OK, after seeing the Hybrid Convertible thread for the past few weeks, I wanted to post what I want to see: a hybrid station wagon! I currently drive my wife's HCHII 4+ days a week, but use my Outback for "mountain bike duty" because the HCH doesn't have the ability to keep my bike safe inside during the day when parked at the office. The HCH also doesn't have the ability to take a road trip with 3 other guys, gear and bikes. I would LOVE a station wagon that got similar milage to the HCH but allowed me to comfortably take a road trip with 4 people/4+ bikes on the roof.

Anyone else interested in a hybrid with cargo room?

Commuter car, grocery getter, and summer road tripper--average 10k miles per year.


Winter road trips and ski trips, bad weather commuter and my wife's "daily" driver--expected average 4k miles per year.

Yep. I got one. But, I'm putting on a hitch because lately I've been needing even more cargo room.

A hybrid wagon is on my wish list as I feel the SUV Hybrids are too chunky and high. For me the ideal size is just between the Prius and the Camry.
A little bit bigger Prius or HCH with a squared off back hatch. It would be heavier and less aero but I would hope it could get 40mpg

I have a roof rack for mountain bikes on my HCH I, and it makes the car get worse gas mileage. If I could have a do over, I'd probably get a hitch mount.

My brother wound up going with the FEH because he rides road bikes, and wanted to be able to store his carbon fiber monstrosity that cost more than a lot of used cars do inside it. You can't really fit more than two bikes inside it, though, and definitely not three bikes and people. The big question I'd have there, though, is whether the FEH gets better mileage than the Outback, or better enough to justify a switch. If you really want to be able to bring everyone, I think you're going to have to go hybrid highlander if you want to go hybrid.

Just having a roof rack on the car (with no bikes on it) already reduces fuel economy. I think Ford mentioned that a roof rack cuts fuel economy by some 15% when driving at freeway speeds -- now throw some bikes on the rack and it cuts economy by some 25%!!!

I bought a receiver hitch mount so I could use a hitch-mounted bike rack. That way the bikes are behind the car in the 'draft' zone.

One more thing... 4 bikes is no problem in the back of the FEH. I occasionally put my bikes inside the car when I want to keep them out of the weather. Throwing 2 bikes in the back doesn't even take half the available space. I know I can put 4 bikes in the back easily and maybe more if I was really careful).

To get the bikes inside I have an ordinary piece of lumber (it's a 1x4 pine board about 2-1/2' wide. I measured the width of the split fold down seats and cut the board to the width of the seat directly behind the driver seat) On the piece of lumber I mounted a few front-fork mounts (see http://www.performancebike.com/shop/...tegory_ID=4413 - I didn't get this particular brand, I just picked up mine at a local bike shop, but there's a link with photos to give you an idea of how it works.). If you check the photos of the product in the link you'll see that they bolted each mount on a slight angle so that the handlebars of the neighboring bikes don't interfere with each other -- this lets you get tighter spacing.

I'm pretty tall so my bike seat post is set up a bit too high. I do have to lower the seat post to get it inside, but other than that there's no problem with having enough room.

I like having the bikes inside the car when I can do it because there's no wind drag, they're safe from weather, and with the dark tinted rear glass they aren't really noticed in the car so I don't worry about theft so much.

I'm not sure a station wagon would have the cabin roof height to fit the bikes unless they are laid down.

Awesome! Perfect timing, I was just looking into doing this exact thing. At first I looked at the hitch mounts, but since I don't have a hitch yet that would be a huge cost. Ten bucks per fork mount is much easier to swallow! So your pine board just lays down on the floor then? Do the bikes shift around at all?

Best trip: 48.9 mpg over 17.9 miles (scangauge)
Best tank: 40.7 mpg over 606 miles (calculated)

A single bicycle will fit inside a Prius with no problem. More than that and owners add a receiver hitch to carry them. With four people and their bicycles, you'd need a good receiver hitch carrier, and probably some rear spring boosters.

Pearl is a
2007 Driftwood Pearl Prius
Package "B" (everything but leather, nav, and rear camera)

The board can slide a little when you go around turns - so I threw a rubbery material under the board (I found mine at a Bed, Bath, & Beyond store). I've seen the material sold as kitchen cabinet shelf-liner material and also as a material to put under area rugs so they don't slide on the floor -- it'ts rather "grippy" and since doing that the board doesn't shift at all when I turn.

I was more worried that the bikes would tip when I take turns, but they don't tip at all (I imagine they might if I took a corner at some pretty high rate of speed).

Regards,
Tim

Low 20s vs. high 20s, and the cargo area is much taller in the Escape than in the Outback.

truedelta.com
Vehicle reliability, fuel economy, and price comparison information

Well, it's not a hybrid, but if you want the wagon space and style I would suggest looking at a 2005 Volkswagen Passat TDI Wagon. Gets 30-40mpg and you can run it on B100 or veggie oil with a small conversion - zero gasoline required!