Estate v SUV for carrying bikes inside

[Exar]

What about a Ford S-Max ? Halfway point between an estate and an MPV. Or the Mercedes R-Class (no longer in production). Crossbreed between an SUV and MPV, and probably not even the people at Mercedes knew what exactly the target audience was.

[tymon_tm]

R-class is very unreliable and servicing costs a fortune. might as well get the Chrysler Pacifica - these are twins basically, but the 'American' comes cheaper.

S-Max is a solid choice (sort of forgot about that one!), it handles nearly as good as Mondeo does and is pretty spacious indeed. if you're ok with FWD and looking for 2nd hand (paying premium for a brand new but pretty much outdated model doesn't seem to make sense), this might just be what you're looking for

edit: they do offer AWD on S-Max now.... gotta pay Ford dealer a visit

[c50jim]

I find some of the comments here puzzling. I have a Volvo V60. My wife and I travel with it and have never had a problem getting all our luggage and two bikes (front wheels off) into the bikes for trips of about 10 days (including a wedding for which we had to carry dress up clothes). I'm 185 cm so saddle height is 79.5. After a trip with my two sons, who are both quite a bit taller than me, I was able to cram three bikes (wheels off) into the V60. There would have been a bit of room for baggage as long as you were prepared to look for little spots to stuff duffels.

Heck, I used to have a Golf GTI and my wife and I took it on a 10 day trip with two bikes and the bikes and luggage fit low enough in the back that I had no trouble with rear visibility.

When our kids were little, we managed to avoid mini vans and now that they've flown the coop we're avoiding SUVs and CUVs because we prefer the ride and handling of station wagons (estates to some).

[TonyM]

Here my first car a long time ago, a FIAT Panda. Quite cheap and small....



But there was no problem carrying my bike to all races etc...

[euan]

Fiat Doblo or similar

[Renne]

I find some of the comments here puzzling. I have a Volvo V60. My wife and I travel with it and have never had a problem getting all our luggage and two bikes (front wheels off) into the bikes for trips of about 10 days (including a wedding for which we had to carry dress up clothes). I'm 185 cm so saddle height is 79.5. After a trip with my two sons, who are both quite a bit taller than me, I was able to cram three bikes (wheels off) into the V60. There would have been a bit of room for baggage as long as you were prepared to look for little spots to stuff duffels.

Heck, I used to have a Golf GTI and my wife and I took it on a 10 day trip with two bikes and the bikes and luggage fit low enough in the back that I had no trouble with rear visibility.

Without putting the back seat(s) down? That would be one hell of an achievement, I couldn't do it that's for sure. I was talking about putting a bike in the trunk/boot without putting any rear seats down with luggage for two and an extra pair of wheels and still be able to close the trunk luggage cover shield roll out thingy (no idea what you actually call that thing but it does keep everything out of sight which is a good thing when there is an expensive bike in the trunk and you are stopping at a highway gas station in France). I can do that with my Skoda Octavia Combi but could not do that with the Volvo.

[CAMSHAFT]

All you need is a BMW 335i X-Drive GT

[Shrike]

Loads of space in the GT. Well for my needs anyhow.

I discounted it right off the bat for some reason. Looking at them now, prefer the look to the 3 series Touring. Any downsides compared to the Touring other than the reduced boot space?

[TonyM]

In terms of space, nothing is better than a minivan or a van.

Not sexy for many but plenty of room!
And much cheaper than SUV etc....

[tymon_tm]

Loads of space in the GT. Well for my needs anyhow.

I discounted it right off the bat for some reason. Looking at them now, prefer the look to the 3 series Touring. Any downsides compared to the Touring other than the reduced boot space?

harder to sell when you're done with it. and there's the issue of putting a washing mashine inside (the touring does have some trunk space above the window line)

3GT, just like 5GT doesn't seem to attract customers, but truth be told these cares are both "neithers". neither practical, nore attractive

[tymon_tm]

Without putting the back seat(s) down? That would be one hell of an achievement, I couldn't do it that's for sure. I was talking about putting a bike in the trunk/boot without putting any rear seats down with luggage for two and an extra pair of wheels and still be able to close the trunk luggage cover shield roll out thingy (no idea what you actually call that thing but it does keep everything out of sight which is a good thing when there is an expensive bike in the trunk and you are stopping at a highway gas station in France). I can do that with my Skoda Octavia Combi but could not do that with the Volvo.

yup, that's the goal (at least in my case). any car can do this:

from Polo to an A6 or whatever, you can fold seats and put two bikes easily. but when you travel in 3, and don't really wan't your kid to be surrounded by all that stuff that can easily misplace or hurt him in an accident, you need something else.

[zirxo]

Loads of space in the GT. Well for my needs anyhow.

I discounted it right off the bat for some reason. Looking at them now, prefer the look to the 3 series Touring. Any downsides compared to the Touring other than the reduced boot space?

harder to sell when you're done with it. and there's the issue of putting a washing mashine inside (the touring does have some trunk space above the window line)

3GT, just like 5GT doesn't seem to attract customers, but truth be told these cares are both "neithers". neither practical, nore attractive

The GT has a higher ground clearance than the touring, that's about it.

[TonyM]

Loads of space in the GT. Well for my needs anyhow.

I discounted it right off the bat for some reason. Looking at them now, prefer the look to the 3 series Touring. Any downsides compared to the Touring other than the reduced boot space?

harder to sell when you're done with it. and there's the issue of putting a washing mashine inside (the touring does have some trunk space above the window line)

3GT, just like 5GT doesn't seem to attract customers, but truth be told these cares are both "neithers". neither practical, nore attractive

The GT has a higher ground clearance than the touring, that's about it.

And is much more expensive .....LOL

[Hawkwood]

R-class is very unreliable and servicing costs a fortune. might as well get the Chrysler Pacifica - these are twins basically, but the 'American' comes cheaper.

S-Max is a solid choice (sort of forgot about that one!), it handles nearly as good as Mondeo does and is pretty spacious indeed. if you're ok with FWD and looking for 2nd hand (paying premium for a brand new but pretty much outdated model doesn't seem to make sense), this might just be what you're looking for

edit: they do offer AWD on S-Max now.... gotta pay Ford dealer a visit

We've got the C-Max which is smaller that the S-Max. However it swallows up one bike, loads of luggage, plus several cases of wine when we're on holiday in France. You can take the back seats out completely to increase the load capacity. We used to have a circa 2000 BMW 3 Series Touring and it was useless for load carrying, that's why we swapped to the C-max.

[Point]

I'm surprised the Volvo estates have been barely mentioned.

I have an XC70 and it's the perfect bike and gear transporter whether that's roof mounted or internal.