Help me pick a triathlon car!
I'm in the market for a new car 
and I want one that will hold a bike inside, standing up with the front wheel off. I know the little Honda Fit and the Honda Element will work, but I haven't found any others. I've looked at several three row SUVs but when you drop the 3rd row there's not enough height to stand the bike up. Does anyone have a car they love that will hold the bike upright inside? Please let me know!
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Honda Element, hands down. We have an '06 with ~60k miles on it. We used it as our ToC luggage/support vehicle for '09 and, with the rear seats out, put four bikes on top, three on a hitch rack, and all the luggage for about 10-12 people in the back, with room to spare for me, Joanne and Riley. Very confident you could put 6-8 bikes in the back without taking the wheels off.
MPG = ~23-25, wish that was better. It's built on the Civic or Accord chassis and engine, I think so not very powerful at all but...it's dead straight utilitarian, unsexy, etc, but it works.
Two bikes with both wheels.....Cases of Beer and gear bags....rolling to EN Camp last year
Also, when buying, have several dealers email you quotes, then send those quotes to the other dealers :-) Nothing like haggling via email and I only went to the dealer to sign papers and pick up the car.
Rich, trust me a transit van can drive like a car
I third (fourth?) on the element. Have an '04 with like 120k on the clock. Rear seats are almost never in it since the bikes are usually there. Has a roof rack so that we can carry more if needed (just a stock Yakima). Just all around the best car purchase for the lifestyle you can imagine. Yep ugly as sin, but boy is it functional.
Funny cause two of the guys that work for me bought elements based on my recommendation and they both love it. One has a young son so he loves it for carting around all his stuff. The other is a musician and he loves that he can cart around all his equipment.
-Dave
The only thing I like about the Sprinter is that litigation over it it will likely put my kids through college...
I covet my wife's Grand Cherokee. Great all around vehicle. Plenty of room but not huge. I would likely have one also if she would let us be a 2 SUV family.
That aside, the only problem with the Element is that it's nearly impossible to find your car after a race because every other triathlete has a big black toaster parked in the lot too! If you have a smaller bike you have more options - my bike fits both wheels on in lots of rigs, including the Toyota Rav 4 which we almost bought a few years ago. Down side was it only had automatic transmision and I really wanted manual.
We have a Montero (really old) that fits my bike nicely. The big challenge though is while it can fit lots of bikes, you have to fold down the seat so you can only take 1 other passenger. So effectively, it's still just a 2-person raceday vehicle.
I drive a Subaru Baja. I have a roof rack and a rack in the rear bed. Absolutely love it.
Alas, they are no longer being produced. But you could probably score a pre-owned version.
here's an older article, from my friend, about this very subject:
www.everymantri.com/everyman_triath...thlon.html
Drive a MINI Cooper Clubman with rack on top. Sits 4 with space behind seats and with back seat down it is freaky how much you can put in the thing, plus getting 30MPG at 70mph! On top of that there is the COOL factor...
HEY! I had a Yugo in college and it ran just fine. In fact, it was so non-technical I learned how to do a little maintenance on my own.
Our current tri car is a LexusRX300. Bikes go on the rack in the back, gear goes in the back, two dogs go in the doggie car seat in the back seat, humans in the front seats. The reason I got the Lexus was that it was the only smaller SUV that could hold the 6' tandem case.
John and I have been tinkering with getting a third car - something smaller I can run around it because he's not giving up his Z3.
I have thought about an element, but really would like something with better gas mileage. I did go look at a Smart. Really cute. Fun to drve. Just too tiny.
"Two bikes with both wheels.....Cases of Beer and gear bags....rolling to EN Camp last year"
Are those cases of Spotted Cow from New Glarus on the bottom? Great beer if so.
Yes, the Spotted Cow is always purchased as soon as we cross the state line into Wisconsin. Its too bad WI doesn't share with any other state!
I think you're on the right track with your selection.
;Don't overlook the CRV, too! I have had the CRV since 2001 and have 187,000 plus on it with minor repairs just recently. Wish I had pictures to share with all the stuff in it including the bike. I can pop the front wheel on the CRV, flip the 1/3 seat down. The handle bars fit nice and snuggly over the flipped up seat. The 2001 had a high enough back door clearance that I didn't have to manuveur the bike in. It slid right into position. Don't know about the newer models. I could also get all of my gear into the car for the week along with extra towels, shoes, blah, blah, blah, so that if I decided on changing up the workouts at different locations, I would just open the back of the CRV and pull what I need. Even with all of my stuff and what my son called his other sibling (i.e. my bike), we could still seat 4 people.
Have fun selecting your new tri-mobile!