Another vote for minivans. Here’s my van life setup for Bentonville OZ50.
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2005 Montana; I’ve had it for 10 years. I got 25mpg from South Dakota to Bentonville.
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Left field alternative for consideration:
- 4 wheel drive
- room for 5 adults
- large flexible boot / load space
- will fit at least 2 bikes inside with rear seats folded down
- plenty of roof rack options
- super well equipped
- fast (ish)
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Those are sweet. But think the Golf R estate is not going to be offered in the USA? Realize this is an international forum of course. I have a 2021 Golf (5 cyl + 5 sp manual) and it’s been a great commuter and bike transporter. Bikes lay flat inside of course, but can easily go to rides or races and carry my stuff.
USA people just don’t get “wagons” even though they are so darn good.
It’s great to see all the mini-van love here. Y’all are a well considered practical bunch!!!
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Cars in general. My ex GF has a Ford Focus (last time I checked, but I doubt that changed) and it fits her snowboard or MTB. She works at the ski resort, FWD only is just fine.
When I was in the car market the Type R was HIGH on my list. But they suddenly became hard to get at the same time as I got serious, so I dropped it. Love a hot hatch.
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Ford doesn’t even sell cars in the US now. They now only sell trucks and SUVs.
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Elements are amazing. If you can find one for under $6K and under 200K miles, you’d be lucky. I have a honda fit that is great as well for dogs, bikes, storage etc. The element is my next purchase if I can find one. Have been searching Utah, AZ, NM, and CO.
Just one apparently, and a great option for cyclists 
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Ha! I thought the mustang was a SUV now? (I hate that they’ve used the mustang and maverick name, btw)
Here’s a funny one. If you go to the ford website and click “filter” one of the choices is “sedan”, and when you choose it, it returns zero results 
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No R wagon for the US, Sportwagen doesn’t exist anymore in the market. Had 2, great cars 2012 tdi and 2015 tdi. 2015 favorite car I’ve owned but the buyback from the scandal was too good to pass up, basically made the car free for me to put 25k miles on (old company was covering most of my payment). Replaced it with a 2003 allroad 2.7t that I manual swapped (bigger turbos etc etc) since basically nothing existed to replace them that I wanted, had already owned an outback 2.5xt manual, and the manual alltrak/4mo sportwagen weren’t out yet .
Taos is replacing the basic golf and sportwagen as sort of a combo rolled into a CUV. Golf now only exists as the GTI and R, both kind of useless unless you regular need to move kegerator.
Never liked the Element but it is/was kind of in a class of its own. Transit connect (almost bought one instead of the 2015 GSW) is likely one of if not the only actual replacement without buying a minivan. It is a mini van but I think most people don’t think of them like Siennas and the like.
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It is hard to get past the Soccer Mom image of mini-vans. But for those of us secure enough in our image its a win. Keep telling my wife to work on her daily self-affirmations. I won’t be caught dead driving the Sienna when it arrives. Nope Nope Nope (LOL LOL LOL)
Speaking of hot hatches… and Apex Bike Mobiles from up[ thread… Subaru WRX 2022 redesign supposed to offer a hatch or wagen type model. But we probably wont get that in the USA either. Damn it.
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Ugh. Don’t get me started on the new WRX… such a letdown.
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I am a life-long Volkswagen guy, both in my private and professional life. However, I added a Honda Element to our “fleet” this past fall, for getting two people, two fat bikes (inside) and our dog transported to the trails in the winter wasn’t easy in our Volkswagen Atlas. It wasn’t even the tight space, but the worry of the studded tires damaging the interior. With the Element, I have no such worries.
I always had a soft spot for the Element, but being a Honda, I just could not pull the trigger for almost two decades. After last winter, I started casually keeping an eye on the available Elements in our area. In September I found a really nice 2005 Element (awd, auto) with approx 250,000km from an original owner and pulled the trigger without hesitation. I removed the rear seats and cut a horse stall mat to the shape of the rear cargo area, mounted a couple of fork mounts for our fat bikes, and presto - we have our winter cycling adventure vehicle!
Friends and neighbours were a bit puzzled by this oddball addition to the “fleet”, but as I’ve got older, I find I no longer really care what others think. Also, it makes for a nice driveway friend to the other quirky vehicle, our '87 Westfalia camper. To fulfill our other basic needs, we also have '16 Touareg TDI (undisputed road trip king) and an '87 911 Targa.
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Come on, nothing says cool like lycra and a minvan😎
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Have to love a thread where air cooled 911’s are considered a basic need!!! That is awesome.
p.s. '88 Carrera
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Have a 2018 Forester w/ a Kuat NV 2.0 Love it. Great visibility when driving, very comfortable 10 way power seat (with heaters), decent gas mileage (~32-33 mpg road trip), great clearance, “real” AWD, TONS of cargo capacity with the seats folded (esp compared to say a RAV 4 - the Forester is more square walled, others in the same class are rounded)
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you don’t understand how sad it makes me. We only have luxury brands with wagons now…and while the offerings are kinda sexy, i can’t afford the maintenance on those sweet audis/bmw/mb/volvos. Whereas on my volks i can at least do my own oil changes lol. So i’ll probably sell my sportwagen ina year or 2 and get a 2019 model. We go tent camping with it (2 kids + dog), i get them to come watch my tris once a year (rear bike rack) and the handling is just stellar.
There’s a whole “scheme” with north american auto manufacturers to start selling mostly SUVs. Ford already made the move, other than Chevy, there arent many non-luxury American brands that sell sedans and/or compacts anymore. One of the big deciding factos i think had to do with emission regulations; it’s easier to meet the targets when you’re competing against trucks lol. And they probably make more money off SUVs. Sadly though it just makes our roads more dangerous for non-drivers/vulnerable road users…but that’s a whole other thread lol.
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LOL, “Big Auto” forcing products. Sounds like the same discussion as bike stuff like disc and other tin foil hat stuff.
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I get it to a point, chicken/egg stuff. But the reality here is that they want to produce what sells. Wagons in this country have been hit or miss for decades. The lack of options is due to lack of sales/buyers in sufficient numbers to justify the expense of offering them. Sedans, once a steadfast reliable market, are all but dead with some notable exceptions (Accord, Camry, etc.).
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CUV / SUV / and even Truck life are the norm and the image that many people want. That is where we see growth, even if those “Utility” vehicles are serving Dad & Mom duty more than trips to mountain passes on dirt roads.
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Honestly, I can’t see having a sedan in this day and age. However, I am a hatch/wagon lover and also miss some of the truly unique and special offerings that we’ve seen through the years. But those are low volume products in this market, whether we like it or not.
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I will say, we basically just went through exactly this decision recently. I completely agree on SUV’s and was adamantly against them. Searched high and low for a decent manual Alltrack, probably a good 6 months and just couldn’t find one. It is primarily my wife’s car and we ended up getting a pretty hot deal on a CPO 2018 Tiguan, and I’m really coming around to it. It’s nearly the exact same dimensions, just a touch taller. It’s definitely a bit anemic on power, but it’s an awesome highway cruiser. Visibility really isn’t materially different than the Alltracks we test drove, and fits in the same parking spots. We haven’t had a ton of experience in real nasty weather, but for an automatic on all seasons pretty good in the snow. All that said, if VW brought wagons back I’d still go that way.
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Well, I was looking at one of these a while back. Didn’t think i could get the bikes in Vertically/standing up. Thought i’d have to lay them flat. Possible?
Don’t touch my tinfoil hat. You’ll mess up the angles that protect me from 5G lol 
The SUV craze has picked up a whole lot more in North America compared to a lot of the rest of the world. And sure the consumer wants what it wants but in the end, there are several factors that influence those choices. Size of the roads, parking requirements, the mentality of having the utility available for the 1-2% of trips that require it, the huge car dependancy that’s baked in the culture, etc
When I shop for my next car, I look at when i’d “need” an SUV in real life vs a wagon and honestly the wagon wins unanimously, most times. That’s also how we decided to just be a 1-car household (cost vs need of another car). Wifey is a dog boarder/walker so getting dogs in and out is way easier with the lower ground clearance of the wagon, and the trunk is surprisingly more spacious than a bunch of SUV/CUVs i’ve seen. Loading things on the roof (ie, weekly ski trip, packing bag for camping) is way easier. It’s easier for the toddler to get in and out, etc etc etc.
Having been a car enthusiast in a past life, handling is really high on my list and my wife prefers that feeling (low center of gravity) to that floaty/body roll feeling from trucks and suvs. I’ve rented cars and have been “stuck” with SUVs a few times, they just don’t do it for me. Obviously in the end, it all comes down to personal preference.
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