Does anyone have any numbers on the fuel economy hit that comes from the OEM or 3rd party roof racks?

 

I dont think people are buying the Defender for great Fuel Economy. It is easy to say the numbers go down by a minimum of 1 for racks

 

I totally hear you that fuel economy isn’t the reason you buy a new Defender and it’s not why I bought mine. As a Defender owner who loves the outdoors though, I want to minimize my environmental impacts as much as possible without losing the functionality of of having the Defender. If there is a rack that is more efficient than another, that matters to me regardless of whether or not the car is not the most fuel efficient thing on the road…

 

I have the full size front runner rack and installed it about two weeks after purchase. Over the last 6k miles, the average MPG is 17.8. This is on a P300 with factory goodyear ATs. Only thing permanently mounted on the roof rack is a solar panel. I recall seeing 20-21mpg before putting the rack on, but that was before any meaningful driving. The last 6k miles involves city, highway, long road trips, and some light off roading. So, I would say you will lose 2-3 MPG and gain a lot of wind noise.

 

……since I’ve removed mine to have it painted, it’s increased by a surprising 3mpg 😳

 

This is my exact experience except I have the smaller front runner.

Fully loaded up and going through the mountains I got a surprising (at least I felt it was surprising) 17.5 a few weekends ago.

This last weekend driving with an empty rack across the barren, windy hellscape of Kansas, I only got 15. But it really was windy as hell, more so than usual.

No offense to Kansans. I was driving to my home state of Oklahoma, so I feel like I can poke a little fun

Edit: oops meant to quote Zac up there

 

If you own a Front Runner, splurge and get yourself the fairing it is a game changer.

 

The MPG I reported is with the full size fairing. The noise level is about the same for me with the standard small fairing and the full-size fairing. I think it may have something to do with the solar panel mounted at the front of the rack. However, I had the exact same setup on my LR4 and it didn't make as much noise as the defender. I've even added some of the rubber strips that fit in the t-slot, which is supposed to help with wind noise. I'm actually thinking about comparing the noise of fairing setups if I ever have time. Solar panel has to stay. I get lengthy power outages during hurricane season. Pic below of my current setup. Awning doesn't seem to add any noise.

 

Just 'cause:

 

Love the backpack on the wheel! I've seen a lot of things that leverage the wheel as the anchoring point. I read somewhere about a weight limit to that. Not sure if it was more "Warranty Warnings" or if there's a known load limit. Anyone know? I'm thinking a wheel pack and grill is cake, but some of the fuel carriers make me a little more skeptical.