My father and I will be in Ireland for 2 weeks. We will be using a rental car during that time. Here in the states, I drive a VW New Beetle, which has limited trunk space. I'm not sure whether an Economy/Compact sized car (Opel Corsa, Nissan Micra) will have adequate trunk (boot) space for our luggage. We will both have Rick Steve's Convertible Carry-On and a day bag. When looking at the various agency websites, their description of luggage is not consistant. One site will say that the car can hold only one suitcase (no size specified) and another site, will say that it can hold two medium bags. Help! We do not want our luggage in view while we are visiting sites.
Posted by
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2779 posts
Kristi, you might want to visit nissan.co.uk and vauxhall.co.uk (Opel's name in the UK). I can assure you that the trunk (which they call boot in the UK and Ireland by the way) of both cars can hold more luggage than your New Beetle's. The Corsa's trunk volume is 285 litres, The Micra's is 260 l and your Beetle's is 214 litres... There are 3.79 l in one gallon. Sou your car can hold some 56 gallons whilst the Corsa's can hold up to 75. I hope that helps a little...
Posted by
Copenhagen, Denmark
265 posts
The trunk of a Nissan Micra is 251 litres, the Opel Corsa is 285 litres (on new models). The New Beetle has a trunk of 214 litres.
Posted by
Portland, OR, USA
389 posts
I love when the Europeans explain things. I always feel kind of out of my element and that makes me excited for my trip. My simple answer is that we had 3 people's luggage in the the trunk/boot of similar cars. It was tight, but we got the lid shut. You should be fine.
Posted by
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2779 posts
Linda, what makes you feel out of your element when Europeans describe things?
Posted by
Copenhagen, Denmark
265 posts
Probably the metric system ;-)
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9371 posts
When my son and I rented an Opel Corsa in Ireland, we found that it didn't have enough space for both of our 22" bags in the trunk. We could put one bag and both of our daybags in the trunk, but the other larger bag had to ride in the backseat.
Posted by
Tustin, CA, USA
92 posts
In Ireland 2006 we rented an Opel Meriva (I distinctly remember it was Opel and not Vauxhall, although there were Vauxhall cars on the road as well). The paperwork said we would get a Nissan Micra or Ford Fiesta or the like, so I guess this 5 door hatchback was similar to those two cars. We did not pack light that year, so I remember at least one suitcase in the back seat. If you are sticking to the Convertible Carry-On and one day bag each, you should probably be able to get three bags, if not all of them, in the boot.
In Ireland in 2007 we also requested a compact Micra/Fiesta or the like, and ended up with a Chevy Aveo 4 door sedan. Ava, as we referred to it, was roomier than Minerva (the Meriva) and had no problems getting our stuff in the boot that year, also thanks in part to packing lightly (still not as lightly as you, though!). :)
By the way, both rentals were through Irish Car Rentals.
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
1525 posts
With only two people, you will have no problem. We travel as a family of 5 in the smallest cars that have 4 doors - basically like a Honda Civic size or smaller - and all of our Rick Steves bags fit (tightly) in the covered storage area. Even a Mini or a Smart Car would have room for two RS bags.
The luggage info you get from the car rental places is based on the traditional clunky hard-side luggage no self-respecting poster on this board would ever use :-)
Posted by
Santa Clara, CA
252 posts
My wife and I rented a Nissan Micra for two weeks and we had plenty of room one RS convertible and two roll-aboards (Since we could travel from hotel door to hotel door, I had no problem with my wife bringing two bags for herself)