Car rental size

I rented a four-door Volkswagen Golf last year. It fit 4 pretty large adults, each with a carry-on sized suitcase in the trunk, just fine. I am not sure what size category this car is, as described by the the rental agencies -- it is not their smallest size, may be the next smallest.

Golf sized cars (or some Spanish equivalent) often come with a hatchback and those give you a bit more flexibility in packing. You should be fine.

Because we're middle-aged and despite loving train travel, we are tired of difficult schedules - and hoisting skis up onto the overhead racks on trains on multiple legs, we decided to rent a car for our winter trip from Geneve to Zurs, Austria. We found a wonderful Ashland, Oregon-based tour company (not unlike Rick's organization) through which we got a great price for a 12-day rental of a VW Passat wagon. It's Gemut.com. They're a family-owned and run company with good ties to the various European car rental agencies, trains, etc. One of the things that's on their site is an amazing 16-page guide to European car rentals (don't rent anything larger than you really need, diesel vs. petrol, etc., and much more). They're really worth a look. We're very pleased and I think that we're now making the shift trains to driving. Check them out.

Liz is right about Gemut.com. They're ok. Many use AutoEurope.com, which is another consolidator out of Connecticut. With them, you'll often p/u your vehicle @ Hertz. Also, you can check Hertz.com for comparable ratesand pick the lesser prices. I have a Hertz Gold Club card and a corporate discount that makes them the best priced (for me.) I would just caution you on some of the other U.S. brand name rental companies in Europe. Some have European partners using their names, and customer service is unsatisfactory. Read on Rick Steves' Grafitti Wall, and you can figure out who not to rent from.

Hi Kirsten, we've had a VW passat sedan ( rented in Prague) which fit 4 people, 4 carryons and 4 daypacks, of which 2 daypacks were in the backseat. Last summer had a Mercedes sedan which was more crowded than the Passat with stuff consistently; 2or 3 of the backpats were the Maginot line, protecting ipods and. bookreaders arms from touching... Had a RAV-like Renault in France which said 4 pax and 4 pieces of luggage but no one over 8 yrs have been happy in that back seat and the backpacks didnt fit in the rear area either. Other cars that worked when my kids were young would not work now. I've gone to the manufacturere's site for the best details, and still you might wind up with a smaller car in the same category. Had a good experience with Sixt after a website error, had a good expericen with Avis, had a good experience with AutoEurope even tho the car they gave me had a broken passenger rear view mirror & I worried about it the entire trip. I would not book a car based on a nice web site. Also , watch out for the insurance costs as they mount quickly, and take pictures of your car when you get it for later proof of dings or scratches. You know you'll need an International Drivers Permit?
Hope everyone packs light!

Kirsten, we went through agony last year trying to figure out car size. There were 4 of us too and each had a small rolling bag. We found that the car rental company could not give us any insight into this - they said that whatever it said on the web would be the size. In prior years we did get consultation from them. We ended up with a Vauxhall Insignia which we all fit into just fine - it was actually bigger than what we would have needed - too big. But, it worked. Not an easy thing to figure out.

W found the Passat to be very roomy and would be fine for four. We have always had a good experience with gemut.com over the years.

Most of the car companies - not necessarily the brokers like AutoEurope - will show information on the size and capacity of their cars on their website. Sixt, for example, has this:
http://www.sixt.com/fleet-guide/

Assuming your backpacks aren't too much bigger than a carry-on, a car big enough for five adults, with a trunk for your bags, should be fine. In Europe, that's at least two classes from the bottom. The price goes up pretty quickly as rentals get bigger. Depending on where you pick up, you can usually trade if the car they give you won't work.