Do ski racks and roof boxes hurt fuel efficiency.
Ski roof rack fuel efficiency.
Yes more than you think.
Adding any rooftop carrier cargo box or ski rack to your car significantly cuts your highway mileage all the time it.
He compared the gas mileage of his car at 54 7 mph 88 kph with 1 no roof racks 2 an empty roof rack and 3 a mountain bike on the roof rack.
If you follow our coverage on fuel efficiency you know that real world mileage numbers don t always measure up to the official epa ratings.
He found that compared to the baseline of no roof rack the empty rack reduced his mpg by 12 7 and the roof rack with a bicycle reduced it by a whooping 27 3.
Yes roof boxes and ski racks really do cut mpg.
Best ski snowboard roof racks.
Mileage went from 41 mpg at 65 mph to 40 mpg.
For comparison the additional fuel consumption caused by roof racks is about six times larger than anticipated fuel savings from fuel cell vehicles and 40 percent of anticipated fuel savings.