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Avoid roof racks. Tests by Edmonds and Consumer Reports on a Thule roof box and a roof rack loaded with gear documented significant aerodynamic drag. The impact was 17-25% depending on car, speed type of carrier.
Another approach is to load all heavy gear inside and soft gear in a lift gate mounted carrier called AeroPACK. It eliminates the ~20% mpg penalty of roof mounted carriers. We find it is easy to load on a lift gate, folds up small, and does not block the back access.
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