Roof box - low drag
Discussion
We do a lot of travel by car and up u til now have been borrowing a roof box from a friend for each trip.
It’s been invaluable for space but it’s not very aerodynamic and it easily loses us 20mpg on long distance drives and causes awful wind noise above a certain speed
Im looking to buy my own but there are so many online it’s hard to know what’s best. I’d rather it not be too long as il still need access to the rear boot.
Can anyone recommend a good one?
It’s been invaluable for space but it’s not very aerodynamic and it easily loses us 20mpg on long distance drives and causes awful wind noise above a certain speed
Im looking to buy my own but there are so many online it’s hard to know what’s best. I’d rather it not be too long as il still need access to the rear boot.
Can anyone recommend a good one?
https://www.thule.com/en-gb/cargo-carrier/car-top-...
I really like this one
The also do one optimised for aerodynamics.
https://www.thule.com/en-gb/cargo-carrier/car-top-...
I really like this one
The also do one optimised for aerodynamics.
https://www.thule.com/en-gb/cargo-carrier/car-top-...
Got a Thule motion XL early 2022 for an Alps trip, got the aero bars that reduce wind noise also. On a long run I saw mpg drop from 40 to 30 with roofbox so it’s a noticeable difference but I tried to keep cruise at 70-75mph. Anything faster than that and the mpg would suffer more never mind that it gets a bit noisy.
RSbandit said:
Got a Thule motion XL early 2022 for an Alps trip, got the aero bars that reduce wind noise also. On a long run I saw mpg drop from 40 to 30 with roofbox so it’s a noticeable difference but I tried to keep cruise at 70-75mph. Anything faster than that and the mpg would suffer more never mind that it gets a bit noisy.
This sounds good to me! Thanks for the recommendation
onlynik said:
https://www.thule.com/en-gb/cargo-carrier/car-top-...
I really like this one
The also do one optimised for aerodynamics.
https://www.thule.com/en-gb/cargo-carrier/car-top-...
Wow those Vectors look pretty good. Bit more than I wanted to spend though. I really like this one
The also do one optimised for aerodynamics.
https://www.thule.com/en-gb/cargo-carrier/car-top-...
The motion look a lot better than what we’ve been using though
Nemophilist said:
thebraketester said:
20mpg hit? So you went from what mpg to what mpg?
52-55mpg to about 32(The box we borrow is very old, and as aerodynamic as a Brick)
Edited by Nemophilist on Sunday 1st January 20:12
Fair enough. We’ve got a Thule which is mega and I can’t say I noticed a huge difference in mpg. Certainly less than 10%. Looking to sell it as some point as we have now lost the use for it.
Edited by thebraketester on Sunday 1st January 20:25
thebraketester said:
Nemophilist said:
thebraketester said:
20mpg hit? So you went from what mpg to what mpg?
52-55mpg to about 32(The box we borrow is very old, and as aerodynamic as a Brick)
Edited by Nemophilist on Sunday 1st January 20:12
Fair enough. We’ve got a Thule which is mega and I can’t say I noticed a huge difference in mpg. Certainly less than 10%. Looking to sell it as some point as we have now lost the use for it.
Edited by thebraketester on Sunday 1st January 20:25
Nemophilist said:
thebraketester said:
Nemophilist said:
thebraketester said:
20mpg hit? So you went from what mpg to what mpg?
52-55mpg to about 32(The box we borrow is very old, and as aerodynamic as a Brick)
Edited by Nemophilist on Sunday 1st January 20:12
Fair enough. We’ve got a Thule which is mega and I can’t say I noticed a huge difference in mpg. Certainly less than 10%. Looking to sell it as some point as we have now lost the use for it.
Edited by thebraketester on Sunday 1st January 20:25
thebraketester said:
Nemophilist said:
thebraketester said:
Nemophilist said:
thebraketester said:
20mpg hit? So you went from what mpg to what mpg?
52-55mpg to about 32(The box we borrow is very old, and as aerodynamic as a Brick)
Edited by Nemophilist on Sunday 1st January 20:12
Fair enough. We’ve got a Thule which is mega and I can’t say I noticed a huge difference in mpg. Certainly less than 10%. Looking to sell it as some point as we have now lost the use for it.
Edited by thebraketester on Sunday 1st January 20:25
Check your emails
Depends on the car and roofbox!
A small car with a large roofbox will have a horrific effect on MPG because of the huge increase in frontal area. The same roofbox on a large car will have a lesser effect.
I had a medium sized 320 litre Thule/ It was pretty swoopy and aero looking. MPG hit on larger cars was around 2 MPG.
Some people have roofboxes that resemble bricks.
A small car with a large roofbox will have a horrific effect on MPG because of the huge increase in frontal area. The same roofbox on a large car will have a lesser effect.
I had a medium sized 320 litre Thule/ It was pretty swoopy and aero looking. MPG hit on larger cars was around 2 MPG.
Some people have roofboxes that resemble bricks.
We’ve got a Euro Car Parts cheap box on the RAV4.
Lost maybe 3 mpg on our summer trip to France but put that down to higher motor way speeds in addition to being a fully packed car.
I intend to upgrade to a Thule / Halfords Advanced before the summer but mainly due to the dual side box opening & a better mounting system.
Lost maybe 3 mpg on our summer trip to France but put that down to higher motor way speeds in addition to being a fully packed car.
I intend to upgrade to a Thule / Halfords Advanced before the summer but mainly due to the dual side box opening & a better mounting system.
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