OT: Help me decide on a car/suv

[Blue Jays]

I am potentially going SUV shopping in the upcoming few weeks.
I will report back here on latest "cool for bicycles" models sampled.
Has anyone encountered a new model that simply must be test-driven?

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by blue jays

i am potentially going suv shopping in the upcoming few weeks.
I will report back here on latest "cool for bicycles" models sampled.
Has anyone encountered a new model that simply must be test-driven?

vw id4

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by Blue Jays

I am potentially going SUV shopping in the upcoming few weeks.
I will report back here on latest "cool for bicycles" models sampled.
Has anyone encountered a new model that simply must be test-driven?

How big do you need? The new Corolla Cross looks intriguing to me.

Sticking with Toyota, the Venza is still a good choice; and the upcoming new Land Cruiser and Crown Signia might be worth waiting for.

[saab2000]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

How big do you need? The new Corolla Cross looks intriguing to me.

Sticking with Toyota, the Venza is still a good choice; and the upcoming new Land Cruiser and Crown Signia might be worth waiting for.

The upcoming Land Cruiser looks cool.

[Blue Jays]

My capacity goal is two ~54cm bicycles, upright, using a fork mount rack bolted to piece of wood.
Front wheels would go into wheel bags and be secured elsewhere in the SUV for travel.
We also have the car she drives, so this one will ideally have a tad more luxury for longer road trips.

Toyota Highlander seems pretty nice yet it needs a comprehensive makeover.
Ford Explorer ST would be great were it not for that stupid third-row seating making it not tall enough.
JLR Defender and Toyota Land Cruiser are tall enough…yet bring your checkbook!

[froze]

Originally Posted by Blue Jays

I am potentially going SUV shopping in the upcoming few weeks.
I will report back here on latest "cool for bicycles" models sampled.
Has anyone encountered a new model that simply must be test-driven?

Depends on what you want, obviously, the big huge jobs will haul a bicycle with no problems, but they eat gas like crazy, so if you want an economical to run vehicle then look at the Honda CR-V, the Pilot, Passport, Toyota Rav4, and the 4Runner.

If you want a rugged go-anywhere SUV the 4Runner is your only choice, the 4Runner will not get the mpg that the others will get, but better than the big behemoths.

There is also the Toyota Highlander and the Grand Highlander but I couldn't find any info if a bike would fit, but it should, it's a fantastic vehicle too.

There are other brands, but I mentioned those because they are the best for reliability and long life.

You should take one of your bikes with you when you go shopping and put the bike in the SUV to see if you like the way it fits. The sales rep will help you in doing that as well, they'll take down the rear seat, whatever it takes for them to show you how well the bike will fit because they want to make a sale. Take a bike with the longest wheelbase so you'll know all the others will fit fine...obviously, don't take a tandem! LOL!!!

[Blue Jays]

Wow…that new and refreshed Toyota Land Cruiser really looks great.
I was expecting another $95,000 behemoth and boy was I pleasantly surprised!
Will have to visit the dealerships to ask about those, too. Thanks for the tip.

[Epicus07]

Mazda is offering 0% financing on new vehicles…

I just bought a CPO 2023 CX-5 Signature a week before they announced this financing. my car payments would have been cheaper with a brand new car than my 8,000 mile used car with 7% APR. it was still $7k less so maybe some day rates will come down or I’ll pay off early and be less grumpy about it.

Sorry for the digression. Coming from a Subaru I love my Mazda. The quality of the interior and handling are wonderful. I hear great things about reliability too. Excellent value option.

Highly recommend you test drive one (although the CX-90 is a beast in size)

[gomango]

Originally Posted by Blue Jays

Wow…that new and refreshed Toyota Land Cruiser really looks great.
I was expecting another $95,000 behemoth and boy was I pleasantly surprised!
Will have to visit the dealerships to ask about those, too. Thanks for the tip.

My wife's family in Costa Rica has a Prado we drive when we visit. I love it!

It handles a wide range of roads and has enough zip to handle the mountainous region where they live.

If the new base Land Cruiser measures up to that Prado, we will likely buy one.

[benb]

I did like the ID.4 but I would definitely want one with the smallest rims they offered. I test drove the "1st" edition or whatever, so it did have some of the bigger rims IIRC.

I test drove it down a pothole strewn road and the wheel/tire package was pretty stupid for the kind of vehicle it wants to be. It would let the car down for some of the typical bike/outdoor use cases.

It has a well designed interior for holding bikes/cargo and the one I test drove had a really great interior protection package where the whole back of the cargo area was protected by plastic so bikes, etc.. wouldn't cut up the interior if you kept them inside.

And it has a decent stock hitch option.

Awesome seats but the infotainment is a big letdown and VW seems to have big issues with their software development.

[Blue Jays]

The ponderous earlier Toyota Landcruiser with the absurdly thirsty 14 mpg V8 engine was not even a consideration and quite honestly the reason it was not on my radar screen until @AngryScientist and @Saab2000 brought it to my attention.

[Blue Jays]

Originally Posted by benb

"…I did like the ID.4 but I would definitely want one with the smallest rims they offered. I test drove the "1st" edition or whatever, so it did have some of the bigger rims IIRC. I test drove it down a pothole strewn road and the wheel/tire package was pretty stupid for the kind of vehicle it wants to be. It would let the car down for some of the typical bike/outdoor use cases…"

Deteriorating roads throughout the nation is one of the reasons we similarly wish to move to vehicles with bigger, fatter, and meatier tires.

[christian]

Originally Posted by Blue Jays

The ponderous earlier Toyota Landcruiser with the absurdly thirsty 14 mpg V8 engine was not even a consideration and quite honestly the reason it was not on my radar screen until @AngryScientist and @Saab2000 brought it to my attention.

If you put Rock Warriors and 17" BFG T/A tires on it, you won't get 14 mpg from the 5.7l V8 in mixed driving. Also the infotainment is absurdly bad. And I wouldn't trade it for anything!

[Likes2ridefar]

Originally Posted by Blue Jays

Deteriorating roads throughout the nation is one of the reasons we similarly wish to move to vehicles with bigger, fatter, and meatier tires.

Definitely second that. The first few days were a nice relationship with my snazzy looking low profile wheels but after two flats, reduced gas mileage, and multiple rim strikes on curbs I’m definitely not doing it again. The rubber must be wider than the rim and have enough depth to take any curb strike or pothole .

[saab2000]

I suspect a topped out Land Cruiser will come in about right where most Defenders start.

As infatuated as I am with the Defender because I think it's a cool vehicle, I try to imagine which one will be running strong and dependably in a decade. Or two decades. If your time horizon is 3 years, go lease a Defender. It'd likely be a great one for that time period. I'm thinking that getting into age and miles though the Toyota will be a durability champion.

Also, while it can't be ordered without a regular sunroof it appears, the Land Cruiser sunroof looks normal and can be ignored and not some silly ginormous piece of glass that will heat the cabin to unreasonable temps and blind the driver. Glass roofs are not for me, though my current car has one. I got the sunshade for it.

Some of the Toyota press shots make it looks like it's available without any roof glass, which is a win for me.