Glad you are back and sorry for your loss.
Why don't you like putting the seats down and putting your bike in the back? I had a small BMW sedan for 10 years and I loved the fact that I could just open the hatch and shove my bike in. In fact, my rear seats were permanently down, as they are now in my Audi station wagon. My car is bigger than I wanted, but since I hardly drive at all (my office is 2.3 miles away), I am keeping it. My main concern is room for a bike and AWD. DH just got a Rav 4 Hybrid, AWD, but he has a bike rack he only puts on if it's more than one bike.