Vehicle for hauling up to four bikes?

[Crankin]

Have you considered a station wagon? I know, not a popular choice, but I just got one (probably not one you'd consider, as I have 4 wheel drive requirements). When I put the back seats down, I can fit both of my bikes in, no wheels off. My custom bike has a longer wheelbase and there is no way I could fit it in my sedan, with the seats down.
The car dealers kept pushing me to look at mini vans and I was like, "Are you kidding?" I don't want the soccer mom look. Anyway, besides the cargo room in the back, there are various top rack options for kayaks, etc.

[SheFly]

The car dealers kept pushing me to look at mini vans and I was like, "Are you kidding?" I don't want the soccer mom look.

Hey! don't knock the mini van . When we bought ours, I told DH there was NO WAY I was driving one of those. Absolutely not. After 5 years, go ahead and TRY to take it away from me .

Emily - sorry to hear Belize didn't work out as planned. Do consider a "not-mom" van though (that's what I call mine - no kids, but I do drive the van). Mine regularly gets about 25 mpg, fits TWO tandems inside without wheels off (plus cat carrier and all luggage/gear for the weekend), and doubles as a very large locker room for us when racing. We simply removed the second row of seating and stored them in the garage.

Surprisingly, the van is very comfortable to drive including long distances. I drive the Toyota Sienna, but would really like the Honda Odyssey if I were to trade-in at some point.

SheFly

[emily_in_nc]

How about this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Transit_Connect

Interesting! But, this gave me pause:

"In most places, the high-roof Transit Connect, like most Ford Econoline vans, is unable to access multi-story parking because of its height (6'-6")."

Not that we use multi-story parking often, but all our hospitals have it, and you hate not to be able to park at a hospital -- we've definitely needed that capability over the past 10 years, several times.

Still, neat suggestion, and something I'd never heard of. Thanks!

[Crankin]

Yes, we can't park DH's SUV at the garage at the Prudential center, which is where we park when we drive to theatre; always take my car if it's our turn to drive. We just call ahead, if we're not sure of a garage's height, but it is an issue.
Irulan, I got an Audi A4 wagon. I wanted an A3, which is smaller, in fact just about the smallest wagon made, but when I drove the 2, I really didn't like the way it drove, compared to the A4. I did like the way it looked, though. They are re-doing both of these models for 2013 and we got a huge price reduction, as well as a discount because my DH's company does business with them. I also got a very good trade in for my 9 year old BMW.
She Fly, I didn't mean to stereotype you! Another part of not wanting a mini van is that I don't want something bigger. In fact, the A4 is longer than I wanted. I have a very difficult time parallel parking and I do occasionally have to do this when visiting clients. I pray every time before I go to certain places that I won't have to. This is the price I pay for learning to drive and living in the sunbelt where you never have to do this. I did have a Mazda mini van (the worst car I've ever had) and a 4-Runner for quite a few years before the BMW, and I am done with cars of that size. My kids learned to drive on the 4-Runner, which was good, and it took DS to races with all of his gear, but it got terrible gas mileage.

[Norse]

+1 on the RAV4. One of the reasons we bought it was because of the fold-flat seats coupled with it having the largest cubic feet of capacity for carrying your gear/bikes (in the smaller SUV crossover world). On the test drive, we brought it home and stuffed a couple of bikes in there to make sure it would work. We have easily fit 3 in and I imagine 1 more would fit fine.

[Irulan]

The new 4 runners are HUGE. We have one for DH's work and you can get 5 adults comfortably in it. The amount of leg room is unreal. Mileage is OK for a bigger rig, and we love it for trips, but small it aint.

[TsPoet]

How about this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Transit_Connect

Every time I see one of these I start to drool. Smallish with lots of room inside, generally used for businesses.
My other choice would be it's big brother - a sprinter van. Used, of course!
http://www.mbsprinterusa.com/sprinter/crew-van

[tulip]

Honda Fit has lots of cargo space even though it's a small car. It's also much lower than an SUV, which is good for kayaks on the roof. Not pricey; great mileage. Perhaps worth considering.

[emily_in_nc]

Honda Fit has lots of cargo space even though it's a small car. It's also much lower than an SUV, which is good for kayaks on the roof. Not pricey; great mileage. Perhaps worth considering.

I agree that the Honda Fit is great for a small call and a commuter, and if I were still working AND we had a second car, it would be at the top of my list. But it's just too small for road trips -- we'd also have luggage and often, a dog and dog gear, in addition to bikes, a kayak, etc. Just not quite enough car for our current needs, but thanks for the thought.

[emily_in_nc]

Maybe I should look at the Rav4. Always liked Toyota!

By cheaply made, I meant the exterior and the locks, things like that. Not acceptable to be forced to replace all the locks after 5 years because of cheap parts. I guess most cars have power/remote locks. But mine aren't. Not made to withstand use, apparently.

Plus, the plastic cover around the wheel-wells fell off for no apparent reason, and from the undercarriage.... No more Honda.

I do hear you. We never had any problems with the locks on our Element (but had power locks), but we did have a trim piece fall off the exterior. DH was able to replace it with a mail-order part, so it was an inexpensive repair since it was plastic. And the driver side sun visor got floppy, but he was able to repair that too. Those kinds of things I can accept, because we put 130K miles on the car in over 7 years of ownership and NEVER had a mechanical or engine issue of any sort. Never had to have it in the shop other than for routine maintenance. And never did the "check engine" light come on. After my issues with my Forester, that alone made me love Honda.

[emily_in_nc]

Every time I see one of these I start to drool. Smallish with lots of room inside, generally used for businesses.
My other choice would be it's big brother - a sprinter van. Used, of course!
http://www.mbsprinterusa.com/sprinter/crew-van

Oh yes, I know about Sprinters (Sportsmobile is simply a modified, customized Sprinter), but they're not in the budget for now. Very cool, though!

I have not ruled out the Ford Transit, but I do have reservations about it. The cargo space is amazing, but there are drawbacks, like the tall profile I mentioned above (making parking decks a hassle). Also, I could not find safety data for it, possibly because it is more of a "truck" than a car. I'm also nervous about driving anything with metal panels instead of windows in back. Seems like that would make visibility/blind spots a lot worse. The Element was pretty bad in that respect, too, and if you flipped up the rear seats, I felt downright nervous driving it, since I couldn't look over my shoulders at blind spots before changing lanes. Perhaps you get used to that, but it's really hard to adjust mirrors to eliminate all blind spots.

Anyone have any feedback on that? I guess we could always test drive one.

[emily_in_nc]

Not feeling the love after reading this (Source: http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com...onnect/Safety/)

The Ford Transit Connect gets an overall safety score of just two stars out of five from the federal government, which is worse than most vehicles on the market. This score is comprised of three-star frontal crash and rollover scores and a two-star side crash score. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety does not crash test commercial vehicles.

The Transit Connect comes with safety features that are basic for the class. Anti-lock brakes are standard, as are front and side airbags. Depending on the trim level, a rearview camera and a passive anti-theft system are optional.

Reviewers note that although the Transit Connect’s forward visibility is great, its rearward visibility is pretty poor no matter which model you choose. Cargo models are particularly bad, since the rear cargo area doesn’t have windows. Reverse sensors are optional, which should help a bit.

[rubysoho]

Just wanted to add a little about the Jeeps. They did go through a point in time where there was significant difference in engines and upkeep. The 4.0 liters, well, you couldn't kill them (I had one, '92 Jeep Cherokee Laredo... I miss it soooo much!!!). Jeep no longer has 4.0 models but I've read that they have improved their overall engine lifespan.

Check out the car forums. When I was looking a few months ago (was considering a new car...) I saw positives and negatives but more people loving their Jeeps than not.

That said, I would stay away from the Compass and (I think...) the Patriot. Those two had the poorest reviews (consumer and magazine).

[Irulan]

crankin, what wagon did you get? There are so few true wagons out there now. I have a Mazda 3.