JP’s Family Truckster

[CaleDeRoo]

Hitch 100%

Cute Utes are too tall imo for the roof bike rack to be worth it.

Edit:. Read your entire post and now I'm leaning go fucking cuck your bike to FB marketplace

[Johnny_P]

Hitch 100%

Cute Utes are too tall imo for the roof bike rack to be worth it.

Edit:. Read your entire post and now I'm leaning go fucking cuck your bike to FB marketplace

And put that cash straight to the diaper fund
Another thing that would have been easier in the Rav. They come with cross bars and a hitch.

[coogles]

I don't personally like mounting bikes up on the roof unless it's for a very short drive. The leverage of left to right to left movement on the rack and thus the bike is pretty severe and twice I had the clamp on the front thru-axle loosen up slightly before reaching the trailhead, even over just some short 30-45 minute drives. And I have a not-cheap Kuat rack mount. Hitch all the way, it seems way more stable.

[troyguitar]

Strap-on hatch mount?

This was $59 and you can still open the hatch with it installed.

[Johnny_P]

Strap-on hatch mount?

This was $59 and you can still open the hatch with it installed.

Yeah I have a Thule one but it’s too heavy for the power hatch to open. So it’s retarded. I could get a lighter weight one I guess.

[D Griff]

Bike rack. Hitch or roof?

Has no roof rails. Roof would require either installing roof rails (relatively easy ish but expensive af) which gives fixed cross bar locations. Or installing clip on rack feet. I’d probably do the clip on in that case. Bonus is the ability to easily add a roof box if we decide to have another munchkin. I can reach it but I’d probably need to stand on the door opening to get the bike. Lisa probably can’t reach it.

Has no hitch. Hitch rack would require installing a hitch which means cutting the under body panels. May or may not have a problem with the kick to open tailgate sensor. Forums are not clear on this. Hitch rack may interfere with the dogs ability to access the hatch. Hitch rack may or may not just live on the car. Adds a foot, would make parking a pain in the dick. They’d all interfere with the hatch door. More of a pain to install / remove since I’d have to lug it into the basement. CRV hybrid has no towing allowance, some forum concern that warranty repairs could get messy if they see a hitch.

I think I’m leaning towards hitch.

Hmmm... major pros and cons. I was firmly in the hitch rack camp, it is great on the Corvette and BMW where you can still access the hatch/trunk. I will admit that on the Jeep it's a bit of a pain in the ass because you can't open the back at all with the rack on, the hits it.

Hitch racks are way easier to install/uninstall and far more efficient.

If you haven't had a roof rack, note that it will dramatically reduce your fuel efficiency. I had one on my Civic... it looked dope, but with two bikes on top, my highway mileage went from 38 MPG to 17 MPG.

[CaleDeRoo]

Bike rack. Hitch or roof?

Has no roof rails. Roof would require either installing roof rails (relatively easy ish but expensive af) which gives fixed cross bar locations. Or installing clip on rack feet. I’d probably do the clip on in that case. Bonus is the ability to easily add a roof box if we decide to have another munchkin. I can reach it but I’d probably need to stand on the door opening to get the bike. Lisa probably can’t reach it.

Has no hitch. Hitch rack would require installing a hitch which means cutting the under body panels. May or may not have a problem with the kick to open tailgate sensor. Forums are not clear on this. Hitch rack may interfere with the dogs ability to access the hatch. Hitch rack may or may not just live on the car. Adds a foot, would make parking a pain in the dick. They’d all interfere with the hatch door. More of a pain to install / remove since I’d have to lug it into the basement. CRV hybrid has no towing allowance, some forum concern that warranty repairs could get messy if they see a hitch.

I think I’m leaning towards hitch.

Hmmm... major pros and cons. I was firmly in the hitch rack camp, it is great on the Corvette and BMW where you can still access the hatch/trunk. I will admit that on the Jeep it's a bit of a pain in the ass because you can't open the back at all with the rack on, the hits it.

Hitch racks are way easier to install/uninstall and far more efficient.

If you haven't had a roof rack, note that it will dramatically reduce your fuel efficiency. I had one on my Civic... it looked dope, but with two bikes on top, my highway mileage went from 38 MPG to 17 MPG.

There's lots of hitch racks that can fold down if you need to open a hatch or tailgate now. Sure you have to take the bikes off most of them but it's an improvement either way.

[troyguitar]

We used this to bring the bikes from NY to FL. It's pretty small/light and quick to install.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00TRTS0 ... UTF8&psc=1

[D Griff]

Hmmm... major pros and cons. I was firmly in the hitch rack camp, it is great on the Corvette and BMW where you can still access the hatch/trunk. I will admit that on the Jeep it's a bit of a pain in the ass because you can't open the back at all with the rack on, the hits it.

Hitch racks are way easier to install/uninstall and far more efficient.

If you haven't had a roof rack, note that it will dramatically reduce your fuel efficiency. I had one on my Civic... it looked dope, but with two bikes on top, my highway mileage went from 38 MPG to 17 MPG.

There's lots of hitch racks that can fold down if you need to open a hatch or tailgate now. Sure you have to take the bikes off most of them but it's an improvement either way.

Yeah, I need to just pony up some fat stacks and get a nice rack...

[troyguitar]

There's lots of hitch racks that can fold down if you need to open a hatch or tailgate now. Sure you have to take the bikes off most of them but it's an improvement either way.

Yeah, I need to just pony up some fat stacks and get a nice rack...

Or be like me and start your rides from home.

[D Griff]

Yeah, I need to just pony up some fat stacks and get a nice rack...

Or be like me and start your rides from home.

I mostly do, but there is a big world out there with a lot of cool places to ride.

[Johnny_P]

Almost done with the first tank of gas. It’s about 450 miles or so. Computer is indicating 38.1 MPG which is right on what it should be doing.

But that’s entirely because of highway trips (highway speeds here are 45-65 ish MPH due to congestion and bad design). In town for our short typical inner city trips it’s indicating about 20 MPG which is pathetic. Likely should have just bought the regular gas motor and saved a few grand.

I got a carvana quote on it for kicks. $24k. So we are $10k thrown away immediately even in this market. Oh well.

Seats are comfy and although they’re leather, the combination of perforations and light color mean I’m not roasting in them. Rear doors open so far that it’s stupid easy to deal with hucking in a wiggling toddler.

Suspension does soak everything up. Some strange secondary motions from it, like the dampers are too soft. Zero bump steer. It leans hard in turns but sticks decently well.

Power is fine. Nothing exciting but it’s quick enough. A bit wheezy on the highway. Linear throttle. Brakes feel ok but in a panic stop it gets super sloppy all around.

Visibility is good in general. I wish the side mirrors were larger.

Blind spot monitors work very well and aren’t obtrusive. Lane keep is not useful but turns off and stays off. Emergency braking doesn’t seem overactive. So the driver assist stuff is generally ok.

Radio sound quality is acceptable. Radio continues to be hard to use. Car Play is almost unusable because I can’t turn the volume down far enough, it’s always screaming at me. So we are back to iPhone in a cup holder. Fucking useless tech in this car.

I gotta get a new rear seat protector. The one I have the buckle snapped on one side. Annoying. Any suggestions there? Need something with seat belt cutouts.

[max225]

So does it still vibrate or whatever ?

[Johnny_P]

So does it still vibrate or whatever ?

Yes. 65-70 mph range it vibrates. Probably have to deal with that after our NY trip.

[Desertbreh]

Almost done with the first tank of gas. It’s about 450 miles or so. Computer is indicating 38.1 MPG which is right on what it should be doing.

But that’s entirely because of highway trips (highway speeds here are 45-65 ish MPH due to congestion and bad design). In town for our short typical inner city trips it’s indicating about 20 MPG which is pathetic. Likely should have just bought the regular gas motor and saved a few grand.

I got a carvana quote on it for kicks. $24k. So we are $10k thrown away immediately even in this market. Oh well.

Seats are comfy and although they’re leather, the combination of perforations and light color mean I’m not roasting in them. Rear doors open so far that it’s stupid easy to deal with hucking in a wiggling toddler.

Suspension does soak everything up. Some strange secondary motions from it, like the dampers are too soft. Zero bump steer. It leans hard in turns but sticks decently well.

Power is fine. Nothing exciting but it’s quick enough. A bit wheezy on the highway. Linear throttle. Brakes feel ok but in a panic stop it gets super sloppy all around.

Visibility is good in general. I wish the side mirrors were larger.

Blind spot monitors work very well and aren’t obtrusive. Lane keep is not useful but turns off and stays off. Emergency braking doesn’t seem overactive. So the driver assist stuff is generally ok.

Radio sound quality is acceptable. Radio continues to be hard to use. Car Play is almost unusable because I can’t turn the volume down far enough, it’s always screaming at me. So we are back to iPhone in a cup holder. Fucking useless tech in this car.

I gotta get a new rear seat protector. The one I have the buckle snapped on one side. Annoying. Any suggestions there? Need something with seat belt cutouts.

5/7 Family Truckster review, would read again. I am not, however, sprinting to my nearest Honda dealer.

[Johnny_P]

Not pleased with the rear seat protectors available on the market so we are just going to keep an eye out for a nice blanket to use on the seat bottom. Just to keep the dog nails from destroying the seat. The backs are pleather so they should stand up to any cheerio attacks.

Still haven’t exactly figured out the bike rack situation.

Took our first road trip in it last Friday. Went to the beach with baby, my brother and his wife. 5 of us in the car and had plenty of room for everyone. Car rode great, was easy to drive for the distance, and got about 38 mpg.

Figured out the Apple car play volume problem. We had to turn all the voice prompts on each app in the phone to minimum, and put the car play volume in the car to bare minimum, and now it’s at least talking at a normal voice level. So that works ish.

The driving aid stuff… radar cruise is great. Works awesome. Lane keep is awful and I turned it off. It ping pongs in the lane, tugs the wheel, and then yells at you that you aren’t driving it. The Hyundai system was far superior, it kept the car dead center and would go about 30 seconds before it pinged a simple message on the dash.

I need to find a way to silence this god awful EV noise maker speaker. It’s so loud. I can hear the car coming a block away.

[troyguitar]

Sounds like you need an exhaust to drown out the speaker systems.

[CaleDeRoo]

Sounds like you need an exhaust to drown out the speaker systems.

[CaleDeRoo]

I wonder what a local upholstery shop could do about a back seat protector?

[troyguitar]

Do any brotherly lovers install whistle tips?

[coogles]

We use a trio of these in the Atlas. They seem to work okay.

https://www.amazon.com/Diono-Ultra-Full ... 5BM0&psc=1

[Johnny_P]

We use a trio of these in the Atlas. They seem to work okay.

https://www.amazon.com/Diono-Ultra-Full ... 5BM0&psc=1

Yeah that could work but I think just a towel or blanket would do it and be easier to deal with overall.

[Johnny_P]

Sounds like you need an exhaust to drown out the speaker systems.

When the engine is on the car is quieter than when its in EV mode. Like, a lot quieter.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Do any brotherly lovers install whistle tips?

It's like an alarm clock!

[Johnny_P]

Unplugging the noise maker throws a code. I wonder if swapping it for one from an earlier accord would work. They were a lot quieter.

It’s inside the wheel well kinda. And has a tube going to underneath the car. I guess I could fill the tube with foam or something.