blicky

We would like to hire a 4x4 in July - picking up at Calgary airport dropping off at Vancouver airport. Others have said that cheap-car-rental.comand carhire 3000 are good but the only 4x4s they have available are the Grand Cherokee.
Researching this on the internet came up with the fact that the driver's headroom is very limited which puts us off as my other half has a long body (short legs) and tend to hit his head on the car ceiling - strange but true!!
Anyone know where I can get a 4x4 which has more head height but not lots more money? I have tried to call the companys but none of the staff know about head heights and can't help me ..............

Roos here

when we were in calgary last may(06) we hired a 4x4 from canadian affiair (i think they were through national) but you can't choose which model you get but we got a chevy suburban (huge... think monster truck) and it was only about £200 for the week.

blicky

Thanks - have booked flights thru canadian affair so will contact them. Not organised enough to do it at same time - probably cost me ..

Roos here

we didn't book both at the same time either.

when we got to the airport they had a load of different ones parked up and the attendant asked how many of us there were (was 2 adults and baby) and he said oh you'll need one of these then... god knows what he'd have given us if we'd have had 2 kids with us.

so when you go to pick the car up just ask for a bigger one... can't hurt can it.

fuschiagirl

We have hired from cheap.car.rental.com twice. The first time we booked a Jeep and were given an Expedition - it was so big we could have camped in it. It also had all the add-ons! The second time we booked an economy and were again upgraded - this time to large estate. It appears there is a very good chance of an upgrade.

burton bunch

Hi blicky

Hubby out there working at the mo and decided that he was going to have a 4 x 4 or SUV.

He went round all of the different dealerships and decided that the best one for comfort was the Pontiac torrent - he is 6'2" with a 29" inside leg so has the same problem as you.

Just been driving it for 2 weeks and is a good runner and dead comfortable too.

I usually hire from www.altaschoice.com they give you pictures of the cars so maybe you can look out for it on there.

Hope this helps

Gaynor
x


Someone mentioned earlier about asking for a different car too - Canadians are so accommodating that if you ask for that they would try their hardest for you.

We have also had Dodge Caravans and Pontiac Montanas in the past as hire cars and although they are "vans" they do the job well and have good head room too.

moondevil

we used budget last time we went and hired a magnum, when we got there they said that the picture on the website was a reference and it only indicates the type of car, not the exact model that you will get :curse:

i stood my ground and said how do we get 3 kids and cases into there ford version
anyway long story they upgraded us free for the hassle and we had a smart 4x4 for a couple of weeks.......dont ask me what it was havent a clue ablout cars
but one site we have been told about is orbitzdotcom been told they search all company etc and will try n next visit
just hope that helps abit

but canadians i find to be more helpful in the uk, if that was uk budget we would have probably got a mini

gill

Notiaink...honest

Book a convertable Fuel economy and handling will be better too

spaino

Hi

I have just come back from the USA and had rented a car from http://www.alamo.com/ (not connected in any way), they had some SUV's that where quite large. We didn't rent one but when we where picking up our car there was a very large one being picked up and even if you where JR Ewing with your hat on you wouldn't have had any problem!

As one of the previous posters mentioned, when you select a car you actually select a range, so if you selected a certain type of SUV or other 4x4 you wouldn't be guaranteed that is the vehicle you get, might be a suggestion giving them a cal or contacting them by e-mail and ask for a particular model that has a lot of head room. Some of the time these things just pass in one ear and out the other so maybe mentioning that one of the drivers is 6' 6" might help!

BTW, Alamo where very helpful and the car (Cheve Impala) we where given was in perfect condition, we did 8,500 klms (5,500 miles) in it over 21 days and it never gave us a whimper, they also appeared to have a much larger selection of cars than appeared on their web site, hence there will be various cars fitting into each range.

Good luck.

ladymoose

Hi - we have a grand cherokee - I wouldn't recommend it as my most favourite car in the world, but if you want a no frills 4x4 for a couple of weeks vacation - it does the job! My husband is 6ft and he has enough head and foot room. Is a gas guzzler though.

dbd33

Well quite. I've been puzzling over the idea of renting a 4x4, especially in summer. If you're on holiday why not get something fun?

Southcote

We hiredfrom canadarentacar.com. We had a Chrysler Pacifica which had plenty of room and was fully loaded - it was £472 for 15 daysand through Thrifty.

This was in Nova Scotia, but we have also booked though them in Vancouver and we also gota great car that was only a few months old

Notiaink...honest

Im sorry, I thought you said you rented a pacifica?

tallperson

Just to diverge a little, I guess it's true that women have longer legs and men longer bodies!
I am also 6'2" but have a 36" inside leg.
Sorry, can't help on the car front but this little snippet got me interested

blicky

Good point dbd33. The reason I thought of a 4x4 was that we haven't been to Canada before and we are going for a month looking at different places. I wanted the kids 9 and 11 to be able to have a good view of the countryside and my daughter gets car sick so I thought being higher up might help ????