Whats a great road-trip, camping and bike-friendly car?

i need an inexpensive car I can use for the outdoors, roadtrips, to carry my bike? any suggestions? I am researching several vehicles. Fun getting there is definetely a factor as well as versatility.

with these gas prices I've thought about using a regular sedan but the ground clearance is so low you can't really go too many places with a city car. so i need one that has a bit more clearance while still cheap.

Minivan! Oh, I'm sorry, but I'd NEVER leave my bike outside on a rack and expose it to the weather and bike thieves! It stays nice, and comfy warm riding inside my mini van. And for camping? We have a nice doublesized blow up mattress that fits perfectly in the back--with enough room left over for my bike too! (My husband's bike however has to sleep outside on a Yakama "swingaway" rack--which is actually a really nice rack to buy for a minivan, if you don't mind leaving your bike outside with half dozen extra chains and locks on it.)

I have a Town & Country minivan, which averages 24 miles per gallon, 27 on the highway (I keep track!) and also has those "stow n go" seats which fold into the floor in seconds flat, easily accomodating lots of 4 X8 sheets of plywood, and then pops right up to comfortably ride 7 people.

Minivans may not have much (if any) "snob" appeal, but you can buy them fairly cheap, they get much better gas mileage than SUVs, have lots of room for hauling gear and people, and are especially great for camping and hauling your bike!

My husband initially was violently opposed when I came home with our new minivan--he's a truck kind of guy. His vehicle is a Ford 3/4 ton 250 pickup! But even he now finds the minivan far more practical, plus it rides and handles far better--he's even starting to see the benefit in automatic transmissions!

As far as road trips go? Well, I work at home during tax season and the rest of the year, travel with my husband on his job--and he works all over the country. He usually has to fly to his job sites, but I drive to join him because I can't live without my bike, and have put on over 55,000 miles in the 2 years I've owned my minivan--best road trip vehicle I've ever owned!

Any used Subaru Outback or Honda CR-V.

Nissan Xterra, Subaru outback, or a jeep. All those cars have 4WD,and are good on ''outback'' terrain. Good luck with what your looking for! [=

NOTE* There are bike racks available for any kind of car
http://www.racknroad.com/bike-racks.html

i love jeeps. wranglers especially. they can get a little pricey though.

You can get a bike rack installed on any car... my fiance has a VW golf and we always use it for camping and stuff because he has a bike rack on it, but i don't know that it's necessarily a good out doors car... it's small, it's 4 wheel drive though. A jeep cherokee would be cheap used, and good for that sort of thing.

Nissian Xterra, decent on gas very versatile, and inexpensive.
Subaru Outback

Hey Chris, I went through the research process a few years back and I found some great info that helped make my final decision. I purchased and fell madly in love with a Jeep Cherokee.. They make a model that has a specific motor in it called an In line 6.. It is a motor that will literally go forever if you do regular maintanance and take care of it.. I run the heck out of my Jeep, I am on my second one now.. the last one has 300,000 thousand miles on it and is still going strong! I found that the bodies will not rust out.. they have a solid steel frame and passenger safety cage.. the "in Line 6" is only available on Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredos, Jeep Cherokee Sport Models.. and the Wranglers.. The rear seat removes easily for sleeping or you can fold it down.. .. there is a roof rack for added storage space , I have a mountable bike rack on the back of mine for hauling 4 bikes around..I have 2 young boys who track mud in and it cleans up easily, It is the original 4x 4 and it is built to be tough and easily cleaned as well plus they are rugged, great 4 x 4's for off road fun.. sturdy, reliable and you can get one that is very inexpensive.. I would check out Ebay, I got my last Jeep on there and I looooove it.. I did a search for Jeeps within 50 miles ofmy house.. and then went to look at them then made some offers..
Make sure the ones you look at have regular maintanence records.. you are safe getting one with 100,000 miles on it if it has been taken care of..
I run mine very hard.. I don't baby it.. My second pic would have been the Toyota Fourrunner.. another long lasting , non rusting.. any model built after 1987 won't rust.. they had a rust problem before that year.
Good Luck and have fun.. take your time and you won't be disappointed.. I love my Jeeps!!

Pontiac Vibe - it has room for gear, a rack on top for a bike and gets decent gas mileage.

Honda CR-V. You can stand up the bike with the seats down and the front tire off the bike. Add a 2x4 across the floor and mount a quick release mount to hold it. 3 bikes will fit side by side. Get a 2004 or newer body style as the first generation CR-V isn't tall enough inside. They get 28mpg on the highway and have Honda reliability ( I have a Honda with 335,000 on it).

If you want even more room you can do the same thing with a Honda Element, but you give up about 2-3 mpg.

Subaru Outback or Forester. My wife's ten year old Legacy Outback does WAY better in the snow and ice than my full-size four wheel drive pickup ever could. It's fairly roomy, gets close to 30 mpg on the highway, and is very comfortable on road trips. I think the Subaru WRX 5-door is pretty cool too. Very sporty for a station wagon. Of course, there's always the good old VW bus. Cheap parts, easy to fix, very stylie, really versatile.