Thule roof rack on a '05 Prius

[NHAero]

Hi All
I just traded a '00 Civic 2 dr for an '05 Prius. My Thule rack for the Honda consists of 400XT feet and LB50 load bars and an adapter kit 259. Online it looks as though the only thing different for the Prius is the fit kit is 2142. It looks like that kit has the 4 pieces that grab the body over the doors and 4 rubber pads for the feet. The top of the doors line on the Prius is a large arc, and I don't see how the pieces in the 2142 kit are going to adapt the feet which are parallel when set up for the Honda to be not parallel on the Prius. Does anyone here have a Thule roof rack on a Gen 2 Prius? Advice (and pix) would be appreciated. Thanks!

[malcolm]

I had a thule rack on my '05 prius and it worked well. The fit kit will tell you where and how far apart to put the feet and they work. I'll make you aware of this though, my gas mileage went down at least 7 miles/gallon and was actually worse with the air dam in place than without it, that was without bikes. I ditched the roof rack and had a trailer hitch installed and used a a saris ride on, that holds bikes with both wheels on, it was way heavy but gas mileage was better even with 2 bikes than the roof rack alone. I've since sold the prius (miss it), but have heard they now make the saris rack of aluminum and it is much lighter so should be even better.

[Pete Serotta]

If it is only two of you, try putting the bikes in the back with the seat down and a piece of foam between them. This is what Sir Tom Brynes does on his car.
Roof racks are noisy and your gas mileage will go down, even with the bikes not on the rack.


Also - Rocky Mount in Boulder Colo does ship and their knowledge is tops

[NHAero]

We're indeed expecting that we can get two bikes in the car itself and won't need the rack for the bikes normally. We would use the rack for occasional kayak use and for hauling bulky boxes, and we'd do what we have with the Honda, only install the rack when needed. I just want to be sure that the kit actually works :-) before plunking the $ down.

[dvs cycles]

From my experiences with Thule if they say it will fit on their website or catalogue it will work.

[malcolm]

We're indeed expecting that we can get two bikes in the car itself and won't need the rack for the bikes normally. We would use the rack for occasional kayak use and for hauling bulky boxes, and we'd do what we have with the Honda, only install the rack when needed. I just want to be sure that the kit actually works :-) before plunking the $ down.

If that is all you need my thule fit flawlessly. My only complaint with thule is the clamping bolt for the feet is very difficult to get started and crossthreads and strips very easily so take it easy. Good luck, the prius is a great car.

I carried two bikes with the rear seats folded down and a blanket between many times, they will easily fit.