Sixty Fiver

I still like to rock things old school... I have roof racks and a receiver mounted rack which is where the bikes usually travel but there is no lack of space inside.



Mind you... I was able to fit my Surly Pugsley in the back seat of the Sentra with the front wheel off.

StanSeven

Replacing a 5 speed with more gears mostly improves economy and doesn't do much with speed.

StanSeven

That's what we got for my wife. We like it a lot. My only complaint is the electronics and especially the nav/gps. It's a pain dialing through the alphabet to put in new locations.

We got the roof bike rack. It's nice. When dealers have sales on parts, the racks are included.

Edonis13

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkiv-bWbLIo

Team Sarcasm

Why not one of the Subaru SUVs? One of them will most likely be my next vehicle when my current car goes.



or



Probably the latter since it is cheaper and I will mostly likely not need the extra space of the outback. But MPGs are so similar if I find a used outback in good condition and with an affordable price I would be game.

Ground clearance is 8-9 inches I believe.

fstshrk

For our bikes, the outback is not tall enough. Otherwise they are great cars. I also own a 2014 WRX as a daily driver. Two bikes fit but only on their side in the inside with the front wheels removed.

Sixty Fiver

Damn computers.

My friend has a CRV touring edition with front wheel drive and just loves it... it has been treating him rather well.

Because I like to head out to the boonies for fun and to see family the old XJ makes a great deal of sense since they can handle almost anything you throw at them... aside from the Wrangler the new JEEPS don't enthuse me much.

My sister got a Jeep Liberty to replace her old Cherokee after it was involved in a horrific crash (where everyone survived)... she has never liked it as much as she did that XJ as it carries less and has a reduced towing capacity although it is more car like in it's manners.

hamster

As the saying goes, it's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it. Which is true for interior space too. And Outback is not all that big, really, it's still classed as a small SUV. XV just does not make sense to me. All three entry-level trims (XV, Outback, Forester) are rated at virtually the same MPGs, but XV is much smaller and weaker than the other two. (Outback is longer: length 190, height 66. Forester is taller: 181/68. XV is 175/64.) Maybe it makes sense if you parallel park a lot. Yes, ground clearance is ~9" in all three.
All this is pretty tangential to the discussion, since, as mentioned a few times already, you can't fit a bike standing up into any of the bigger two, and certainly not into the XV, without removing the seat.

Garfield Cat

The Toyota RAV4 works. But maybe what you might want to do is to take your bike(s) to the dealer and try each model out. That would be your ultimate test. And just overlook those sometimes obnoxious sales people.

Bah Humbug

Also have to remember length - I want to do this with our tri bikes, and those are crazy long. Thinking I might just go Tacoma.

Edonis13

I love JEEPS, but their current lineup doesnt thrill me at all. My fiancee owns a YJ, used to have an XJ and I used to have a TJ.

My Xterra was a compromise. its still a body on frame truck with a rear locker and decent suspension but its road manners are much better than the wranglers.

Fred Smedley

Depends more gears , same rear end equals less jump between gears , easier to keep in optimum power band , be that for eco or HP/torque. Especially effective with a auto with lockup.

thebulls

I came to the conclusion that it's a combination of less ground clearance (so the floor is lower) with a differing shape to the ceiling.

02Giant 

New for 2015, a CVT is in the CRV. Boo....

thebulls

Thanks for all the advice in this thread.

Ultimately decided to go with the CR-V. I've got two kids in college and my wife is going to grad school, so our price range doesn't have room for fancy stuff. So I ended up choosing between RAV4, Forester, CR-V, Jeep Patriot, and Ford Escape. Forester got ruled out because I couldn't stand the bike up in the back with the front wheel off. Patriot got ruled out because it seems to have limited cargo capacity, in particular floor to ceiling was reported to be 32", the same as the Forester. And Consumer Reports shows it to have pretty unsatisfied owners. It would only have saved about $1300 over the car we ended up with so I decided it wasn't worth the risk of spending several hours to go look at one. Ford Escape got ruled out because it seems to have pretty much below-average reliability and the whole point of this car is to have something reliable for my wife to drive on winter roads at night. That left the RAV4 and CR-V, both of which would have been acceptable. But the bike fits with room to spare in the CR-V while in the RAV4 the saddle is jammed against the roof liner. And the best price I could find on the RAV4 for a 2014 model was about $2000 more than I ended up paying for the CR-V.

So we now own a 2014 LX AWD. Or more precisely, Honda Finance owns it.



Nick

02Giant 

Nice!
Two in college sounds familiar, mine are twins, 5th year seniors at ISU.

We have a 2013 CRV, I put a hitch on it and use a rack when I carrying my bike.

StanSeven

That's true only with small engines without much power and torque. For everything else, the difference in performance (not economy) is negligible. What's funny is Chevy got slightly faster acceleration in the 2014 Corvette with six speed than they with the new eight speed.

Sixty Fiver

Our Cherokee has very decent road manners and is very stable but you never forget that it is a truck... it also has the towing package which stiffens things up a little and all the creature comforts you could ever want.

Besides that, it is an iconic vehicle that will hold it's value, has a great reputation for reliability (unlike many newer offerings), and will take us anywhere.

Pity that Chrysler dropped the 4.0 litre I6... at 180,000 miles ours is just broken in and these engines can easily see 300,000 miles or more before you need to consider a rebuild. With a modern transmission behind it and some updated engine management (and mebbe a turbo charger) you could probably get some significant mileage increases and even now it compares pretty well to a vehicle like the Ford Escape for hwy mileage.

The Europeans got the diesel version of the Cherokee which would have been nice to see here.

I have also owned a Toyota Landcruiser F and an earlier 4-Runner SR5 and both of those were also bulletproof... and again these were both trucks.

Campag4life

Stan,
Do you have a comparison to link? Torque multiplication of 8 speed alone should result in quicker 1/4 mile times. Would like to read the comparison as I find it hard to believe unless the vehicles weren't tested on the same track....different traction etc.

fstshrk

No. The time between shifts for 0-60 is a factor. For example, a 2014 WRX was faster to 60mph than the 2014 STI. STI required three shifts to get to 60 whereas WRX required 2 shifts. Even with a double clutch gearbox, and extra shift takes time.

Fred Smedley

Add to that , driver, temperature etc, etc,

Grambo

According to R&T and Chevy the new 8 speed automatic is faster than the manual 7 speed by 1/10th second 0- 60. Supposedly shifts faster than Porsche's PDK.

First Drive Review 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Automatic - Road & Track
2015 Corvette Z06 | C7 Z06 Performance Specs, Pricing, Pictures, Inventory

fstshrk

Nothing like the joy of driving a manual transmission car. Maybe that is why I don't have Di2 on my bikes.

clausen

Does not fit standing up in the V70. Laying down bike goes in without taking wheels off.

clausen

Subaru has the best AWD system. If had your needs I would go with a Forester or use a roof rack and a Outback.