McLaren GT luggage
Discussion
One of the most often asked questions when folks see our GT is “Can you fit much luggage in?” or similar. Up until recently we just used a variety of soft, non matching bags and squashed them in wherever possible … and that was the answer. However, I’ve always been on the lookout for a matching set which might work.
McLaren themselves offer a custom made selection of luggage which, online, looks very nice and are available in the same materials and interior colours as the cars. They are however phenomenally expensive (£2800 for a cabin bag and £1850 for a weekend bag) and, for me, bring the issue of “using same branded stuff when in the car”. I simply don’t wear McLaren branded clothes when out in the car and worry that branded luggage may give a similar look! This meant that it wasn’t going to be McLaren’s own luggage.
I’ve seen a few mentions of custom stuff being made by Bag World(?) but once I’ve set my mind on something I want instant gratification and hence didn’t want to go down this route either. Off the shelf it needed to be.
Looking at the dimensions of the McLaren stuff, the cabin bags are much smaller (55cm*36cm*20cm) than a standard airline cabin bag. 2 “standard” cabin bags would not sit side by side and, as most carry ons are 25cm deep would not allow the hatch to close. I actually mocked up some 25cm deep bags with cardboard and the hatch did crush them when closing. I therefore needed some small cabin bags and fortunately such things are readily available. A quick search of the John Lewis site and I’d identified these which would work and I liked the look of …
I prefer soft sided luggage and thought the external straps would allow me to cinch them down a bit if there were issues with the hatch. 2 of those into the basket and as I’m about to check out I get the “would you be interested in … “ and it was for the matching large weekend bag at less than half price. Only one in stock … thanks very much, I’ll have that as well please.
The Rains stuff arrived and we were very happy with the quality so it was off to their website to order 2 of the matching kit bags (which are designed to slip over the handle of the carry on). Didn’t take long for these to arrive and with the addition of a backpack and an umbrella we already have we were ready for a long weekend away …
Really pleased with how everything fits and the quality/look of the luggage and all for probably 10% of what we could have spent on the McLaren stuff.
The cabin bags do block the rear view somewhat (you can just see over the top of them) but this was most likely happening with any cabin bag and also happens with soft bags which are stowed there.
One thing worthy of note is that the luggage retention straps fasten at the same place as the engine intake vents are. After an eight hour stop/start journey this area is very, very hot and you’ve got to be fairly careful to not burn yourself getting them unlatched!
Hope this is informative.
McLaren themselves offer a custom made selection of luggage which, online, looks very nice and are available in the same materials and interior colours as the cars. They are however phenomenally expensive (£2800 for a cabin bag and £1850 for a weekend bag) and, for me, bring the issue of “using same branded stuff when in the car”. I simply don’t wear McLaren branded clothes when out in the car and worry that branded luggage may give a similar look! This meant that it wasn’t going to be McLaren’s own luggage.
I’ve seen a few mentions of custom stuff being made by Bag World(?) but once I’ve set my mind on something I want instant gratification and hence didn’t want to go down this route either. Off the shelf it needed to be.
Looking at the dimensions of the McLaren stuff, the cabin bags are much smaller (55cm*36cm*20cm) than a standard airline cabin bag. 2 “standard” cabin bags would not sit side by side and, as most carry ons are 25cm deep would not allow the hatch to close. I actually mocked up some 25cm deep bags with cardboard and the hatch did crush them when closing. I therefore needed some small cabin bags and fortunately such things are readily available. A quick search of the John Lewis site and I’d identified these which would work and I liked the look of …
I prefer soft sided luggage and thought the external straps would allow me to cinch them down a bit if there were issues with the hatch. 2 of those into the basket and as I’m about to check out I get the “would you be interested in … “ and it was for the matching large weekend bag at less than half price. Only one in stock … thanks very much, I’ll have that as well please.
The Rains stuff arrived and we were very happy with the quality so it was off to their website to order 2 of the matching kit bags (which are designed to slip over the handle of the carry on). Didn’t take long for these to arrive and with the addition of a backpack and an umbrella we already have we were ready for a long weekend away …
Really pleased with how everything fits and the quality/look of the luggage and all for probably 10% of what we could have spent on the McLaren stuff.
The cabin bags do block the rear view somewhat (you can just see over the top of them) but this was most likely happening with any cabin bag and also happens with soft bags which are stowed there.
One thing worthy of note is that the luggage retention straps fasten at the same place as the engine intake vents are. After an eight hour stop/start journey this area is very, very hot and you’ve got to be fairly careful to not burn yourself getting them unlatched!
Hope this is informative.
Edited by JerryEXE on Wednesday 23 August 14:20
CharlesElliott said:
What are the bag(s) you can fit in the front - can you post details please? Yes, you can get nice bags custom made but they default to two ‘deep’ thin bags, and I would rather have bags on top of each other, as your pic suggests.
This is what is shown in the front boot.https://www.uk.rains.com/collections/travel-bags/p...
You’d easily get something either below or above it.
Are these teh two you get in the rear hatch side by side? https://www.uk.rains.com/collections/travel-bags/p...
Ken Figenus said:
Are these teh two you get in the rear hatch side by side? https://www.uk.rains.com/collections/travel-bags/p...
I suspect that one is too big. I went for these …https://www.uk.rains.com/collections/travel-bags/p...
I’m sure there are various different options that will work, I just liked the fact that the kit bags are designed to fit over the handle of the carry on. You could probably put 2 of those mountaineer duffels on top of each other in the front boot rather than the weekend bag.
Sorry if this is starting to come across as an advertisement for Rains, it’s not meant to be. Eastpak and Samsonite, amongst others, appeared to do carry ons of suitable dimensions but then didn’t produce matching soft bags to go with them.
Familymad said:
Really looking closely into the GT. some amazing deals on the run out ones before GTS is delivered.
Any updates to ownership please?
Anything specific you’d like to know? I created an ownership thread on the car when we got it but I’m afraid I haven’t been good at keeping it up to date …Any updates to ownership please?
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Not a lot to report since the last service other than it’s getting used a lot more and there have been no issues.
It does look like there are some bargains (relatively speaking) out there at the moment and also some very interesting colours.
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