Study: roof racks waste 100 million gallons of gasoline a year in the U.S.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by Xist

roof racks

Originally Posted by freebeard

^^^^One post up, Sir Xist.

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[Fat Charlie]

My wife needed something to commute in, by application a car. She bought a yellow version of that blue thing. I only drove it when it was towing (she wouldn't) or when I had no other choice because I don't like driving trucks, especially when they're not necessary.

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Roof basket AND bike! He wins.

No, he doesn't win because he's also saying Look! I'm too short to reach my bike without slamming my car.

[vskid3]

Only vehicle I've ever owned with roof racks was my Escape Hybrid. They spent most of their time in the basement. Pretty sure I didn't even put them on when I brought a sheet of plywood home on the roof.

[freebeard]

Quote:Originally Posted by Xist
roof racks

Quote:Originally Posted by freebeard
^^^^One post up, Sir Xist.

Okay, you made me dig for this one. Same bike, different rack.

Be happy with that, even though it's not what you really wanted.

[jcp123]

We had a ski rack on my Dad's Passat. It stayed on all week then got used most every weekend during the winter. It came off when the snow melted. Worked better when they had minivans and everything fit inside. But that Passat was 100x the vehicle that those Caravans were.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by Xist

Mr. Aerohead sir, did you ever read "Planet of the Apes" by Pierre Boulle? I do not have any idea if this scene made it into Charlton Heston's movie, but I alway felt that a man flirting was only a glorified ape beating his chest, which Ulysse initially refused to do to court Nova.

Are there any roof racks that positions bikes sideways for the ultimate win?

My reading didn't really kick into gear until college,and I've found very little time for pleasure reading.
They had already done the original screenplay for Planet of the Apes when I was in high school.I'd be more inclined to read it now,after reading what Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan have said about humans and primates.
As to sideways,I've not personally seen a layout like that.
I'd be inclined to place them at the rear,wake-riding.

[jcp123]

Yeah my first instinct would be to put them in back as well.

FWIW, not everyone seems to be stupid. I browsed a thread on a make-specific forum about a week ago asking about the MPG hit for roof racks (the enclosed, Thule types), and the consensus of response was that it was about a 20% mpg hit in that model, and not worth it vs. a hitch-mounted cargo carrier of some type. There's hope yet!

[Xist]

Nice! I would have expected something like "Just drop in a K&N filter and it should compensate."

[Noahfreak]

The study didn't take into account the foregone larger vehicle that would be necessary to replace the roof rack. 25% off of a typical car's mpg is still better than most trucks and large SUVs, isn't it?

[bentring]

Originally Posted by Noahfreak

25% off of a typical car's mpg is still better than most trucks and large SUVs, isn't it?

I would expect there to be a huge amount of 'it depends on...' to answer that question.

I would tend to agree with you overall, considering the same driver/ same habits in comparing vehicles. To be a bit more scientific with data and such, here is a starting point if you enjoy math.