muddyboots
19-10-2009, 13:42
Recently, I decided to buy a roofbox to give some extra space for our family holidays. You'd think a Passat estate would be plenty big enough, but it's quite alarming how much paraphernalia is associated with travelling with a young child...
Anyway, after much reading around, especially all the info on www.roofbox.co.uk (http://www.roofbox.co.uk), I decided to opt for a Kamei Corvara 390 Duolift.
More info here: http://tinyurl.com/ygpqwwk
Why this one ? Well, firstly, it came top in a recent Autoexpress Roofbox test (http://tinyurl.com/yhyxgc9). It has a 6-year guarantee, that should see a good few years service as the young family grows up. It has a duo-lift system that allows opening from both sides. A German ADAC test of various roofboxes in 2006 found a Corvara to be the most waterproof, and the only one to pass a city crash test. According to roofbox.co.uk - whereas other manufacturers such as Thule are quite optimistic about capacity, Kamei are quite understated - the Corvara 390 fits as much in as a 480 litre Thule Atlantis, for example.
Finally, it comes with fittings for Thule Aero roofbars, a set of which I already had.
The people at roofbox.co.uk were very helpful, and reckoned that the Corvara 390 would *just* leave room on my 120cm bars for a couple of bike carriers in future. Incidentally, they used to hire roofboxes out, and reckoned that the Kamei's always stood up to the abuse better than other makes.
Fitting:
The box comes with a set of U-bars to go round conventional bars, plus a set of fittings that slide along the T-slot in the top of Thule Aero bars. If using the aero bars, you'll need to cut a section out of the rubber insert that sits in the top of each bar to slide the fittings in - but this can be put back when not using the box. The fittings just push up into holes in the bottom of the box, and tightening the box onto the roof is just a case of pushing down 4 levers inside the box. Aside from a knife to trim the roofbar rubber inserts, no tools were needed. Once fitted, the roofbars are snugly within the bottom profile of the box, which has to help with drag/noise. When the box first arrived I thought it looked massive, but once on, it seems a perfect match for a Passat estate.
Loading/unloading:
You can unlock and open the box from either side, which I found very useful. Insert the key and turn - this unlocks all the multipoint locks, allowing the box to be opened. Opening the box lid is easy as it has gas-assisted struts. To prevent you locking the keys inside, you can't remove the keys while the box is open...
The lid opens nice and wide, so it's easy to get stuff in and out. There are 4 lashing points inside and the box comes with a couple of handy securing straps so you can tighten stuff down and stop it sliding around.
Once full, just pull the lid down until it locks and remove the key. You can pull the lid down at various points to engage each lock individually - unlike other boxes, you haven't got to reach round and pull the whole lid down at once.
We put our puschair, travel highchair, a small rucksack and a number of bags of clothes in there, and could have put more in if needed. Putting the puschair in there meant we could easily get the pushchair out if needed, without having to disturb a carefully packed boot.
Driving:
Having never used one before, I did worry how noisy a roofbox would be, and how badly it would affect fuel economy. I was very pleasantly surprised - I could hardly tell it was there - wind noise at 80 on the motorway really was minimal. At lower speeds you couldn't even tell it was there.
With 2 adults, one child, a *full* boot and a full roofbox, the trip computer regularly reported an average of 44-45mpg while cruising at 80 on motorways; this particular car usually manages around 47-49mpg with the same driving style and no load, so the combined effects of a full boot and full roofbox had no more than a 10% effect on fuel.
I could sense a little more lean when exiting roundabouts a bit quicker than my wife would have liked, but nothing too scary. Passat's aren't exactly made for that kind of driving anyway...
So - a definite recommendation from me !
Anyway, after much reading around, especially all the info on www.roofbox.co.uk (http://www.roofbox.co.uk), I decided to opt for a Kamei Corvara 390 Duolift.
More info here: http://tinyurl.com/ygpqwwk
Why this one ? Well, firstly, it came top in a recent Autoexpress Roofbox test (http://tinyurl.com/yhyxgc9). It has a 6-year guarantee, that should see a good few years service as the young family grows up. It has a duo-lift system that allows opening from both sides. A German ADAC test of various roofboxes in 2006 found a Corvara to be the most waterproof, and the only one to pass a city crash test. According to roofbox.co.uk - whereas other manufacturers such as Thule are quite optimistic about capacity, Kamei are quite understated - the Corvara 390 fits as much in as a 480 litre Thule Atlantis, for example.
Finally, it comes with fittings for Thule Aero roofbars, a set of which I already had.
The people at roofbox.co.uk were very helpful, and reckoned that the Corvara 390 would *just* leave room on my 120cm bars for a couple of bike carriers in future. Incidentally, they used to hire roofboxes out, and reckoned that the Kamei's always stood up to the abuse better than other makes.
Fitting:
The box comes with a set of U-bars to go round conventional bars, plus a set of fittings that slide along the T-slot in the top of Thule Aero bars. If using the aero bars, you'll need to cut a section out of the rubber insert that sits in the top of each bar to slide the fittings in - but this can be put back when not using the box. The fittings just push up into holes in the bottom of the box, and tightening the box onto the roof is just a case of pushing down 4 levers inside the box. Aside from a knife to trim the roofbar rubber inserts, no tools were needed. Once fitted, the roofbars are snugly within the bottom profile of the box, which has to help with drag/noise. When the box first arrived I thought it looked massive, but once on, it seems a perfect match for a Passat estate.
Loading/unloading:
You can unlock and open the box from either side, which I found very useful. Insert the key and turn - this unlocks all the multipoint locks, allowing the box to be opened. Opening the box lid is easy as it has gas-assisted struts. To prevent you locking the keys inside, you can't remove the keys while the box is open...
The lid opens nice and wide, so it's easy to get stuff in and out. There are 4 lashing points inside and the box comes with a couple of handy securing straps so you can tighten stuff down and stop it sliding around.
Once full, just pull the lid down until it locks and remove the key. You can pull the lid down at various points to engage each lock individually - unlike other boxes, you haven't got to reach round and pull the whole lid down at once.
We put our puschair, travel highchair, a small rucksack and a number of bags of clothes in there, and could have put more in if needed. Putting the puschair in there meant we could easily get the pushchair out if needed, without having to disturb a carefully packed boot.
Driving:
Having never used one before, I did worry how noisy a roofbox would be, and how badly it would affect fuel economy. I was very pleasantly surprised - I could hardly tell it was there - wind noise at 80 on the motorway really was minimal. At lower speeds you couldn't even tell it was there.
With 2 adults, one child, a *full* boot and a full roofbox, the trip computer regularly reported an average of 44-45mpg while cruising at 80 on motorways; this particular car usually manages around 47-49mpg with the same driving style and no load, so the combined effects of a full boot and full roofbox had no more than a 10% effect on fuel.
I could sense a little more lean when exiting roundabouts a bit quicker than my wife would have liked, but nothing too scary. Passat's aren't exactly made for that kind of driving anyway...
So - a definite recommendation from me !