Need car hire for Six People & Luggage

Dodgybloke

I need to hire a vehicle (car or people carrier) for six people and their luggage for a week. I've been told a Vauxhall Zafira would be too small. Is that true? To upgrade to the larger 9 person carrying vehicle, would push the hire cost to £400!!!

So the question is, Zafira or hire two cars (a Mondeo and Focus for example)? Any opinions will be helpful.

tanith

I have a Vauxhall Zafira and we have carried 6 adults in ours quite comfortably on a shortish journey (less than an hour) and I guess you could get some luggage in the boot but only if each person was carrying a hand luggage size holdall. Anything bigger and you would run out of space very easily .. once the rear seats are up and in use the boot space is very limited.

If its for a long journey you would have to get something bigger ......

nearlyrich

We had a Zafira a few years ago, it's a lovely comfy car for 4 with luggage for a week but definately not big enough with luggage unless as tanith says they all hold a bag on their knees.

We took a hired minibus on holiday a few years ago, nine of us in a 12 seater, the back three seats were great for luggage. Not sure if you can hire anything smaller that a 12 seater but 9 would be ideal for you.

Mumstheword

I came across similarproblem a few yeas ago. The travel distance was about 5 and a half hours. 6 adults.

We were already travelling in our spacewagon (7 seats), and the other 6 adults were family travelling too.

I had advised them that in these type of 7 seaters the rearmost seats are not designed for adults travelling far. They went ahead, and three of them sat in the centre seats. The one in the back was squashed, and had to contend with the luggage stacked up in the 'half boot' that was left next to him! I think they were in a galaxy.

Have a look at the chrysler grand voyagers. As far as I remember when we were looking into 7 seat cars, they have better rear seats. I'm sure they have a 3 seat as the rear seat, and 2 individual seats in the centre row, with an aisle between. When we looked, these looked much more spacious and adult friendly. However, our long distance use is with 3 kids and a full estate length boot, so we opted for 3 seats in the middle row and didnt worry too much about adult comfort in the back.

I bet 9 seat vehicles (do you mean like a minibus?) wouldnt be that comfortable for a long drive either. EDIT__but the post above suggests you'd be ok, and I haven't ever used one, so ignore me on this!!

If it was my journey, I'd look for something like the chrysler grand voyager, with a roof box on top for most of the luggage.

HTH,
Mumsxx

Mark7799

A few years ago we transported six of us to a wedding (approx 3 hrs drive) in a VW Sharan (similar spec to a Ford Galaxy) this included the wedding dress and all the paraphernilia.

Dodgybloke

Thanks for the replies. Judging from what you've all said, the Zafira would be unsuitable. The trip is from Glasgow to the Isle of Skye with all our walking gear. So it looks like hiring two cars (which I did last year and it worked quite well).