As announced in our April Slow Tidings newsletter, with the 2009 travel season upon us, we thought it would help future travelers if we compiled a photo gallery of rental cars and their luggage capacities.

**New Deadline--December 31**

So what we would like is to have you post photos here of your luggage packed into the trunk (boot, if you prefer) of your rental car. Read about how to post a photo in a thread, here.

Along with your photo, please include the following information:

• the make/model of car,
  
• size & quantity of luggage,
  
• what the rental car site SAID would fit,
  
• the rental agency used
  
• the country where you rented the car.

We will enter all participants into a drawing for a yet to be determined prize, and will announce the winner in mid-January.

So get out your cameras, snap a couple of pictures while you are loading your car, and help us find out the truth about trunks.

Your ST Moderators

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Amy,

We travel for six weeks or longer in Italy so do a "buy-back" deal with AutoEurope. We pick up and return the car at Malpensa; it is usually a Renault.
Our friends were going to meet us for part of the trip so we "bought" a 4-door. After signing the agreement, our friends told us they could not join us after all. We tend to get messier and messier as we travel, throwing stuff in the back seat, so it was okay to have the 4-door. also, we do not travel lightly - no backpacks and one set of underwear for us.
Well, it's a good thing we kept it, as our friends called us in Florence to say they'd be arriving the next day after all!
We were going to Campania together. My husband, who is a great car packer,spent the morning of our departure determined to make everything fit - including the four of us.
I can't show you what was in the trunk - it was completely full of luggage - only the leftovers in the back seat. Of course, friend Alice and I also had to be there and the guys sat up front. We managed.

{edited to reduce size of photo to the requested 600 pixels or less}

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TourMama,

We rented a Renault Scenic for a week in June, traveling between southern France and Austria. Our group included four passengers (me, my husband, our adult-size 15 year old daughter and her friend). This is a long summer trip, so we have not really been able to pack light. We each had a large rolling duffel and a backpack, plus a few small bags we'd collected. I was very worried that we would have to upgrade to a larger car, or that the girls would have to ride long distances with bags in their laps.

I was amazed at the luggage space in this car! Most of the luggage fit in the back trunk, and the girls only had what they needed for the trip in the back seat with them. There were also little storage spaces in various other places around the car (eg under the front seat passenger seat). Every bit of possible space was made available.

We rented from Europcar (through Kemwel). I'd highly recommend this car.

Here's a photo of the car.

Kathy

And here's a photo of our packed trunk. You would not imagine the trunk could be so spacious when looking at the outside of the car!

Kathy

quote:

And here's a photo of our packed trunk. You would not imagine the trunk could be so spacious when looking at the outside of the car!

Wow, no kidding about the trunk space! Too bad I probably can't find something like that for 5 people next year.

Since we did not use a rental car, our recent experience packing a Ford Escape (ours, new and on its first vacation trip) was also an adventure, wish I had taken pictures - I felt like we were the Beverly Hillbillies, minus Grandma on the roof. This car is a downsize from my Mountaineer of 13 vacation years; we were packing for two segments, a weekend in Santa Cruz and then a week in a rental house for our son's wedding, so we had suitcases, boxes of kitchen stuff, cases of wine for the rehearsal dinner, and finally, the wedding finery laid gently on top. Oh, and I forgot we had the baby's dinosaur bathtub too. At the end, minus the wine cases and all the bags of groceries, it still seemed totally full driving home. Next June, when we rent a car in Italy, with only a few suitcases, it will seem empty

On our June trip to Italy, we rented what Kemwel calls a "midsize" station wagon, which turned out to be a Fiat Bravo. The trunk capacity was generous for our luggage (a 25" and a 22" suitcase, a small rolling tote, backpack, and small case for a CPAP breathing machine), which is shown in the photo below. However, when my daughter and her family arrived and it had to carry extra luggage to the car rental facility (a long story), we were hard pressed to get two added duffel bags into the trunk, and had to use half the back seat for the two other bags (a 25" and 22").

Judy

Kaydee that's impressive trunk size and packing.

Barb Cabot

My own car at home is a Renault Scenic and I love it - the back seats also fold down, partially and fully, and can be lifted out in many configurations for carrying all sorts of stuff. The little hidey-holes in this car are really quite ingenious. I also like it because it has the advantage of the driver seat height that you get from larger MPVs, but on a smaller footprint, so easy to park and wiggle around narrow streets.

Just a reminder to post your photos! We've extended the deadline to December 31, so there's still time to grab your camera and take some photos during your Fall and Winter travels.

We had a Fiat Bravo as did Judy. The trunk was deep so held the same amount of luggage as our Lexus which really surprised me.
This is a picture of the loaded trunk and the next will be a picture of the luggage alone.

We rented from A/E and picked up from Europcar.

Do note the tags.

This is what all was in there.

Love your Slow Travel luggage tags, Jane!

Kathy

Price was right....but luggage was a bit tight. Just outside the wall in Montalcino 2008.
Tim

We also had the Fiat Bravo. It was a great car and we had plenty of trunk space. (Forgot the picture, even though I thought about it often.)We had two 26" totes-one 24" tote--a backpack--a small carry-on--and a small tote bag. No problem. It's good to travel with the soft totes.

quote:

Price was right....but luggage was a bit tight. Just outside the wall in Montalcino 2008.
Tim

Wow tearendt! Is that a Fiat 100? Kudos to your lower back if you managed to travel around in that! I drove an Austin Mini for years, giving me many fond memories... and a hunchback!

quote:

Originally posted by imposter1978:


Wow tearendt! Is that a Fiat 100? Kudos to your lower back if you managed to travel around in that! I drove an Austin Mini for years, giving me many fond memories... and a hunchback!

Nope that that is a Fiat 500.

Just under a week left to Show Us Your Trunks!

quote:

As announced in our April Slow Tidings newsletter, with the 2009 travel season upon us, we thought it would help future travelers if we compiled a photo gallery of rental cars and their luggage capacities.

**New Deadline--December 31**

So what we would like is to have you post photos here of your luggage packed into the trunk (boot, if you prefer) of your rental car. Read about how to post a photo in a thread, here.

Along with your photo, please include the following information:

* the make/model of car,
* size & quantity of luggage,
* what the rental car site SAID would fit,
* the rental agency used
* the country where you rented the car.

We will enter all participants into a drawing for a yet to be determined prize, and will announce the winner in mid-January.

Whoops -- guess we were all too busy celebrating the New Year to close out this contest.

Stay tuned for information on our winner!

Congratulations to Jane, who has been named the winner of the "Show Us Your Trunks" contest -- with a photo that not only shows us a well packed trunk, but great use of Slow Travel luggage tags!

Thanks, Jane. A gift card from Amazon is on its way to you.

Judy