Rental car sizing- Arnold Clark

It will be tight but doable, but uncomfortable in the back seat for extended drives. I have a CHR and it has a short wheelbase making for a rough ride for those in the backseat. 4 backpacks should fit in the back but your day bags may be on your laps.

Your best bet is to go online to Toyota or Vauxhall or Google and find the interior volume dimensions and compare that to US car models such as a RAV-4 or Crosstrek. A quick search produced the following, but I cannot vouch for other's calculations.

"The Subaru Crosstrek offers about 100.5 cubic feet of passenger volume and provides 19.9 cubic feet of cargo space behind the rear seats, expanding to a maximum of around 54.7 cubic feet with the seats folded flat, though numbers vary slightly by year and trim, with hybrid models having slightly less space. " My Crosstrek was quite adequate for four normal sized adults with a rollybag and small backpack each on a recent road trip in New England.

"The Toyota C-HR has a seating capacity of up to 5 passengers and offers a boot space of approximately 430 to 447 litres with the seats up." 447 sq l. equals 16 cubic feet.

"The Vauxhall Grandland has been designed to have the same boot capacity whether you go for the mild-hybrid or the electric model. With 550 litres available, it’s larger than the boot of the outgoing model by a whole 36 litres, but some rivals offer more." 550 liters equals 19.4 cubic feet.

Thus Crosstrek has 20 cubic feet and the C-HR has 16 cubic feet, and the Grandland has 19.4 cubic feet.

As an aside, using Arnold Clark, I picked up in York and dropped off in Manchester near the airport (they have a shuttle). You can take the train from Manchester to York easily.

Nothing is worse than trying to cram too much in a small car. The backseat passengers will appreciate a bit of room.

I went briefly onto the Arnold Clark website. Why don’t you go for an estate car? For example, I think you’d all fit comfortably into a Skoda Octavia estate and you’d have room left over in the boot (trunk) space with all your bags loaded there. A car this size will go around the roads in the places you’re going to as well as any other.

Estate cars often come with a sort of “roller blind” that hides stuff in the back from prying eyes (my Skoda Superb estate does) but if not just drape a couple of coats over the bags. You’ll need waterproofs in N Wales at any time of year. 😊

Before I moved to electric cars I had Skoda Octavias for many years and indeed my younger son still has our last one. The standard Octavia hatchback will be perfectly big enough for your party and the estate will have even more room. The boot (trunk) will easily take 4 carry on bags and your day bags and in truth you could probably get 4 mid sized check-in cases in.

One thing to remember though - whatever you select it will always say "or similar", leaving the hire company with the option to give you something else. Whilst it will be similar or maybe bigger it may not be exactly what you have booked. That is pretty much a rule with any car hire company.

As I have recently mentioned on another thread there are no Arnold Clark depots in Wales. The two most sensible options would be a drop off at Manchester airport and taking the train to York or driving all the way to York. If you chose the latter you could devise a route through the Peak District National Park. That would make for a longish drive which might test the patience of your kids but it does open up some splendid views and stop-offs.

compare that to US car models such as a RAV-4

The Rav 4 is considerably larger than the CHR.

The estate does look like a good option. I was clicking automatic and it wasn't showing up but they do have an estate automatic you just have to click estate to see it. My husband can drive manual, but I can't, and we are hoping to have an automatic if I need to drive for some reason.

Juxtapose, I'm another fan of Arnold Clark and will always rent with them in the UK. That said, it behooves me to let you know that there are two ways to rent with Arnold Clark. One is to go directly through their website. I would encourage you to do that to see what price you get and what amenities you get.

However, there is a second option and that is to book via Celtic Legend. Celtic Legend is a Scottish company that acts as an authorized booking agent for the Arnold Clark. So you book with Celtic Legend, but get the car directly from Arnold Clark, often with better deals, like free sat-nav or extra drivers. I've booked rentals through both and have been very happy with both.

That said, I usually go directly through Arnold Clark because I'm a solo driver who uses Google Maps, so I don't have any interest in free sat-nav and don't care if I can get an extra driver for free. But in your case, if you're both driving, it would definitely be worth it to go to Celtic Legend and see what kind of deal you can get through them. They are wonderful to deal with, just like Arnold Clark, and are so helpful and friendly. https://www.celticlegend.co.uk/car-rental/

If you chose the latter you could devise a route through the Peak District National Park. That would make for a longish drive which might test the patience of your kids but it does open up some splendid views and stop-offs.

I agree with John about this route. It would really be a beautiful drive. I love The Peak and it's one of my favorite places in the UK

We are always happy with Arnold Clark (we may have booked through Celtic for our first trip They tried to upgrade us (complimentary) to a larger car for our Nov/Dec trip but it was just my husband and I, so we stayed with the smaller car. I don't remember if we paid extra for navsat this time.

really don't want to have a too large of vehicle to fit on the roads

Arnold Clark are excellent.

But… no vehicle you are going to hire is going to be too big for any road. This is a myth. I live on a very narrow lane with Cornish hedges either side (that is, granite) for a mile. Delivery vans, garbage trucks, fire engines, ambulances, my 80 year old neighbour’s RV … they all negotiate it without incident. The secret is … don’t go too fast and don’t steer into the granite. Getting a car that is so small you all get DVT and can’t see out of the rear window is a much worse solution. Your car is not too big for the road.

As an aside, using Arnold Clark, I picked up in York and dropped off in Manchester near the airport (they have a shuttle). You can take the train from Manchester to York easily.

One other option would be to drop it off in Liverpool, depending on where in Wales you will be. I picked one up from Arnold Clark in Liverpool, and it was very easy, but you could just as easily drop one off and then take the train from Liverpool to York.