I just got back from a road trip and I did a little experimenting while on the road. On my way up to Wisconsin from Kentucky I averaged 18 MPG. Before we left to come home I removed my Yakima rack (rails only, no basket) to see if it made a noticeable difference in the fuel economy. I gained little with 19.5 MPG on the trip back. I think the cool factor of the rack outweighs the 1.5 MPG gain without the rack. Has anyone else tried this and if so what kind of rack do you have?

 

yep. Thats why I sold mine.

 

hmm, I think I'm gonna take mine off for a couple weeks and see if it does anything.

 

Same for me. I have a Surco rack, 4 year ago I took it 200 miles to the beach and only averaged 17.1mpg. I recorded this in my maintenance log. The following year I got up to 19.2mpg. Not really an exact science as there are probably too many factors such as the difference in heat/humidity in the 2 years. Around town I do not notice much difference at around 15 but I drive an SUV with oversized tires so I already know the drawbacks.

 

I would average around 19MPG from my regular trips from NC to KY. In March I purchased the Yakima Loadwarrior, which is a handy basket that attaches to the factory crossbars. City MPG I never noticed a considerable change (it always sucked) but I immediately noticed my highway MPG. After the installation I was getting around 15MPG highway. I took off the wind faring and gained about 1.5MPG (16.5). Since I'm not a huge commuter, I've decided to keep the Loadwarrior on.

 

i had my coleman roof basket on my old subaru forester and my MPGs dropped to about 25. not bad, right? without the basket i was getting 28+.

with the coleman with extension on my odyssey i went from 22+ to about 21 MPGs.

i don't dare put it on the 2000 4runner... after the BFGs we went from 19+ to about 17 MPGs.

after performing the ISR and deckplate mods on the 2000 we're at about 18 now - phew!!!

joel

 

Made a huge difference on my 2nd Gen Runner with the Yakima Load Warrior. With my Mt Bike up there I was running almost 5mpg less.

 

Yup, we rarely use our rack unless we gotta haul something like this!



Our mileage was the SUCK when we took a Kayak and Ski's up to my folks place in Steamboat CO last weekend!

 

I have wondered about this. i have mine on purely for looks and i thought it might have a negative effect on mpg but after reading this i might take it off.

 

simple elimination of wind resistance. Trucks are already have the aerodynamics of a brick.
adding a rack and misc stuff on the rook just disturb the air flow over the truck...lifted trucks also catch more wind...

 

Yep! My 2000 4R gets about 1 MPG less with my Yakima rack. Even worse, I can subtract another 1 MPG for each bicycle I have on there. So my highway mileage literally varies from 16-20 MPH. But hey, if I cared about gas mileage I wouldn't be driving an SUV. (Actually I ride my bikes most places around town instead of carrying them on the racks).

 

I have the Coleman basket on the roof holding my spare tire, I see an increase of about 1.5-2mpg with it removed.

let's do some math:
2mpg @ $2.80/gallon on a 1000 mile road trip

with the rack (~17mpg): $164.71
without the rack (~19mpg): $147.37
you'll save a little over $17 on a 1000 mile trip by removing the rack

personally, standing at about 5'5", I find it a pain in the ass trying to line up the tracks of a 30lb roof basket on a truck lifted about 7" in the back...so I just leave the rack on.
I'll drive the Camry if i'm leaving the island lol

 

I loose about .5 to 1 mile per gallon when I have my rack and lights on. I guess if I was worried about mileage I wouldn't drive a 2nd gen 4Runner.

 

I took mine off tonight.. gonna see if their is any kind of difference for the next couple weeks.

 

I never really used mine, except on camping trips. Now I am building a utility/camp trailer for that stuff, but I did put some quick fists up on the factory crossbars for a shovel and axe when I just want to go adventuring.

 

i attached a basket to my hitch bike rack for camping. Works great.

 

James Dean^^ said it best, if you're worried about 2mpg, you're driving the wrong vehicle!