I ended up getting the Atlantis 1200. It's a nice box. Small, with 12 cu. ft. of space, but I wanted to be flexible by getting bikes up top too, as I want to avoid a hitch for now. I got the new Aeroblade bars, and so far, I have to admit, at highway speeds, with radio off even, I can barely hear them. Which is nice. Around town, with sunroof open, they were pretty quiet too. (I am speaking of noise with just the bars, and nothing mounted on them). Even with the box at highway speeds, it was still pretty quiet. The box was empty, on my drive back from Bellingham REI. It's crazy, I saved $500 on the box, bars, feet and a bike carrier, vs. buying in Canada!

 

I have no experience with the newer Thule boxes, but we've driven to wintersports several times on the Autobahn and 225 km/h never has been a problem. So I guess the 130 km/h is the political correct answer, but if that was the real limit, I would never ever buy a Thule box again!!

Keep the heavy stuff in the car because it's better for the stability in high speed corners, but otherwise we've never experienced any problem with the Thule box at speeds above 200 km/h.

 

So I was down in Mexico with the car, and had it up to 145 km or so (90 mph), with the box, and 3 bikes up top. No problems. Other than lots of bugs!

But holy smokes. Fuel economy with that on the highway at an avg. speed of 120 (75 mph), was only about 10% less than city driving without anything up top!!!

Now that the trip's finished, I'm thinking to just leave on the bike racks, as they're a PITA to remove, since there are bolts that go into the aeroblade bars. What do you guys think is the impact on fuel economy leaving a few bike racks on there (they're folded completely flat, and two are fork mounts, so just basically two trays) plus the bars, in the city? In terms of XX% worse fuel economy than what one normally gets?

 

"What do you guys think is the impact on fuel economy leaving a few bike racks on there (they're folded completely flat, and two are fork mounts, so just basically two trays) plus the bars, in the city? In terms of XX% worse fuel economy than what one normally gets?"

We're running 2 Thule Echelon fork mounts with factory bars on our E61. So far it hasn't been enough to notice.

FWIW, I run the same setup on our VW using the factory VW bars which are considerably taller and a Thule fairing to help with noise. I can't remember the exact figure since its been over a year, but it was around 1.2mpg less than having nothing mounted. I commute 25miles each way in Seattle traffic...

-Christian

 

I think the least impact will be the aero/flat cross bars and bike tray/mounts without a fairing. At 70-08 though, this does impact mpg. It really only becomes noticeable though if you're driving enough distance to ad up at the pump.

 

Thx for the replies. It seemed for the past week that driving around in the city with the bike racks on I was getting like 10% less MPG's than without the racks on, but maybe it's just my spirited driving style!

 

I had a crazy thing happen to my Sears Roof Cargo Luggage. I was traveling with a half empty Cargo box at at a speed of 85-90 mph when in the left lane I saw my bags shot out of the side of the cargo box. My Cargo luggage locks were not locking and I should have know better. I had to exit the highway and saw my Cargo luggage was crushed. I was shocked to see the damage. The Cargo luggage was totaled. Thank God that no one was hurt or effected other than a lesson I will keep for ever. Speed is a factor when it comes to Roof Cargo Luggage. For the record I should not have traveled at that speed with or without the Roof Cargo Luggage.

 

Not a BMW, but for a Lamborghini sounsd like 175mph is the limit for either seersucker and/or the box.