Last summer I took a 5000 mile driving trip from Southern California to Banff Canada and with two adults and a small dog and all of the luggage it was very cramped I'm going on another Drive trip in a few weeks and I recently purchased a Thule roof rack, I currently have baskets which I feel will hold all of the luggage , but they are not very aerodynamic I have been considering a roof cargo box but because they are aerodynamic they are very short in the front and I don't feel I could fit as much luggage in a cargo box I understand I will be losing gas mileage either way but since it's only for the trip I'm willing to accept that If anyone out there has experience they're willing to share I would greatly appreciate it thank you
I lost maybe 5mpg. It all depends on how you drive. You can lock it up, and it's very quiet. I got the Sears xcargo 20.
I went to Sears last week to look at one of these, the employees there were not very helpful, it was mounted on a wall and locked, I was able to get them to take it off the wall but they didn't have the keys so I couldn't see inside How easy is it to mount, does it use Ubolts and how many small suitcases can you fit in it , I think I will take one of my suitcases down to sears and get them to open one up I have a Thule square bar rack , it looks like yours is a Yakima flushBar Thanks for the help Sam Del Cioppo
Very easy install, it does uses u bolts and rectangle washers. I'll say it will fit about 4-5 suit cases. It's huge. Sears didn't have it in stock, so i paid early and had to pick it up in a week.
Craigslist.... Anyway, the roof rack does strongly affect your gas mileage. That being said your still getting better mpg then anyone else else on the Road! I wish there was a tailgate/hitch option that keeps the extra storage out of the wind more. I see SUVs carrying ice chests on their hitches all the time.
UO is a linkTE ="A lpine Hik er, post: 2547396, member: 154018"]Craigslist.... Anyway, the roof rack does strongly affect your gas mileage. That being said your still getting better mpg then anyone else else on the Road! I wish there was a tailgate/hitch option that keeps the extra storage out of the wind more. I see SUVs carrying ice chests on their hitches all the time.[/QUOTE] I have been checking Craigslist every day and most of what I've found isn't what I'm looking for, to long and to skinny (ski boxes) and asking a lot of money, the sears box is $200 new but the one I'm going to buy is the Sportrack Skyline Xl it has 18 cubic feet of space (not the most Aerodynamic) but it opens on the passenger side and for its size its fairly lightweight , another thing I found out is that both the sportrack and the Sears models are made by Thule in Chicago I found this out when I ran into the thule rep when I was buying my FIT kit at REI , I'm buying it from walmart.com and even though I have found it for much cheaper online walmart.com has a 90-day return policy one of the nice things about Wal-Mart is you can have it shipped directly to a store and not pay shipping and if you decide to return it you can just take it right back to that store you don't have to ship it back at your cost This is a link to a review online : The Sportrack Skyline XL looks to be sufficient for my needs but fairly flimsy yes I would like one of those expensive Thule boxes but unless I happen to find one on Craigslist for the right price I'm not spending that kind of money for something that I may only use once a year if that
I do not know. But Prius owners in WA and CO have been used the rack as a mini pickup platform. I guess they still pick up lumber and other IC stuffs?? I have seen only Thule and Yakima as popular choice??
Is the small amount of wind resistance from the roof rack really that big of a factor for mpg? Id imagine it being almost insignificant at maybe max loss of 1mpg, but nothing more. I would think the friction off the wheels alone has 10 times greater impact of slowing your momentum down considering all the weight sits on them pushing into the ground.
I don’t know for sure. What I do know is that I have a roof rack (Toyota’s) for my Gen 4, and it spends most of the time on the wall in my garage. Perhaps you could buy one, put it on your vehicle and check your theory out?
Thats crazy if this is true. But i somehow dont buy that my prius will go from 45mpg to 35mpg by a simple bike rack with bikes. But this does arise my curiousity to test it myself with real time results. I just need a bike rack first.
