Recommendations for roof rack

Those permanently mounted rails will hurt your FE because you cannot remove them like a rack when not in use. H

 

These permanent mounted rails will hurt FE when not in use. Not a good idea in my estimation! H

 

He did install it himself, partly because of the worry about roof rack leaks. And he just basically over engineered the install.

This is what he told me when he did it:

Since I bought his old prius, which already had the standard yakima rack & the scratches from it, I haven't bothered with drilling the track system.... But I will say, if I leave the yakima on the prius, I lose about 10 mpg just with the rack alone. Add a kayak or two on there, maybe I lose another 5 mpg. Therefore, I take the rack on & off everytime I use it and for a short person, it's a pain in the neck & heavy. The track system that just comes on & off seems much more handy, I don't really like the window clip system. It works, but it does scratch the heck out of the roof/doorframes if you don't put in on right, it loosens up, etc.

I leave the rack on my subaru full time, in comparison, I only lose 1-2 mpg so it's not worth the effort of taking it on and off.

Although, I've now found the most gas economical way of transporting a real sea kayak with a prius, without losing gas mileage (3 piece sea kayak) j& it fits in the parking garage at work:

 

I just shot him an email & asked - but I don't think he noticed a drop in fuel economy.

It depends on what your lifestyle is, however. If you are a kayaker and you need a roof rack on your prius at 3-4 times a week - you get better gas mileage having something that is easy enough to get on and off that it's not prohibitive to do it...

And while you end up with holes in your roof and rails, you don't end up with scratches all over your roof & door frames. I can post pics of what happens to the door frame when a yakima or thule tower fails.

 

Permanent mount is definitely less hassle . H

 

He says the permanently mounted rails lost him maybe 1 mpg if that.

 

Not the end of the world I suppose! It would bother me however. H

 

I just purchased a 2015 prius V five with the intention of mounting a track for my two sea kayaks.Thanks for the specific installation directions. I will seek out a body shop for the install. How did you determine where on the roof the tracks went? It's probably a stupid question but I'm really wanting the job too be done right the first time. YOUR HELP WOULD BE SO APPRECIATED