Advice? I need a car to carry bikes...

[Justin Fox]

Hi all,

Just to prove my dedication to the sport... I sold my S2000 as I couldn't carry bikes with it.

She'll not really be missed as I was getting over her anyways. Too low (I was scraping the cat on absolutely everything), too impractical (I can't carry people, a case of beer only just fits in there) and expensive insurance.

I'm after some advice on what car you guys who carry bikes think would be best.

Here's some criteria:
- Budget up to $20k
- Not over 60,000kms
- Must be good on fuel
- Must be cheap to insure
- Must be able to fit a tow bar/grip sports bike carrier OR must be able to fit 2 bikes inside the car.

I'm still a bit confused about tow bars. Whether I want one, or whether I want to be able to put bikes inside a car (I'd feel safer for some reason...). I definitely do not want to put bikes on the roof.

Any suggestions appreciated!

 

[scblack]

Buy the car you want , and get a TRAILER.

Much better compromise as far as I am concerned.

 

[EzyLee]

There are heaps of cars out there, just go and look around the car yards to get an idea of what will suit you. I would suggest having a look at any wagon like the subaru wagons (impreza + liberty), even hatchbacks like corollas, civics are pretty roomy once the rear seats are folded down. My mrs has a honda jazz and those little buggers are VERY roomy for what they are.

Another way you can go are vans like hiaces. You can fit a stack of bikes in there and lock them up. The hiace engines go forever and are fairly cheap to drive.

Why aren't you a fan of roof racks? you know you can get lockable ones?

 

[cdfeto]

Ute mate, ute.
Just to give you an example: one of my mates has an old five seater diesel Datsun ute, so five people can fit quite comfortably in the cabin and we can usually fit four decent sized 26" bikes in the tray, with it closed. So i can imagine you could fit any long XC or fat DH bikes in there with it open and tying them up well or using one of those cut out boards to support the front ends of the bikes. It feels much more secure driving when you know all your gear is "inside", bike racks are clever but not always so practical.


ps: whats the car behind the s2000? more pics?

 

[Z100]

If your not worried about power figures so much (and you do own an s2000 so...), you could get a ford falcon station wagon e-gas model. Dedicated gas, cheap to run and comes under $20 thou easy. I second the liberty wagons. Utes are worth looking at, but the lack seats may put you off.

 

[indica]

My Triton works well, can fit five bikes in without them touching and none of those crank holders.
They don't need to be tied down unless it it a bumpy dirt road, and petrol consumption is okay, getting about 12L/100km

 

[jda]

I think the RS impreza from subaru is a great car, its a 2.5L NA boxer motor with same interior and suspension as the WRX but without the insurance hassles. Its a 4 door and the boot is huge too, here is a pick of my old one with a grip rack on the back, if you get roofracks too you can carry up to 4 bikes and 4 people.

I have upgraded to the same model and colour but WRX now for a little more fun

 

[alpinestar12]

Pretty much any mid-sized wagon will fit 2 bikes with the back seat folded down, sometimes you may need to take one wheel off one bike. Big wagons (commodore etc.) can easily fit two without taking any wheels off. Putting the bikes in the car is great, no handling compromises, no extra air resistance, and you can drive like a nut and the bikes will be fine .

 

[funkymonkey]

If your not worried about power figures so much (and you do own an s2000 so...), you could get a ford falcon station wagon e-gas model. Dedicated gas, cheap to run and comes under $20 thou easy. I second the liberty wagons. Utes are worth looking at, but the lack seats may put you off.

I second that. If your not too worried about looking like every other chump on the road that is.

I had a gas falcon as a work car and it fit two dh bike is easy and went ok.

I would be looking at a hilux 4wd diesel though. Sure the diesel price is high, but its effecient and resale is primo... and you can fit a shitload in and run the shuttles on those crappy muddy days...

 

[Turner_rider]

My choice would be Subaru Outback or liberty/legacy, but the forester is similarly suitable and each will allow you to crawl out of a muddy paddock should it ever rain again...

But as mentioned above if you know how to pack a car then your options are endless. In the past I've carried two bikes, two people and their gear in the old leyland mini, and ye olde Alfasud Ti hatch can fit enough bikes and crap for a two person/bike month long road trip. While neither of these fully meet your criteria they are also super cheap to run and maintain...

I'm also surprised you couldn't carry two bikes on the S2000 as a mate of mine can easily carry two bikes and enough gear for a road trip on his MX5.

 

[AngoXC]

Pussy...S2000 would have done this EASY!

 

[Oddjob]

A MY03-04 Subaru Forester X or XS in the Luxury pack for the leather upholstery. Although to be honest I think a XT Luxury would be more your sort of thing, but you would have to pay a little bit more than $20,000 and they use a bit more fuel than the 2.0 or 2.5 NA boxers.

Putting bikes inside the car is a big no no as far as I'm concerned. More often than not when I come back from a ride my bikes and myself are covered in crap. If you leave the bikes on the rack then they are easy enough to hose down once you get home and it doesn't drag crap into the car. Leather upholstery is a good idea as well as it's a lot easier to keep clean than fabric.

The Foresters also have a slightly elevated ride height which is handy with a Grip carrier, as it won't drag the carrier on the ground when going up drive ways etc etc.

 

[Justin Fox]

Thanks for the advice guys.

I like the idea and ease of using a Grip carrier but I doubt I could live with it on the car permanently. It seems to stick out a fair bit.

Despite the negatives of having a muddy bike inside the car. I'm liking the idea of putting the bikes inside the car more and more as I wouldn't have to remove a carrier, nor would I have to drive any differently.

I'll start looking at Foresters (the XT is tempting, but again, fuel/insurance). The Honda CRV seems to be a decent bet too, size and ease of load wise.

 

[Tomas]

Thanks for the advice guys.

I like the idea and ease of using a Grip carrier but I doubt I could live with it on the car permanently. It seems to stick out a fair bit.

Despite the negatives of having a muddy bike inside the car. I'm liking the idea of putting the bikes inside the car more and more as I wouldn't have to remove a carrier, nor would I have to drive any differently.

I'll start looking at Foresters (the XT is tempting, but again, fuel/insurance). The Honda CRV seems to be a decent bet too, size and ease of load wise.

CRV's are shite. Please, for the love of god dont buy one. Having driven long and short distances with lots of bikes and bike related gear over the last few years - they're shite.

 

[Tomas]

I think the RS impreza from subaru is a great car, its a 2.5L NA boxer motor with same interior and suspension as the WRX but without the insurance hassles. Its a 4 door and the boot is huge too, here is a pick of my old one with a grip rack on the back, if you get roofracks too you can carry up to 4 bikes and 4 people.

I have upgraded to the same model and colour but WRX now for a little more fun

I'm driving an RS at the moment. Great car - pretty easy on the fuel. Works sweet with a rack on the back, or can fit heaps of bikes if you take the wheels off.

 

[mushroom]

+1 for the Honda CRV.

Fuel consumption is pretty good for the size of the car, storage is great. Can easily do 3 passengers and three bikes with just the front wheels off and all bikes inside the vehicle. I think it could manage 4 and 4 with both wheels off or careful packing.

I'm looking at getting mine converted to LPG today for even more efficiency.

 

[scblack]

CRV's are shite. Please, for the love of god dont buy one. Having driven long and short distances with lots of bikes and bike related gear over the last few years - they're shite.

CRV's are shite - they sink if you try to drive them on sand. Sink.

Look at the usual soft roader suspects: Mazda Tribute, Ford Escape, Nissan X-Trail, Forester, Outlander, Vitara, Rav4, even used Territory's will be less than $20k now.

 

[S.]

Thanks for the advice guys.

I like the idea and ease of using a Grip carrier but I doubt I could live with it on the car permanently. It seems to stick out a fair bit.

Despite the negatives of having a muddy bike inside the car. I'm liking the idea of putting the bikes inside the car more and more as I wouldn't have to remove a carrier, nor would I have to drive any differently.

I'll start looking at Foresters (the XT is tempting, but again, fuel/insurance). The Honda CRV seems to be a decent bet too, size and ease of load wise.

You don't have to leave the Grip rack on there the whole time - get a QR hitch one and you can take it off in ~10 seconds. I reckon a Forester with a Grip rack would be a good choice personally; I have a Liberty wagon with a rack and it's great. If I'm only taking my own bike I can just chuck it in the back, or if I'm taking two bikes I can put them on the rack. You can actually fit 3 bikes + riders in if you're keen, by using the rack and taking the front wheel off one bike and putting it over the back seat on one side. They also don't handle like crap, nor do they compromise your non-riding driving in any way as they're just a normal 5 seat car.

Single cab utes suck for being unable to lock stuff inside them, dual cab utes are much better and really are the mutt's nuts for shuttling, but unnecessary if that's not what you're doing. Vans are great for fitting stuff inside and being able to lock em, however they have the major downside that they only have two seats on the non-riding occasion.

 

[cartman]

i have a hilux dual cab, 4 bikes in a rack and 5 people in the car 4 for the ride down and 1 to drive.

Is good on the Diesel uses 38 liters per 420 Kms and works out at 17c per KM not fast at all but who cares driving in the bush.

 

[Oddjob]

Thanks for the advice guys.

I like the idea and ease of using a Grip carrier but I doubt I could live with it on the car permanently. It seems to stick out a fair bit.

Despite the negatives of having a muddy bike inside the car. I'm liking the idea of putting the bikes inside the car more and more as I wouldn't have to remove a carrier, nor would I have to drive any differently.

I'll start looking at Foresters (the XT is tempting, but again, fuel/insurance). The Honda CRV seems to be a decent bet too, size and ease of load wise.

If you get a Forester, the tow pack come with a Reese Hayman type tow ball (and oil cooler for the gearbox) which can be removed entirely. XTs are pretty thirsty, which isn't too surprising for a 159kw 2.5L turbo, but the insurance is surprisingly ok as most insurance companies class them as a small 4wd rather than a sports car. The insurance on mine was less than $800 although this was through the group insurance on the novated lease. I got qouted around $1000 from Aami.

CRVs are a piece of crap. If you must get another small 4wd get a Rav4, at least they have the Toyota reliability and a half decent drivetrain.