Which car to hire ~ family trip?

SuperS54

Usual last minute panic to book a car for an upcoming family trip to Ireland, luckily prices are sane or dare I say it low this time of year. Travelling with a 1 year old and a 3 year old and my wife, kids will be in car seats (once I get around to buying them!). We'll likely have 3 big pieces of luggage and a stroller to and from the airport, other than that just standard shopping and lugging around the stroller. For almost the same price I have a choice between;

1) 4 door Mondeo, around 13 euro/day
2) Nissan Qashqai, around 14 euro/day
3) Focus Estate, around 16 euro/day
4) Mondeo Estate, around 18 euro/day

Price wise there's nothing in it really, thinking of going for the Qashqai, just concerned on luggage space on the airport runs. Driving will be primarily short trips on country roads, maybe 4 or 5 motorway runs of about an hour over the course of the holiday. Not concerned about fuel economy.

Can anyone chime in on luggage space in the Qashqai or big for or againsts on the other options?

colm_c

Mondeo estate, no question. Others will be a tight squeeze.

Also remember it's 'or similar', so it won't be that exact car, see what class the car is in to give you what you might get.

Previous times for me:
skoda octavia estate, ended up in a golf estate.
Passat estate ended up in a superb estate
Golf ended up in a octavia

I rarely get the car from the booking website!

SuperS54

Thanks all, unfortunately either through my procrastination or perhaps it was an issue with the website, all those deals have disappeared, rentals on all sites I checked are now considerably more expensive.

After almost getting suckered on an i40 from rentalcars I eventually booked a Skoda Octavia from Thrifty/Hertz. Hopefully it will actually be an Octavia for the boot size or something similar!

SuperS54

Got a 172 Octavia in the end, the boot on these is massive! Well able to carry all our luggage, highly recommend!

evolving_doors

Out of interest, How much per day is it working out at?(excluding insurance)

SuperS54

evolving_doors wrote: »

Out of interest, How much per day is it working out at?(excluding insurance)

What you pay is very variable depending on what time of year you book, how soon before pick up you book (early is not necessarily best!), if it's over a weekend, any special events on etc etc etc.

I booked relatively late, about a week before pickup and paid EU 344.82 for 20 days, 17.20 per day. I booked directly with Thrifty and pickup/dropoff was at Dublin airport, the charge includes the surcharge for this "premium" location...Basic insurance is included and they required an excess of EU 2000 on credit card if memory serves me right.

I got quotations for both a full and empty return at pick up. Many locations are trying to push pickup full and return empty. Thrifty were charging 99c for a litre of Diesel so bringing the car back with anything under a quarter tank would be a win. Having the car for 20 days meant I went with the "empty" return in the end, I think I won!

evolving_doors

OK cheers 17.20 ain't too bad then.