Convertible For A Family?

[FloridaFamily]

Would like some advice. I have been to the US a number of times and totally love it. We are booked to go next year as a family 2 adults, 2 kids (9 and 6) and cant wait but are not sure what to do about the car. Where possible we are looking to do something and so with the car at the moment I have book an SUV to have something a bit fun. I would prefer to have a convertible as where else is it worth having one ? MY concern though lies in the size, the 2 questions are ...

1. Based on kids of a size of an 12 year old as the tallest will they both happily fit in the back seats? (tall boy)
2. When is comes to driving from the airport to the villa would we all fit in AND fit in at least 2 good size bags???


thanks for your time all

[msmiff]

We've previously hired convertibles regularly both when we've 'been over' with our girls (now late 20's) & with our 2 (adult) friends...
The Sebring has much better back-seat legroom than the Mustang - both will take a couple of biggish squishy wheeled holdalls + 4 aircraft-sized hand bags in the boot (trunk) but not 2 large hard cases - both have fairly shallow but quite 'deep' boots.
If your kids are the type who don't mind being windswept they'll love it... If the prissy hair type then probably not

[Katys Grandad]

The Sebring went out of production in 2010. Eventually, Chrysler brought out the 200 convertible which is virtually the same car with a hard folding roof. The luggage space is quite tight with the roof up and, as it folds into the boot, almost non-existent when it's down. The Mustang is quite cramped in the back and isn't really suitable for driving any distance with 4 people on board.

I'd go for the 200 but be careful how many bags you take.

[DisneyFunVilla]

When you have luggage with you - top up. When you don't - top down.

This is a great time of year to go topless in Florida!

[Philomena]

We had a Sebring a few years ago - we booked it as there was originally only the two of us but then our two adult daughters decided they were visiting us the middle week. No problem with legroom in back or getting their suitcases in the boot (trunk). They carried their hand luggage on their knees. We even went down to Naples for a couple of days with them and not probs with four hand baggage size pieces of luggage in the boot.

We had a great time with the car.

[Katys Grandad]

We had a Sebring a few years ago - we booked it as there was originally only the two of us but then our two adult daughters decided they were visiting us the middle week. No problem with legroom in back or getting their suitcases in the boot (trunk). They carried their hand luggage on their knees. We even went down to Naples for a couple of days with them and not probs with four hand baggage size pieces of luggage in the boot.

We had a great time with the car.

I agree that it wasn't much of a problem in the older Sebring because it had a 'rag top' roof which folded concertina style and sat on the top of the car body behind the rear seats so the boot capacity wasn't affected. In the later versions and the new 200 the hard roof sections fold into the boot and you can't put luggage on top of it. With the top up the capacity is around 14 cubic feet but that is halved to a pretty tight 7 cubic feet with the top down. I've rented both cars and find the new fold design restrictive with the top down hence my post above urging caution on how much luggage you want to take. To give an example of how tight it is with the the roof down, we struggle to get a big first supermarket shop in it and end up putting some of the shopping on the rear seats.

I would be very surprised if it's still possible to rent an older type Sebring now because they changed to the new roof style about 5 years ago and the car went out of production completely in 2010 with the 200 convertible being introduced a year or so later. The 200 is a fun car for sure but the boot space isn't its strongest feature.

[Tonish]

Would like some advice. I have been to the US a number of times and totally love it. We are booked to go next year as a family 2 adults, 2 kids (9 and 6) and cant wait but are not sure what to do about the car. Where possible we are looking to do something and so with the car at the moment I have book an SUV to have something a bit fun. I would prefer to have a convertible as where else is it worth having one ? MY concern though lies in the size, the 2 questions are ...

1. Based on kids of a size of an 12 year old as the tallest will they both happily fit in the back seats? (tall boy)
2. When is comes to driving from the airport to the villa would we all fit in AND fit in at least 2 good size bags???


thanks for your time all

We have done this with an 8 and 12 year old in a mustang. It's OK...just. For the airport run we managed 2 mid sized suitcases in the boot with the other bags piled on top of everyone. We even managed 3 suitcases on the way back, but it's not an experience I would care to repeat. If you're going relatively short distances it's fine, but if you're going to spend lots of time in the car I couldn't recommend it.