Yep, that’s pretty much my family situation. I currently have a Transit Connect that is regularly used to haul kayaks, mountain bikes, and camping gear. The very thin undercladding is hanging down in places do to some rock strikes on generally mild forest roads.

My only question about that is that it came closer in price to the base Bronco than I expected. I figured closer to a 6k difference. SoI can see some people just deciding to step up even if this would suit their needs.

In how many comment threads are you going to post this?

I mean, I might be alone, but I’d be totally into a Safari’d Ford Flex.

It might be sacrilegious around here, but I think I like the four door most. I get a good “Modern Defender” vibe from it as well as the obvious old Bronco influences.

I have a Transit Connect with two kayaks on the roof, a bike rack on the back, and the plastic protective cladding hanging off the bottom from some over ambitious driving on my way to use the bikes. I also have a sleeping platform for it sitting in the basement as once I had a kid, it was too small for us all to sleep…

Well thankfully this is a problem that I'm sure is easily addressed with an aftermarket lift kit.

Only if you have required a retriever. If it’s a Golden, you are specifically limited to the Forester/Outback.

I agree. I think it’s always dumb, but the dumbness is slightly less now. The chances of a run killing someone in a direct way due to higher traffic seems much higher than the chance the somehow they divert resources that could have helped a coronavirus patient and so someone else dies that way.

I can’t tell if you’re making fun of another common comments section narrative, but literally every indication suggests that it will be a boxy offroad capable truck rather than an Escape clone with a light bar.

If they made a longbed version, I’d buy one...What? It’s not a truck...Well, yeah, that’s what I’m saying. I need to haul 4x8 sheets of plywood.

This is going to be a real conundrum for all the online commenters claiming that they were totally going to buy it if it just came with two doors/a removeable roof/etc..

In the other minivan thread, people are talking about the Pacifica's poor reliability. What drives that? Power train? Electronics? Doors?

I mean, the picture that headlines the article looks a good bit like the Pacifica already.

Shuttle racks generally mount to the back of the shuttle vehicle, either permanently or via a hitch mount. You’d have to program the vehicle to know that it’s 4 feet longer than normal, but there isn’t much danger of getting things mangled by an overpass.

I’m a mountain biker. Throw a bike rack on that thing and teaching it to drive some standard shuttle routes and I’ll be all in. 

The problems go beyond that. The measure they use is just the percentage of cars for sale by their original owner that were at least 15 years old. This does a couple of things:

It’s the length to height ratio that makes them wagonish.

Harley needs to survive the next 30-40 years. When my kids get to their 40s, they’re going to want a Harley as a mid-life crisis bike as it’s what they’ll have seen their grandfathers on and will lionize them in memory as proto-badasses of times gone by. 

I’d also be interested in this.