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.

The roof rack will mostly increase the wind resistance and wind resistance grows enormously with speed much more than rolling resistance. As a result the same car that does 50 mpg in the usa does 60 mpg in the uk. The gear with the most impact were the dual mountain bikes strapped to the roof which impacted the fuel economy by 31 percent or 9 mpg. 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.

How bad is the hit to your wallet. Fuel consumption is made up of several components. Losses in the engine rolling resistance and wind resistance. 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.

The empty roof rack had a nearly 2 percent impact on fuel economy which translates to a little more than three quarters of a gallon of gas.