Recommended car top carrier thingies for a compact SUV?

January 15, 2020 4:38 AM

We have a six hour drive from snowy city A to snowy city B and we have to cram big dogs and a kid in the car. We'd like to have storage on the top so it's not quite so overwhelming.

Can you recommend a car top thingy that I can buy at a brick and mortar? Nearby are Walmart, Target, Dicks, REI (I think). Most other national chains. I can do Amazon if absolutely necessary but I am trying to drop the Amazon habit for a variety of reasons.

Cheaper is preferable but at the same time, I don't want to fly down the interstate leaving a trail of clothing in our wake, nor do I want it to fly off and take out the car behind us. I would also prefer our clothing not arrive soaked.

Recommendations?

posted by A Terrible Llama to Travel & Transportation (14 answers total)

REI is a good option. They will help you figure out which carrier fits on your vehicle. These things are not universal so its impossible for me to recommend something without knowing the year make and model of your car.
posted by postel's law at 4:48 AM on January 15, 2020

I have a Thule that I bought at a bicycle store. 3 cars later, I've never had a complaint with it. Friends have reported that some other brands are not weatherproof.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 5:07 AM on January 15, 2020

WRT "These things are not universal," what, if anything does your car have for mounting things on the roof? If you have rails and crossbars, you're set. If just rails, you can get crossbars from the car dealer, or maybe Craigslist or eBay. If nothing, you'll have to get stuff for that.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 5:11 AM on January 15, 2020

Response by poster: WRT "These things are not universal," what, if anything does your car have for mounting things on the roof? If you have rails and crossbars, you're set.

Movable rail and crossbar, 2010 Rav4.

I'm very boring.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 5:12 AM on January 15, 2020

We bought ours at Pep Boys - sorry I don't remember the brand, but we've used it several times a year since 2012 (when kid #1 went to college) and it's holding up just fine. It really is helpful to have and pretty intuitive to install. A few other tips: Pick up a small folding ladder or step stool to keep in the car, and get a spare key made and label the key chain.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 5:18 AM on January 15, 2020

We have a Thule that we've used on our Foresters for years. Only other brand I see routinely is Yakima. Got ours at REI - which had multiple options.
posted by leslies at 6:27 AM on January 15, 2020

I can't recommend etrailer enough. Really knowledgeable people there if you call them.

REI will tend to push the three or four models they have in stock.
posted by Dashy at 7:05 AM on January 15, 2020 [1 favorite]

If you come across someone selling Kamei, that's a major and award-winning European brand. Ours outlasted the car.
posted by Hogshead at 8:20 AM on January 15, 2020

Your RAV 4 has a rack. Get a sturdy, water-resistant, large duffel. Loop handles through a bar and attach with carabiners or similar. Use the shoulder strap through both racks, and use several bungee cords to secure and compress the duffel(s). Be cautious with bungee cords, they can snap back and bite you. Wind resistance is your enemy, listen for the load getting unstable; this is true for any rooftop system. There are systems for the RAV4, but I just use straps and bungees if a vehicle has a rack. I usually run and extra 2 bungees across and connect to the interior handles, just because. Use sturdy bungee cords, not skinny cheap ones. Video
posted by theora55 at 8:36 AM on January 15, 2020

We bought the largest mid range Thule that fit on the car comfortably because if you're going to get roof top storage and get one of the boxes up top it didn't make sense to us to get a smaller one. You're sort of already in that place so might as well go big so you can maximize interior space in the vehicle. We bought it for the same reasons basically - 2 adults, 2 kids, big dog and big trips to visit family. We now use it constantly whenever we go anywhere above a couple of hours simply because having interior space or being able to shove wet/dirty/etc stuff up top and out of the car is useful.

Thule had the most error resilient clamps at the time we purchased, over Yakima and others, so we got that one.
posted by iamabot at 8:43 AM on January 15, 2020

I asked a cargo box question years ago, here. I ended up buying a Yakima box from rackattack.com and it worked great for the years that we needed it.
posted by Mid at 8:45 AM on January 15, 2020

Oh, reading that over, I guess I bought a Thule rather than a Yak. So the Thule worked great.
posted by Mid at 8:51 AM on January 15, 2020

I had a Yakima box from REI for a number of years for my Jetta. Getting it set up was a bit of a pain and since I had no rack to start with it was stunningly expensive. (Also, I put it on in the parking lot since it wouldn't fit inside, supplying much amusement to passers-by).

If I had it to do over again, I would get one of those receiver-hitch platform things and a big waterproof bag to put on it. Getting things in and out of the hard box on the roof was not much fun, and a 2001 Jetta is quite low. With a RAV 4 I'd think you'd want a folding stool or small stepladder to carry in the back. Of course I am now an old guy ...
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 9:20 AM on January 15, 2020

Response by poster: this is a case where you bought the known most reliable brand of car. You probably can’t go wrong buying the known most popular and premium quality carrier.

Can't argue that logic.

Thule it is.

Thanks all.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 10:53 AM on January 15, 2020