Morning, hope you all had a good Christmas.

My trusty Laguna is beginning to show its age so I’m in the market for a new bike carrier.

The only priority I have is that it can carry 3 people, associated kit for long weekends and 3 fairly long bikes (without taking the back wheels off) in the car or 2 people and 4+ bikes and lots of kit. I tend to pootle everywhere and only do 5 or 6 thousand miles a year so it doesn’t need to be fast, fun or particularly economical. I’m after a reliable tool for carrying bikes and that’s about it. It does need to be parked in suburban London though so length is a bit of an issue and the girlfriend will kill me if it’s not relatively comfy for the occasional 6 hour jaunt on the motorway. Defenders, pickups and vans are unfortunately out, as are MPVs. I can’t bring myself to make that step into adulthood yet. I can’t be doing with bike racks either.

So basically my questions are; is a Vectra/Signum/Mondeo or similar tall enough to carry 3 bikes vertically? Is an x-trail long enough or do I need to splash out on something huge like a toureg/pathfinder?

Thanks.

I had a Mk2 mondeo hatchback, does 4 bikes 4 people inside it no bother, but wheels come off. Even with 3, best way is to take the wheels off for a more comfy ride.

If length is an issue, mondeo’s are big. Not much will take a vertical bike with the rear wheel in.

Is there a reason rear wheels need to stay on? If you’re taking fronts off anyhow, it’s another 15 seconds to whip the rear out too.

I used to drive Astra hatch and focus hatchs that would take 3 bikes and three people plus kit all inside if packed carefully. The secret is in having a 60/40 split seat back AND BASE.

Seatpost out, front wheel out. Then stack them in starting with the front wheel near the rear door. Worked with my medium turner 6-pack which is not a small bike.

Berlingo multispace does all you’re asking for.

Always have to laugh at the guys dismantling (and cleaning) bikes before (the worlds most complicated) packing everything into the back of a car.

Just get a towbar rack and you can have (practically) any car.

I’m guessing the rear wheels is due to maxles and/or not wanting to damage mechs?

Got a Mondeo estate (2004) a little while ago. Very comfy over mlong distances, getting bikes in is easy (I prefer having them in the car than on a rack). gf doesn’t like parking ether, but she finds it pretty easy to park

60/40 seat split: little side down for 2 bikes: front wheel and seatpost out, wheel/push them in vertically. Big side down for 3 bikes/people/bags, same again.

4 people/bikes/bags also doable, but more comes off and it takes longer to nest everything together efficiently.

Old shower curtain in the car. No need to clear pre packing and once you knew how, not complex or time consuming. Less agro than the bloke I used to ride with who had roof mounted bikes. Need I detail what happened on the way into the car park?

Each to their own though. I’ve always had cars that cost less than my bikes. If it was the other way around, I might go for a ball mounted rack.

You right to mention the X trail, they are very affordable second hand especially the petrol ones and have a cavernous boot. If you are not doing a lot of mileage than a second hand petrol one is about 2k cheaper than the diesel (which buys you a lot of fuel) – just go for the 2.5 litre… I bought a 2.5l petrol with all the trimmings, 60k on the clock perfect nick for 5k from a dealer including 1 year warranty – its been perfect and good to drive too. It swallows a bike lying down without removing wheels if you put the back seats down but you are better off getting one with a towbar.

I would say mondeo estate, but if you to search for parking they are a pain. Easy to park, but only when you’ve driven past all the small spaces! I would rule out the 4×4, big wheel arches and drivetrain all intrude into the boot space. plus point of the mondeo is you can stack four bikes in the boot with care, leaving 5 seats spare. Roof box for clobber. When we did this for a long journey I did unbolt a rear mech as it was against the wheel arch.

Food for thought, a SWB transporter is the same length as a mondeo.

FWIW new shape berlingo multispace here and it rocks. 3 bikes wheeled in, wheels on and 3 people no bother. Or more with some disassembly.

Thanks all, I’m back from the pub now and full of doombar. 🙂

The reason for not taking the back wheels off is a combination of maxles, perfectly set up singlespeeds that I’m scared to touch in case I never get it working again and pure laziness. I don’t like spending valuable riding/sofa time fiddling around having to pack stuff perfectly, I’d rather just be able to throw things in without too much effort. And racks are out, most of the ones I’ve seen aren’t rated to take 3/4 very heavy bikes and I’m limited on storage when it’s not on the car. Not bothered about getting the car dirty either it’ll be a tool and nothing else. I’ll clean it when I need to sell it.

Will estates pack bikes vertically without removing the seatpost? Gravity droppers are a bit of a bugger to remove what with all the cabling. Also will 160mm+ forks be an issue.

X-trail is looking to be the front runner at the moment. Anyone got any photos of one packed with stuff?

Berlingo can carry 3 blokes, kit for a long weekend and 3 bikes (all about 18-20″ frames and around 120mm travel full bouncers). If need to remain fully built then the kit gets packed around them but otherwise, it’ll do your thing without any troubles.

As others have said a Berlingo Multispace ticks all your boxes.

tetris…
3 bikes.. all the riders.. plus two parents who wished to go “walking” on the same day.
no room for anything else.

Tow bar rack or tailgate racks are a winner really.

Feel free to call me shallow but I’m desperately trying to fight the onslaught of middle age here (35 year old in skinny jeans, high tops and an asymmetrical haircut) and even though I know the Berlingo is the perfect bike carrying tool I just can’t bring myself to accept that I need a car with sliding doors.

I’ll have a quiet word with myself.

that, my friend, is awesome packing.

So what about a ‘fun’ big estate like an older 5-series, Saab 9-5, C class etc?

Sliding doors equal more fun when you go dogging. Lets face it we all do?
or maybe i should just get my coat..

Huws, no Xtrail pics, I’ve been using one for 5 yrs now and its still going fine at 150k nothing other than the usual consumables.

3 bike with rear wheels fit in with the 40/ part of the 60/40 folded no problem, have fitted 4 dismantled in the boot although thats a squeeze with 4 passengers 🙂

only downside is the fuel economy will never be as good as a regular estate car + you’ll be the subject of criticism on this forum 🙂 although you hate the bike rack option, this is a great vehicle for carrying 4 big bikes on the rack without the negative effect of loading up most cars

Cheers T1000. Sounds perfect.

Huws, forgot to say best loading option is back wheel in 1st and use the rear two loading loops and a large webbing strap over the fork ends… for two of the bikes and one facing forward

X Trail is a fantastic car, but be warned they have faults.
Our diesel had the intercooler crack which is a known problem and the fuel pump started leaking, which was a £1350 + fitting + vat. It had only done 65k so off it went………

For what you want I would say PEOPLE CARRIER!!! If you don’t do many miles and what you’re mostly going to do is chuck bikes in get one of the van based ones (Berlingo etc) leave 3 seats in and just wheel the bikes straight in the back door. Why fork out for all the extra costs of a 4×4 for something that sounds like its hardly going to get used all week and that you’re going to treat as a van.

I’ve got an 04 Mondeo estate, which has just about the biggest internal boot capacity of any mainstream car (I sadly measured just about every competitor to get the biggest boot I could for our sadly departed dogs) but you’ll never get 160mm bikes in stood up with a rear wheel in and the seat in place. They’ll go in lying down but you’ll probably be down to 2 seats. The reason we estate car’d over people carrier was that I was regularly doing 25-30k a year for work and domestic stuff and wanted the more composed handling and better fuel economy of a car.

Why do people not recommend VW ?/Ford Galaxy/Seat ? Big interior, seats fully removable. Top end ones would come with all the luxury car trimmings. Do they all just end up ragged as mini cabs?

For what you want I would say PEOPLE CARRIER!!!

something deep in my soul just won’t let me do it it.

But it’s not a people carrier… it’s a van, so that is ok, right? 😉

it would be easy to say Galaxy if the OP wanted a people carrier.

mondeo and vectra are about as big as you will get carwise, although they use a vast length to get the space. I have a 04 5series and its far smaller so can be left off the list. E-class is also big providing the ‘image’ is correct for you.
Was going to buy a doblo family for do it all lugging and people moving but got distracted. i figured if you are going to have an ugly van then the ugliest is best.

if you only do 5k per year whats it matter if you have sliding doors? The physical dimensions of big bikes stood up with the back wheels in means you are going to have to make some compromises.

have a look at the old shape mitsubishi outlander, had a hire one in the states years ago and it seemed fairly soacious, only petrols but that should be ok and its a 4×4 so it cool.

Sod the girlfriend, get a pickup. No longer than the average estate/luxury car and easier to park because of the elevated driving position and good all round vis.

4-6 bikes in the back in seconds, no dismantling required and four adults in relative comfort. And they very competent when snowmageddon aka winter comes knocking too.

I mean, how comfy does a car need to be to be comfortable on a motorway anyway?

pick up is longer than an estate. Looking at them parked at the office they don’t fit car spaces – overhang front and rear. Easier to park? Doubt it. I’d leave the pick up as it is restrictive…

DickBarton – Member

pick up is longer than an estate. Looking at them parked at the office they don’t fit car spaces – overhang front and rear. Easier to park? Doubt it.

Lengths from wikipedia…

Mk5 Hilux – 4,790 mm
Volvo 960 Estate – 4,862 mm
Mercedes E class estate – 4,895 mm
Izuzu Rodeo – 4,955 mm
Chrysler 300c Estate – 5,020 mm
Mk6 Hilux CC – 5,130 mm

Not much in it is there? Most previous gen pickups will be much the same length as an estate / luxury car or shorter. Even the larger current gen pickups aren’t much longer. The turning circle means they are slightly harder work (physically) to park, but as I’ve already mentioned, the elevated position and decent visibility means they are pretty easy to park. Thrown in a parking sensor and well, it’s not very hard at all.

Sod the girlfriend, get a pickup. ………relative comfort.

Noisy, crap handling, uncomfortable, no security or protection for the bikes. Fail.

I looked quite extensively at estates and I don’t think there are any that will take a decent sized bike without some disassembly. You can fit a lot of bikes in surprisingly small cars but not without stripping them down a lot. Mondeo estate is huge BUT I’m sure it won’t take a bike standing up with the rear wheel and seatpost in. Take out seaposts, lock down forks, turn stems and it’s a slightly different story.

Big 4×4’s have more interior height but the ground clearance and transmission means a lot of the height of the vehicle isn’t usable interior space.

We have VW Caddy Life (van turned into people carrier, used as van). As a bike and kit carrier it’s awesome and we don’t use it for anything else.

Gotta say, I’d go for a Land Rover. The disco 2 TD5 has a massive boot so no need to put seats down, gets 32 to 35 mpg and the engine and transmission are bullet proof. If you can stretch, get a 2nd hand disco 3 (£10k to £12k) for a good 2005 car, and you get more power, more comfort and more toys. The girlfriend will love it and it genuinely drives like a smaller car.

simons_nicolai-uk

Noisy, crap handling

I’ll give you that.

uncomfortable, no security or protection for the bikes.

Uncomfortable? harden up. Security, how about chained through steel shackles bolted into the tub and through the rear of the body? as opposed to a window.

One provides protection from everything short of a grinder, the other can be overcome with stone in a sock.

Fail

You win da internetz!!

Uncomfortable? harden up.

Relative to even an old, low end, car – in my experience, yes. Definitley not what I’d choose to shuttle up and down motorways.

Security, how about chained through steel shackles bolted into the tub and through the rear of the body? as opposed to a window.

I’m not convinced by this. Any modern car has deadlocks – you can smash a window but there’s no way to get the door open without a key so whatever you nick has to come out through the window you smashed. Fine for a stereo, phone, wallet, coat but D-Lock two frames together and they’re not going anywhere. Throw a few blankets over the top of everything and you’ve put off any casual theives and it doesn’t stand out in a car park. Your pick-up is no safer than a well locked bike on a city centre bike rack. There’s a lot of eBay value to be removed with set of allen keys.

Feel free to call me shallow but I’m desperately trying to fight the onslaught of middle age here (35 year old in skinny jeans, high tops and an asymmetrical haircut) and even though I know the Berlingo is the perfect bike carrying tool I just can’t bring myself to accept that I need a car with sliding doors.

I’m only 27…

Love being able to wheel 3 bikes straight in at the end of a ride, jump in and go. Long enough in the back to get an airbed longways too.

Feel free to call me shallow but I’m desperately trying to fight the onslaught of middle age here (35 year old in skinny jeans, high tops and an asymmetrical haircut) and even though I know the Berlingo is the perfect bike carrying tool I just can’t bring myself to accept that I need a car with sliding doors.

Sorry, but you’ll have to get over yerself. I’m 56, wear skate shoes, band and manga tee’s, shorts through most of the year, and basically I refuse to behave in a grown-up fashion, but if I was carrying a bunch of bikes and stuff around then convenience wins every time. A van or MPV with sliding door gets my vote, in fact something like a Transporter is the perfect vehicle. Stick a set of nice alloys on and tinted privacy windows and you’ve got the comfort and capacity you require. Just think of surfers and VW Microbuses; exact same principle. In fact a van is much more your ‘age’ than a Mondeo, really. Vans are cool. End of.

Medium 4×4, 5 seats often compromises boot space. Our current vehicle is a Hyundai Tucson, boot space is awful. Previous was a Nissan X Trail, original shape, boot size much better on that one. Most estate cars will do better for 3 people & luggage than a lot of mid size SUVs/4wds.