which car to hire?

[henryk67]

Hope this is in the correct section.
I am about to hire a car for 2 weeks, we fly into Sanford, there will be 5 of us, wife and I & three children with 2 large cases and maybe 1 small. I was thinking about a 4 door Intermediate or Full size car. Would these be suitable for our needs and if so could anyone recommend a car type, ie Charger or Impala etc.

Thank's

 

[Freaky]

We have tried both the 4 door intermediate and the 4 door full size and by far prefer the full size. The full size we got was a Dodge Magnum estate (about the same size and an Audi A4/A5 estate) but most of the full size that Dollar now supply is a Dodge Charger which is the saloon version of the Magnum.

For a family of 5 either would do (we only have 2 kids) but the I4 we got was a Chrysler Sebring which I didn't like. The air-con wasn't fantastic and the one we got wasn't that clean either!

Tracey

 

[Netty]

we have had intermediates before when there were 5 of us going years ago, and for the past couple of years we have had a 7 seater minivan- maybe this could be the better option for you, as you'll have more space then for the kids and luggage.

 

[wayneg]

With 3 children in the back I would go for Full size, just a little more room for them and space in the trunk if you buy things to bring home. For the difference in price its not worth struggling.
Personally I would order 2 door. I have rented over 20 x 2 door cars now, everytime given 4 door. You would be very very unlucky to get one, I have never seen one although someone will post ans say they got one
I you use www.USrentacar.co.uk or www.carhireflorida.net they both do offers of free upgrades from Intermediate to Full size.
Also worth paying the £2/day extra IMO for the Gold cover. Gives you a tank of gas included.
I have had Charger great car although our aircon struggled a bit, we like really cold cars. Just had Pontiac GP 3.5L again really nice.
I have liked every car I have had in Florida, do they do bad cars?

 

[henryk67]

Think my main worry was if there was not enough room in the boot for the luggage to and from the airport as I don't think we will be in the car for long periods at a time although probably every day, so not the need or expense for a 7 seater.

 

[Aardvarks]

The Full sized car from Dollar at Sanford is the Chrysler 300c. This car is built by Chrysler and shares a common body with the Dodge Charger and is the saloon version of the Magnum.

All of these vehicles share a common floorpan with the Mercedes E class.

So they are a step bigger than the Modeo/ Vectra/BMW3 and similar in capacity to the E class merc, BMW5 and Audi A6

We can get 3 very large 25kg suitcases plus a couple of rucksacks in the boot of a 300c.

We are a family of 3 working adults plus a 6ft 15 year old teenager. Dollar classes this car as Luxury.

We have previously used the chrysler Seabring/Dodge Stratos/ sized car which is a close to a Mondeo as you can get. These were fine when the lads were small and we once drove from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and returned in one of these. It was a tight squeeze.