The Best Luxury SUV for a Group Carries the Bags Too

The best luxury SUV for a group is the Cadillac Escalade ESV. Seven people fit, and so do their bags, which is the part most groups forget until they reach the curb. The black ESV rents for $445 a day. Picture it at the LAX curb with the tailgate up, six friends loading suitcases while the seventh holds the door and nobody waits on a second car.

The problem shows up at the tailgate

Most groups count seats and stop there. However, a car can easily seat seven and still leave three suitcases on the sidewalk. The standard Escalade has 25.5 cubic feet behind its third row. The long ESV body has 41.5, enough for a full set of checked bags. That's the difference between one clean exit from the airport and a second car trailing you up the 405.

So the real count isn't people, it's people with luggage and the number of days they'll be gone. A dinner in Beverly Hills only needs seats. A weekend in Laguna Beach needs seats and a cargo floor. The car that handles both is the one you want pulling up to the valet stand.

The best luxury SUV for a group of seven

The Escalade ESV is the answer when the whole group rides together. It carries a 6.2 liter V8 with 420 horsepower, and it pulls steadily rather than sharply. The rumble stays low and far away, which keeps the cabin quiet enough to hold one conversation across all three rows. Magnetic Ride Control, a system that reads the road and adjusts the dampers constantly, keeps the body flat over freeway expansion joints.

The third row is sized for adults, not kids. In the ESV it gets 36.7 inches of legroom against 34.9 in the standard body. That's usually the seat nobody wants, and in this particular car it's a real seat for a grown adult. The black one we run wears black Sport trim with no chrome anywhere on it. Under a hotel canopy at night in Newport Beach, the vertical light bars are the only detail that reads.

The ESV runs $445 a day with a $1,000 deposit and extra miles at $4 each. If the trip is short and the group travels light, the black Escalade Sport is $295. It's the lowest rate in our fleet, and it still has seven seats and the same V8.

A 7 seater luxury rental or two smaller cars

Some groups split into two cars so they can bring something louder. That works, but it changes the entire shape of the night. Two cars means two drivers, two sets of paperwork, and two arrivals that never line up at the valet. One Escalade means the doors open together and the group walks in as one.

Every driver goes on the contract before the rental starts. Each one passes the same license and insurance check as the person booking. We call each driver's insurance company ourselves, with an agent on a recorded line. If there's drinking, a sober driver takes the wheel for the ride home. Those rules are the same whether you book one car or four.

Exotic SUV rental for five, the Lamborghini Urus

If the group is five and the point is the sound, take the Urus. It seats five, with four in real comfort, and its boot holds 661 liters. That's a weekend of bags for two people, not five, so everyone packs light. The Urus rents from $995 a day, and the white one we run carries a $2,000 deposit and extra miles at $3 each.

What surprises people is how quiet it is in traffic. In Strada, its comfort mode, the exhaust valves close and the air suspension softens the ride. Then 641 horsepower shows up the moment you ask for it, with 0 to 60 in 3.6 seconds. Parked outside a restaurant in Laguna Beach, it looks like a supercar from across the street and still has a back seat for three. White is the color that holds that shape in the hard midday sun on Pacific Coast Highway.

Four people and the Maybach GLS 600

This is the part most people don't expect. The Maybach GLS 600 is the car I'd talk most groups out of. It seats four, not five, because the second row is built as two separate recliners instead of a traditional bench. For a group of exactly four, though, nothing else we run treats the back seat like this.

An aluminum staircase glides out from the sill as you step in. The rear seats recline further than anything else in the fleet, and some cars carry a refrigerated armrest. The car weighs close to 6,100 pounds and rides on air suspension that adjusts for bumps before the wheels reach them. The black one rents for $795 a day with a $1,000 deposit and extra miles at $3. At a hotel forecourt in Beverly Hills, the staircase slides out and the valet waits for it to finish.

A luxury SUV rental that stays quiet

The Range Rover SE is for the group that wants to arrive without anyone reading too much into it. It seats five on a rear bench that sits closer to a limousine than an SUV row. The 395 horsepower inline six and the air suspension make a long freeway run feel shorter than it is. All wheel steering, where the rear wheels turn opposite the fronts, shrinks a nearly 17 foot SUV around tight Newport Beach streets.

The full size SE rents for $595 a day with a $1,000 deposit. The Range Rover Sport, the shorter version, starts at $395 and takes about nine carry-on cases in the back. Pull up in the black SE at John Wayne Airport and it looks like the car was sent for you. With this particular car, that's pretty much the whole idea.

The four side by side

These are the numbers on the specific cars quoted above.

• Cadillac Escalade ESV, black. 7 seats, 420 hp, 41.5 cubic feet behind the third row, $445 a day, $1,000 deposit, $4 per extra mile.
• Lamborghini Urus, white. 5 seats, 641 hp, 0 to 60 in 3.6 seconds, 661 liter boot, $995 a day, $2,000 deposit, $3 per extra mile.
• Maybach GLS 600, black. 4 seats, 550 hp, 0 to 60 in 4.6 seconds, $795 a day, $1,000 deposit, $3 per extra mile.
• Range Rover SE, black. 5 seats, 395 hp, 0 to 60 in 5.3 seconds, $595 a day, $1,000 deposit, $3 per extra mile.

Miles, deposits, and booking a group weekend

Every car includes 100 miles a day, and a multi-day rental pools them. A 2 day rental gets 200 miles to spend however the trip needs. If the group is heading far, say so at booking and the extra miles get priced in ahead of time. Three or four days take 10% off the daily rate automatically.

The deposit is a hold on the card, not a charge. It's released once the car comes back in the condition it left in. For a group weekend, book a week or two out whenever you can manage it. Summer weekends, holiday weekends, and wedding Saturdays go first. We deliver to the curb at LAX and John Wayne Airport, so the Escalade can be waiting at the curb when the bags come off the carousel.

A group remembers the ride as much as the arrival. Put everyone and every bag in one car, and the night starts the moment the last door closes.