Which rental car/SUV has good space for suitcases? Like, 6 suitcases?

June 21, 2022 4:27 AM

Rental car descriptions seem to prioritize people space. Meanwhile I need space for 2 adults with 6 full size suitcases.

Hubby and I will be arriving at Newark Airport late at night after a long international flight, with our 6 suitcases, and about 90 more miles to go to Philadelphia before we get home. Any friends or family who might be willing to pick us up at that time wouldn't have room for us and our luggage, so I've been looking at car services, etc., and also considering renting a car, if it's cost-effective. I'm nervous about whether we could fit our 6 suitcases (plus carry-ons) in a full-size rental car (between the trunk and the back seat) so I started looking at SUVs, but all the descriptions on the car rental sites say things like "5 people and 1 suitcase"-- which seems a bit ridiculous to me. I drive a 20-year-old compact car, though, so I'm kind of in the dark ages on this stuff, but I'm thinking that with most SUVs you can fold down the back seats and pile stuff up that way, right? Or is that not a thing with all SUVs? Is it too risky to roll the dice and book an SUV not knowing what model we will get and therefore whether the luggage will fit? Or is this a gimme and can we just safely assume that with just 2 passengers, we should be able to fit all our stuff behind us in any SUV, one way or another?

posted by leticia to Travel & Transportation around United States (17 answers total)

Suitcases are smaller than people, so if a car has space for four people, you can put two (or more) of the suitcases on the back seat and the rest in the trunk. Some might also fit on the floor in the back seat, making seating for five sufficient for your six suitcases.

But really, most cars will have enough space. I rented a Nissan Leaf recently, which is a pretty small car, and we fit me, my wife, our two kids, all our suitcases (I think we had five including carryons), and a double stroller. My daily driver is a Toyota Corolla, and it fits all that with room to spare. For SUVs, I once rented a Nissan Armada that fit all of the above plus a week’s worth of groceries for our family of four and my in-laws, although my general impression is that SUVs tend to prioritize seating over trunk space. But again, if nobody’s sitting in the seats, you can just throw your suitcases on them and they become cargo space.

Also note that most rental car companies will only allow you to reserve a class of vehicle, not a specific model, so even if you say you want an Armada, there’s no guarantee you’ll get it. Renting cars is a crapshoot.

I am quite curious about the baggage fees you paid for that many suitcases, but that’s neither here nor there.
posted by kevinbelt at 5:00 AM on June 21, 2022

Best answer: I packed a dorm room, which I think is at least equivalent to 6 suitcases, in a Nissan Rogue by folding the seats down. The Rogue is a smaller SUV - comparables are the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV-4, Hyundai Tucson. I think you’d be fine with anything in this class. Anything larger than this would be fine. If you want to remove all doubt you could look at minivans which have acres of room.

I think you could probably stuff six suitcases into a full size sedan, but without the hatchback/seat fold combo you’re giving up vertical space that may be key.
posted by jeoc at 5:04 AM on June 21, 2022 [2 favorites]

I suppose it depends on the exact shape and size of your cases as well. Some small/medium sized SUVs don't have endless space. But if yous tick to full sized ones I can't imagine you'd have a problem.
posted by koahiatamadl at 5:10 AM on June 21, 2022

Best answer: I can’t think of an SUV (even a compact SUV) I have rented that you couldn’t fold the seats down or otherwise fit that number of suitcases. But you can also select a full-size SUV or even van to be extra safe (will cost more)

Are you renting from one of the large rental companies at the one site rental car center or a small offsite conpany? I’d expect that one of the larger companies are likely to be able to offer an alternative vehicle if you get there and find it doesn't quite work (maybe even an alternative vehicle in the same class). Present rental car price and availability issues may impact that - not sure how much that has settled down.

Given rental car prices at the moment are high generally and assuming you are trying to do a one way rental to Philadelphia - which would cost more - I would think a car service you tell ahead of time what you have bag wise may be less stress and may not be that more expensive.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 5:16 AM on June 21, 2022 [1 favorite]

I would go for a big old sedan with a big old trunk, like a Chevy Impala. Or a straight-up minivan. A minivan would probably be safest.

Rental car companies’ idea of “full-size” is questionable sometimes, so you’re not wrong to be concerned. I’ve rented a “full-size” car and been given a Chevy Malibu (which is a mid-size sedan).
posted by snowmentality at 5:30 AM on June 21, 2022

Best answer: Here’s a calculator.
posted by calgirl at 5:55 AM on June 21, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I can fit two standard suitcase sets (30,26,20) plus driver & passenger in my 2nd gen Probe. Pretty much any 4+ passenger rental is going to be adequate.
posted by Mitheral at 6:25 AM on June 21, 2022 [2 favorites]

Best answer: The "one suitcase" thing is probably an indicator of trunk space which can be very miniscule on modern crossovers and compact cars (I have tried fitting two suitcases into a Mazda 2 and failed, same with a Citroen C3). But -1 passenger = +2 suitcases is probably a good math.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 6:31 AM on June 21, 2022 [2 favorites]

Best answer: A small hatchback should work fine if you fold the rear seat down. And I do mean a small hatchback. Something like a Nissan Versa. In fact, the car rental place would probably thank you if you do that, less wear on the rear seats.
posted by kschang at 6:31 AM on June 21, 2022

Best answer: I just moved the contents of a storage unit using a rental Honda CR-V. With the rear seats folded down, it will fit six large suitcases.
posted by niicholas at 7:07 AM on June 21, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Looking at my tiny (by SUV standards) Kia Soul with the seats down you could definitely get 6 suitcases back there, and the Soul is notorious for a lack of trunk space. As long as the dedicated trunk space can fit 2 suitcases, any back seat should be able to fit an additional 4 no problem.
posted by cgg at 7:07 AM on June 21, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I'm going to go against the grain here and recommend going with a full size SUV to be safe. If you're coming in from an international flight with that many bags, the absolute last thing you're gonna want to do is get creative with puzzling all those suitcases into a mid-size sedan. Would it work? Maybe! But if these are large bags, you might not have enough head clearance to stand them up on the back seat or enough floor space to put them on the floor. Many cars have seats that fold flat, but again sometimes the geometry of the car prevents you from stacking multiple large, squarish boxes easily. The number of passengers a vehicle will fit does not guarantee a particular number of bags, because passengers have joints and can bend in ways a suitcase cannot.

A compact SUV (Ford Escape or similar) would probably be fine with the seats folded (and yes, folding seats will be pretty standard on any rental). A full size SUV would almost definitely fit everything, and would give you a nice flat square area with plenty of height to easily load bags into.
posted by Jemstar at 7:08 AM on June 21, 2022 [2 favorites]

Best answer: 6 suitcases will easily fit in a Toyota Highlander. You wouldn't even have to fold seats down, although that would make it easier.
posted by fiercekitten at 8:00 AM on June 21, 2022 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Pretty much anything with a hatchback will have fold-down seats and room for that much luggage. I can guarantee a Prius will do it just fine.

But here is my big annoyance with car rentals lately - the "or equivalent" clause has been invoked a lot more than it used to, because pandemic stuff has really driven up rental activity. So if your agency of choice lumps hatchbacks in with sedans you may end up playing bag tetris in a Civic or something - and it'll WORK but it'll be work - so you may want to rent out of the "suv or crossover" category just to make sure you get something with a little breathing room.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:16 AM on June 21, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I drive an F-150 pickup. You can rent a pickup from most major rental companies. You would be able to fit those 6 cases AND more in the bed and the backseat if it has one.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:21 AM on June 21, 2022 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks for all the great answers -- exactly what I hoped for! It seems that I should be pretty safe if I stick to the SUV category, and that I can pretty much count on being able to fold the seats flat. I am definitely comparing the cost of this with hiring a car service, because, honestly, loading up a car and driving for another couple hours after an 18 hour travel day isn't exactly appealing, but want to be at least aware of the options.

(oh, and kevinbelt, Turkish Airlines still lets you take 2 suitcases per person for free, so we're only paying for one extra bag per person.)
posted by leticia at 8:53 AM on June 22, 2022

Response by poster: Adding some very late follow up here, in case it's helpful to future MeFites: We went with an SUV -- more specifically, "Standard SUV" class at Avis -- and got a Honda Pilot, which felt e-fricking-normous!!! With the third row of seats folded down we got almost all the suitcases and carryons in in the cargo area without overtopping the seatback, i.e., leaving the driver's rear view completely unobstructed. One smaller suitcase and a carryon went on the back seat. Of course this was easy and nice to be able to do because there were just 2 of us, but with more passengers we could have piled the luggage up way high in the cargo area. Thanks, everyone!
posted by leticia at 11:57 AM on March 1, 2023 [1 favorite]