You know, if you can learn to take off the front wheel and even the rear wheel, you can broaden your search. If you can broaden it even further if you can manage Saris' bone on the back.

go for an H2.

A buddy looked at the Prius, and thought it wasn't so great. Since he wanted mileage and a place for his bike, he got a Honda Fit. It does fit his bike without taking off wheels or anything, as the seats fold up. Nice design, but I prefer my Touareg.

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Gary Geiger
http://www.geigerphoto.com Professional photographer

TEAM KiWAMi NORTH AMERICA http://www.kiwamitri.com, Rudy Project http://www.rudyprojectusa.com, GU https://guenergy.com/shop/ ; Salming World Ambassador; https://www.shopsalming.com

Honda Fit - - and when the 2009 comes out, you should have no problem with a bike that size in the back. I saw an add that showed an adult mountain bike with both wheels still on, standing up in back. Now if you lean to take the wheels off, you could even squeeze 2 bikes in there, gear and riders.

That's the thing, I don't want to get into taking the bike fully apart or putting it on the back. That's what I do now and it's a pain. My car gets scratched and I get worried when I'm going high speed and it is a pain to put a full bike in and take it out of my car. I think my top choice is to get the prius for the gas savings and provide myself with an incentive to get a boring car by allowing myself to buy a nice roof rack. I'm going to test drive the rogue next week b/c I want to see if it handles like they say it does. If so, it will be a tight race, as I'd like a car I can get excited about. Ideally, I'd have a car in which I can just slide my bike into and that gets great gas mileage and is sporty and relatively inexpensive 20-24k, but I haven't found one yet. The trade off with the rogue is that the mpg isn't incredible 21/26.

If you are concerned about gas mileage then you should re-think the roof rack.

I agree. The aerodynamics of every vehicle will vary, but my mileage dropped like a rock when I put on my roof rack.

Look at the Honda Element. I'm always bragging about mine. Gas mileage around 30mpg. I can fit my bike in the back with a seat folded up completely in tack, no wheels taken off. The floors are plastic so you can spill Perpetuem to your heart's content and not worry about clean up other than a wet rag. Cost in the mid-20,000 range depending on which model you get. All time 4 wheel drive. You can fold the seats down and it becomes a bed so you can grab a cat nap before heading home after a race. I've done a full change in the back. With the tinted windows it is easy to do and you have lots of room to move around.

Go crawl around in one, you'll love it.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

I knew it reduced a little bit, but I didn't think it would affect it dramatically. How many mpg are you talking? If the prius is getting 46 on the hwy, I expected mpg would be reduced to about 40, but even 40 isn't bad. Do you think it would be worse than that?

Yeah, I know it is great for these purposes, but I just can't get excited over it. Not only can I not get excited over it, but it actually turns me off (no offense). I think the style is such that you either love it or hate it. Having said that, there is no getting around that it is a great car for triathletes.

Honda element without a doubt. You can spray the interior down with a hose and the fabric on the seats are specially made to be stain resistant.

I would think that if you hated the Element(I call it Castro's Hat Car, then you should really hate the Prius. Really ugly, and mileage on the hwy isn't that great, plus it takes 10 minutes to hit 60. I couldn't have he patience for that car.

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Gary Geiger
http://www.geigerphoto.com Professional photographer

TEAM KiWAMi NORTH AMERICA http://www.kiwamitri.com, Rudy Project http://www.rudyprojectusa.com, GU https://guenergy.com/shop/ ; Salming World Ambassador; https://www.shopsalming.com

I've had several friends tell me that exact same thing until the see the interior of mine, now they all want one. :-)

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

I never really calculated it, but it might've been in the 4-5 mpg range. So, it wasn't catastrophic but was a huge surprise to me :) It's all relative, of course, to your baseline mileage (46mpg with the Prius).

I have to apologize. After responding to you I looked into it a little. I wasn't aware of the SC. I love it! That's the car...that's the car for me! It provides everything I want and the blacked out/tinted SC gives me a decent look and sportiness that I require. Plus, I can fit the bikes inside, no problem, so no roof rack or outside racking issues. Beautiful! Thank you so much. May I pm you about your experiences with it as I get closer to purchase?

And if you are concerned about you bike(s) you should rethink them as well. It is so easy to forget about having your bikes up there and drive into someplace with too low of an overhang. Doesn't mean you are going to, it just means you always, always have to be vigilant about that.

A hitch rack might be a nice alternative. But one nice thing about having the bikes inside the car is less worry about theft.

In looking at Edmunds, it says it gets about 21/25 mpg. Has your experience been different? Closer to 30?

Yup. Consistantly high 20's - 30mpg, depending on where I am driving. It has also improved over time since the engine is getting broken in. When I first got it I was doing mid 20's but it is improved since then. I bought it in September.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

I like that it is a Honda and has the Honda reliability. My wife just bought a CRV and maybe they will cut us a deal since two cars from the same dealership in a year. Have you been happy with the goodies in the car, the stereo, interior etc etc. Any problems you have come across or suggestions for me when I check it out? How is the ride? Thanks.

What I personally love about the E is that it is a no nonsence car. I don't need frills as I don't want to have to worry about keeping it prisine so I don't ruin the leather. My cars get pretty abused and this one really takes it. I leared several years back that a luxury car just doesn't fit my lifestyle. I want functionality and it sounds like this is what you want as well.

We went with the high end trim, there are only 2 choices, and got the XM satellite radio. Love that! 3 months free and we ended up getting the subscription. Heater and A/C work great, nice bright lights. There is no center console with storage between the front seats but there is an overhead area that fits sunglasses and small odds and ends.

There are 3 cupholders in the front and two in back. I tend to have lots of waterbottles and travel mugs in mine so that is suprisingly handy. Only 3 speeds on the windshield wiper which is annoying since I live in the capital of rain, the Northwest. I feel comfortable on the roads when we do get snow. I'm thinking of adding foglights since we get lots of low fog by my house.

It has a really great turning radius for an SUV. The 2008 was also in the top 3 small SUV for safetly. Side curtain airbags. Also, Es have great reliability and do very good in my area on resale value. But, I plan on keeping mine for many years.

Strange side benefit that I just found out about. I got it washed at my local detailer and they didn't charge me for cleaning the floor since it was considered floor mats and they don't charge for that. Saved about $20.

The standard tires you get are crappy and I need to replace mine after 6,000 miles. My understanding is that is typical for Hondas, not specific to the E.

It has nice pick-up and rides smoothly. Some people consider the interior loud but I haven't noticed that.

Here is a photo of mine. He is named "BOB" because the dealship was Bob Lamphir Honda and it also conveniently stands for Big Orange Box :-)

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

Thank you very much for your review. Yeah, I have a prissy car now, a Saab 9-3. I certainly love the performance and luxary of it, but I am a little tired of that. I kinda want something I can throw my mountain bike and tri bike in and all my gear bags and waterbottles without worrying about spilling gatorade or something. On top of that I just got a puppy that is going to be a big dog soon, so I need a bit of a rugged car for her too. I really like the sportyer look of the SC, plus I noticed the awd version is actually cheaper than the top of the line sc without the awd, which I can't understand. Plus it looks like they get the same mpg, which is great.

It is also good to hear that you are getting pretty good gas mileage. Since I'd probably have to put a roof rack on top of a prius, the gap between mileage is closer. Plus, any car that takes regular gas rather than the premium that my saab requires, is a great car to me. I'm going for a couple test drives this weekend!

Yeah, I am not really attracted to the prius, but the addition mpg keeps it on my short list.

When you come home from the dealership with your new E. I want to see a picture of your puppy in the back :-)

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

I would assume that a prius is as rare as hen's teeth now. Apparently their sales have catapulted in even just the last month.