Roof Rack Mpg Hit

The roof rack mpg experiment he compared the gas mileage of his car at 54 7 mph 88 kph with 1 no roof racks 2 an empty roof rack and 3 a mountain bike on the roof rack.

Roof rack mpg hit.

Mileage went from 41 mpg at 65 mph to 40 mpg. When consumer reports tested how roof racks affected fuel economy in 2013 they noticed a 5 mpg drop at highway speeds from an empty rack. He found that compared to the baseline of no roof rack the empty rack reduced his mpg by 12 7 and the roof rack with a bicycle reduced it by a whooping 27 3. Fuel consumption is made up of several components.

As a result the same car that does 50 mpg in the usa does 60 mpg in the uk. How bad is the hit to your wallet. The roof rack will mostly increase the wind resistance and wind resistance grows enormously with speed much more than rolling resistance. Adding a bike to the equation caused fuel consumption to jump by 35 compared to their baseline settings.

That roof rack you absolutely had to have may come in handy now and again but a new study from berkeley lab says that it s also costing you quite a bit of money in lost fuel economy.