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