We are having our third child and will now need to use at least one of the 3rd row seats when we travel. Since that cuts into our storage space I'm now looking at adding a roof rack and Cargo Box to use when we have alot of luggage (or presents for Christmas).

I have a Yakima rack system from a previous vehicle, but I'm not sure I like the way it mounts. The "feet" sit just above the door and the "clips" go into the doorframe (at least in my old vehicle). Should be my cheapest option.

I see Thule has pieces that mount directly to the roof rails. It looks nicer, seems to be more secure and maybe less possibility of scratching the paint. More expensive but possibly a better solution.

Lastly there is the Audi rail solution. I'm thinking this may be the most expensive and I can't quite say what the benefits are of this solution.

So initially my question is, what rack system has anyone used and are there any experiences you can share.

After that is figured out, then I'll start figuring out what is the best Cargo Box for our needs.

Thanks.

 

The Yakima system (with the Railgrabber towers) renders the sunroof on the Q7/Q5 inoperable. The towers obstruct the path of the sunroof when it is opened, and the towers must be mounted to the rails using the pinholes for the factory base bars.

I am now stuck with piles of Yakima stuff that won't work on my Q7.

 

I actually ended up with the yakima rail grabbers and I was able to position them so the sunroof both work well. There are indentions on the inside of the roof rails that I had presumed were locations for the factory mounts (I never found any info to validate that). I mounted the rail grabs just behind those two points and I was able to open and close my sunroof without any issues.

I will try and grab pics of it and post later.