Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

We used this carrier on a 2012 Volkswagen Golf TDI. It fit on the roof fine, however I grossly overestimated how much stuff we needed to pack up there. The Sport 1, which we bought, is the 12 cubic foot model. The Sport Jr. is 9 cubic feet. We carried almost all of our camping gear plus whatever jackets, blankets and pillows we could cram in there to fill it out. Reason being is that you need to fill this thing up for it to not flap around like crazy in the wind. Especially in the front. If you're only driving across town and you don't plan on going faster than 45, then you could probably get away with not packing it all the way. But if you're going on the highway, you need it filled out. I bought a foam pool noodle to put in the bottom front of the carrier to give it a stiff shape, and that seemed to help. I was able to cruise at 70mph on the highway without the straps or bag flapping around. The other thing I did was tape the ends of the strap down to the strap itself. None of these gripes are really product defects. That's just the nature of soft materials being tied down on fast moving vehicles. In retrospect, it's unlikely that I'll need all 12 cubic feet in the future. So I'll probably just put some empty cardboard boxes in there to fill it out. And the straps need to be tight. Tighten them as tight as you think they'll go, then pull even harder. After an hour of driving, stop and tighten them again, because things will settle or shift. If you tighten the straps properly, they won't make noise up to 80mph. Mileage wasn't affected as bad as I thought. We averaged 37.5mpg at 70mph when we normally get about 40-43mpg at that speed. Definitely better than renting a larger car or taking two vehicles. I can say that we definitely tested out the water resistant claims, as we ended up driving through a microburst on our trip home that had rain so hard we had to pull over because there was no visibility. A few drips of water came into the car from the driving rain and the straps compressing the weather seal on the door, but that can't really be helped. But the bag itself was bone dry when we unpacked it an hour later. Trust me, this was one of those "Worst storm of the year" storms and when we were stuck in it, the last thing I was thinking about was that bag on the roof. But finding everything dry afterwards was a relief. Regarding accessories, I did buy the hooks and the foam pad. In retrospect, I wouldn't have gotten either of them. The hooks didn't fit on any of the three cars that I tried them on, so I'm returning them. Running the straps through the car seemed more secure anyway, so that's just what we'll do in the future. Regarding the foam pad, it wasn't worth the money. You have to cut the foam pad down at least 4-6 inches from the edges of the bag, otherwise the wind will get a hold of it and it will buzz like crazy. At that point, it's not protecting you from scratches, it's really just keeping the bag from sliding around on top. For that you can just buy a rubber shelf liner for a few bucks.