uspspro

1985 Toyota Cressida Wagon (RWD) [with 4.0L Lexus V8 swap]

Easily fits inside with only the front wheel removed. It's on it's side of course, but can fit tons of other luggage and coolers, and does not effect the passenger/driver space.

Performance was pretty good with the old straight-6, with 26-28 mpg hwy. I am still completing the V8 conversion, but my estimates are... plenty fast, with mid to high 20's mpg hwy.

Ritterview

I was at first aghast that this, as I was thinking of the horrifically and literally butt ugly 1992 Camry wagon.



But the 1985 Cressida wagon isn't bad looking at all. Very clean. And you are not the first to appreciate its potential, apparently. It has RWD? That would make the swap a lot easier I imagine.



Do you have the cargo area set up to attach the tandem on its side?

waynesulak

Some of you may know a couple we met at the Southwest Tandem Rally in Texas. They are from Canada and drive across the U.S. carrying a tandem on its side in a VW Jetta station wagon.

Wayne

uspspro

I am into old school Japanese cars. This site, and its forum has all sorts of cool eye candy -> https://japanesenostalgiccar.com/

I have made some nice modifications to the Cressida.

Here is a pic of the suspension (DIY short-stroke coilovers) and brakes (4-pot Nissan 300ZX) -> https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6191/6...849ff7aa_z.jpg
I have also custom installed manual seat belts to replace those awful automated seatbelts

The seats in the Cressida fold completely flat (flush with the cargo floor). Ruthie and I could sleep in the back if ever needed.

We use a large, thick (very strong) table cloth (for the long tables at our wedding) to protect the carpet. We just just slide tandem in on it's side.

Also - FWIW.. I've never owned a FWD car

davidfrench

Nobody mentioned the VW Eurovan?
Here is mine, a 2001 version with a 36er. It's almost as long as a tandem...

WNY tandem

We attended a tandem rally this past weekend and there were two teams there using Honda Fits. Front tire removed, rear wheel between the front seats!

DubT

We ended up selling our 2008 Chrysler Pacifica and buying a 2008 Honda Odyssey. The tandem fits perfectly and six people can fit with the tandem inside.

diabloridr

If Honda was smart they would co-book Oddy rallys with tandem rallys.

tandem rider

Most of our tandem hauling is with a Toyota Sienna van. When we took a 3300 mile trip this spring we drove our new Toyota Prius (hatchback.) The tandem goes in with both wheels removed. Friends explained how to put the tandem in as they also use a Prius to haul their tandem. The Prius doubles our milage over the van.

p2templin

Not a practical purchase, but our tandem happily fits into our 2001 Ford Excursion with the third-row seat out and the right side second-row seat folded. Still have seating for four, and no wheels in the way; we take out the front wheel and stow it alongside the front of the bike. I've heard that Excursions have been fetching relatively high price tags, so it's not a likely purchase for most.

rdtompki

How do we make this a sticky? Would be a good place to post pictures (as available) of interior and exterior arrangements on various vehicles.

Bent In El Paso

We are heading cross country soon with our tandem in the back of our 04 Jeep Wrangler. Of course it will be disassembled and inside two co-pilot travel cases.

WheelsNT

How, exactly, does this work? From what I've seen, the 3rd row seat is a 60/40, so folding down only the short side of the seat means you don't have a clear shot dow the center?

CbadRider

Just use the report post button (exclamation point in a triangle) and ask the moderators to stick the thread. This thread is now stuck.

DubT

I have the EX-L model and I remove the LH second row seat. I leave the RH seat in as well as the little jump seat. I fold down the 40 rear seat and have a short piece of a Saris mount bolted to the seat structure. The tandem fits very nicely on the drivers side and there is enough room for 2 people to sit in the 60 part of the 3rd row seat. The RH 2nd row seat folds forward to allow access to the 3rd row seat. There is enough room in the Odyssey for the bike (with the front wheel removed) to fit on the drivers side behind the drivers seat. I carry the front wheel in a Saris front wheel holder.

See post 17 in this thread https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...-tandem-inside. It is similar to what we have but does not show the seats.

WheelsNT

Ah yes. That makes sense. Thanks for clarifying!

PedalPink

We took our tandem car shopping with us. We wanted it to fit inside a vehicle removing only the front wheel. And preferably upright. And we wanted to avoid a mini-van, if possible, and get the smallest vehicle with best gas mileage possible. (You know the expression: "You want a comfortable, fast, inexpensive bicycle - but can only have two of the three ...") We couldn't make it work in the Mazda 3/4 size mini-van. We've put about 75,000 miles on the Honda Element so far - many of those miles have included a tandem inside.

thejuliano

We've hauled our tandem inside 4 different minivans without trouble. In all cases she goes in bass-ackwards. Back wheel up front between 1st row seats. Here they are:

1991 Oldsmobile Silhouette - remove one or two 3rd row seats, pull tandem front wheel
2002 Toyota Sienna - also remove one or both 3rd row seats, pull tandem front wheel, or turn to side
2007 Honda Odyssey - flip down one 3rd row seat, remove 2nd row console/jumpseat
2011 Honda Odyssey - flip down one 3rd row seat, remove 2nd row jumpseat

We bought our first minivan used from my grandparents to haul our dogs and the tandem... And we never looked back. Minivans are just too darn useful and far more space and fuel efficient than an SUV. Oh, and rolling the tandem inside is a heck of a lot easier than putting it on a roof rack (been there, done that with a couple of different cars.)

davidfrench

I'm waiting for this to arrive in the US...
https://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2...otor-show.html

Ritterview

The NV350 very well could work. The pic at Auto Week shows that it accommodatates a tandem kayak.

LuckySailor

We just came back from our holidays, and were able to fit our tandem without the front wheel, in a Buick Enclave.

Goldrush

More details please. I've looked these GM SUV's and there doesn't appear to be enough head room. How many wheels or seats were removed? A picture would be great.

Thanks
Mike

LuckySailor

Good day, Mike. This was a rental vehicle for us. I had thought to take pictures while it was in there, then got side tracked and ultimately forgot-sorry. The passenger side 2nd row seat layed down, and the 3rd row seats were down. I don't know if the 3rd row left side seat had to be down. It didn't matter in our case but it was down. Anyhow, take the front wheel off the bike. I also took the right side pedals off and turned the handle bars 90 degrees. Slide the bike in, shut the hatch. Done. The Front passenger seat, I did move forward about an inch from where my stoker wife had it set, and she didn't seem to notice. Would have replied privately, but I haven't reached my 50 posts yet! I drive a Toyota Sequoia daily. The Enclave is pretty well comparable inside-a little less headroom though. I a will see this weekend if the tandem will fit in the Sequoia with the front wheel off and standing up down the middle. To me, it was just an ok car. Too many repetative ding ding noises, that couldn't be turned down. One could make them louder but not softer. Such as, when you turn the ignition on, when you shift into reverse, if you don't put your safety belt on soon enough, when the fuel gets low to name a few. If it just dinged once, maybe ok, but 3 and 4 dings in row, give me a break! The back up camera display is in the rear view mirror. Nice idea, but if you rely on the camera when the sun is bright you really can"t see much thru the whitewash. Maybe this can be dealt with by getting a navigational model upgrade with a display in the dash with the radio? I don't know. The car cruised nice on the highway, and it was quiet otherwise. Plenty of room inside. Ga smileage was reasonable for a car this size. I'm not a GM fan though.

LuckySailor

One more thing.... When you're buying a new/used vehicle, take it for an extended test drive-Like 3-4 days. This is what I have done for the last 3 cars that I have bought. This way, you get to see how your potential purchase will "fit" into your life and schedule. This will give you the opportunity to take it home and figure out how well that bike will fit into the car. Take it to the cottage, camping, grocery shopping, burn a tank of fuel to check the mileage, etc. I won't buy unless I get the extended test drive. When I'm plunking down the coin, I want to run the show.

Clyde Z Dale

2008 Toyota Sienna Rear Entry Rampvan

We purchased this vehicle to transport our son in his wheelchair, and I recently used the van to transport my LWB Linear recumbent to a group ride...worked great! Tried it with our T200 tandem and it worked exceptionally well...just roll it in and use the QStraints to secure the front and rear. Safe and secure, nothing to disassemble.