The 7-seaters on offer are 5+2 designs such as the Peugeot 5008 and the Kia Carens, rated for three bags. A 5+2 drives and parks like an ordinary family car, which is its whole appeal, but the two extra seats fold up out of the boot floor, so with all seven seats in use there is very little boot left. The 9-seaters on offer are proper minivans such as the Peugeot Expert Traveller, with nine seats and rated for five bags, keeping a usable boot behind the last row. The 7-seater and minibus pages list the current models and prices.
Size is the trade-off you feel most once you leave the main roads. The 9-seat minibuses are van-sized: no trouble on the airport run, the coast road or the arterial routes, but Malta’s old village cores were laid out centuries before vans existed, and streets in Valletta’s grid, the Three Cities and the older villages are narrow, with parking bays sized for cars. With a 9-seater you plan parking rather than chance it: favour car parks and open-air lots, and think twice before following a sat-nav shortcut through a village core. The 5+2s behave like any family car and slot into normal spaces, which is why they suit trips built around a town base.
The Gozo ferry takes both without fuss. The Ċirkewwa to Mġarr crossing is drive-on, drive-off, larger vehicles included, with vehicle fares paid at the terminal; fares and timetables can change, so check before you travel. And whichever size you book, collection is identical: meet-and-greet in Luqa, where a group landing together loads everyone and everything in one go. Our Malta and Gozo car rental page covers the crossing in more detail.
Transmission is often the deciding detail. The 9-seat minibuses are manual, so if your driver wants seats for a group without a clutch, look at the 7-seater class, which includes automatics, and choose automatic when you book. The 7-seaters and nearly all the minibuses run on diesel. If you are new to driving on the left, our automatic car rental page explains why many visitors find an automatic easier here.
Fuel works the same on every size: the level is recorded with you at pick-up and the vehicle comes back at the same level, with any shortfall charged at the local pump price for the missing fuel plus a €10 refuelling service fee. Pricing follows the same rule as the rest of the cars on offer: one all-in figure, with VAT and the airport fee inside it, shown before you book.
Sometimes the honest answer to the 9-vs-7 question is neither. If your group of six to nine naturally splits each day, grandparents to a museum while the rest head for a beach, two smaller cars give each half its own plans, and two compacts are far easier to park near a village-core apartment than one van. Two cars do carry real costs, though: two refundable deposits held, two drivers getting used to driving on the left, two vehicles to fuel and park, and the small stress of keeping a convoy together at Malta’s many roundabouts.
One large vehicle keeps everyone together, with one driver adjusting to the left and one set of directions, which is why most groups who travel as a unit prefer it. If you are genuinely torn, tell our Malta team the head count, the luggage and where you are staying through the contact page and we will say plainly which we would book. For the wider case for one big vehicle, see our 7-seater and minivan hire page, and if children are travelling, our family car hire guide covers child seats.