What size, and what brand of Roof Box to buy for our/your car?

LordSutch

Going on hols soon across the water, and we are thinking about buying a roof box for our MPV, but what brands of roof box are good? what size is sensible? what shops have the best selection? and are they a safe method of storage in the 1st place? I gather that we should keep the speed down, and that we should be wary when entering car parks due to height restrictions (overhead security bars) and all that!

All advice on roof boxes welcome, for all cars and for all needs.

CJhaughey

We got a second hand Karrite one from a place in Cork that hires them out for people like you.
Its a 380 litre one and worked very well for us in France.
This one here:



It only opens one side but that never posed a problem for us.
AFAIK Karrite is the budget brand of Thule, as Thule produce new models the old ones become Karrite boxes.
Ours never leaked in extremely heavy rain and at speed.
We stick all the light and bulky stuff up there and put the wine and heavy stuff in the boot and behind the front seats.
The main thing is to make sure your roof bars are good. I would personally fit Thule bars as they are very strong and secure.

deandean

I have the long skinny one which leaves the other 1/2 of the roofrack free for boards, bikes etc.

But the skinny roofbox only fits one kid. You'll fit two kids in the full-width box.

useless

deandean wrote: »

But the skinny roofbox only fits one kid. You'll fit two kids in the full-width box.

There have been times where I have been tempted...:D

LordSutch

deandean wrote: »

But the skinny roofbox only fits one kid. You'll fit two kids in the full-width box.

Air holes included?

Fey!

LordSutch wrote: »

Air holes included?

At the back of the box so they don't get too chilly from the wind going through it.

I have an old Thule one which still works perfectly. As someone said earlier, good roofbars are a must; I'd go with OEM or Thule, although the likes of the Halfords own brand stuff I've looked at seems good.

zizou_

I have an Exodus roofbox and would highly recommend it. Its the 470l model and i'd recommend getting one that size unless you need to carry a bike beside the box. Worth getting decent roof rails too - found the thule ones a lot sturdier than the halford's brand.

ffocused

I got a hapro branded roof box a few years ago from micksgarage.ie, the price was a lot cheaper then Halfords at the time, not sure if that is still the case.

http://www.micksgarage.ie/proddetails.aspx?pid=129567&pk=4939

They are very light & easy to fit with adjustable anchor points & opens on both sides.

dahamsta

There's another thread about this in Motors, do a search. I followed another poster's lead and bought a 480l Farad box for €250 from PR Reillys. I won't buy from PR Reillys again, they totally messed up the order, but the box is absolutely grand if you're not using it all the time, and you can order direct from their website.

eth0

Fey! wrote: »

At the back of the box so they don't get too chilly from the wind going through it.

I hear there is a new one coming out with a small electric heating element (only just over 100w, runs off the battery). Just to save you a bit of time thawing them out once you arrive

LordSutch

Only 100w, thats great :rolleyes:

So much for a serious Roof Box thread.