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| This is a discussion on Review after a road trip - cargo box and Yakima rack within the Gen II Prius Modifications forums, part of the Gen II (2004-2009) Toyota Prius Forums category; Hi folks - Just wanted to share with you guys and gals a short review of a BIG cargo box ... |
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Review after a road trip - cargo box and Yakima rack
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09-07-2009, 08:49 PM
| #1 |
| Huge member  Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: SoCal
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Friends: 0 |  Review after a road trip - cargo box and Yakima rack Hi folks - .Just wanted to share with you guys and gals a short review of a BIG cargo box and Yakima roof rack(s). Planning for a road trip with 8 days of camping and 1600 miles with 4 adults and a baby, we knew we'll have a serious shortage in space. After some searching on eBay I scored a Yakima Q system rack from the older model (105). Bought the correct clips and set off to install it - what a complete PITA! The thing would not go on the car properly no matter what we did, the angle of the tower doesn't allow the locks to swing into the latches. I battled the dang towers for 3 hours and then decided to fork out the $160 for a new Q system set (model 124), which proved to work much better and was on the car within 30 mins. The cargo box was purchased ahead of time on Amazon after reading a bunch of great reviews - It was everythng I expected it to be - big, easy to install (took maybe 10 mins with lining up perfectly where needed for the yakima rack), priced right and a fairly solid piece once closed. Those extra 18 Cu.Ft. of space came very handy - we managed to fit in them a large carry-on suitcase, 4 sleeping bags, 2 folding chairs, a small baby stroller (umbrella), 2 big packs of diapers, a small webber BBQ (top handle needed to be removed), something like 8 pairs of shoes and hiking boots, a big baby carrier / backpack and some other random things. Driving with it made me somewhat nervous in the first stretch of the trip and I did pull of the freeway a bunch of time to make sure that everything was holding up well, but the box was very solid once closed and never gave me any trouble even though the size of it is really more of an SUV fit than a small passenger car. We had some rain showers hitting us for about 200 miles stretch of the road and not even a single drop made it into the box. Definitely a great deal for the money. The only situation that was tricky was when we got hit by serious side winds going through the Nevada desert. It would have been enough without the box on top, but with the box the Prius was just all over the place...  Enjoy the pics, cheers! Moti
__________________ 2005 Prius - the family car 1995 Toyota T-100 - the home depot warrior Building - 20?? Yamaha R1 powered Lotus 7 replica for road racing |
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Sportrack Aero XL| The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to Blackbird For This Useful Post: |
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09-07-2009, 10:32 PM
| #2 |
| Management Scientist  Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Denver Metro
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Friends: 5 | Re: Review after a road trip - cargo box and Yakima rack And now for the second obvious question (the first being side winds, which you covered nicely): How did the set-up affect fuel mileage? |
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09-07-2009, 10:59 PM
| #3 |
| Huge member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: SoCal
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Friends: 0 | Re: Review after a road trip - cargo box and Yakima rack We averaged about 37 MPG. This is with the car stuffed to the max, tire pressure set at 42 psi all around, cruising speed of upper 70's and serious changes in elevation between sea level and high 8K ft. at Bryce canyon national park. Moti |
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| The Following User Says Thank You to Blackbird For This Useful Post: | PriusLewis (09-08-2009) |
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09-07-2009, 11:01 PM
| #4 |
| Troll Slayer  Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Nixa, MO
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Friends: 37 | Re: Review after a road trip - cargo box and Yakima rack 37 is excellent under the described conditions, I expected a lot worse. |
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09-08-2009, 06:17 AM
| #5 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Cumberland, RI
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Friends: 0 | Re: Review after a road trip - cargo box and Yakima rack Thanks for the great review-- very helpful! |
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09-08-2009, 09:06 AM
| #6 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Northern Michigan
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Friends: 10 | Re: Review after a road trip - cargo box and Yakima rack I think one of those would work great on my SportsRig trailer. I may have to take a look. Tom |
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09-09-2009, 10:08 PM
| #7 |
| Huge member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: SoCal
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Friends: 0 | Re: Review after a road trip - cargo box and Yakima rack You guys are welcome. Efusco, to tell you the truth I was pleasently suprised as well, I expected it to drop to the low 30's / high 20's. My guess is that the box is somewhat more aerodynamic than it looks like, because I also expected the car to wonder a bit more on the road and it didn't (other than the very windy part). EDIT to add - There was one part of the road that the car suffered from the load. Anyone that has ever driven from Barstow, CA to Las vegas knows the pass that is pretty much a straight climb of ~16 miles. With the heavy load and outside temps over 100F, the cooling system got a good workout and the engine lost some power even though we did turn the AC off. Moti Last edited by Blackbird; 09-09-2009 at 11:30 PM. |
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09-10-2009, 05:26 PM
| #8 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Kingston Ontario
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Friends: 0 | Re: Review after a road trip - cargo box and Yakima rack If the engine's getting too hot, and you can stand it....turn on the heat.... adds another radiator into the system. If it's 100F, though, even the windows open won't make it pleasant. |
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09-10-2009, 05:47 PM
| #9 | |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Columbia, SC
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Friends: 0 | Re: Review after a road trip - cargo box and Yakima rack Quote:
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09-12-2009, 12:56 AM
| #10 |
| Huge member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: SoCal
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Friends: 0 | Re: Review after a road trip - cargo box and Yakima rack I prefer the roof over a trailer. With a trailer your legal speed limit is 55 anywhere, without one you can legally drive 70-75 MPH in many of the interstates. Makes a big difference when you're trying to get to places that are some hundreds of miles away... Moti |
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| Tags |
| box, cargo, rack, review, road, trip, yakima |
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