What small car...

scale20

Its my mission now at the weekend to get them in.

We took both bikes up to Glentress and all our kit in the back of it with plenty of room for more. We have bought a cracking camper conversion for ours too.

delcol

try im sure will get them in..

took us some time when we first got ours but thats the method we use now if you can make sense out of it. trick is go across the van diagnollyish.. and turn the bars 90 degrees....

our is an 04 registered pug partner escapade...

scale20

That sounds pretty straight forward. I suppose it's just a case of having the patience to have a mess with it!

Old Pedaller

Three bodies and three bikes in a Berlingo car no bother, no wheels out. Double seat out the back, two bikes facing forward, one backwards. Or two bodies, two bikes and a tandem (front wheel out the tandem). Or two bodies and two motorcycles, no wheels out, rear seats removed (5 minute job).

If you need small then the Honda Jazz fits two bikes with the front wheels out using the clever folding seats to avoid the need to remove.

scale20

scale20 wrote:

Anyone put a bike in the back of a new shape 3 door corsa?

anyway, back to the corsa question. Anyone?

infoxicated

I have a Honda Jazz and with the front wheels off our bikes and half the rear seat folded flat they fit in nicely with room for other gear.

It could even take a third bike and three passengers if the rear passenger doesn't mind getting up close and personal with the front chain ring!

I bought my Jazz six years ago at the end of the month and I'm still impressed by how much it'll swallow up.

sam_commencal

I have a 106 and can get 2 full sussers in the with just the front wheels off.
Need to take out the rear bench and then fold the seats down - easy!

I've managed to get 4 bikes and 8 wheels in there when stacked up neatly!

Speckled Pants

Ive got a fiesta and im getting a bit fed up with it, a friends got a transit connect and its perfect for putting the bikes in and all the tackle, seriously thinking about swapping.

blorg

bails87 wrote:

I take both wheels off to put it in my 106, but I'm sure I've done it with just one wheel out.

Actually fitted two road bikes+riders into a 106, I was quite amazed it was possible.

EDIT: ^ Sam above has a much greater feat with a 106.

You need to be creative.

covelove

Scale 20 - [We have bought a cracking camper conversion for ours too.[/quote]

how does that work? where did you get it?

spongtastic

I can get the FSR in my 2007 fiat panda with the front wheel off. 2 bikes in the Partner combi, but the wife's Kona Africabike won't fit. The Thule towbar mounted racks that tip won't allow the tailgate to open. Don't bother with one that's got the roof bars built in, they only take up to 15kg, whistle like Satan in a drainpipe.

As the ultimate carrier though, a partner with a trailer that's got bike racks on top manages to accomodate 2 Adults, 2 Children, dog, 4 bikes, 2 tents, food, toilet, cooker etc and goes from essex to wales and back on just over a tank of diesel. Plus as a van parts are cheap and it's all easy to fix.

strudelpus

Blimey folks, what a response!
Looking for a cheap to own small car just to cart me and the bike around the Alps for a season(ish) slow-time so reliablility is paramount - therefore a newish car is planned (Jazz/Panda/Micra etc). A Connect would be nice but you don't get much for the 3-4k i was looking at. Similarly, Estates (cars not Housing...) around me are not good value compared to the superminis, so the replies concerning those are of real interest!

scale20

covelove wrote:

Scale 20 - [We have bought a cracking camper conversion for ours too.

how does that work? where did you get it?[/quote]

Theres a bloke up near us in North wales that specializes in alternative camper conversions. We went to him with an idea of what we wanted and after a couple of weeks we had a prototype which he called the 'bootbed'

I wont try and describe it to you, have a look at the link below. Our car is the Peugeot quicksilver in photo 7 onwards.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=8 ... 9029340221

The bed is really comfy and the drawers are pretty big so hold everything you need for a weekend trip. What we like about it is you can pull up anywhere and get your head down.

After we got it we took a trip to Afan. In the quicksilver you have glass panels in th roof, so when you are sleeping in the car you can look up and see the bikes. If bolted on there well they are pretty safe. you need a step to get them on and off the car and you would feel the car move if someone was at them!

Even with the bed deployed there is plenty of room to store kit in the front of the car and in the voids under the bed slats.

butcher of bakersfield

strudelpus wrote:

Blimey folks, what a response!
Looking for a cheap to own small car just to cart me and the bike around the Alps for a season(ish) slow-time so reliablility is paramount - therefore a newish car is planned (Jazz/Panda/Micra etc). A Connect would be nice but you don't get much for the 3-4k i was looking at. Similarly, Estates (cars not Housing...) around me are not good value compared to the superminis, so the replies concerning those are of real interest!

Personally, I would go for a bigger car if it was for a trip round the alps. A small tin box soon gets tedious on a road trip. But that's personal preference, and priorities.

As someone who has driven more old 'bangers' than owt else, I'm going to defend the reliability of older cars too, 'cos no one else does. Last car I had was an old Rover, under 10 years old when I bought it, less than 50,000 genuine miles on the clock, £500. Done 60,000 miles in that car and never changed the oil. Gave it up in the end because II didn't really want to shell out £150 or so on the small fixes it needed to get through the mot, simply because I was bored of it, but it would've went a fair bit further. Up until last year, that was the most expensive car I ever bought!

Prior to that, I was driving around the country in such things like Nissan Bluebirds, picked up for £200 (again, with 50,000 miles on the clock!), with bust radiators - without problem.

Fair enough, that's not what you're looking for, but 3-4k gets you a lot more car. There's some absolute bargains out there. And considering some of those estates are 20-30k cars and only a few years old, you do get a huge amount of car for your money. If the miles are low and it's properly serviced, you can get a like new car for a fraction of the original price.

It makes sense to look at the less popular cars too. And that doesn't mean bad cars. A lot of the superminis are vastly overpriced, purely over popularity, and most of them really aren't all that. There's a lot of lesser know/thought about cars out there that will go for half the price, yet remain more refined, it's worth doing some research.

Never had one, but Toyota are renowned for their near 100% reliability on serviced cars up to about 100,000 miles. There's plenty of models about, many of which you've probably never thought of. Just an example, but they're rarely peoples first choice. Hence lower prices.

stayhigh65

Cheap and cheerful, buy an old Astra, fold back seats down, 2 full suss bikes and kit

Flashy

I've got a alfa 147 at the mo - I hate puting filthy bikes in the back.

Gonna swap it shortly for a Mini Cooper S and get a roof rack.

For what you're after I'd agree with most o here and get a small van.

Matt N

used to fit a 19'' fsr xc and a 19'' inch hardtail in the back of a rover 25...then it got written off

just go along to one of those clean vw showrooms which your nice muddy bike, i'm sure they'll let you have a play around! ... they may want you to buy the car after though

RabidBunny

stunter ant wrote:

Fiesta= NO Well it depends what year but anything upto 2002 you cant get F all in them

I've got a 2008 model and can fit a HT in the boot with both wheels removed and all seats free - including a small suitcase as well when it's been a weekend jaunt. The amount you can fit in with the back seats down is terrifying - I've had five peoples worth of re-enactment kit in the car, a 80 pint barrel of beer and tents and still been able to sit a passenger in with little more than there lunch box for the journey upfront!

The dealership has told me that the new version has a much smaller boot and is lower so may not be so suitable.

Offshorenath

I can just about get my pinnacle or Stinky in my 3 series bmw coupe with the front wheel off. Though the stinky is a bit of a squeeze and usually results in me having a strop and launching a foul mouthed tirade at nobody in particular.

scale20

I fancy one of those Skoda felicia pick up's for my biking antics, the only thing is they are like rocking horse sh!t to get hold of.



Plan is to mount a couple of Thule roof bike carriers in the back to hold the bikes.

VW do the old Caddy version, I'm not sure who else did or still do a car type pick up.