# Golf/GTI owners, bikes in car?



## skunkty14 (Jan 7, 2005)

Considering a 4dr Golf possibly a GTI in the coming year. Currently driving a '04 WRX hatch which allows for a 19in frame (29er/700c wheels) with front wheel removed to lay flat in the back of the car with the rear seats folded. From what I can eyeball, a Golf could fit the same but may require both wheels removed? Can anyone confirm? A picture would be worth a 1000 words here.

While we're at it, anyone have the floor to roof liner dimension for the same vehicle? Thanks!


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## 92gli (Sep 28, 2006)

try here - VWVortex.com - Cycling


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## A1an (Jun 3, 2007)

We own a MKV 3-door Rabbit (same interior dimensions as the 5-door). I have yet to try to fit my bike inside since we have roof bars on it but I can't see it being an issue with just the front tire off.


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## pimpbot (Dec 31, 2003)

*Should be fine*



skunkty14 said:


> Considering a 4dr Golf possibly a GTI in the coming year. Currently driving a '04 WRX hatch which allows for a 19in frame (29er/700c wheels) with front wheel removed to lay flat in the back of the car with the rear seats folded. From what I can eyeball, a Golf could fit the same but may require both wheels removed? Can anyone confirm? A picture would be worth a 1000 words here.
> 
> While we're at it, anyone have the floor to roof liner dimension for the same vehicle? Thanks!


I had a MK3 GTi, and I could fit my 29er (hardtail, full suspension, singlespeed too) back there with the front wheel off. The later cars are even bigger, so I don't think it will be a problem at all. Just watch the skid marks on the head liner when putting stuff in or taking it out. Back seat down, front wheel off, one handlebar between the front seats, it went no problem. I kept a moving blanket in the car so it would not booger up the interior with chafing or mud.

One time I had one passenger in the front seat, one in back, me driving and a bike both wheels off in the half folded down rear seat and two bikes on the roof rack.

I now have a Lefty on my suspension bike. Removing the front wheel on a Lefty bike is a bit of a PITA. It would have been on the hitch rack.

Now I have a sedan and kinda miss being able to put the bike inside the car. I can do it with both wheels off, but it is a maaajorr PITA.


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## Apexpredator65 (Aug 26, 2011)

I just traded in my 2010 GTI for a 2012 TDI Golf (I sell Volkswagens and they have an AMAZING Employee Lease Program!) Anyway, I can fit my Rocky Mountain Vertex 29er with the front wheel off and my seat post dropped all the way down inside the hatch with the rear seats down. MY Vertex is a 19 inch frame. 

I can EASILY fit my 56CM Jamis road bike in my GTI/Golf. 

The Golf/GTI cavernous hatch area sucks up SO much stuff it's amazing.


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## Markus_037 (Apr 13, 2011)

i have a mkv gti and ill be honest, i want to get a carrier. its a PITA taking my bike apart and stuffing it in the back. craps up my interior, just spend the $150 on a hitch and carrier and be done with it.


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## brankulo (Aug 29, 2005)

when i had golf 2 years ago first thing i did was installing hitch. cant imagine stuffing the car with bike.


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## ukuberv700 (Mar 26, 2011)

I have a mk5 golf GT and can fit a Cannondale SuperV in there, front wheel off and seat post off, I have a massive garden table rain cover in the back so protects all the interior.

I don't find it a problem at all and no carriers to potentially damage the paint.


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## jonz (Mar 23, 2009)

I drove a '02 Golf until last year. With seats folded these cars have massive storage capacity. I always traveled with my bike laying down in the back, with only the front wheel removed. It was great, my bike was always in the car, so any day after work I could make the decision on the fly about whether or not to go riding. Worked for both my 26er and 29er. Seats were folded down and trunk lid thingy was removed at all times. Would often carry 2 bikes at a time with bikes stacked. No problem.


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## usernamehere (Mar 19, 2009)

*2007 gti , 2 door*

Large size bikes (santa cruz butcher, specialized pitch, banshee scirocco) all fit in back with front wheel removed (BIKE WHEEL, NOT GTI ), seats folded. also enough room in back for an 80 pound dog. 
I have a hitch rack, but its not always necessary for shorter outings
cheers


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## skunkty14 (Jan 7, 2005)

pimpbot said:


> I had a MK3 GTi, and I could fit my 29er (hardtail, full suspension, singlespeed too) back there with the front wheel off.


Full saddle height or seatpost removed?



Apexpredator65 said:


> I just traded in my 2010 GTI for a 2012 TDI Golf (I sell Volkswagens and they have an AMAZING Employee Lease Program!) Anyway, I can fit my Rocky Mountain Vertex 29er with the front wheel off and my seat post dropped all the way down inside the hatch with the rear seats down. MY Vertex is a 19 inch frame.
> 
> I can EASILY fit my 56CM Jamis road bike in my GTI/Golf.
> 
> The Golf/GTI cavernous hatch area sucks up SO much stuff it's amazing.


Do you have to drop the seatpost? Our could you cram it in there? I do not like dropping my seatpost, picky about saddle height & carbon seatpost so constant scratching not ideal.



Markus_037 said:


> i have a mkv gti and ill be honest, i want to get a carrier. its a PITA taking my bike apart and stuffing it in the back. craps up my interior, just spend the $150 on a hitch and carrier and be done with it.


It is a bit of a PIA but I bring my bikes to work, leave car parked outside my girlfriends house, etc. Not trying to brag (we're all here as cyclists) but my "cheapest" bike is ~$2500 and my race bike is easily worth $7k so security is key, hence my desire to keep the bikes inside the vehicle often. I'm paranoid enough that I ulock & run security cable when parking all day or overnight. Will still run roof racks for day trips.



brankulo said:


> when i had golf 2 years ago first thing i did was installing hitch. cant imagine stuffing the car with bike.


See above.



usernamehere said:


> Large size bikes (santa cruz butcher, specialized pitch, banshee scirocco) all fit in back with front wheel removed (BIKE WHEEL, NOT GTI ), seats folded. also enough room in back for an 80 pound dog.


Same question as above, seatpost at full height?

Thanks everyone so far, very helpful. Need to test drive a Jetta wagon too but next vehicle is likely a VW at this point, not much else out there that interests me.


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## Apexpredator65 (Aug 26, 2011)

On my mountain bike I have to drop my saddle but on my road bike I do not.


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## bigb73 (Oct 11, 2007)

I have a 06 Golf and the day after I bought it, I had a receiver hitch put on just for my bikes. The only drawback is that they had to drill a hole in the bottom of the trunk for the hitch. Still, I think that's the way to go.


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## jabrabu (Aug 2, 2010)

Can you fold half of the rear seat and fit a 29er in the back with just the front wheel removed? I'm wondering if I could fit a bike in there with a child seat installed.


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## 3In2Out (Feb 1, 2012)

Good to hear yall are fitting bikes in the hatch. I was just coming to post a question about this. I have a MK5 GTI.


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## pimpbot (Dec 31, 2003)

*Yep..*



skunkty14 said:


> Full saddle height or seatpost removed?
> 
> Do you have to drop the seatpost? Our could you cram it in there? I do not like dropping my seatpost, picky about saddle height & carbon seatpost so constant scratching not ideal.


I would just put the back seat down, take off the front whee, turn it on it's side (derailleur side up) and stick the handlebar between the front seats. I didn't have to mess with the saddle at all. I kept a moving quilted blanket in the trunk area of the car so I wouldn't mess up the interior. The bar would stick between the front seats a bit, but it was out of the way enough not to notice.

I'd also like to point out the new Golfs are even a couple steps bigger than the '96 MK3 I had.

Easy peasy. Now, you got me thinking of another 4 door GTi for when it's time to retire the A4.

I really like the A4 (especially the quattro!), but it is not good for carrying much of anything. The trunk is not big enough for a bike, even with both wheels off, unless I also take my bars off as well. Thing is, I could fit a bike in the trunk of our MK3 '97 Jetta GLX when we had one, if I took both wheels off and took out the seatpost. It was great for stealth. I could store my bike and gear in the back of the car, and hit after work rides on a whim. Can't with the A4.


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## boogenman (Sep 22, 2006)

I had a 4 door Golf TDI MKIV and could fit my DH bike in the back with the front wheel off no problem. 

I would pack that car for races no problem. Cooler of beer and food, bike, spare tires, spare wheel, tool box, riding gear, camping gear and my big dumb dog.


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## kaotikkaos (Jan 29, 2012)

Why not consider a roof rack? I think they compliment the look of the GTI and it keeps the dirt out of your car.


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## pimpbot (Dec 31, 2003)

kaotikkaos said:


> Why not consider a roof rack? I think they compliment the look of the GTI and it keeps the dirt out of your car.


Wind noise, security, vertical clearance, expense (as in, you dont have to buy anything to put the bike inside), makes your gas mileage take a big dump, and messes up the paint. Maybe the newer cars are no-touch for the rack, but I had 4 dull spots under the roof rack feet. Later, the clear coat started de-laminating under the rack feet and spread all around the roof. It looked pretty horrible by the time I sold the car.

I ran a roof rack on mine a while. I kinda hated it. I only brought it out in a pinch. I mostly used the hitch rack.


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## M5Tucker (Aug 8, 2011)

Sorry I don't have a pic handy, maybe I can get one for ya.... My wife drives an 2-door '04 VR6 GTI and I regularly fit my Kona Stinky 6 in the back with the front wheel off & rear seats folded down. If I pull both wheels off I can just fit it upside-down behind the seats when the rears are all up. I used to have an '02 WRX wagon & that had more room by a bit, but the mkIV VW has a pretty cavernous hatch. I'd still have the Subaru if it weren't for a crash that totaled it, but I advocate them & Mk4-6 VW TDIs to anyone who will listen, and haven't pissed anyone off yet. All my TDI & Suby customers seem to love them, period. 

I work on European cars for a living, and if I were you I'd keep the Subaru unless you want to go diesel. My only real functional fault with the newer Mk5+ VWs is the smaller rear hatch, resulting from more tapered rear bodywork, which seems to be a trend between all brands. They might have great interior space on paper, but the hatch is %75 as large as the previous version and the roof is lower, so it doesn't matter. 

I've seen a rare few mechanical issues with cam & injector failures, but I believe that the internet blows such things out of proportion. Some of the 2.0T FSI engines seem to use oil at a pretty good rate, but not all. For the most part, they're pretty good cars otherwise, especially if you skip the automatic gearboxes, as the valve bodies seem to be very susceptible to, shall we say, a lack of service. Because initially VW told everyone they were "service free." Which means, "tough **** you didn't service the trans, by "lifetime oil" we meant the life of the gearbox", which is conveniently just over the powertrain warranty mileage. The DSG's have proven to be pretty robust, but I prefer a manual. The CVT's are crap. There aren't many cars I still like after working on them professionally for years, and I'm a lifelong VW dork, having owned many different VW/Audi products. Somehow I've still managed to like the Mk4-6 VW Golf, and the Mk4-6 TDI's are on my short list for our next family car. You won't likely be disappointed for space in the back. It's unfortunate that Subaru hasn't brought their excellent diesels to North America yet, I'm sure they'd sell every one they could build. If you end up with a 99-05 VW, I have a factory roof rack cross bar setup for ya.


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## whybotherme (Sep 12, 2008)

Dirty stuff stays outside.


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## quattrokid73 (Feb 16, 2007)

I have a 2011 GTI 4 Door. I have a Yakima rack with fairing and two High Rollers. They are great racks. Never have to take wheels off, can lock bike to roof, everything is great. Fits any type of bike too!

Go that route!


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## romanl (Jul 31, 2010)

i have 2010 GOLF TDI 5door

1 bike fits with rear wheel on.
i've fit 3 MTN bikes on the back, but all wheels had to come of and it was a bit tights.

but normally i just run my Thule Echelon 518 and throw that front wheel in the back. best rack ever


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## Desert Rider (Feb 17, 2011)

Yea the bike will fit inside with the front wheel off and the rear seats folded down, but it's a major hassle to deal with. You might have to even bring your front seats forward a bit. You'll want a rack immediately. The only downside to a rack will be the security. If your going somwhere where you'll only need to take your own bike and you'll be making many unattended stops then you might want to just throw it in the hatch.


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## jafstl38 (Mar 20, 2011)

skunkty14 said:


> Considering a 4dr Golf possibly a GTI in the coming year. Currently driving a '04 WRX hatch which allows for a 19in frame (29er/700c wheels) with front wheel removed to lay flat in the back of the car with the rear seats folded. From what I can eyeball, a Golf could fit the same but may require both wheels removed? Can anyone confirm? A picture would be worth a 1000 words here.
> 
> While we're at it, anyone have the floor to roof liner dimension for the same vehicle? Thanks!


your trading your WRX hatch for a GTI!? Big downgrade, subaru's are some of the best vehicles around!


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## qeemat (Feb 18, 2012)

*Answer...!!!*

Some of you guys must be REALLY frick'n short!

I had a 2006 GTI and now have a 2010. Awesome car! I have the 4-door version. Drop the rear seats and I can get my road or tri bike inside w/o any problem, so long as I remove the font wheel. No way to get it in upright, unless I remove the seat and even then it is tight.
_______________________________________________

"I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes."- Charles Swindoll.


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## skunkty14 (Jan 7, 2005)

jafstl38 said:


> your trading your WRX hatch for a GTI!? Big downgrade, subaru's are some of the best vehicles around!


Possibly. I really like my WRX but like every vehicle there are tradeoffs/downsides. I'll lose AWD, some power/torque/speed with a GTI but I'll gain interior fit/finish, amenities, mileage and a much improved gearbox IMO. Subaru gearbox (6sp possibly withstanding) are fairly terrible in terms of driving feel across the line and durability when paired with 200+hp powerplant. IMO new WRX is nice (not a fan of the styling) but the price doesn't sit well with me considering the fit/finish and the mileage. If I wanted to stay with the flat four family I'd keep my existing wagon and mod the hell out of it and buy a daily/practical vehicle for reliable transportation.

And to continue the discussion/repeat myself; I will have a roof rack on any vehicle I own. I will still put bike(s) inside on a regular basis, hence my question. Hitch racks are not for me for multitude of reasons but most importantly is that every vehicle I've ever owned has been rear-ended. Bad enough to have to repair the car but possibly crushing/totaling one or multiple bikes, no thanks. And I know it takes space, makes the car dirty, etc. I don't care, it's about security in this context for me. Your results/opinions may vary.


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## banks (Feb 2, 2004)

My 29" wheel Erisken fits in the back of my '82 Golf GTi 1600 with the wheels off, rear seat folded forwards. Or on the roof with Thule 300 gutter feet, 50" bars and trays.


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## švajnundpig (Dec 1, 2011)

I have Golf MKV, with lowered backseat and removed wheels my bike fits great, thus I would rather prefer roof racks, because I hate when I get my car dirty


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## pimpbot (Dec 31, 2003)

*I dunno....*



Desert Rider said:


> Yea the bike will fit inside with the front wheel off and the rear seats folded down, but it's a major hassle to deal with. You might have to even bring your front seats forward a bit. You'll want a rack immediately. The only downside to a rack will be the security. If your going somwhere where you'll only need to take your own bike and you'll be making many unattended stops then you might want to just throw it in the hatch.


If it was just me and my one bike, I found the bike inside method to be really easy. Or, it was until I got a Lefty. Taking the front wheel off a bike with a Lefty fork is a minor PITA.

Just drop the front wheel, stick the brake caliper block in the brake (if you're that picky, I wasn't), hold the bike by the seat tube in the middle of the frame, derailleur side up, Let the bars hang down, insert bars between front seats (on a moving blanket, or you're top edge of the back seat will get boogered up like mine was), and - Done!

Total load time, under one minute. Probably less time than it takes to mess with a platform hitch rack (except the 1Up  )



whybotherme said:


> Dirty stuff stays outside.


I don't think your wife would appreciate your saying that, but my mindseye does. 

Wait, wait... just let me mediate on that one for a minute.... okay, thank you! 

Oh, and she's a nice looking lady! Mazel Tov!



banks said:


> *pic*
> 
> My 29" wheel Erisken fits in the back of my '82 Golf GTi 1600 with the wheels off, rear seat folded forwards. Or on the roof with Thule 300 gutter feet, 50" bars and trays.


You must be in Europe. We didn't get the GTi until '83, and it was a 1.8 liter big valve engine based on the Westmorland Rabbit, not the cooler German Golf.


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## SRock24 (Mar 10, 2012)

kaotikkaos said:


> Why not consider a roof rack? I think they compliment the look of the GTI and it keeps the dirt out of your car.


im right with him. a roof rack is a good way to go. I put one on my 04 passat and couldnt be happier!


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## memi (Nov 14, 2011)

i had the same GTI I believe it was model before introduce the 16V (assume if memory is right, 1989?}. I had a roof rack with homemade old hub tie down to the roof rack and tie in the back rack. It was awesome.
GTI are too small to pack a big bike.....
Now I have Scion XB and I can put whole 29er with wheels on in the back!!!
BUT..still missed my GTI.


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## leiito (Mar 14, 2012)

my Spesh Enduro fits just fine in the back of my MKVI GTI with the front wheel off and the back seats folded. Just get a used thule roof rack and be done with it.. Best way to transport bikes on these cars IMHO... as long as you secure everything well up there, you can't even tell there's anything on your roof... which may or may not be a good thing. (I've torn apart two saddles entering underground parking lol)

here's my baby driving through Mexico  :thumbsup:


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## ihaveagibsonsg (Nov 29, 2010)

I'd keep the WRX too. I owned 3 VW's in 2 years. They all broke without warning so I bought another to drive until I fixed the other(unexplained massive mechanical failures). After I fixed them all I sold all of them and I've never been happier. I bought a Civic Si hatchback(2004) which scoots but holds my 20" framed 29er without taking off the front wheel. It's an absolutely awesome car and it gets 40mpg. The only car I'd consider replacing it for is a newer WRX or STI hatchback, but I'd put racks on it because I wouldn't wanna mess up the interior.


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## vw_steggie (May 17, 2006)

banks said:


> My 29" wheel Erisken fits in the back of my '82 Golf GTi 1600 with the wheels off, rear seat folded forwards. Or on the roof with Thule 300 gutter feet, 50" bars and trays.


Those Pirelli wheels are awesome!


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## dieselgti (Jun 3, 2010)

I had a 2007 2dr GTi and I was able to fit a 20" 29'er w/ the front wheel removed. I had to fold down the rear seats and moved the passenger seat foward a bit. I usually kept the seats all the way back...


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## Mdrnizd (Aug 17, 2009)

I have a Whispbar rack for a MKVI that I'm going to sell if any one is interested. I sold the car, so I don't have a need for the rack. PM me if interested.


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## michaelscott (May 23, 2011)

I can easily fit L size framed 26ers into the back of my 07 GTI with the rear bench down. I keep a stack of old towels there to wrap around things/keep the interior nice.

I've got two 29ers that are M frames. One fits without the wheel and the other I can fit the whole bike.

I've contemplated getting a hitch or roof rack but I've also contemplated just getting a whole new car and can't seem to find anything better than the GTI unless I want to spend $50,000 or more. IMO they are pretty much the best "Drivers Car" out there unless you want a new 2012 BMW 3 series with the smokin' turbo 4 they have. vroom vroom.


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