Herbie53

Got an SC a couple of months ago. Luvin' it. Minus with the Element is they don't make them anymore. I had to wait awhile for a low milage one to come available and buy it quickly.

I have rented minivans for bike trips before getting an Element. They work well and my manhood survived.

PS - my bike is long enough that the seat and the center console capture the rear wheel like a bike rack... also use a bungee to the hold it to the side, but it's somewhat redundant

rekmeyata

Why do you feel compelled to be a jerk? I said I would never never buy a minivan, I never said I hated them, reread...if you know how.

TimothyH

I am the OP and politely ask that everyone chill.

feel free to start a minivan thread if you like but lets not debate minvan vs manhood, insult each others intelligence or question each others reading comprehension here.

Thanks.

Road Fan

For 2016, the Outback is a little longer and wider than the Forester, but it gets better gas mileage. It also costs more.

Steepndeep

Tim, I have a CRV. Works great and gets excellent gas mileage-over 30 on hwy. I can rack multiple bikes in rear cargo area just be dropping the seats and removing front wheels. I prefer this to having them on the rood or on hitch rack. Simply set up cross bar from roof rack w/ fork mts on them in cargo area, reverse mounted[front of bike at rear of car]. You'll still have a good amount of room in back for gear. Obviously the rear seat needs to be down. Great car!

mrodgers

I'm soon to be in the market for a new car. I am looking at Subaru Impreza. Bike stowage is an important aspect, but as a driving enthusiast, I fear the lack of power in most of the cars available today. Also I'm hunting within a 250 mile radius and still can't find a manual to test drive in any manufacturer's small hatchback before ordering exactly what I want.

I'm still not sure how it's going to go stepping out of a Jetta 1.8 turbo into a weak no torque 150 hp NA 4 banger.

I work in the automotive manufacturing field so I get discount on most manufacturers with Subaru and Chevy being the best. Since a 90% discount on Chevy would still be overpriced for that manufacturer, I guess Subaru it will be.

rekmeyata

The Outback has 35.5 feet of cargo space (which does not include the seat space) vs 31.5 for the Forester.

Porschefan

I hear you. I'd been using my '89 944 as bike-hauler, grocery getter and because I liked the handling (it wasn't particularly powerful). When I decided to reconfigure my "fleet" I sold a garage-queen 928 S4 (never drove it--too "nice" and @ 12 MPG, city a totally impractical vehicle. Bought a friend's low-mileage Cayman for fun and found an Element for bikes, etc. I love the Element's practicality. It's surprisingly peppy, but @ 166 HP, nothing to get excited about. I'm thinking about upgrading/tweaking the suspension a bit, but let's face it, it's a toaster on wheels and just can't be driven very aggressively. But, I still have two cars, which is one more than I really want at this stage of my life. I did consider a Porsche Cayenne (used) and that has some appeal. They are astonishingly fast (S, or Turbo models) and handling is almost unbelievable for such a heavy/large vehicle. And they have off-road capability second to none. Downside on those is initial cost, although all Porsches depreciate like a rock falling off a cliff and there are bargains to be found, and they ever-worrying potential repair bills=$$$$$.

RE the Element, Car & Driver's initial review when the car was intro'd in 2003 said: "What you get if you cross a Hummer with a Mini-Cooper." There's some truth in that!

In your case, maybe a WRX STI and put a bike rack on it? That'll get you where you want to go in a hurry!

STP

Bah Humbug

I would be all over a Cayenne S if I could trust the reliability...

TimothyH

Manual trans is moving to the realm of high end sports cars. Even there they are harder to find. Maybe you could find a Focus with a 5-speed? I had a 2013 Focus for three years. Was peppy, nice stiff chassis and could rev but it went through two audio front ends, upper strut bearings and the door locks stopped working.

I drove a 2.0 Impreza Sport. Was a nice car but as you say, was underpowered. Price was right tho and I was on the fence for a while. The Impreza did everything well but nothing spectacularly and so I opted for the used Forester XT. Faster than it deserves to be.

Porschefan

They're pretty reliable, just have the potential to be expensive when something needs to be replaced/repaired. My Porsche mechanic let me test-drive a Cayenne Turbo when I was thinking about them--stupid fast and unbelievable handling.

STP

Bah Humbug

Don't put ideas in my head... AG might kill you.

I did do some googling after that post and I do see you're right, and they depreciate rather nicely after a few years. Be a lot nicer than a 4Runner...

Porschefan

Yes. "There is no substitute...." (Says the guy with an Element!)

STP

mpath

fify

Rollfast

Thank you, sir.

DrRobert

I know someone with a Honda Element he has stands to mount the front fork in that holds 2 bikes upright.

I have a CRV but this will probably be my next car.

Bluechip

I currently have a Honda Odyssey and it's great for multiple bike hauling but it's getting time to think about a new car. With the minivan I can put the bikes in or on top of the car. I am thinking about a station wagon so more than likely they will go on top. There is not a huge choice when it comes to wagons here in the US but there are a few choices. I am leaning towards the Volvo V60 but once I see the V90 in person I might be willing to upgrade. I wish Mazda would bring the 6 wagon to the US, then it would be an easy choice.

mrodgers

Not the STI, but I do want a WRX in a bad way right now. If only they still had the hatch.

But I'm in the middle of a divorce though, and child support plus spousal support and all, won't see a WRX or anything equivalent for quite some time. Tough to make it on around $6/hour after she gets her cut first.

I could go used, but around here unless you are looking for around 150,000 miles like what I need to replace, you may as well go the extra few thousand and have 0 miles with a full warranty.

rekmeyata

I'm not sure how you're going to afford any car on $6 an hour, heck just paying for rent, utilities, and food is going to be a huge struggle. I can't believe any judge in America is forcing anyone to live on $6 an hour, that's nearly impossible unless your living with your folks and they're paying for all the food and housing.

TrojanHorse

I'd buy a minivan if it had a V-8 and RWD.

It'd have to be a little higher touch on the interior than this though (skip the intro):


Toyota and DG-Spec put a track version of a Sienna together that looks interesting:

Toyota shows track-ready and off-road Siennas at SEMA

rekmeyata

OK, if they made a minivan like that for the masses I would consider getting one. I've actually done donuts and slides with my kids and now my grandkids in the car...howbeit in large open parking lots since surface streets are never void of traffic and pedestrians not to mention unsafe and against the law, my grandkids beg me to do it now, and my oldest daughter, the mother of the grandkids, still loves to go with me when I do this stuff. They all sit in the car laughing away.

TimothyH

I don't understand drift.

Intentionally rotating a car doesn't makes sense to me.

rekmeyata

Drifting a rear wheel drive car is never faster on dry roads then a smooth maintaining traction type of turn, it's just fun to do. On gravel or dirt you have to drift because you don't have much traction anyways so drifting is more helpful. On dry pavement the only way to do a (hairpin) 180 is to get the rear end to slide around, trying to do that smoothly would be a lot slower, but that's probably the only circumstance except for hill climbing where if you didn't drift you would lose momentum which will slow you down too much, so drifting in hill climbing allows that momentum to continue and not bog you down forcing you slow down and speed up all the time.

Like I said, drifting and sliding on dry pavement is a load of fun, a little hard on tires but the fun is worth it. However drifting a front wheel drive car is necessary so as to induce oversteer by using the emergency brake lever.

Sometimes if you watch a NASCAR or INDY or Formula etc, races closely, especially the last 25 or so laps the drivers are going all out and you'll see them exiting turns and sliding out in a controlled manner of course ever so slightly, this is called slip angle.

There is a lot more to all of this but that's enough basic info for this.

jtaylor996

Slip angle is defined as the angle between the tires and the direction of travel. It happens in all turns, drifting or not. Without it cars would not be able to steer, in any conditions.

Going fast has to do with optimizing where you are on one of these charts:


Drifting is way off the far end of this chart, which is why it's slow.

The reason I'm saying this is that your definition (or at least the way you're phrasing it) seems to make it like slip angle is only something that happens when you're off the end of the above chart... which is not correct. When cars are sliding around, it's not called "slip angle" it's called "exceeding the maximum effective slip angle".

Tycho Brahe 

Does anybody with a small SUV/crossover keep their bikes inside standing up? I have seen pictures of bicycles inside an CR-V, but I am wondering about other cars such as the CX-5, Tucson, etc.

If I cannot stand my bike up, I would just opt for a smaller hatchback and not an SUV.