• This topic has 96 replies, 58 voices, and was last updated 9 years ago by momo.
Viewing 17 posts - 81 through 97 (of 97 total)
  • New estate car for biking
  • jimjam
    Free Member

    Absolutely no chance, certainly not with an Auto, which the Outbacks all are. Over 7000 miles actually measuring the consumption on my 3.0 Rn Outback it has averaged 20.72 mpg. Best full tank has been 25.42mpg. It’s never even shown over 30 average on the car computer on a long trip.

    Plenty of guys getting 30mpg averages on legacytrackworld. Probably driving like a saint to get that in fairness but I believe it. I test drove a 3.0R spec B before buying the GTB and the trip displayed 20mpg with me trying to thrash the nuts off it. Inaccurate yes but a reasonable ball park I thought.

    andyl
    Free Member

    I’ve been eyeing up the Legacy or Outback diesels lately. We have a Freelander and I love the feeling of 4×4 but not the small boot and 4×4 handling. I was planning on getting a Discovery for towing duties but we have just managed to find a 2T livestock trailer instead of the usual 3.1 and 3.5T ones so can live without a big 4×4 for a bit longer.

    Anyone tried the diesel versions of the Subarus? They are now down to pretty good prices.

    robinlaidlaw
    Free Member

    Plenty of guys getting 30mpg averages on legacytrackworld. Probably driving like a saint to get that in fairness but I believe it. I test drove a 3.0R spec B before buying the GTB and the trip displayed 20mpg with me trying to thrash the nuts off it. Inaccurate yes but a reasonable ball park I thought.

    Yeah, to be fair a manual Legacy will do better than an Auto Outback I’m sure but you really would need to be doing journeys where you could cruise at a steady 50-60 to average over 30 for a whole tank and at that point why did you buy a car that lend it’s self so poorly to economical travel? Cruising any faster on the motorway in mine gets sub 30 and around town or enjoying a good back road, low 20s.

    stumpy01
    Full Member

    Who’d have thought that different people with different cars, different circumstances, different usage patterns etc would find different methods of sticking a bike in/on a car the most convenient?!

    😆

    Funny old world……

    andyl
    Free Member

    I’ve got an estate with bike racks on the roof and a tow bar with a rack to go on it when I need it.

    Most of the time I use the roof ones as they are the quickest. There is no way I can tidy up the boot, put the seats down and put something down to protect the interior in the time it takes me to put a bike on the roof.

    If am not going direct to the trails and back then I take the time to put it in the boot. The rest of the time it goes on the roof rack (if fitted) or the tow bar rack (quicker to fit than the roof rack). If going a long way and don’t need the space inside the car or need to stop off places ie shops, work etc then it goes in the car.

    Luggage and dog does not always mean there is room in the car.

    cp
    Full Member

    Who’d have thought that different people with different cars, different circumstances, different usage patterns etc would find different methods of sticking a bike in/on a car the most convenient?!

    Funny old world……

    indeed.

    Anyone tried the diesel versions of the Subarus? They are now down to pretty good prices.

    Dad has one. MPG on average in the mid 40’s. Surprisingly quick and a nice engine to drive.

    globalti
    Free Member

    There’s just no contest; you can slip the complete bike on its side into the back of an estate in a couple of seconds, shut the boot and be off. No fiddling with straps and no “trophy” bike displayed for scallies to see and follow you home or spot your bike rack then come back and burgle you later.

    I’ve lost count of the numbers of stories I’ve heard of bikes getting stolen or smashed or falling off roofracks or boot racks. I once had to stop very sharply when two brand new bikes and the rack fell off the Golf in front of me; I’ve seen car park barrier crashes, a tree/bike crunch at Gisburn that killed four bikes (tree got cut down later) and I know a couple who drove half way to the Lakes with a bike dragging behind the car, wearing steadily through the handlebar end as far as the brake reservoir.

    What really takes the biscuit is when you see a single person driving an empty car with a bike on the roof or boot; they must really lack imagination.

    nedrapier
    Full Member

    Trials bike used to go in the back of the mondeo. Front wheel and mudguard off. Wife didn’t like the car smelling of petrol (fair enough!) so I bought a towbar rack.

    jamesfts
    Free Member

    What really takes the biscuit is when you see a single person driving an empty car with a bike on the roof or boot; they must really lack imagination.

    Or they give a shit about the state of the inside of their car and don’t want it covering in mud/oil/cow poop etc.

    If my bike is clean and it’s a long journey it might go in the boot, if it’s hanging in mud after a ride it’s going on the roof. 20mm axle bolted to the rack so can drive as normal, luckily live in the sticks so not worried about scrotes pinching it.

    Can’t believe how worked up people can get about how others carry their bikes… even for STW.

    isto
    Free Member

    What really takes the biscuit is when you see a single person driving an empty car with a bike on the roof or boot; they must really lack imagination.

    I think maybe lacking imagination is a bit dramatic. As stumpy said above different people have different circumstances. I can “imagine” putting my bike inside my car but as I am confident my bike is securely fitted to my car and not going to cause an accident I am quite happy to put it there. It also works out quicker for me to do so for the reasons stated above.

    It doesn’t upset me if I see someone in an estate car with a bike in the back.

    Legoman
    Free Member

    What really takes the biscuit is when you see a single person driving an empty car with a bike on the roof or boot; they must really lack imagination.

    or maybe they thought that seeing as the manufacturer of their car has gone to the trouble of filling the interior with lots of soft squishy airbags to protect them in an accident, filling it up with large spikey metal things might not be a great idea?

    dekadanse
    Free Member

    My old Saab 9-5 TiD estate with almost 200K miles on the clock has taken us on a number of long distance jaunts (including S Spain and SW France) with 2 bikes in the back and piled high with luggage. Minimal hassle, maximum satisfaction. Can understand putting the bikes on roof if carrying kids and/or other adults in the rear seats, but otherwise for security and safety purposes (not to mention fuel economy) it’s a no brainer.

    But having said this, people do what they want to do – no point getting mega-judgemental – smacks of OCD issues!

    ransos
    Free Member

    There’s just no contest; you can slip the complete bike on its side into the back of an estate in a couple of seconds, shut the boot and be off.

    Only if it’s a very large estate, otherwise it’s the usual faff with removing child seas, putting the seats down, covering up the boot carpet etc.

    rugbydick
    Full Member

    Just to stir things up (I’m the OP)….

    I ended up getting an A4 Avant (in the 3.0 TDi Quattro flavour).
    I then decided that my biking was going to take a rest for a while and have focused all my recent efforts on trail running.

    So: just me, no bikes, and a pair of muddy trainers in the boot.

    jimjam
    Free Member

    ugbydick

    So: just me, no bikes, and a pair of muddy trainers in the boot

    Do you have to put the seats down to get them in the back of an A4 avant 😆

    andyl
    Free Member

    Shoe rack on the roof?

    momo
    Full Member

    Audi A4 estate here, roof bars on when it’s my turn to drive with the lads (much quicker job to put on/remove than it was on my old golf) and will easily slip in the back with front wheel out for when I’m heading out straight from the office, or like last week when away for a couple of nights and don’t want to leave the bike on the roof!

    I keep a cheap toolstation tarpaulin folded up in the back at all times anyway, just in case I need to chuck anything in the boot (a place near work often has stacks of half pallets piled up outside, I’m collecting these with a view to building the mother of all compost bins at the bottom of the garden!)

Viewing 17 posts - 81 through 97 (of 97 total)

The topic ‘New estate car for biking’ is closed to new replies.