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Does anyone have any experience of putting bikes into Suzuki Vitaras?
By all reports they seem to be quite a good car. While the snob in me would like something a bit more fancy, I cannot help winch every time I scratch the interior of my current car.
I'm looking at cars around 3 years old.
The Suzuki has a cheap interior which is going to get scratched anyway so I wouldn't be so fussed. At least that's my logic.
They’re rather small on the inside!
They’re rather small on the inside!
Indeed. One of my colleagues had one on hire - it was small compared to his usual Fabia estate
I saw modern one on the road the other day.
Fully reminded me of a ka on stilts.
Hmmm maybe not then. Back to estates
You need to take the front wheel off to get one in the back, with the rear seats folded.
I have a 2018 Vitara - I can fit a bike without wheels on the back seat as the dogs usually in the boot. Roof’s not very tall/slightly sloping so not really a big lugger+ back seat doesn’t fold flat - I bought it because I wanted AWD as I live on the isles - lots of rough tracks, soft verges. I dragged my neighbour’s Vivaro + trailer off his patch the other day as it was just spinning his wheels. Even with all-terrain tyres it’s fairly pleasant to drive and nippy enough for overtakes when needed. I’ll probably look at fitting a tow hitch at some point. They’re relatively common in these parts because there’s limited choice of small 4x4s - go south and you’ll hardly see them.
Look at a Subaru Forester if you need 4WD?
🤔
Nope, would still rather have the biscuit tin.
I desperately want a Subaru! Ideally an Outback but I cannot justify the fuel consumption or pollution. While I like the idea of 4x4 I've only ever once had a need for it. But I do need more ground clearance than the current 12 cm I have
There is a balance of a new car vs pollution in my mind. A lightly used older vehicle is better than scrappage and creating a new incrementally less polluting one.
Drive something that exists, fix it when it breaks and use it responsibly.
I desperately want a Subaru! Ideally an Outback but I cannot justify the fuel consumption or pollution. While I like the idea of 4×4 I’ve only ever once had a need for it. But I do need more ground clearance than the current 12 cm I have
vw and skoda (and volvo for that matter) do "scout" versions of their cars - raised up a bit with some plastic cladding thrown in for good measure.
edit : the seat leon "x-perience" is also a jacked up estate, Vauxhall Insignia Country Tourer and the VW Passat Alltrack
As above, you can get some VAG and Volvo models with 4wd and raised ride.
You can also get a Ford Focus Active in hatch or estate. Raised ride and a few 'slippery road' drive modes, but 2wd and usual Focus efficiency. I wanted one when we bought the Leon, but I could find one Focus estate locally in budget with the larger petrol engine and not a single Active that was in budget or local (ish). According to the Ford dealer they are out there, but they are so good no one is getting rid.
My previous car was a 2019 Vitara, overall no frills small to medium sized family car, had no major problems in 3 years driving.
With seats down I could fit my Medium road bike in the back with both wheels on (laid down flat, front wheel in first), not much gap between front wheel and front seat though. From memory think I had to take front wheel off my medium hardtail MTB to fit easily.
Also had two road bikes or MTBs laid flat in the back with front wheels off using old blankets between them (not ideal though).
vw and skoda (and volvo for that matter) do “scout” versions of their cars – raised up a bit with some plastic cladding thrown in for good measure.
V40 CC is 145mm and does come in an AWD version, but only with T4 and T5 engines.
You can get two bikes in the boot, seats down, wheels off.
V60 XC Classic has greater ground clearance and more options for AWD (and engines!). And a bigger boot (you can get a couple of road bikes in there wheels off, or i have had my XC bike in there (wheels off) plus a load of kit.
I have an old (2010) Grand Vitara. It's our second car and gets abused a bit for dirty jobs, including lugging muddy mtbs about. It's great for that. 2 mtbs stored upright with the front wheels off and rear seats folded. I could probably squeeze a third in. A single one would lay flat with both wheels on.
I know it doesn't exactly fit your brief but it's been a superb and reliable car, and is still a surprisingly pleasant and comfortable drive. It's done 120K miles and now it's become reserve vehicle, it's not accumulating mileage as fast. It's worth almost nothing, and owes me even less so I am going to run it until it dies. We live in a rural area and get regular winter snow, it's fitted with cross climates so is superb in bad winter weather. Its only vice is excessive thirst (petrol engine).
Focus Active is 30mm on top of a regular one. As said though you pay a premium and they're thin on the ground.