I’m looking to get a new car or van and want something economical that I can use to carry bikes. I would like something that can do the odd trip to wales (no 1.0 lawnmower engines) but generally it will be used for more local stuff. I have just under a grand to spend.

Which would you go for and why?

I’ve never used a bike rack so have no idea of the practicality of them.

large car …. mundano or similar

small cars have a premium as kiddywinkles like em and insurance is higher generally than larger cars …

vans seem to hold value also till they are ****

How many people/bikes. A big hatch like a mundaneo or saab can carry a couple of bikes with the back seats down. So 2 people+ 2 bikes = no problem.

Honda civic estate 1.5 or 1.6 petrol would fit that job nicely its what i use get 40mpg on long runs mid 30s if im being lazy and using it locally. And thats with a 1.8.

Can take 2 bikes and enough kit inside for a weeks camping easily just removing front wheels.
3 bikes and 3 bods with a bit of tetris loading.

Most small cars can take two bikes in with the seats down. This is what we did before kids. If you want more people then a small van won’t help anyway, you’re better off with a small car + bike rack.

Towbar bike racks are the best, followed by roof ones then tailgate ones.

Without wishing to to start a discussion on the pros and ons of bike racks I would never have one, so larger car for me every time.
Had a 1998 Mondeo hatch 1.8TD, 42mpg bought for £750 with 91k on the clock, lasted 50k miles before incompetant local garage killed it with a botched timing belt change.
Would take 2 people and 5 bikes (a squash) or 3 and 3 comfortably.
Try to find an estate in good nick, easily doable for a grand.

Towbar bike racks are the best, followed by roof ones then tailgate ones

nearly agree but if budget for car is £1k then money’s maybe a bt tight and a decent roofrack with bike bits will be more than 10% the cost of the car (although most bits can move to next car). Still, given cash constraints i’d say towbar, tailgate, roof in that order

Not much love for the bike rack so far, how come?

i used to have an R reg seat ibiza 1.9 diesel.

could easily throw two bikes in the back and even around town woud get over 50mpg. over 60mpg on long runs if i was well behaved and sat at 60mph.

should add that i had the car for 5 years and it never really cost me anything – other than the time i filled it with petrol; 60 quid to flush tank.

I had a 53 Ibiza diesel, 57mpg consistently, two bikes in the back no worries.

If there are only two of you this really is the only way to go imo.

loose mpg and bikes using a rack 🙂 Much easier to just chuck bikes in back and go can still open boot with out the need to remove bikes for those last minute did i pack x moments.

I have a small car (corsa), but can just about get 2 bikes in the back so only use a rack if I have to just for fuel economy (and in case I forget there are bikes sticking out the side of the car…)

Don’t find the rack (Saris Bones 3) to be difficult to use though, a couple of minutes and its attached to the car complete with bikes 🙂

Bikes don’t fall off racks if you do it properly!

I had a rover 200 diesel for years using a rack, dead easy to put the bikes on and off (used a bunjee cord to lash the front wheel to the underside), no mucking about having to take the wheels off either (meant I didn’t have to remove the kiddie seats as well) so no mucking about with the brakes or accidental pad jamming. On long runs I didn’t notice much extra thirst from the engine (from 49mpg to 42mpg on high speeds runs from manchester to holyhead), kept the inside of the car clean and took a minute to get on and off, only downside was that the £30 halfords rack took up a bit of space (9 years old now and being used by a mate) when in the car with it’s L shape.

I now have a towbar mounted rack on a focus estate, more of a fiddle to set up compared (2-3 mins) and it holds the bikes a lot lower (2x the bike has been scraped on rough ground) to the ground. It also holds them closer to the rear window so occasionally the wide handlebarred bike “taps” the rear window which sounds awful. It does fold up a lot smaller than the bike rack though. Totally obscurs the numberplate as well.

I prefer the rack of the old car (which are dirt cheap and bombproof btw, 217K miles before it was written off) to the tow bar, but both keep the car clean and mean I don’t have to keep removing wheels stacking bikes on top of one another etc. As for security, I never leave my bike unattended so the “security” of having it in the car is of no benefit to me.

edit – also had a escort van, I could stick 3 bikes in on top of each other which was handy but kids meant I had to get a car (the bikes did get scratched). Best I had was a peugeot expert, 3 peeps in the front and 7 bikes in the back all stood up intact, seriously underpowered and drank fuel though.

My towbar rack has a numberplate on it. It takes less time to set up than the old boot mounted kind I had did, and it holds the bikes upright and keeps them separate. No more carefully going over them stuffing bits of pipe insulation in between rubbing bits. Also holds bikes well clear of the ground.

It’s a Thule one, the cheaper kind.

hated my rack – it was easy to fit but the bikes got trashed in winter in salt spray

Cheap bike racks are crap, expensive ones are better but it’s much easier to have a large estate. For your budget I’d pick a mk3 Mondeo with a 2.0 petrol engine. The diesels are awful and the petrols aren’t exactly desirable so they’re cheap. There’s also the thing that gennerally doing short journeys means that fuel comsumption isn’t all that much of an issue as you don’t do many miles.

a decent roofrack with bike bits will be more than 10% the cost of the car (although most bits can move to next car). Still, given cash constraints i’d say towbar, tailgate, roof in that order

yes coz fitting a towbar and buying a rack for said towbar is a much cheaper option.
2 bikes easily in a pug 206 but much nicer /easier with bike rack on towbar..end of a ride two /three shitty muddy bikes just lifted in to place and ready to drive off. Not a fan of putting bikes in my car tbh as a bit of faff.

Not much love for the bike rack so far, how come?

Whilst bikes don’t fall off racks very often, you’d have to be an absolute tool to lose one from inside the car!

IME a small car will do 2 bikes + 2 people well enough. To do any more comfortably you really need Mondeo size. Anything in-between doesn’t really gain much, save a bit more luggage space and a bit less bike-tetris

why not use roof carriers, like Thule 591’s. When you change car you just need to change the footpack

Well me and MsD do fairly well with her Ford Ka with roof bars and bike carriers.
We can comfortably pack the two bikes on the roof, a proper tent (Vango Icarus 500 and canopy) kitchen stand, chairs, table, air bed and bedding, clothes and biking kit enough for a week into it.

Does for us, although it does tend to mean the bikes live locked onto the car roof when not in use.

Not much love for the bike rack so far, how come?

For me main one is risk of damage. Parking prangs, rear-end shunt at traffic lights, road debris flying up and hitting things, water/salt on the roads, slight risk of falling off (see Zokes above), etc, etc.
Also, much more secure inside, much harder to nick car than bikes off a rack and I have a “ground anchor” inside my car to attach them too.
Race bike & spare bike together cost about 4 times as much as current car, around 12 times as much as previous car so I know which I’m more concerned about looking after.
I’m not all prim and proper about the car, it is scratched and battered and always dirty. Bikes are immacualte.
Ease of getting things out of the boot.
Fuel consumption, aerodynamics.
No faffing attaching and unattaching things.

A tarp keeps the inside of your car clean.

No faffing attaching and unattaching things.

what like wheels to the bike 😉
Tbh I would not leave the car with bikes on the external rack even though it is all locked up for any period of time.As three is a number of riders with you this is not a problem.
Mine goes on the towball with the press of one lever then the lock gets placed and then bikes put on ..at least as quick as taking the wheels off bike etc

When you consider the budget you’ll be better off with a large estate. Small cars hold their value much better as new drivers want them and you would need to fork out for a rack as well.

I second the Rover 200 Diesel Vote. We get 4 bikes (3 on the back and one on the roof) me and the missus, 2 kids and all the camping gear (Massive tent) and still get high 40s MPG

No faffing attaching and unattaching things.

what like wheels to the bike

I meant racks on and off cars, but I know for some you need to turn bars etc and I can just throw 4 bikes fully assembled into the back of my car. My previous Mondeo in example above would take 3 full bikes, not that wheels are much of a pain.

Unless you have a bolted 20mm axle like I do.. or full mudguards..

Diesel mondeo should be doable at that price without going for anything too nasty. They are mahoosive in the back and generally cheap to run. With the seats down, 2 bikes and kit for a day’s riding is no problem at all, it’s only a slight pain when everything’s muddy

I have a t5 and think i’ll go back to a car. While the van is convenient it is so boring.

If you’ll be going over the one of the Severn crossings on a regular-ish basis I’d avoid getting a van as you get stung for twice as much.
Bigger cars have poorer residuals than small ones. My personal preference has always been for bikes in the car – no need for extra kit to attach them, nothing hanging off, easily secured, piece of piss to sling them in, especially if it’s a big car.
Mondeo Mk2 estates are dirt cheap and loads of parts out there, very cheap to run, petrol would be my first choice, used to have a 1.8 myself. Other things worth a look are 1.7td astra estates.

Cheap bike racks are crap, expensive ones are better

What’s cheap and what’s expensive?

Cheap = £30, expensive = £300.

Thule do a cheapo version of their towbar racks which are £120 or something. They lack all the quick release lockable niceties but are just as sturdy.

😯
Just been quoted 380,00€ to have a tow bar fitted…

To your old Pug? DIY.

To the old Pug, yes, difficult to do DIY? Electicswise? I guess I’d be ok with the mechanical side.

Not really on old cars afaik. Newer ones have fancy electronics – I paid extra to have the dedicated electronics module cos it adds trailer stability to the car’s ESP. Is your car not old then?

Would 2005/6 be considered old? 😆

I would get a Ford Fiesta 1.4 TDCi, £35 road tax, really good mpg and fit a tow bar and cheaper end tow bar mount. Thats if you can get all that on your budget.
I have a VW Passat Tdi estate and run thule 951 racks on thule aero bars (costs about £200) and only takes 2 minutes to put on the car as I dont like the thought of wasting fuel by leaving them on when not in use. they do knock off about 5mpg with bikes on at motoway speeds.
I sometimes if its just me pop wheels out and put liner in the boot but since one side of the drop seat back bust (stuck in upright position) so it a bit more of a faff now but still do-able.
If I had my choices now I would do what i have siad re the Fiesta purely on tax and fuel consumption grounds as now the kips have grown up and left home I dont need the big estate anymore.

Another minus for bikes being carried externally, so easy for thieves to follow you home. Then you know what can happen next….