What car would your bike live in?

[KatiePickle]

My bike fits nicely in my Prius...and you can't beat the gas mileage! We can also fit both bikes with racks and panniers still on them in the back of our Matrix.

I ride a small bike - it fit just fine in my MINI, too.

OFF TOPIC! How did you get it in the MINI? I tried to get my XS Giant OCR C3 into the back of mine with only the front wheel off and it was like a game of tetris gone horribly awry. Granted the dog thought he was going for a ride too and complicated things, but I would like to know your secret.

[Beane]

VW Jetta TDI wagon. Mid-40s (but diesel fuel is more expensive now), but great mileage anyhow, & lots of room. I can fit each (but only one at a time) of my 3 bikes in with both wheels on.

+1 best. car. ever. I don't put bikes on the inside, but we did fit 4 bikes and a thule box on the roof with nice wide load bars. But most importantly, my car hasn't depreciated in the 4 years I've owned it-- no joke!

[Blueberry]

Love my Element for bike storage - not great on mileage - but, I'm riding more and driving less. Also have a VW Golf. With the seats down, my road bike will fit (with the wheel off). It's a squeeze. Don't think my touring bike would fit.

CA

[Tuckervill]

All three of my bikes love the Element. They beg to go on long trips to ride in new places, so I had to take the back seat out to make room for them all the time.

Fun,
Karen

[FlyingScot]

Forester! Forester! Forester!

[NbyNW]

Since my Dahon folds up, it will fit in pretty much any car.

[amy]

Oh...I think the Pontiac Vibe is winning.

[bmccasland]

My bike lives in a PT Cruiser with the back seat down. Shoes, helmet, gloves live under the shelf in the "trunk" space. Although I admit if I know I'm not riding the next day, the bike comes out and gets parked in the garage.

And I really like my PT Cruiser!

[tulip]

My road bike fits in my VW Rabbit with the front wheel off, with room left over for other stuff. Of course, my folding bike fits in the way back without even putting down the seats.

Mileage is pretty good in the Rabbit, but not as good as in some other cars I considered (like the Honda Fit). It's a 5-speed manual transmission, which gets better mileage than the version with automatic transmission. The mileage I get is in the low-mid 30s as far as I can tell.

I don't like having to drive to ride my bike, but it's necessary at times. One of the reasons I bought my new house (well, the closing is TODAY, so it's not bought yet) is because it is in the city but has easy bike access to wonderful country roads and Civil War parks that provide miles and miles of quiet riding. The local cycling club has rides that start nearby, too, so I'll be able to ride to the ride!

[Geonz]

Basically any hatchback makes it easy. My Xtra even found its way into the Sebring out in the motel 6 parking lot now (with the Trek on top) 'cause the back seats fold down so I could wedge it in. (I think I may get to sort of use the "coverage of everything" insurance I pay for 'cause I don't have car insurance for that little scratch on the bumper... )

Time to drive to Colorado

[mayanorange]

Yay, the gen vibe forum is back up! Here's the post about fork mounting bikes in the Vibe:
http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=28162

And one of his pics:

Looks like he has a rubber mat down over the plastic.

PS- you want an 08 or earlier. 09 gets worse gas mileage (tho is more fun to drive), is smaller (less head room for my 2 Bernese) and the rear glass won't open (how am I supposed to get a 2x4 in there then??). Oh, and my mileage quotes are for the base manual (cause manual rocks!)

[amy]

I don't like having to drive to ride my bike, but it's necessary at times. One of the reasons I bought my new house (well, the closing is TODAY, so it's not bought yet) is because it is in the city but has easy bike access to wonderful country roads and Civil War parks that provide miles and miles of quiet riding. The local cycling club has rides that start nearby, too, so I'll be able to ride to the ride!

Congrats on the new house! I moved into my house the end of February. I'm actually really excited that I live in a more bike friendly neighborhood now. In my old neighborhood, cars would pull up right behind me and lay on the horn and yell. Here, the streets are wider and I think people are expecting bikers more. Between that and all the stray dog, not fun. Also, I'm now in biking distance to nice parts of Pasadena where people are very friendly, although it has a lot more hills than I'm used to. But I'm easing into them.

But it can still be crazy here. And given that my favorite biking partner, Aly, lives 45 minutes away now... well, my bike spends some time in my car.

[mimitabby]

Amy you bought a house in the city of Los Angeles?!?!?

you guys all sure love your cars.

My bike either spends time on the top of the Mitsubishi diamonte, a car we were kind of forced to buy from my step father, or inside my honda civic, 1991 model.

My bike would love to live in a FIT or a VIBE - but it's not going to happen anytime soon.

[KSH]

you are getting 30 with a mazda 3 speed? or just the regular 3.

I've got the 3 5 door and love it.

Not the Mazda Speed. Just the plain 'ol 3 with 160 HP.

But seriously... I bought the Mazda... for my bike. I wanted a car that I could put my bike into easily and get out of easily. I wanted it to be peepy, fun to drive, and not look like a complete family mobile. I even took my bike when I went to test drive it. It took me 6 months of searching, but I finally found a sweet ride for my bike!

[KSH]

My bike lives in a PT Cruiser with the back seat down. Shoes, helmet, gloves live under the shelf in the "trunk" space. Although I admit if I know I'm not riding the next day, the bike comes out and gets parked in the garage.

And I really like my PT Cruiser!

I drove a PT Cruiser for 2 months while my car was in the shop (someone hit me to the tune of $7,000 worth of damage).

I have to say, I didn't really like that car. It had no get-up-and-go, compared to the Mazda. And the gas mileage was aweful. I did a road trip in it, and it got MAYBE 25 mph. For as slow as it was, I really expected better gas mileage.

Now, I know, to each their own...and obviously that car works great for you. Hey, my bike fit in it great! But the performance was pretty dismal overall.

Yep, love my Mazda.