I am in the same boat i have a Jeep that gets about 16mpg so i am going to get a car and just roof rack the bikes. Even small SUVs are not great but i thin Ford makes a hybrid escape small SUV that gets good MPG and would give you more space. Or something like a Subaru Outback if you can live with a wagon.

Carbon fiber bikes on roof racks seem like an accident waiting to happen.

I have to give a big NO to roof racks period,, I have heard of wayyy too many bikes blowing off the top , garage doors eating bikes etc..besides the bike is taking 50 60 70 mph wind on top of the car,, just not a good combo,, and is a pain in the butt to load up,, I like the bike rack on the back of my gas hog SUV (06 Pathfinder) Iam thinking of the Highlander hybrid,, a friend has the Honda Element and likes it,, although it doesnt feel as safe it has plenty of room,, my .02 for $4 a gallon at $65 a fillup or $500 a month in gas etc.. just how much did Exxon make last yr??

i have a toyota matrix. i dont work for them, i swear, and i love this car. the gas milage is very reasonable, there is a ton of space in the back when you put down the rear seats, and it drives really well.

also, jack bauer drives it in a season of 24.

Well, you could investigate bike commuting/public transportation more and then get what ever car you want :). I have a Jeep Liberty --gets less than 20 mpg, but I love it and only fill up every 3-4 weeks. Hubby bikes to and from work and I run my errands etc on my bike. The bulk of our driving is on the weekends, and I plan my errands all at the same time/place so it is not an issue. Gas is around $4.00 a gallon here but it really does not make much of a difference to me. Just a thought :)
Oh and the Liberty is a great car, has a tow hitch on the back and we can mount 3 bikes and still have the whole back and basket on top to haul stuff if need be.

I have a Honda Accord with a trunk rack. Great gas mileage (24/34) and I can transport up to 3 bikes pretty easily. A little bit of a pain to load them up (if I need to take 3) but it's bearable. The rack is easy to set up too. Can't go wrong with a Honda---give it gas and it goes.

Honda Element. Holds four bikes or a mess of climbing equipment and camping stuff.
25 to 30 per gallon. Funky, and it plugs into my iPod. I have a commute, 30 miles, I'd bike but in this area and with the time I have to be at work...just not safe. When I'm home...It's parked and I use the bike for food shopping and such...

+1.
I've got the '02 TDI (Turbo/Diesel/injection)
38 mpg/ 42mpg highway.

Recently Diesel gas prices haven't acted the way they did when I first bought the car. Typically high during winter (it's basically heating oil) , then cheaper than regular in the summer (when I do most of my driving).
I haven't done the math recently to see how much of a savings the diesel is vs regular gas. I am told the engine is going to last forever as long as I keep up with the oil changes.

At first I thought the diesel would be a dog. I was thinking of the old 1980's VW Diesel Rabbit. The turbo in these things are great and much needed living in the land of on-ramps in NJ.

I used to own a '94 accord with a trunk rack and I was averaging around 31 in the summer and 27 in the winter (its cold in MN). I recently purchased a 2008 2.5x sports Subaru Forester with a manual transmission and I love it! I can throw more stuff in the back of that thing than i ever thought possible. I put a rack on top (Rocky Mounts "Noose") for my bike but can fit it in back no problem with the wheel off. I could fit 2 bikes in back easy if well distributed with the seats down, but i like the roof rack option better.

I currently get about 26 with mixed driving, but its only at 1200 miles on the odo. The mileage is supposed to improve over time and eventually get in the 30's on the road. For more information than you will ever need about a Forester go to:

http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/index.php

I did extensive research into a great number of the small SUV models and the Forester was not the highest rated, but the best quality and overall performance of any of them. I researched the Rav4, CRV, Element, Santa Fe, Escape, Tribute, Matrix, Vibe and it just seemed that for the performance, quality/reliability, space and comfort, the Forester was the best option. It also has the best driving space of any of the models I checked out. I am 6'3" with a lot of leg, and room in the driving seat was priority.

If you have any questions or want some of the research I have done in the area, let me know.

passat tdi wagon
thule rack with two bike mounts & a coffin
tons of space
well rated safety-wise
good mileage (even despite diesel's recent price surge)

and, i second the bike commute, if it's at all possible...another way to get the legs moving

The best option is a compact hatchback or small SUV. Other folks have mentioned VWs and Toyotas - both are smart on fuel and totally reliable. I drive a 30+mpg pontiac vibe (basically a Matrix ripoff) and there's tons of room when you push down the rear seats (even the front passenger seat drops flat). Easy to mount a rear rack, but I would never use the roof rack for bikes as the vibration and crosswinds tend to stress your frame in some of the weaker transverse locations. While I'm fully on-board with developing alternative fuels and hybrid technology, I have to say that they're not yet practical for fuel economy. Save the environment - a little bit. Save money - no. I applaud anyone driving a prius or a h-civic for environmental reasons, but stowing your gear can be a problem. We're going to be slaves to petroleum for at least the next decade, so if you want to save $$$ on gas, drive less and bike/run more. Summer's coming and gas prices are headed through the roof.

Another reason I like living within walking distance of my town center & train station.

I drive a Honda CRV and LOVE IT!!! Room for everything, and gets ~24mpg for me (a highway commute).

If just me, I can fit my bike standing in the back with both wheels on. Just slide it out and ready to ride!

If me and Mike with one bike each, front wheels come off and we fold the smaller side of the split back seat and can fit all our gear beside the bikes (for racing, camping, or both!). We can even still fit 4 people with the 2 bikes in the car and luggage for the people.

If it's me and Mike and 2 bikes each, we have to fold all the seats up, but can still fit all our gear for racing, group ride, and going out with the bikes and all the wheels.

And if you really want to get creative you can have a kayak on top and all the gear for that and biking and such inside :)

i just can't do the minivan thing. i live on the west coast and am surounded by mountains as well so i prefer to have 4wd as well.
i also havea 1970 cmc truck with a small block. a 74 toyota corolla, 72 toyota celica, and am buildinga 1950 dodge truck with a 4.3L fuel injected v6.
cars are my other hobby.

I agree a bike should come first when it can, but there are certain rides and races you gotta pack it up and head to :)

I think any little bit helps. It may or may not be easy. Here in the winter hubby puts his bike on the bus when its really bad in the morning, and then rides home (20 miles). When I was doing my recent nonprofit gig I was not about to drive to downtown, pay to park and then pay for gas while sitting in traffic. So, put the bike on the bus in the morning and then rode home(meeting hubby on the way). When I worked my regular job I rode both ways most days of the week. It was a pain in the winter with the sleet, and rain etc. most days, but well worth it. I used to get comments from people who could not understand how I could give up my car and ride to work. Many people are attached to their cars and being able to go to lunch every day. YES it can be inconveinent (sp) but you would be amazed at how much money you save by not eating out, gas, maintnance on the car and insurance premiums that you can drop to low usage because of it :) AND you get your work out in with out even thinking about it!

I think I have Mike over the "soccer mom" part of the CRV. He had always liked the Pilot, but is very impressed by how the CRV feels, and is getting used to it.

If I was buying new today I would test drive the CRV, Matrix, and the Mazda3 Hatchback.

Agreed. My dad has one 10 minutes from me and I use it all the time. The V-10 doesn't exactly sip gas though.

While i can't comment on 35k/yr with regard to maintenance problems (we only do half that), I do feel you should not dismiss the diesel. With a diesel, you can expect for the engine to go forever. I know plenty of folks who've confidently bought diesels with 150-200k miles on them expecting them to put in another 100k miles.

And, as for the VW reputation, I've had two VW's. The first was a Jetta TDI Wagon. We had no maintenance issues with it in two years. We traded up to the Passat because I'm 6-5 (and it was just too small for me), and we added a kid to our family. We've been very happy for four years now without weird mechanicals to worry about.

check the EPA's website, and compare the car model's you're interested in...
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/

For doubters of the cost efficiency of hybrid cars:

The extra cost of buying a hybrid is ~$3000 (cost for the battery and electric motor).
In general, a hybrid should be getting at least 10mi/gal better than their gas engine counterparts. With gas prices heading toward $4/gal, a hybrid would be saving 40 cents per mile. $3000/.40 is 7500, meaning once you have driven 7500 miles you have covered to cost of the hybrid technology and everything else is money that you are saving. I will note that my oil changes are twice as expensive as they would be if I had a regular civic, and gas is not quite $4 a gallon here, but obviously prices at the pump are only going to get worse over the next few years and the cost savings will continue to get better.

If you are driving 35,000 miles a year you could be saving $14,000 by increasing gas mileage by 10mpg, a very significant savings in my opinion.

The mazda 3 I ended up with as a rental was very similar performance-wise to my corolla and a honda civic (too bad the $ on civics jumped with the new models). I just couldn't stand the dashboard. I'll be sticking with the corolla till they start releasing diesel hybrids state-side. I had a focus (first model year) and every 6 months something new broke.

When I was selling the focus (stupid me should've traded it in, i hate lying... er selling) I had a guy looking at it for his daughter:
him: "so why are you selling it?"
me: "i do a lot of driving and i want something with better gas mileage"
him: "my truck gets 15 and that's pretty good"
me: "this gets ~30"
him: "and 30 isn't good enough?! jeez"

Correct me if I'm wrong (I am not a math guy), but I think this analysis is off. Looking at it another way (to accomodate my simple mind): If you drive 35k miles & get 45 mpg, you would need approx. 780 gallons of gas. At $4, that's around $3,100. If you got 10 mpg less than that, 35 mpg, you'd need 1000 gallons, which would run you $4,000. the savings is the difference between the two numbers, around $900/year, right? And that's at 35,000 miles per year. I drive far less than that & therefore could never get the numbers to work in favor of going hybrid. Again, if I'm wrong I'm happy to be corrected!

Yeah sorry about that. The units of my previous math work but what they stand for was wrong. I thought that the result was extremely high!

45 mpg costs 8.889 cents/mi to operate
35 mpg costs 11.43 cents/mi to operate

So the savings is 2.54 cents/mi and it takes 120,000 miles to make up the cost difference. That's more reasonable from the data I've heard before, sorry about that blunder. And if you would get 30mpg without the regenerative braking, that would cost 13.333 cents/mi for a savings of 4.44 cents/mi and the difference is made up in 68,000 miles.

Also, the speed you are traveling is not what makes a difference, so that 20 mph figure doesn't really apply. Hybrids save energy when the car accelerates and decelerates. You don't change speed as much on the highway as you do in the city (ie stop and go) but every time you accelerate you are saving on gas mileage. If you do all your driving on the highway a hybrid will still help, but certainly not as much as in the city.

Sully, you might also be able to get a small chunk of change in tax credits for buying hybrid. That might change the math for you just a bit.

IIRC, the tax credits are linked to sales of the vehicles. So once a company has sold enough of a hybrid model, the credits for that model phase out. Right now, there are no credits for Toyotas and limited ones for Honda, but some nice incentives for Ford & GM hybrids. (I think the idea was that since we believe hybrids should be encouraged, we don't want the early adopters to be discouraged from buying by paying too much of the costs passed through for startup, development, etc. So the government indirectly subsidizes the technology by giving the early adopters a tax credit. )

Edit: Full chart of the tax credit here: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/tax_hybrid.shtml