[Serge]

Hi All,

I am looking for a medium/large size cargo box for my Mo to transport skis, baby strollers, tents, and other camping stuff. I never had a cargo box before, so here’s a few questions to the folks who had them.

1. Which one to get? At this moment I found two that seem to suit my needs: Thule Cascade 1700 and Thule Evolution 1800.

http://gallery.rei.com/regularimages/700763.jpg

http://gallery.rei.com/regularimages/679489.jpg

Which of them would feet the Mo better? Any other choices I should consider?

2. Load bars: are Murano’s cross-bars good enough and have enough clearance to hold the box, or should I go with the Thule load bars?

3. How is the road noise?

4. How is the mileage? Is it much worse with the box then without?

I would appreciate your insight. Also, does anybody have pictures of Muranos with a roof box installed?

---
Serge
04 SE AWD

 

[thecanuck]

serge,

1. I'd go with the 1700. I had a Yakima box similar in length to the 1800 and found it stuck out over the windshield too much if I positioned it so that the rear hatch could fully open. Shorter and wider is my recommendation.

2. I can't speak to the MO's "new" cross bars (ie. the brand new ones that are non-adjustable) but the "Canadian" cross bars we've had since the MO first came out are Yakima adjustables. They're OK -- sturdy enough but the clamping system is a little lame. The Thule systems I've seen elsewhere on this site appear much nicer in this regard. If I remember correctly, my bars are good for 90 lbs. I don't know about the Thule bars.

3. I get a constant wind whistle with my bars mounted. The box itself of course makes some noise also. I don't find either that bothersome unless the sunroof is open. Supposedly the Thule bars are a little whistley as well.

4. If I remember correctly, I think it cost me about 35 miles or so on a tankful compared to an empty ride (but my memory's fuzzy on this one)

I don't know if they're available in the US but we have a truck cap maker up here called ARE. They also make hard tonneaus and cargo boxes. Their products are awesome and usually a better dollar-for-dollar deal than the big guys (Thule, Yakima).

 

[lnichols]

I have a Thule Excursion 1300, which is the shorter, but I believe taller box and I use it with Yakima LowRider cross bars. The Yakima's raise the box off of the car a decent amount. Since the box will sit on top of the cross bars, the amount of clearance you should have is from the top of the cross bar to the roof, since the box basically sits on the cross bar and is held to the bar with a U bracket.

Wind noise is significant, but tolerable. I had to shut my sunroof shade to dampen the noise. The LowRiders add some noise. Some of it will depend on where the front of the box is in relation to the sunroof since the front of the box seems to create the most noise. The front of my box was right over the sunroof the air being diverted under the box was coming down right on the sunroof.

Gas mileage will suffer some from drag, especially at highway speeds of 75 mph. I averaged 19 MPG on the highway with it where I usually get 21 to 22.

The other thing to consider is being able to open the rear hatch with the box on the roof. If I set the box to far to the back, the hatch can't fully open. Since the box is short, I have plenty of room to move it to the middle of the rack. The longer boxes and fixed Murano Crossbars could make this an issue.

 

[Stanmo]

Cargo bOX

Serge.

Try a Yakima Space Cadet, unless you want to carry skis. It is 15 cubic feet and short enough to clear the rear hatch by a few inches and only cover half the sun roof.

Stanmo