Vehicle for hauling up to four bikes?

[Blueberry]

Do the 4 bikes need to be inside? If not, I'd look at the Jetta Sportwagen Diesel. If something happened to mine, we would buy another in a heartbeat (I traded my Element for it). We can fit bikes on the roof, one or 2 inside if need be, could do a trailer hitch, boats on the roof if need be, etc., etc. We routinely see 40 mpg on the highway, even with bikes on the roof. In town, we average more like 35-38.

Sorry to hear that Belize hasn't worked out for you, but glad to hear that you might be coming back

[emily_in_nc]

Sorry, I should have specified -- the four bikes need to fit INSIDE the vehicle. DH is concerned about security otherwise (for example, if we were staying at a hotel on a trip). We don't mind taking front wheels off, of course.

I know we're being picky, but he really doesn't want to resort to having to put bikes on the roof or back of the vehicle.

Thanks, Blueberry, and please don't be sorry! We have had an AMAZING time here that we would never trade. We have no regrets at all and are still so glad we came here. The life experiences gained, the learning experiences, the birding, and everything else we've done here, not to mention the wonderful friends we've made are worth every small negative; it just became apparent that there wasn't enough here to sustain us long-term. It has been a very eye-opening "growth" experience as we discover what we really want for our future. One huge thing we've learned here is that we LOVE to travel and want to do more of it. A lot more. We may even try RVing in the future, but we'll see how things go when we get back to NC for awhile first.

[Irulan]

This request reminds me of "light, cheap, strong; pick two" I think the mileage thing is going to be your sacrifice if you want room for 4 bikes inside. Element, Ford Escape...will fill the bill but yes, mileage is going to be average.

If you are coming back to the states, can we still pick your brains about trips to Ambergris Caye? That's on the radar for our next dive trip.

[emily_in_nc]

If you are coming back to the states, can we still pick your brains about trips to Ambergris Caye? That's on the radar for our next dive trip.

Of course! We don't dive but can help with other stuff...

And I do realize that I may be asking the impossible re. a vehicle. I just wanted to make sure there is nothing we've overlooked since we've been out of the car market for so long. You know, that proverbial fantasy vehicle that gets 100 mpg, never breaks down, and can carry a small home's worth of toys and gear inside.

[Koronin]

There is always the idea to take the bikes in the hotel room with you. (Yes we've done this actually). Anytime we take the bikes somewhere we take the Ford Ranger (small pick up) that we have a bike rack that attaches to the hitch. We just don't take the carbon road bikes on that since they have to hang by the frame. Typically it's the mountain bikes we're traveling with. But we do take them in the hotel room with us. When we took them to the beach (outer banks) we actually had them locked on an upper balcony under the roof and where you could not see them from the street instead of bringing them inside. Oh and they were locked right next to the door on that lvl.

[goldfinch]

I have a Rav4 that easily carries three bikes, (though my spouse's Trek Navigator is awkwardly big and doesn't stand up nice like my bikes) but I question whether it would carry four. It is the two wheel drive version and gets better than 30mpg. I looked at getting the Honda minivan. The gas mileage was pretty good for a minivan and it would be such a nice vehicle for transporting bicycles. I kind of regret not getting the minivan as the bike stable has increased in size.

[emily_in_nc]

Yep, we've certainly taken bikes in hotel rooms over the years, and most do seem to allow it -- but four?! It's also nice to keep them inside a vehicle to keep them from getting wet, buggy, etc. We were spoiled having a Honda Element for seven years, so it's really hard to go back to a rack situation if we don't have to.

Also wanted to mention that we wouldn't always or even usually be carrying four bikes -- that would be worst case. More typical would be two bikes and a dog kennel, or two bikes and a kayak. We found a take-apart one that goes from a tandem to a single and breaks down into three pieces that could easily fit in the back of a vehicle when broken down:

http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/69097...ttrValue_0=Red

It's pricey, but so's a tandem kayak plus roof rack, and DH absolutely hated putting kayaks up on Thule racks when we had 'em b/c of all the bungeeing, wrapping, securing fore and aft, etc., so this would solve this problem. Basically, we want to be able to hike, kayak, and bike on a lot of our trips without committing to something like a Sportsmobile just yet.

[Pedal Wench]

I have a Rav4 that easily carries three bikes, ....

I have a 2007 Rav4 and we can easily fit 4 - two facing forward and two back, and I'm sure we could even do three facing back - SO easy to load in from the back. I just removed the back seats to make it easier to load up for long road trips - we got a ton more storage space and can live out of it for months. Gas mileage is good, and will be better now without the seats and with the extra room, won't need the Thule roof box this summer either.