Which of these vehicles will give me the most luggage space?

September 22, 2009 4:29 AM

What vehicle should I rent from the airport if I need to transport 4 people and a load of luggage (at least 8 big suitcases)?

We're a family of four that will be landing at Newark with 8 large suitcases. I then have to go back to Newark the next day and pick up around 15 small and medium sized boxes so I'm essentially looking for a vehicle that will fit at least four for the first trip but then allow me to fold down all unneeded seats for the next day.

I'm looking at the airport vehicles and I see Dodge Caravans, Chevy Trailblazers, Chevy Express Passenger Van (seats 12) and Jeep Commanders. The vehicle listings do estimate how much luggage will generally fit but I'm assuming that is with all seats upright.

Does anyone know which of the above vehicles will allow the most seats to fold down for the most cargo space?

posted by gfrobe to travel & transportation (6 comments total)

Dodge Grand Caravans are great. Both rows of back seats fold completely into the floor. We rented this car to transport our son to and from college with 4 people and the entire contents of his apartment in it. Eight suitcase and four people will rattle around in a Caravan.
posted by nax at 4:59 AM on September 22

Dodge caravan. The Chevy is, to my mind, unjustifiably big for the extra cost for what you need and all the others are too small.
posted by Brockles at 6:25 AM on September 22

Definitely the Dodge Caravan. It is plenty big and it will be lower to the ground than the other choices which will make it easier to load and unload.
posted by mmascolino at 6:43 AM on September 22

Thanks all. The Dodge Caravan it is.
posted by gfrobe at 8:31 AM on September 22

Not all Dodge Caravan's (and the clones like the Town and Country) have the fold down seats. And not all rental Caravans with fold down seats allow you to fold them down (such as being locked upright by crimped aircraft cable).

Neither the Caravan nor a Town and Country rented a year ago and 16 months ago from Budget and Enterprise respectively had seats that would fold down.

Also note, that the Dodge Caravan (pre 2008) is a shorter vehicle -- with noticeably less storage space) -- than the Dodge Grand Caravan (pre 2008). Model year 2008 appears to have eliminated the shorter variant.
posted by fief at 11:22 AM on September 22

Damn, now I'm not sure again! Will call the rental companies to see if the Caravan seats fold down.
posted by gfrobe at 2:13 PM on September 22