[Closed] New estate car for biking

Do you like driving or is it something to just get you from A-B ?

A bit of both really, but the driving "thrill" is one of the reasons for ditching the van.

You'd get a nice Subaru Legacy/Outlook for that. Forester too.

E-class Merc's are huge and lovely.

B I law has 250 c class. Boot ain't that big at all.

Of that list, the merc and the Audi are tiny in the boot, the Skoda is a good size and the 5 bigger again.

I have a company car, had a 3 tourer for 3 yrs and a 5 tourer for last 10 months. The 5 is pretty much the perfect car for family and bikes.......however if it was my money I'd have a Skoda/hyundai/Kia

Apart from the 5, those are mid sized. I'd go bigger for ease of bike transport. E Class, A6, V70 or a spanking Mondeo. Or, as above, the Legacy is another to look at.

I'm loving the jag XF sportbrake at the moment. Far more style than anything German. Mates got one, it's lovely.

Just test driven and ordered one - drives a lot better than the van derivatives e.g. Berlingo, but much more 'bike practical' than a normal estate

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/skoda-roomster-1

I picked up a 2001 525i for peanuts and its quite frankly excellent for everything i used a van for as well as being a nice place to be. win.

I've got a 2010 5 series. Not had the bike in it yet though so can't comment on how it'll fit a bike in. It's bigger than my Passat was, so I'm assuming it'll go on it's side with the front wheel off and the back seats down.

I wanted the Octavia next, had a good look but it's got a boot lip.
For me an estate has to have a completely flat load area, no boot lip and enough room to swallow 3 bikes, people and kit.

I've got a Focus estate currently and it's great if a smidge tight 3 up, Mondeo would do all that, both for sub 20k. I'm leaning towards the new Leon estate next, 180bhp diesel with all the toys, no load lip and flat boot floor.

You'd be amazed how few estates can actually do flat load area and no boot lip - my favourite was the Hyundai i40 which I would have had but they ditched the flat load area for the ability to recline the rear seats by 15 degrees. I mean how many people have that on their hit list when shopping for an estate?!

I have 3 thule 591's on my 5 but the track bike goes in the back a few times a week with seats down, no wheels off and shelf not even retracted. Fully flat and no lip

I would rule out the a relatively modern A4 - I've got the current A6, which can just about get 3 FS bikes (wheels off) and 3 people in plus luggage. Two bikes with front wheels off is a doddle though.

Will any estates take a bike without putting any seats down?

My S Max swallows bikes whole and drives like a car.

Some people get antsy when I slag off VAG estates for their stupid boot lips. But it's true, it's a horrible piece of design and to me makes most of the difference between a good and bad estate. It just says "We can't be bothered doing this right".

BlindMelon - Member
Will any estates take a bike without putting any seats down?

iainc - Member
I have 3 thule 591's on my 5 but the track bike goes in the back a few times a week with seats down, no wheels off and shelf not even retracted. Fully flat and no lip

Yes 🙂

I'm leaning towards the new Leon estate next, 180bhp diesel with all the toys, no load lip and flat boot floor.

According to the telly advert, it's able to stand 3 mtbs in the back. I'd like to see if that's for real.

S6 avant.

You'll get a lovely one for about £13-15k, V10 engine, 4WD, not that expensive to maintain.

Win.

GB

Just looked at that ad:

15 seconds in - its 2 bikes, but you can see the front wheel, appears to be in a holder makes it look like three bikes

Not really an estate car but what about the all new Citroen Grand C4 Picasso.

The new Leon looks good

It gets rave reviews too. Pity I can't afford one they're on offer at the moment - free led's, in dash sat nav and a few other bits.

Yeah I'm due a new comp car in June and I only just spotted it at the w/e the 180 bhp one would be around the allowance

Northwind - Member
Some people get antsy when I slag off VAG estates for their stupid boot lips. But it's true, it's a horrible piece of design and to me makes most of the difference between a good and bad estate. It just says "We can't be bothered doing this right".

Boot lips in estates are not helpful. However my VAG estate doesn't have one!

Yah, fair point, my rant was A4 and Octavia focussed.

Not estate, and not a particularly big car, but the civics rear seats fold up from the base and against the upright, allowing you to sit a bike in the footwell easily. Remove front wheel only.
Great design.

Used to love taking my bike in my mates Civic for Superfi's reason. Ace design!

It's not strictly an estate, but I had a Merc B Class until a few months ago and it was great for bikes. Two with front wheel off was easy, but it would also fit a road bike upside down with wheels off and the seats up.

Not the most exciting drive - the B180 was 108bhp so definitely get one of the more powerful ones.

Northwind - Member
Yah, fair point, my rant was A4 and Octavia focussed.

Don't worry - it's got an impractically low roofline which more than makes up for the lack of boot lip. It's great for what we want - big boot for luggage and kids stuff. Not terrifically good as a bike car.

Not estate, and not a particularly big car, but the civics rear seats fold up from the base and against the upright, allowing you to sit a bike in the footwell easily. Remove front wheel only.
Great design.

The Jazz has the same 'magic seat' arrangment which works really well.
There is a Civic Tourer due out, with the rear seats down it has over 1900 litres.
I've had an invitation from Honda for the launch on 14th/15th February, I will be taking a look at that.

 

OP I have an A6 Avant Quattro, 7 years and 120k miles great car. Will take a bike with front wheel off but laid on its side. It's one of those estates that's not that roomy as a load carrier but very spacious for 4 adults. For one (or two) bikes the A4 boot isn't that much smaller and the overall car is easier to manage in multi story car parks etc. In reality a Golf will do the same.

@Northwind - no boot lip on an A6 nor from memory an A4 (yes for A3 or some Golf models)

Got a 2006 520d tourer(estate). Fits a single bike with seats down , wheels in lying flat. Or two on the roof, or three on the tow bar rack. 130,000 miles 40mpg, grey cloth seats mark easily though if you get them wet. Just use it like a van and don't worry about it. Bought a 2011 520d sport tourer to replace this, which is a much better car, but can't bear to put my mtb in it, so kept the old 520 as well.

Thanks everyone. Think the 5 series is topping the list right now.

rugbydick - Member

Ideally, I want to be able to keep the bike inside the car on some form of front wheel off mount.

It's a ball ache doing this in my Astra estate. It'll fit, just with the false floor folded back, but it'd be a fight with two and there'd be no space for a fancy "mount".

We could do with a "show us your bike in your boot (pic heavy)(bikes in boots content)" pic thread 😉

I have a e class estate and it's massive for boot space seats up or down. Seats down I can put my 29er FS in (wheels on) with the seat down or in the boot (wheels off) under the boot cover.

op - i'm looking for the same as you soon - is there a reason the mondeo isn't on your list?

some good deals 1yr old with all the toys <20k. Estate car of the year 2013 according to what car, and surely cheap(ish?) parts etc.

Cos the Mondeo looks a bit boring? I've got one and don't care how it looks, but the boot is massive - bigger than all the others he lists (don't know about the Merc) becaase the wheel arches don't intrude into the boot space. So easy to lob a bike in.
Nicer to drive than the Skoda (and an Avensis, if that was on the list).
I'd consider a Passat over the OP's shortlist.

yeah mondeo does look boring, passat i dont think is quite such good value. although there is a new mondeo out next year, so maybe prices will fall on the current model.

Mazda 6..............I've had 2 of them. Big boot with no lip, drives like a sports car and well styled. I'm now getting 48mpg from the latest 2 litre PETROL. The only thing it lacks is a German badge.

535D tourer here, I have been rescued before by the mrs, while out on the road bike.
Front wheel off it went in the boot without dropping seats, but did overhang the seats slightly

We still had the kiddies car seats in and a "phil and teds" double buggy in the boot at the time too 😀

A mate has a Late golf estate, that will take a complete bike in laid flat with the seats down.
2 Inside with seats dropped and front wheels out is really quick
(Upside down, in backwards and bungied to the seat latches either side)

I`m probably looking for either a 3 or 5 series touring to replace my Trafic now :o(

v10 S6 sounds nice 😀
v10 M5 tourings are sub 20K now too 8)

I have a Mondeo MK3 and it's been great. Reliable, masses of space and a good car to drive. It's getting old and I have been looking at other cars to replace it with. All the VAG cars I have driven; A6, Passat and Superb, whilst ticking all the boxes have been no better in performance or abililty. I can't say the interior was any better as they all quite dull as is the drive which seems disconnected in all of them. Only the A6 Allroad felt like I would like to get in it and just drive.
The cars that ticked all the boxes and were fun to drive were a BMW 5 series, Volvo V70 and XC70, new Mondeo and Jaguar XF Sportbrake. The 5 series is still plain inside, the Mondeo feels cheaper inside but it is a much cheaper car. The Jag and Volvo's are nice inside and great to drive but the XF is still too expensive second hand and out of the Volvo's I'd take the XC70 with the state of our roads. It's feels softer than the V70 but never puts a foot out of place.
Whilst the Mondeo continues to get on with the job without any complaints or problems I'll keep it. When it does need to go then it will be the XC70 or the XF Sportbrake if they come down in price. If money wasn't an object I'd have the XF Sportbrake in a heart beat.

I keep looking at estate options for when the time comes to change. Realistically it'll be a couple of years away yet, but I think the Leon ST and the Civic tourer will be top of the pile.

The Civic now has a very efficient 1.6 diesel and has a very clever seating system. The seat bases fold up so you can have a very deep trench behind the front seats. You can easily get a bike in there with the wheels off, so don't have to drop the rear seats at all.
Or if you need/want to drop the seats, you pull the lever in the seat back and as it drops, the seat base automatically moves forward and down out of the way. You can put the seats down in about 10s.

In my Ibiza, it's a case of fold seat bases forward or remove them, drop seat backs, take out head rests while doing that.....it's a pain so I tend to leave my seats down all the time.

The new Leon has a lever in the boot area that drops the seats, so you can reach into the boot area and drop the seats in seconds. This looks pretty nifty. I don't think it is available on the lower spec versions. The Civic has the edge for me, as the smaller engine will give me better economy on my long commute and it has got class leading boot space - I think it's got a bigger load area than an A6 estate!

Problem for me is I can't afford a new car at the moment and both of these cars are literally just coming out, so I would have to buy new which I don't want to do.
So, I will be sitting tight for a couple of years and buying nearly new once I've got a bit more money together. I also wanna get my current car to 250k miles, which is less than a year away! Seems a shame not to!

Have an Octavia and isn't great for getting bikes in, tend to forget it was based on the Golf floorpan. Certainly if bikes inside are a factor when we change it I'd be looking to step up to Mondeo, A6, 5 series or E class kind of size. Good value second hand but tight in multi storey car parks!