So, against the advice of the brilliant minds at the Toyota dealership, I installed a roof mounted rack on my Prius, and this weekend was my first opportunity to give it the true test. I loaded up 3 surfboards on the roof, 3 people in the car, and another 150 or so pounds of gear. With all that hanging out in the breeze, after 330 miles I read 39.2 MPG, and after 700 miles I was sitting at 38.2 MPG. Sure, this is much lower than the 47+ MPG I got last time i made the exact same trip without racks on the car, but it blows my old Subaru Outback out of the water, and that's with nothing on it! Put some form drag on the Outback and see what MPG you get, nowhere near 38! I'd use 14 Gallons in the Subaru at just under 300 miles. Final result: success! Prius still dominates any other car with a load on its ultra-aerodynamics! WEEHW!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jgills240 @ Mar 18 2007, 11:54 PM) [snapback]408256[/snapback]</div> Hey, what brand roof rack did you use?
I used the Thule system cause I already had all the attachments from my other car, but Yakima also has an identical system, but with round crossbars.
Cool beans! Been shopping around for a roof rack for the boards-I've seen only one other Prius with a roof rack, and it was the soft bar strappy system.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(pkittie @ Mar 27 2007, 08:28 PM) [snapback]413303[/snapback]</div> What roof rack did you ultimately decide on? And how has it worked out? I'm in the market for a rack system right now. Would like something that can pop off relatively easy and doesn't require me to bolt anything to the roof. Also need one for a longboard. Thanks!
