What is the perfect bike hauling vehicle?

[Irulan]

Sounds like most people are suggesting an SUV.

As I am not a fan of SUVs for many reasons, I'm going to play devil's advocate and recommend a Subaru. I drive a Subaru Outback with AWD. I have easily fit 2 bikes inside, plus gear. I"m sure a 3rd would fit if it needed to (granted, there'd only be room for 2 people).

With AWD and winter tires, I have all the traction and control I need and want (and I live & drive in the mountains. A lot). I also don't have a horrendous gas bill nor the guilt associated with gas guzzling. (I am now getting off my soapbox).

A Honda Element is not a typical SUV, it's a smaller, new generation version of one. I don't know about you, but to me when somenone says SUV I think Durango, Landcruiser, Navigator, Expedition, Hummers, or any of the other behemoths out there that are really just station wagons on steriods. And you are absolutely right, very few people need vehicles like that. The benefits of 4WD over AWD are mythical at best.

As for subs - I own one, ('95 leagcy that gets 30 mpg hiway) and we were looked into purchasing another.You can't beat them for sticking to the road in all conditions. The new ones don't really qualify as economical on gas. When we were looking we were really dissapointed in the mileage ratings for them. According to the www.fueleconomy.gov, the combined ( hiway, city) mpg for an '05 outback is only 22.
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/findacar.htm

compared to something like a Durango, combined mileage listed as 15, that's an improvement, but still not fuel efficient.

Here are the top ten most efficienet SUV type vehicles according to Edmunds -
http://www.edmunds.com/reviews/list/...5/article.html

If I have my way, our next car is going to be something like a honda civic or hybrid with a rack on top.

[veekcee]

We bought a Honda Element a couple of months ago and love it! Easily fit 3 bikes in with the seats folded up. Looks wise, it is growing on me, but boy it sure is fun to drive. I don't find a problem with the the larger pillars and find visibility to be pretty good. The lack of visibility with the seats folded up takes some getting used to.

We had a Subaru Outback and loved it, too. It always made me nervous having our bikes hanging off of the back. With the Element, don't have to worry about a hitch malfunction or leaving the bikes unattended on the back of the car.

[SadieKate]

I love Subarus. We've had 3, but even a Forester won't take my husband's bike upright inside without changing the seat height every time. Stacking bikes is just a no-no. Sooner or later, spokes, derailleurs, cables or the paint will be damaged. When the cost of a good wheelset is as much or more than some entire bikes, you don't allow the weight of one to rest on the other. Padding helps, but sooner or later . . . .

Not sure about the new Saab/Subaru SUV though. Anyone have experience with it?

We've met tall guys who could get long travel FS mtbikes in an Element. They raved about the mileage and handling. Yes, they're kind of funky looking, but in a functionally spiffy sort of way. I like cars that look like they can do something other than haul you to the nearest nail salon.

[Cari]

If I have my way, our next car is going to be something like a honda civic or hybrid with a rack on top.

I have a Honda Civic Coupe and my mountain bike easily fits in the back. I take off the front wheel just to make it easier for me to get it in there. Both rear seats fold down, if you need extra room. But yeah, I only use it if I'm only carrying one bike.

A friend of mine had an Element and he *loved* it. It's quirky but cool -- his friend called it "the fish tank". In addition to fitting bikes easily with just one of the rear seats down, I liked that the floors have a thick rubber cover instead of rugs, so when the car gets muddy and gross, you can just hose it off. Plus you can do lots of neat things with the seats.

I love the feeling of driving a small car that I can park anywhere. I also like having a proper trunk that I can lock. My friend got a $7,000 DH bike stolen from the inside of his car -- ouch. In the Civic, you need the car key to fold down the rear seats, and the lever inside that opens the trunk can be locked.

But if I were to buy a bike-specific car or SUV, I guess I'd go with the Honda Element or with a Subaru Forester. The Forester looks very cool and the interiors are sweet. I think you can also get it with a special liner to put in the back over the rug-like cover, so the fabric doesn't get full of mud and bike grease.

[SalsaMTB]

If you can get past the uncool image of a minivan, I highly recommend it. DH and I just got a Nissan Quest and love it. The toyota Sienna and Honda Odyssey are also worth checking out, the Quest has the most unique styling. We got it only because of our bikes, we're 25 and don't plan on having children for at least 4 years. Yep, we're personally trying to break the soccer mom image. It is great for bikes though. Many of the SUVs will fit two bikes if you take the front wheel off. Surprisingly many of the smaller-medium SUV couldn't fit two bikes w/o taking the front wheel off. We didn't want to take the wheels off, so we opted for the van for the gas mileage.

Here is a pic of our van loaded up with two bikes and our equipment. There is plenty of room left:

[MomOnBike]

I've been considering a trailer like this http://www.teardroptrailersexpress.c...e+Guy+Trailers to haul my bike for a variety of reasons.

1) He's a Long wheel-base recumbent, and if I let the bike in the car/minivan, he'll want to drive, and, well, no good can come of that.

2) Putting the bike on the back of our Saturn sedan works, mostly, but the bike is longer by a non-trivial amount than the car is wide. This makes me nervous.

3) I can pound nails in the bottom of a trailer and make a secure mount for the bikes.

4) 'Most any car I buy can pull the light sort of trailer I have in mind, I can buy the small sort of car I like With the easy addition of a trailer hitch, I'm good to go.

5) If I don't pound nails into the trailer floor, we might be able to use the trailer as lodging when we get wherever it is we're hauling the bikes to.

[jobob]

Since our other car is a 2003 Subaru Outback, I thought I'd chime in on that too.

With the rear seats folded down, I can place a single bike on it's side with the front wheel removed in the back of the Outback (I assume we're still talking about vehicles which can carry 2 or more bikes inside). I suppose I could fit another bike in there, maybe with a blanket in between, but I wouldn't want to try it unless I absolutely had to.

Like Irulan said, recent Outbacks have crummy gas mileage. I get about 21 mpg with our Outback, which has automatic transmission & AWD. I don't know how much better mileage one would get with manual transmission.

The Outback is great car, I like everything about it except for the gas mileage, which is the pitts IMHO. I was under the impression that more recent models have improved fuel ecomomy, but maybe that's not the case?

So from my experience, the Element gets much better gas mileage than the Outback.

[jeannierides]

My DSO has a Ford Ranger pickemup w/a cover. Three of our road bikes fit in it nicely. Good mileage and pretty stable as well!

[pkq]

I looked at the Dodge and Chrysler minivans. If you have to take those back seats/benches out, they are heavy and storage of them is an issue. That is the only reason I backed away from a minivan.

If minivans have seats that fold into the floor, that's the way to go. Some of my pals have the Honda minivan and love it.

[Geonz]

Welp, I can get two bikes in my Mazda Protege 5 hatchback. Probably a little too "downscale," though :-)

[RoadRaven]

We are trying to find the right size trailor...

A vehicle will not do the job.

We have to be able carry 8 bikes - some with aerobars on...

[Aint Doody]

I have a Dodge Grand Caravan--2000. I can put in my bicycle right behind the front seats--going thru the side door--and don't have to take the wheel off. With the 3rd seat out I can put 3 bikes in easily. When I get a new car, it'll be another one of these--now that the seats fold into the floor, it'll be a piece of cake. Plus--it's a good ole comfy-ridin' American car that gets good gas mileage.

[SalsaMTB]

Yep, I think most minivans now have fold flat seats. I would never want to haul those heavy things out of my car!! I think the Chrysler/Dodge vans have the best folding design for their seats.

[tomgrrrl]

Well, I have a fairly new Toyota Sienna and love it.....it has a Yakima bike rack on the back (holds four bikes) and a Yakima tandem rack on top....BUT, the thought of my new Serotta getting rear-ended has led me to stow it in the van (slides in right beside the middle row of seats (1 back seat down) and bungie it to the head rest so it doesn't move around. I do remove the front wheel.....If I folded the rear seats down I could probably shove three bikes inside, sans wheels....Now, let's see, that's three inside, four outside plus a tandem.....ahhhh. Well, the van is also good for piling the kiddies in on those school field trips!

PS-my lp says "BIKGRRL"

[DirtDiva]

We are trying to find the right size trailor...

A vehicle will not do the job.

We have to be able carry 8 bikes - some with aerobars on...

Surely you can whip something up out of No. 8 and 2x4...