Last week we drove down from Maryland to the in-laws in central Florida with the BougeRV crossbars and a Kayak strapped on top. Note that the tires are not factory, but conti DWS's (see: Two tires shot! | Mazda CX-50 Forum (cx50forums.com) )
BougeRV crossbars:
The crossbars worked well and fit firmly, the kayak was still clamped tight at the end of the journey. I drove around with the bars on for a day before the trip (and before the canoe was mounted) and found the noise quite reasonable with speeds up to 50mph (local roads). There was some wind noise of course, but nothing unexpected or objectionable, and nothing like the whistle that others have reported with the factory bars. The noise increased a bit with the kayak on, again as you would expect, but again not bad. I would thoroughly recommend these - especially at a third of the price of factory ones.
Mileage (Turbo TPP):
With the kayak & bar's wind resistance, I was fully expecting lousy mileage, maybe 20mpg or less, but was very pleasantly surprised! I locked the cruise control at 70mph for pretty much the whole way (barring traffic & stops) yet still we managed a little over 26mpg for every fillup (calculated on gas pump gallons vs odometer, see table). Again, this at 70mph WITH a canoe on top! Interestingly, the dash gauge meter varied between averages of 27+ to 24+ mpg, so not very consistent OR accurate. We're leaving the kayak behind when we go back to MD, so I'll be interested in the mileage without anything on the roof. These are my mileage calcs for those interested (yes, my car is nearly new, only 770 miles when we started).
Just a couple of data points I thought some might find interesting.
Finally, a pic at one reststop
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BougeRV crossbars:
The crossbars worked well and fit firmly, the kayak was still clamped tight at the end of the journey. I drove around with the bars on for a day before the trip (and before the canoe was mounted) and found the noise quite reasonable with speeds up to 50mph (local roads). There was some wind noise of course, but nothing unexpected or objectionable, and nothing like the whistle that others have reported with the factory bars. The noise increased a bit with the kayak on, again as you would expect, but again not bad. I would thoroughly recommend these - especially at a third of the price of factory ones.
Mileage (Turbo TPP):
With the kayak & bar's wind resistance, I was fully expecting lousy mileage, maybe 20mpg or less, but was very pleasantly surprised! I locked the cruise control at 70mph for pretty much the whole way (barring traffic & stops) yet still we managed a little over 26mpg for every fillup (calculated on gas pump gallons vs odometer, see table). Again, this at 70mph WITH a canoe on top! Interestingly, the dash gauge meter varied between averages of 27+ to 24+ mpg, so not very consistent OR accurate. We're leaving the kayak behind when we go back to MD, so I'll be interested in the mileage without anything on the roof. These are my mileage calcs for those interested (yes, my car is nearly new, only 770 miles when we started).
| miles | gals | mpg calc |
|---|---|---|
| 769 (start) | (full) | |
1045 | 10.25 | 26.9 |
1278 | 8.83 | 26.4 |
1396 | 4.54 | 26.0 |
1640 | 9.52 | 25.6 |
| Avg | 26.2 |
Just a couple of data points I thought some might find interesting.
Finally, a pic at one reststop
...
