Roof rack fuel economy
#2
#3
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…
#4
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.
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spr1998 (07-07-2021)
#5
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angelboing (07-08-2021)
#6
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
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
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spr1998 (07-13-2021)
#8
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spr1998 (07-13-2021)
#10
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.
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spr1998 (07-13-2021)