So, the mighty berlingo nears time for replacement, and I find myself considering alternatives (more for a change, rather than anything particularly wrong with it).

It seems to be that its main plus points are:

– It fits 3 bikes wheels-on

– Overall size is small, so Mrs IA is happy driving it round town.

Now, the first point works as the seats come all the way out. I take two out, then it leaves enough length, and height, to wedge a bike behind the front seats easily. If the seats just folded up, i’d not have the length, if they folded flat* I’d not have the height.

If I want a small(..ish) vehicle that fits bikes, seats out seems key. What else does this?

On my list so far is the Skoda Karoq… no idea if bikes actually fit mind.

*the new shape berlingos just announced seem to fold flat, but not come out 🙁

The floor, walls and roof of my V70 are all perfectly flat and form a near perfect cuboid. No way could you stand a bike up.

In both Galaxy and Touran the rearmost row could be unbolted, the middle row on Touran unclipped. All seats out, there’s still a drop towards front.

You can’t stand a bike up in most cars – even the (MK3) Galaxy….

So another Blingo or a towbar rack…

I just take the front wheel off with my Galaxy, and it will then happily take a load of 29ers, no problems. But the new shape Galaxy doesn’t have removable seats – they fold down. As hardships go it’s not too bad.

Karoq, yeti, roomster all have the flex seat thingy. Something woefully lacking from my kodiaq.

Doblo and Caddy. Caravelle (with the assistance of a crane as far as I can make out).

It’s not necessarily standing the bikes up, more wanting to ideally fit two in wheels on. Or in easily at least. The difference is bikes going in easy, without having to get all my kit out and play Tetris with bikes and kit.

Seems like seats that come out maximise the chances of that in a smallish package.

That said, hows the V70 for bikes? Front wheels off do they go upright? Or is it fronts off and pile carefully?

hot fiat

whats your kodiak like? can’t get past one for value for money 7 ish seat 4×4.

That said, hows the V70 for bikes? Front wheels off do they go upright? Or is it fronts off and pile carefully?

With back seats down, many bikes will just slide in flat. Padding betweent them, and two would slide in. Mine would take three bikes plus luggage with the rear split seat down, in absolute comfort. Mile munching excellence. My XC90 is even better. Pretty much any bike will go in with the wheels on/seats down. Or, four bikes, wheels off, plus luggage, in the boot.

Big cars for driving around town, but why would anyone need to drive around town? Walk/bike/bus etc.

Problem with sliding them in is it’s generally kit out, one bike in, sort out some padding, second in carefully and a bit of a faff. Currently I’m spoilt by wheeling one in, bungee it, then the next, done.

i am vaguely tempted to try out some sort of luxury land barge such as the XC90, but fear Mrs IA would never drive it.

Mostly round town we walk or cycle, just some errands need a vehicle.

We have a zafira b. Not a great car by any stretch of the imagination, but we’re not car people so it does the job. Front wheel off and a bike down each side no problem. Don’t even have to drop the saddles.

Seats dint come out, but the base flips up and the backs slide forward to give a big flat boxy load space.

^ that.

I don’t think there’s any estate you could stand bikes up in.

ms_oab let slip today that she thinks the V70 is ace…and it went to our local garage yesterday (second opinion to Arnold Shark on a small coolant leak). John the garage owner offered me cold hard cash for the wagon, and has three customers looking for the exact model too. Last of the 5cyl, cheap tax and more efficient.

Kodiaq is really nice. Think of it as a jacked up 7 seat superb. Got the 2.0tsi which is a petrol 5 stroke (like Mazda skyactive). Very smooth and just enough power. Economy wise we’re getting 33mpg from a 2 Ton petrol 4×4 which I can’t complain about. Have been across Europe in it twice now and felt at the end.

It’s nowhere near as practical as you’d think though – offficially you can’t fit any sort of child seat to the 3rd row which is a real PITA now we have mini_fiat#3. Main issue is the 3rd row seat squab is too short to properly support a child seat.

There’s some interesting software glitches which make me think VW haven’t got this side of their product development sorted yet.

Going to replace it with a second hand caravelle soon.

Pretty much all rear seats will come out, just a question of how easily.

Had a Hyundai Traject, nice and easy, pull a bar and it unclips, lift out, leave in the garage. In the Mondeo which preceded it it was a 10 minute job with a socket set, but they did come out. Had to put them in breifly for the MOT every year so they could check seatbelts and things. I imagine there are very, very few whee the seats won’t come at all. Parents used to have Rover Sterling with electrically adjustable rear seats, lovely car and very comfy, but wouldn’t fancy taking those in or out, but I guess that’s a bit out of the norm.

The answer to your question is “spanners”.

They all come out!

Our Tourneo Connect has removable rear seats. Can take the single out or the double or both. Our daughter can get a 29er in it with the wheels on and sleep down the other side.

The seats come out of my 2010 C-Max, quite easily too.  I still wouldn’t be able to fit three bikes in it with the wheels on.

Karoq only has optional Vario flex seats in some models. I’ve got the tech model (with standard seats) and the although boot is a lot bigger than a yeti – getting a bike in is doable but a bit of a faff.

I posted pictures on here a while back.

Great car though.

I just do the roof rack thing. So easy and no filth in car.

New Berlingo/rifter/combi out soon…..

Fold flat to me means just that…so shouldn’t lose any height as they are flat.

Problem with fold flat in new Rifter etc is I need to turn bars to fit the length, but that then means the front of the bike is too tall and bars hit roof unless wheel drops into the footwell behind the front seats.

now they have a XL that’s +30cm but not sure that’s enough for my massive bikes.

First decent overview of the new ones I’ve seen, they must have had a Euro press camp last week.

.. prefer the look of the rifter…

Not sure if the seats of the Honda Jazz come out, may be worth a trip to a dealer .

Older shape Galaxy/Alhambra/Sharan swallow fully built bikes…. but decent ones are like hens teeth unless your in to bangernomics.

Can even leave a second & third row seat in & still get two in, fully built. All five seats can come out.

I honestly think Ford, VW etc missed a trick when they replaced it as none of the replacements offer the same space. They come close but just not enough height inside.

Given the Ops requirements, your looking at a van if you want something to work off the shelf. Or, compromise on taking front wheels off & dropping seat posts & there’s a ton of options.

I have an old Galaxy, it will stay until it’s not economic to keep alive, which could be a good few years yet, much to the annoyance of my family. 🙂

I have just bought the Wife a new Tiguan, that’s pretty huge with the seats down, but she won’t take kindly to me chucking bikes in it. 🙂

They come out of the c-max, I view it as a negative because they don’t fold as neatly as normal seats!

A bike goes in with the seatpost dropped and front wheel out. But TBH I have a towbar rack which is a hundred times more practical in winter for anything other than trips involving stopping at motorway services.

2CV. As a bonus, the front seats are also removable, as is the roof and it’s still a Citroen. May have other limitations though!

Yeti sounds look just the job for you, if you were happy to go second hand. Doesn’t feel like a big car by any means, and has the up right seating position of a van, so lot of visibility & a very back friendly seating position.

I’ve got a Roomster requires front wheel removal to keep the bikes upright. Seatpost down to get  upright through the rear door, but once in can be extended.

From the point of view of easy access to the rear of a car, those with sliding rear doors are hard to beat. The Grand C-Max, B-Max, Alhambra, Sharan and Merc V-Class all have them, and it makes it much easier to arrange loading items into the car.

https://www.carwow.co.uk/best/cars-with-sliding-doors

.. prefer the look of the rifter…

So do I but the fact that they have done away with the ability to quickly remove the rear seats means it’s now off my list.

Cars that have worked for me:

Fiat Multipla – short car so easily parked

Renault Espace – the most useful size IMO.

Yeti suggested above, they’re too small really. Need wheels off to fit bikes well and althoug there is headroom I find the seats narrow.

Galaxy etc – too big really.

Something where bikes fit vertical with front wheel out and dropper down might be the compromise. However my massive bikes are fighting me here (I’m 6’4” and have long enduro bikes, and XC bikes with 23” seat tubes etc).

Had a look at a few cars today. Karoq is promising, Octavia is out as there’s not enough headroom for me, I fit a superb but they’re maybe too long for easy parking*, I like the seats in volvos but the exterior size to inside space ratio ain’t great.

i think I need to measure my bikes now. Or get another small van :-/. Towbar rack might do, but a faff to store with no garage.

*i know I’d park it fine, but the car’s not just for me.

hot fiat

cheers for that.

I have to take front wheels off to fit bikes upright in our 64 plate Galaxy & my 29er xc bike with no dropper requires a ‘wiggle’ to get it to clear the boot opening & centre cubby box things.

Its not quite as easy as I’d hoped tbh but one bike goes in nicely with both wheels on & all seats flat.

You need something van like really to have a chance to get a bike in upright.

Have a proper look at a VW Touran. The middle row of seats come out completely, very easily, and its not a big car on the outside. My wife had two, and they were a fantastic family car, but we’ve recently changed to a Skoda Karoq, which is very pleasant, but not a cat in hells chance of getting any bikes in there. I have a VW T6 Kombi, so thats where the bikes go.

The Yeti will fit 2 enduro bikes in upright with the rear seats out and just the front wheels off the bikes and droppers down. Did it for 2 years when I had mine.

If that compromise is a bit too much, just get a van 🙂

If you’re not looking for new, the previous version of the Pug 308 had removable 2nd row and optional 3rd row, all designed to be easily removed – 2nd row was, in the higher spec, 3 identical seats so order didn’t matter, and you could just put two slightly in-board of the normal positions of the outer ones.

The old 30 also had a fairly high roof, so our road bikes would go in upright, with from wheel removed, or flat, whole.

We’ve now switched to a Grand Tourneo Connect, and our tandem goes in whole and upright (but at an angle across the boot).

Touran is a front wheel out thats it job if you take out one of the seats.

It also came with a rack that attaches to the luggage restraint. And keeps it all secure and upright ( wheel holder too)

However mine is being a dick right now so i’d struggle to reccomend it.

The Yeti will fit 2 enduro bikes in upright with the rear seats out and just the front wheels off the bikes and droppers down.

Just to give some idea of the scale of my bikes, for mine that needs a boot floor to ceiling height of 93cm (which just fits a yeti according to http://www.ridc.org.uk/2509, great site) and a length of boot to back of front seats of 160cm, which I’d suspect is a bit too long? That’s the dimension that seems to kill me on a karoq.

The rear seats in a 911 are Velcro’ed in. Get yourself a convertible, simply whip the rear seats out, bike in and off you go. Your missus will love driving it around town too.

Can stand up bikes in my Civic with seats down and front wheel off, but not mountain bikes with wide bars. Honda do/did a bike fork mount also for the boot well at the back (so no spare wheel), which would drop the front height and anchor it, but it only took one bike and probably stupidly expensive.

All wheels on, you really want a van or van-like car.