Well, I was happy to see folks resolving their issues with the faulty relays, and was ready to pull the trigger on a 3.6 LTD w/tech.
I went to the dealership this morning with my triathlon bike ('medium' size, 74cm saddle height), more as a formality, to make sure it would fit in the cargo area sideways, both wheels removed. I've been able to do this with a Grand Cherokee, Ford Edge, and most recently a Honda CRV. No go with the Outback. I was able to get it in, but only rotated in such a way that the bottom of the bike was leaning towards the rear (taking up a lot of floor space), and my post/saddle sticking into the rear seating area.
One of my requirements for a really nice $40k car was that I didn't want to have my bike on the outside, hate doing that.
Might be back to the drawing board...
Yes, I have two kids that will be sitting in the back. In my previous cars that I mentioned, I was able to fit everything in the back cargo area with the rear seats up.
I've found that our Outback isn't as easy to haul larger items like a Forester or CRV can. It's the wagon vs SUV differences. It lots of space, but it's not tall space. For us it's still the right choice, we don't ofteb carry bikes, and our roof mounted Yakima racks can be quickly out on when we need to.
Well good luck in your search the wagon is not for everyone. I think most of us just use the top racks for bikes. In my case two bikes up top and my daughters either in back or on a hitch when she is older.
Good luck with the search. Btw, a fully loaded Outback and fully loaded Grand Cherokee are no where near the same price. Probably a min of 10k difference.
Haven't tried it yet on the OB but on my 2007 Mazda3 hatchback I loaded 2 mountain bikes in the trunk with seats folded and front wheels removed. Yeah, I stacked them but they still fit. The OB seems much larger in comparison.
This amuses me greatly, because one of the main reasons why I'm wanting an Outback is so I can fit my bikes inside in the winter. I'm getting very tired of road spray salt all over the bike. (It corrodes and is a huge pain to clean off.)
Thanks all. To a couple of the folks who responded:
- both wheels were removed.
- I need both seats in the back up for my kids!
Unfortunately bikes are expensive these days, been racing off and on for 25 years, and invest pretty heavily in my bike. High end tri bike is well north of 6k with good wheels. I hate the idea of having it on the outside of the car. Plus, I'd be the one to forget its up there while driving into a garage, etc.
And, yes, Jeeps are more expensive than Outback, and I wasn't considering one anyway as my experiences with chrysler were less than stellar..
I may look at another Ford Edge, or the Honda Pilot.
Not in a rush either, so maybe I'll change my mind about putting the bike on a rack...
Sucks, because the Outback was the most fun to drive of any car/SUV/truck I've tried recently.
Two child seats and putting a bike inside? You probably don't want to hear this, but you should be getting a minivan. Your storage problems solved, and then some.
I can't believe someone would want something like a bike sitting behind their kids. That's a disaster waiting to happen in the event of a rollover. I have a friend that suffered a major brain injury because of a 5lb laptop in a back seat that became a projectile when he was involved in a 35mph rollover wreck. It hit him in the back of the head and that was that.
Put a 15-20lb bike in the back that is much larger and full of sharp edges? Good God.
A bicycle is way to big to become a projectile. Think about how it is placed in the back of a hatch back like this or SUV. It is sideways, wedged up against the back of the seats, with everything else being packed up against it. No projectiles happening there!
I do agree on being careful what you pack, and anything that would be small enough to be a projectile does not get packed high/free enough in the back that it could fly forward.
To make the subject clear and easy to find for others who have asked me about this before, I posted a new thread with pics and details of how I carry my bike INSIDE the car, upright, rear wheel still in place, only the front wheel and seatpost removed. Hope it helps you, either by copying or by modifying my method to work for you.
See the thread here
That is similar bike position to what I do when I am able to travel with the rear seats down (ie. no kids with me). I too have a Trek. Speed Concept 9 TT bike.
Some vehicles - Mazda CX-5 is one - can drop just a small center section of the back seat allowing a bicycle to go in the way SubiesSince99 is showing and still fit a pair of child seats in the back. That vehicle made my final shopping list.
I'd rather remove the rear wheel than the seat post. (It takes me forever to get the seat exactly where I want it and I hate loosening it.) So who has a contraption to hold the back end and greasy chain off the cargo area?
Paint pen to mark your seat post position and angle. One horizontal and one vertical line. $2.99 puts you back in the outback. I wouldn't leave my bike outside either. These ain't toys no more.
For a lot of modern bikes, removing the seat post is a huge pain and high risk for cracking the post/hardware. My two bikes are a Trek SC9, and a Cervelo S3. Both have carbon aero seatposts that are a pain to remove and install. And even with a torque wrench (and these are very often not accurate anyway), if you slightly under torque it, it will slip while riding. Over torque, crack, there goes $200. I've been doing my own wrenching on my bikes for 20 years and am super careful, but even I eventually cracked the seatpost on my Cervelo. I knew it was happening, as I kept having to tighten it a bit more, a bit more again....the rear aero part of it was slowly being crushed.
This was the only way I could fit my bike in the back, both wheels removed. Again, removing the seat post is really not a good option for me..
Hard to tell by the pic, but the saddle sticks over the seats into the rear seating area a bit.
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