Family ski car

[Castle Dave]

There is an elephant in the room here. If you love your kids you will not carry skis inside your car and will use a roof box. Skis are flying guillotines in an accident. I totaled a car (not my fault) and using a ski box probably saved my life and my dogs lives.

 

[Banzaibikes]

Family of 4/ we ski every weekend and use a Thule roof box. We each have 2 pairs of skis plus poles (and extra adjustable for an spare). We put a yoga mat down. It’s on my Xterra...so I have to use a step ladder.

 

[Lorenzzo]

I don't see how you're going to do a small SUV and not use a rack or cargo box. Personally, I wouldn't want a pile of 4 skis going up the center between 2 young children in case of a crash. I love my Mazda CX-5 and recommend it but I would not be able to do people in the back seat with skis without a rack or box. I am about average height for a woman (5'6") but would just carry a small folding stool to access a box or rack if necessary but on the CX-5 I don't think it would be.

I strongly agree skis don't belong inside a car with children. I'd figure out how to adapt to a box.

Toyota is introducing a re-design of the RAV this winter and while we don't have much specific info on performance and economy there's a good chance it will leapfrog the competition. If I were in your situation I'd take a close look at that.

 

[sparty]

There is an elephant in the room here. If you love your kids you will not carry skis inside your car and will use a roof box. Skis are flying guillotines in an accident. I totaled a car (not my fault) and using a ski box probably saved my life and my dogs lives.

It's been mentioned at least twice already, but it's true of any large, solid object. Ski boots or even a backpack full of textbooks can also easily become a dangerous projectile in a crash. Anecdotally, I'm aware of at least one case in which a rollover resulted in concussions, one somewhat serious, that were most likely from ski boot-to-head contact, but there were no cuts from any of the skis (most of which were quite sharp, being race skis).

If the skis are properly strapped together (which they should be any time they're being transported), there shouldn't be a lot of cut risk from the edges, but they're still a potentially nasty projectile unless secured. Strapping things to secure tie-down points is probably the best bet, but that can be a challenge logistically (you may need to add some tie-down points to existing structural bolts, e.g. seat-mount bolts, to pull it off).

 

[fileguide]

I appreciate everyone's feedback. I'm noticing a lot of people mentioning the safety reasons for not putting skis and boots in the passenger cabin. I agree, this is clearly not safe unless the skis were somehow tied down. (In my original post wasn't suggesting that I intended to put the skis in the cabin like that. I did it with a sedan I had years back that had fold-down seats; add it to the list of dumb things I did in my 20s. I guess maybe these posts are in response to other responses that were suggesting buying a minivan or large SUV and laying the skis down on the floor in the "aisle" between the kids' captains' chairs.)

There's a part of me that really likes driving a truck and would love to pick up a shiny new one. Beyond that, the idea I'm liking the best is getting a CR-V sized vehicle with running boards to make it easier to access a cargo box on the roof. There's some question as to whether the car + box would fit in the garage but I'm cautiously optimistic.

 

[Philpug]

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There's some question as to whether the car + box would fit in the garage but I'm cautiously optimistic.

Our Alltrack with a (large) Yakima 21 cu.ft. Skybox fits. I think you would have no problem with even a larger Outback with one of the new low profile boxes that are now offered. Aslo. we are using a tire step to access the box contents on our Yukon and it works great.

 

[Castle Dave]

We have a Thule Ascent 1700 on Thule racks and footings on a 2015 Santa Fe. That was the biggest box they made at the time and CUV plus box total height is 83 inches
I'm tall so can reach but with taller vehicles have carried this folding step stool.
https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/maison-kleen-folding-step-stool-black-1424389p.html#srp

 

[Wilhelmson]

Different perspective - If you live in the suburbs or country you are going to have serious pickup truck withdrawal. Understandably you might need better gas mileage for certain reasons however without at least a larger suv you could go crazy trying to pack for camping or extended vacations. Depending on the term of the lease on the outback perhaps you could consider purchasing a larger suv and dealing with the gas mileage until you can replace the outback with a smaller car. We have an impreza hatchback and pilot, and I still wish I had a truck.

 

[princo]

Here's another thought. I've seen some hitch mounted "golf club carriers" that could potentially be used to carry a couple of hard case double "SportTubes" vertically.

They are out of stock, but you get the idea. You could probably get a metal shop to fabricate one for you if you can't find one. Looks very simple.

Hitch Mounted Golf Carrier: https://www.amazon.com/Boone-Outdoor-Course-Carrier-2-Inch/dp/B001IBHVKM

SportTube: https://www.sportube.com/All-Products-s/1828.htm

 

[cantunamunch]

Here's another thought. I've seen some hitch mounted "golf club carriers" that could potentially be used to carry a couple of hard case double "SportTubes" vertically.

The (massive) problem with those systems is one loses access to the back door/liftgate.

On something like an Acadia one can get away with it, but in a tiny little CR-V or or CX-5, with -from OP's post- 'two carseats and no seat folding' - I can assure you that putting a ski tubes on a hitch cargo carrier will kill the ability to carry boot bags and sundry gear inside the vehicle.

 

[princo]

The (massive) problem with those systems is one loses access to the back door/liftgate.

On something like an Acadia one can get away with it, but in a tiny little CR-V or or CX-5, with -from OP's post- 'two carseats and no seat folding' - I can assure you that putting a ski tubes on a hitch cargo carrier will kill the ability to carry boot bags and sundry gear inside the vehicle.

That one folds down. Although it requires a bit of space behind the car to do that.

You also have to be aware of not hitting something with that thing being taller than your roof. That being said, there are no perfect solutions. Some compromises will have to be made.

 

[x10003q]

There is an elephant in the room here. If you love your kids you will not carry skis inside your car and will use a roof box. Skis are flying guillotines in an accident. I totaled a car (not my fault) and using a ski box probably saved my life and my dogs lives.

Maybe people who are not smart enough to figure how to safely pack skis in their car should not be talking about elephants.

I have been putting my skis inside the car for decades. First, put the skis in a ski bag. Second, put the skis through the center pass thru. Third, use the center seat belt to lock the skis down. The center pass thru can easily handle 3-4 sets of skis.

See? That wasn't so hard and you can still love your kids, too.

 

[Philpug]

That trailer mount concept? Boy, will that get discusting with road grime in the winter.

 

[fileguide]

@Wilhelmson I am keenly aware of the possibility for pickup truck withdrawal. Honestly the real problem here is that my driveway is too small to park a third vehicle. Otherwise I'd just keep the truck (I own it outright and its value is diminishing anyway) and buy a smaller car as my commuter.

For what it's worth, I found some details on the CR-V's cargo area dimensions and it appears I could actually lay a pair of 170's diagonally. The longest pair of skis in the family is 168cm so I could probably pull this off without a cargo box, and if racing became a thing later on, then we do the cargo box or go back to a truck. But my oldest is only 5 so it's likely some years off, if it ever comes.

Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to look at pickup trucks online

 

[Ken_R]

@Wilhelmson I am keenly aware of the possibility for pickup truck withdrawal. Honestly the real problem here is that my driveway is too small to park a third vehicle. Otherwise I'd just keep the truck (I own it outright and its value is diminishing anyway) and buy a smaller car as my commuter.

For what it's worth, I found some details on the CR-V's cargo area dimensions and it appears I could actually lay a pair of 170's diagonally. The longest pair of skis in the family is 168cm so I could probably pull this off without a cargo box, and if racing became a thing later on, then we do the cargo box or go back to a truck. But my oldest is only 5 so it's likely some years off, if it ever comes.

Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to look at pickup trucks online

You know you want it

 

[cantunamunch]

For what it's worth, I found some details on the CR-V's cargo area dimensions and it appears I could actually lay a pair of 170's diagonally.

Before you get too wedded to the platonic concept of the CR-V, go sit in one. It's nice in 10 dozen ways - nice greenhouse, nice lines of sight, good ease of entry...but OMG that dashboard would drive me fertiliser-grade batshit within an hour of ownership.

 

[fileguide]

Before you get too wedded to the platonic concept of the CR-V, go sit in one. It's nice in 10 dozen ways - nice greenhouse, nice lines of sight, good ease of entry...but OMG that dashboard would drive me fertiliser-grade batshit within an hour of ownership.

I test-drove one about a month back. It was fine. I wish I could say I was really particular about that kind of stuff but I'm just not. I totally get why a lot of people are though.

 

[LegacyGT]

@Tom K., @JohnnyG and @jmeb -- I'm looking to avoid minivans, large 3-row SUVs, and another pickup truck due to gas mileage concerns. [/QUOTE]
So many of us want to avoid these larger vehicles but you're discovering the largely unblamed factor that has contributed to the growth of American cars....the carseat. Car seats have gotten bigger and the guidelines/requirements regarding their use have gotten stricter. They may be making things safer for our kids but they have also played a role in our need for larger cars. If you have more 3 young kids or 2 young kids plus a large dog or skis, etc. you are thrust into the the 3 row category (SUV, crossover or minivan). One option you might look into is whether you can get two car seats on the 2/3 side of the Outback, allowing you to fold 1/3 of the seat for skis. From my days with car seats, there was one option (Radian, I think) that was narrower than just about everything out there. That seat weighed a ton but it was narrow enough to fit 3 across in some cars.

 

[fileguide]

Hey everyone -- I want to thank you all very sincerely for the help and perspective and advice you've given me on this thread. What a great community! We decided to get another pickup truck. In fact we're upgrading to a full size Ram 1500. It gets way better gas mileage than my 12 year old midsize and it rides like you're floating on a cloud.

 

[cantunamunch]

Thanks for checking back in. I think most of the posters in this thread would agree with the reasons for your choice.