Vehicle for hauling up to four bikes?

[emily_in_nc]

[QUOTE=Crankin;636241
I know I must be spending too much time here. I just told DH, "My friend in Belize is moving back here."
I've never met you in person.[/QUOTE]

I have the same kind of experiences with some of my Facebook friends -- most I know "in person" too, but a few I just feel like I know!

[emily_in_nc]

Thanks for the Rav4 and Highlander suggestions. We used to have a Rav4 years ago, but it was one of the small 2-door models from the first model year and was tiny. They've really grown over the year. DH's parents have a Highlander, and while it's certainly big, it might be a bit more "luxury" and pricey than we really want to go.

Will look into both, though, thanks!

[laura*]

We've been out of the car market since 2004, so I figured the collective wisdom here would know a lot more about the current batch of vehicles available than I do.

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

[Koronin]

Good luck in your vehicle search. Welcome back (soon) to NC.

[tulip]

Minivan. Seats fold into the floor; they are cavernous. Better mileage than SUVs because they are not 4WD.

[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

[Irulan]

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

[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.

[emily_in_nc]

I don't have a problem with a mini-van from a "how it looks to others" perspective. I don't care if folks think I'm uncool, though I am far from a soccer mom; don't even have kids! BUT, the starting price on a good one (Honda or Toyota) is higher than any car we've ever owned, so we'd definitely have to find a used one as we just don't like spending a ton of money on cars. Would much rather save our pennies for bikes and bike gear! We've never bought anything but new cars in the past, but less expensive models like Honda CRX and Honda Element, and the 2-door Rav4.

And DH *might* have a problem driving a mini-van around, since we'd be sharing the vehicle. Not sure. If he doesn't care, a used one could work. They definitely have the cargo space and the comfort factor boxes ticked.

Will definitely look at Rav4s since it's been many, many years since we owned one, and they've changed a lot. 4Runners are definitely too rich for us and gas mileage too low.

[emily_in_nc]

DH just confirmed --> NO mini-vans! I should have known.

So far the Toyota Rav4 is looking like a hot contender. The gas mileage is marginally better than the Element, safety is better, price is similar, and cargo space is only 1.3 cubic feet less (when seats are down in back). I had no idea. Of course, mini-vans have WAY more cargo space, but DH says no. And the smaller SUVs obviously get better gas mileage than a mini-van also.

Will look at the Jeep products too, but I wonder if repair/maintenance could be an issue. Heard some gripes from a couple of Jeep Cherokee owners I used to work with. We're so used to Honda/Toyota quality that it would be hard to take a step backwards. Especially since we'll only have one vehicle.

[emily_in_nc]

After a quick look at the Jeep site, neither the Patriot or Liberty has as much cargo space as the Rav4 or Element (over 10 cubic feet less, surprisingly!)

The Patriot gets excellent gas mileage and is extremely well-priced for a 4x4 SUV, but we gotta have that cargo space. The Liberty doesn't get very good gas mileage.

Honda Civics are definitely not expensively outfitted cars; they used to be the very bottom of the Honda line years ago; not sure they are now. But they sure are reliable, or at least used to be. My father got well over 200K miles on his.

Honda Elements are also very "plastic" inside, but that makes them easy to clean and inexpensive. I've never cared about having a luxury car or adding "appearance packages", stuff like that. I want comfortable seats for driving and a good driving position for a petite gal like me, but aside from that, I'm really looking for function over form and reliability over bells and whistles. I am what you'd call a very "basic" car buyer, I guess. Never had anything fancy, so I don't know what I'm missing.

I forgot to mention that I also had a Subaru Forester that I loved before the Element, but bikes had to lie down in the back, and the transmission gave out after only four years, so I traded it on the Element. I also really disliked the service department folks in my area after many failed attempts to fix the "check engine" light issue, so I am boycotting Subies, even if they did have one that would fit a herd of bikes!