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Renting an Estate Wagon in France

My family of 5 (two adults, two teenage girls, one 11 year old) will be going to France this summer. Our son is just big enough not to need a car seat. We want to keep the luggage to a minimum since we are going for a week and are staying in places that have a washer and drier. But I still expect to have 4-5 smallish pieces of luggage (say roller bags that could be checked or a weekend type duffel). I am trying to decide between an estate wagon and an intermediate SUV. The wagons listed are the Corolla Estate or the Opel Astra Estate. Since you do not see those vehicles in the USA and I am having trouble finding good information on the dimensions/shoulder room on those body styles. I was wondering if any posters had insight on whether the wagons would work for my group. I would rather go with the wagon if it would not be too cramped, because one of the SUVs listed in the intermediate class is the Toyota C-HR, which seems to have much too small a cargo area for our needs. I could chance it on getting one of the other cars in the class (all of which I feel pretty comfortable would fit our needs), but I would rather just book the estate and not worry about it if the wagons are suitable.

Posted by
6420 posts

Just note that the booking site probably says "or similar". The C-HR has a small boot as you mention, 358 to 377 litres. The Astra is a bit better with 540 l and the Corolla wins with 581 l.

An excellent site to check out cars is http://www.parkers.co.uk Most times they have pictures of the trunk space or load areas.

From what you're saying I think you need something a bit bigger than an Astra size car. Look for somewhere who advertizes a Passat Wagon (or similar). You should be able to find a Passat on a local car lot near home to check the load capacity. We rented Passat wagon in 2008. My wife and daughter each had a 26 inch roller plus carryon. I had a 23 inch roller and a laptop bag. It all fit. Just.

Back in the 1980s we once rented a hightop campervan. No place to store hard luggage. Each of the 3 of us had a soft weekend size bag plus one other as the daughter we had with us that time was just 2 and needed a few extras. We survived just fine for 6 weeks although there were a few visits to laundromats along the way!

Posted by
79 posts

I decided not to chance it on the wagon. I was able to find a Citroen Space Tourer for a decent price so I switched over to that.