bought a vehicle with a hitch rack & am torn between "tilt" and "swing" racks.

"Tilt" seems advantageous because you can leave it on the car all the time and very quickly tilt it down when you need to open the liftgate. Also a bit cheaper than swing.

"Swing" racks look a bit more laborious if you want to get them out of the way to open the liftgate - unlatch, twist, and then finally you can move it. Also looks ugly. But there is of course the advantage that you can get to the back w/o removing bikes.

I'm guessing that I'll care more about quickly getting it out of the way on a regular basis when I don't have bikes more than being able to swing it out of the way on the occasion that I am taking bikes somewhere.

Other considerations I should be making? (no need to try to convince me that a roof rack is better)

The advantage of swing is that you should be able to move the rack out of the way and open the tailgate with the bikes loaded. This is important if you have kids, so when, after the car is fully loaded and your youngest says "where's my dolly", you can initiate a search without unloading the bikes.

Tilt down racks cannot be tilted while loaded, so finding that dolly is more of a chore.

However, you pay for the swing vs tilt feature, so it may not make as much sense if your youngest is old enough to keep track of the dolly.

One feature that IMO is important, is carrying arms that fold down. This shortens the vehicle when it's unloaded, and prevents spearing whatever is behind you when backing up.

I have never had an issue lowering and raising a tilt down rack while it has bikes on it- just need to be aware of how much weight you are moving, and be careful. The advantage of the tilt down is the additional weight and complexity of a swing away (especially on our 2 smaller cars). But YMMV. I have a 4-bike Yakima on my Scion xB and my wife has a 2-bike Yakima lightweight (the mast is aluminum instead of steel) on her FIAT 500. I also have my old Thule roof rack on most of the time, and the Yak is for extra carrying capacity- I had 7 bikes on the car recently for a Boy Scout biking/camping trip to Nantucket.

thanks DC! especially value your feedback given that you're a half-hour down 109 from me.

I have a VW Touareg so weight isn't a huge issue but less=better and I dislike the complexity and appearance of the swing bar. looks like tilt it is!

Whenever you go for a ride, keep track of the number of times you want to access the hatch or trunk with bikes loaded. Every time you have to do that is a major PITA with a tilt down rack. If you never or seldom find yourself doing that, however, the swing-away rack loses it's advantage.

I have a Draftmaster. It tilts down with all the bikes in place, with the push of a lever. Enable complete access to the rear hatch on my Toyota Sequoia. When mine is loaded, it has a tandem and 3 singles, plus the four front tires. They can be ordered to fit two bikes all the way up to 5, singles or tandems. Works fabulously. I have had it for 3 years now, and have only used a lesser rack once for one bike for a quick cross town randevous. But, make sure you're sitting down when you check out the price. BUT, they are worth every penny for sure! Good match for your Toureg!