Ok - thinking out loud here looking for opinions from any experience...

 

Off at the weekend for a 1200 mile round trip near to the German border, was not planning to take the bikes but the kids really want to take theirs now so it will mean 3 bikes on my towbar mounted rack...

 

Thinking MPG and the impact of the rear rack on a fully loaded car, normally without the bikes on this trip i get around 50mpg - When using the rack with bikes doing more local drives i can see the MPG drop down to around 38mpg even with the car not fully laden with holiday gear....

 

Im trying to work out if its cheaper to just hire bikes there, (£100 GBP) or the difference in MPG impact will infact just pay for them.. (plus the convenience)..

 

So what impact will 3 bikes on the rack have on MPG do people think ? 5mp, 10mpg or more ?   (15mpg would work out at around £60 more fuel required)

 

Welcome your thoughts

 

This should be quite interesting as I'm looking at something similar.

We're heading off to the Alps then the Pyrenees in a few weeks for a 1500 mile or so round trip with 3 bikes.

 

On the last trip to France with the bikes on the roof my average fuel consumption dropped from around 50mpg to 38mpg. I'm now planning on getting a towbar and towbar carrier fitted for the next trip so I'll be interesting to see what the fuel economy is like with bikes on the towbar carrier. 

I would say less than 5mpg. On my old Mondeo it made little difference with 3 bikes on the tow bar rack. Do the same with the roof rack and it made a big difference. 

I have the same experience: my old Honda MPV carried bikes on a tow ball mounted rack two or three times a week, and the difference in fuel economy was tiny. Only had my Kodiaq a week so too early to tell, but it’s not looking like the rack makes much difference on that either. I think Estate shaped cars work ok with tow mounted racks as the bikes are sheltered by the bluff tailgate. Put the bikes on the roof on the other hand, and you might as well drill a hole in the fuel tank...

Why worry, life is too short to concern yourself with such matters  

7 hours ago, Prykey said:

Why worry, life is too short to concern yourself with such matters  

 

Not a case of "worrying" - its a case of deciding... thanks for your non valuable feedback.

Edited 24 May, 20188 yr by RickTT

Well the outcome was 49 mpg over 1000 miles... Which is more mpg than last time without but this time didn't include any traffic jams 

.

Edited 6 June, 20188 yr by RickTT

I know it's irrelevant now, but with a fully loaded car (to the roof) and the towbar mounted bike rack (1 bike) my MPG only drops from mid-60's to like 58-59mpg on a long motorway run.

having only in the last 2 years gone from roof to back for our 4 bikes, that is good to hear! although if I was really worried about MPG, then I wouldn't own a 280

 

 

57 minutes ago, edwards said:

having only in the last 2 years gone from roof to back for our 4 bikes, that is good to hear! although if I was really worried about MPG, then I wouldn't own a 280

 

 

 

good luck getting 30mpg  lol

6 hours ago, RickTT said:

 

good luck getting 30mpg  lol

 

I can dream.....! Actually seem to be averaging 30mpg with my current mixed motoring so happy with that. My old 2.0 petrol turbo Vectra was 172ps and I was getting 27mpg mixed so this one is actually an improvement

 

The rear rack is really good - even with 4 bikes on it it doesn't wag the car about too much.  The wind noise is non-existent (something that used to annoy me with the roof mounted one). The ease it can be taken off means that when you go away on holiday it can be taken off once you arrive, something I never could be bothered to do with the roofrack. Also no danger of dropping a bike on the roof of my car!

 

 

On 23/05/2018 at 16:58, RickTT said:

 

Ok - thinking out loud here looking for opinions from any experience...

 

Off at the weekend for a 1200 mile round trip near to the German border, was not planning to take the bikes but the kids really want to take theirs now so it will mean 3 bikes on my towbar mounted rack...

 

Thinking MPG and the impact of the rear rack on a fully loaded car, normally without the bikes on this trip i get around 50mpg - When using the rack with bikes doing more local drives i can see the MPG drop down to around 38mpg even with the car not fully laden with holiday gear....

 

Im trying to work out if its cheaper to just hire bikes there, (£100 GBP) or the difference in MPG impact will infact just pay for them.. (plus the convenience)..

 

So what impact will 3 bikes on the rack have on MPG do people think ? 5mp, 10mpg or more ?   (15mpg would work out at around £60 more fuel required)

 

Welcome your thoughts

 

 

Not sure about the rear towbar rack but I took 3 bikes on the roof mounted racks on a decent run from Glasgow to Newcastle a couple of weeks ago.

 

Kept it at 70 on the motorway, which under normal circumstances would have delivered about 50mpg.  With the bikes on this dropped down to about 42/43.  The boot was also packed to the rafters and I had a wife and 3 kids on board.  

I'm heading to France in the next few weeks- wont be taking the bikes on the roof rack but I am considering a roof box.  Not a huge one, got my eye on the 320l Thule model which looks fairly compact and aerodynamic

How does this impact the mpg?  Any experience?

47 minutes ago, Mickey43 said:

I'm heading to France in the next few weeks- wont be taking the bikes on the roof rack but I am considering a roof box.  Not a huge one, got my eye on the 320l Thule model which looks fairly compact and aerodynamic

How does this impact the mpg?  Any experience?

 

Yes. our friends we went with he has  190 passat - same age as my superb,  he got 46mpg - and on the outbound again got 2mppg less than me. he had a big roof box on and car loaded up the same with similar weight.

7 minutes ago, RickTT said:

 

Yes. our friends we went with he has  190 passat - same age as my superb,  he got 46mpg - and on the outbound again got 2mppg less than me. he had a big roof box on and car loaded up the same with similar weight.

 

Thanks Rick.  Not too bad then.  Could really do with a roof box for extra space.

 

We holiday with a roofbox, adult mountain bike on the roof next to it, three bikes on the towbar carrier, boot fully loaded and 2 adults & 2 kids in the car....don't know the exact figures but I don't ever remember the MPG dropping below 40.

Biggest challenge is finding parking spaces long enough.

 

In the past, just using the roofbox makes very little difference.

Edited 7 June, 20188 yr by muddyboots