[RedJon]

With the holiday season approaching and people heading off around the place visiting friends and family with big loads, anyone planning on installing a roof box?

If so, has anyone found any research into the most aerodynamic kit and installation?

[Hud78]

I've always had the OEM roof bars which are rebadged Thule Aerobars - they are available for about £150 from BMW dealers on ebay. They're really easy to fit onto the roof rails with a supplied torque tool. I think the Thule Wingbars have a sleeker profile but once there's a slab of roof box up there I guess the shape of the bars makes little difference!

I already have a BMW roof box 460 which has what appears to be a fairly aerodynamic shape - that's also rebadged Thule too (I think the current version is called Thule Dynamic). I haven't had cause to used it yet on the iX3 but it always did a good job on top of the 5 series we had. Side winds are my only concern with a higher sided car, but I guess with the car weighing so much more the effect should be reduced!

[euro74bmw]

Although it looks quite weird, the Calix Aero Loader (recently tested by Tesla Bjorn) seems to confer material efficiency and noise advantages over traditional roof-boxes.

If I get a roof-box, it will be this one.
Calix Aero Loader
Tesla Bjorn review

[RedJon]

Originally Posted by euro74bmw

Although it looks quite weird, the Calix Aero Loader (recently tested by Tesla Bjorn) seems to confer material efficiency and noise advantages over traditional roof-boxes.

Ok, so I need to turn my Thule box around and try it backwards and this should be better

[GDEvans]

Originally Posted by RedJon

Ok, so I need to turn my Thule box around and try it backwards and this should be better

Maybe we have all been using roof boxes the wrong way round?

[euro74bmw]

Originally Posted by GDEvans

Maybe we have all been using roof boxes the wrong way round?

Apparently so - I guess impact on range was just not as noticeable on an ICE car!

[GDEvans]

Originally Posted by euro74bmw

Apparently so - I guess impact on range was just not as noticeable on an ICE car!

Some of my previous petrol cars had similar range to the iX3. So maybe I should have paid more attention!!!

[Hud78]

Originally Posted by GDEvans

Some of my previous petrol cars had similar range to the iX3. So maybe I should have paid more attention!!!

Same here! Never thought about it before but the fuel light is on in our M135i well before covering 300 miles from full!