wheels and because we are staying in villas and can wash our clothes we only intend bringing around a weeks supply because we intend to buy some whilst there. Plus we have to take into consideration that we have to be able to get the cases into our car here at home first and after we return in order to get to and from the airport. Vernon thanks for your suggestions but I think I will leave upgrading until we get over because I have booked a flydrive through Virgin Holidays the cost of carhire through them is astronomical and the chances are that even if we do have to pay extra to upgrade it will be cheaper there then through Virgin.

The reason why I was unsure was because Virgin describe the Full size 4 door as being the equivalent of a Vauxall Omega which is bigger then the car we have at home but I was more concerned with the boot space since I am told it was smaller. I believe that Virgin use Dollar for their hirecars can anyone confirm this and does anyone know if Dollar do 4 x 4 sport utilities as Virgin say they don't but I'm not so sure?

 

[Miffy2003]

Dollar definitely do SUVs Wendy you are right

 

[wicket2005]

We have had both a 4 door Intermediate and a Full Size. The latter we got because Dollar said they didn't think an Intermediate would be big enough for us. Doh! Fell for that one, never mind, lesson learnt. Anyway the Full Size was very roomy and I think 4 adults and one youth would fit in it just fine. However, it is the suitcases that would be the problem. We only had two suitcases and they fitted in just fine, I don't think it would have taken any more.

 

[snookhams]

There are 4 of us me, DH, and 2 x DS 13 & 9, and we always get a 7 seater minivan, purely for the extra space. It depends on what you are used to and if you need extra legroom. 3 of the 4 of us are over 6' tall so the extra room we get in the minivan is almost essential for us, and also to get the luggage in as we always go for 3 weeks we tend to have at least 4 suitcases and the hand luggage.

 

[daipp]

Like the last poster, there are 4 of us (Me, my wife, my DS 12 and DD 5) and we have a seven seater Grand Caravan.

With all the luggage it really is worth it and it's a nice touch of luxury for your holiday.

David

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Your have to remember that the trunk (boot) on American cars is a little smaller than in the UK.
We have had every size of car over the years, an I4 intermediate is just not big enough if there are 4 people in your party - there is just not enough luggage space.
An F4 fullsize has a bigger trunk, however, we always go for a people carrier 7V, even though there are just the 3 of us, and even then we have to collapse the back seat down.
Having said that we have 3 large suitcases and a stroller.
An I4 is fine for 2 people, an F4 is okay for 4 if you do not have too much luggage - otherwise the 7V is the best bet.

 

[sharon78]

We booked an I4 but when we arrived we couldnt get everything in so we had to upgrade to a full size.
Myself DH and 2 DD's 7&9,mind you we did take a case each as well as hand luggage,so even in the full size car we had to put one case in the back with the girls to get from the airport to our hotel because we could only fit 3 in the trunk.
i must admit though i did like the full size car better there was plenty of room to relax and stretch out when coming back from a long day at a park.

 

[wendye]

Seems like the consensus is that we will need to upgrade. The thing that puzzled me is the sizes of the cases what in inches is a large case and what is a medium case? I think we probably will upgrade but I'm not going to do it until we get there because as I said Virgin's carhire prices are ridiculous plus I would like to get the 4 x 4 if possible and they don't have that but I was pretty sure that Dollar did have the 4 x 4 because other quotes I've had show this and most of them were through Dollar.

However thanks for your help everyone!