Full size SUV

Seven seaters usually make you choose between the people and the luggage. Full size SUV is the class that refuses to, carrying 7 seats and 4 large cases with 2 smaller bags at the same time, which is why extended families keep coming back to it despite what one costs to run.

Physical size is what buys you that. A Chevrolet Tahoe or a Ford Expedition is built on a truck platform, is over five metres long, and has a boot behind the third row rather than a token gap. Both models are common on Florida roads, both are automatic with air conditioning, and both open with a powered tailgate onto a load bay you could sleep in.

Three rows split the party sensibly rather than sardine style. The middle row is a proper full width bench or a pair of captain's chairs, and the third row seats adults for an hour without complaint, which is not true of most seven seat crossovers. Getting to the back row means tilting a middle seat forward, and the children will be doing it for themselves by the second day.

Running one is not cheap. A V8 or a large V6 covering a fortnight of Orlando driving uses considerably more fuel than a saloon, and the vehicle is wide enough that some multi storey garages and older drive throughs become an exercise in patience. What you get in return is the entire party, all their luggage and a week of shopping in one vehicle, which for a group of six or seven is usually the cheaper answer overall.

Three generations travelling together is the classic booking here. Two grandparents, two parents and two or three children, all their luggage, and nobody splitting the party across two hire cars or working out who is following whom on I-4. Keeping everybody in one vehicle is worth more than the fuel it burns.

Villa groups of six or seven are the other core customer. Self catering for that many people means a serious weekly shop, and this is the only seven seat class that can carry the shop and the passengers at the same time without folding a row.

Families with three children in restraints have a genuine need for it. Three child seats will not go across the rear bench of any saloon, and this class solves it either by spreading three restraints across a wide second row or by putting one in the third row, which is a legal and practical seating position in these vehicles.

Anyone nervous about size should think carefully before booking. A Tahoe is comfortably wider and longer than anything most UK drivers have owned, the turning circle is large, and the first supermarket car park takes concentration. Reversing cameras and parking sensors help a great deal, and Florida roads and bays are generous, so most people adapt within two days. If two days of concentration sounds unappealing, a seven seater minivan does the same job in an easier shape.

Couples and families of four have no reason to book this class. Paying for two rows you never use and a fuel bill to match makes no sense when a full size car or an intermediate SUV carries three cases perfectly well.

Rate tiers work the same on this class as on any other, and the gap between them matters more here because the underlying rate is higher. A basic rate covers the vehicle and the legal minimum. An inclusive rate adds collision damage protection, the liability cover American law requires, unlimited mileage and usually an additional driver allowance.

Additional drivers are worth paying attention to on a large vehicle. Groups booking a full size SUV usually want two or three people able to drive it, partly to share the airport run and partly because not everyone in a party of seven is comfortable with a vehicle this size. Every named driver must attend the desk in person with their own licence, so build that into your arrival plan.

Excess figures behind the protection differ by supplier and by rate tier, and we will not publish a number we cannot stand behind for your particular booking. What we will do is confirm it in writing, with the mileage terms and the fuel policy, before you pay.

Toll charges are billed after the event under whichever programme applies, generally with an administration fee for every day a toll road is used. A group covering park runs, outlet malls and a coast day will use them most days, so the fee is not trivial and the Visitor Toll Pass alternative at Orlando International is worth a look.

Child seats are charged per seat per day and a party of this size often needs two or three. Reserve them on the booking rather than at the desk, since a branch cannot invent stock on a busy Saturday and you cannot legally drive a child under six without one.

Every child aged 5 or under must travel in a crash tested, federally approved restraint under Florida law. Birth through age 3 requires a separate carrier or an integrated child seat. Ages 4 and 5 allow a separate carrier, an integrated seat or a booster. A seat belt is legal from age 6.

Three restraints is the configuration this class handles that nothing smaller does. A full size SUV gives you a wide second row plus a third row with its own belts, so three child seats can be spread across two rows rather than fought into one bench. Two in row two and one in row three is the arrangement that works most reliably, and it leaves the second row middle seat free for an adult to sit between the children.

Access to the third row with a seat installed needs planning. Tilting the middle seat forward is harder once a bulky restraint is strapped into it, so put the child seats on the sides that do not tilt, or install one in the third row before the second row seats go in.

Hiring seats from the supplier costs per seat per day and must be on the booking. Groups needing three seats are exactly the groups a branch cannot help at short notice, so reserve rather than request.

Bringing your own is a reasonable option for a party of this size, since transatlantic airlines carry child seats free of charge and UK seats fit American belt systems in most cases. Fit them under the lights in the collection garage rather than at the roadside, and check the belt path on the third row specifically, because the geometry back there differs from the middle row.