Roof rack vs hitch

I went with both.
My original plan was to get the 2 bike addon for my Yakima holdup evo+. but when you realize that having 2 bikes on the rack is already really heavy to tilt. I couldn't imagine how much harder it would be to lift 4 bikes (it's more than double as your putting weight farther away from the hinge). Not to mention how much longer it makes the van, especially since the length is so much farther from the rear tires.
The alternative is to buy a swing away add-on with the 2 bike add-on, then you're looking at another $900 for the combo!

I ended up getting a clearance Thule Crossroads raised rail kit, Thule sq crossbars and a couple cheap Thule roof top fork mount bike carriers. All for $360CAD.

My plan is to throw the kid's bikes on the roof as they are much lighter.

I also have a Thule roof top box, so I'm not too worried about the hit in fuel economy with the bikes on the roof too.

Like others said earlier, the OP has to spell out their needs, and budget!

Until than, here is what I did for our needs:

For Bicycles, I would go out on the limb and say that the Hitch is a no-brainer. I don't know about others, but I don't trust myself trying to get bike up the roof. I will likely scratch the car and bike on first try, may be brake a window too! There are plenty of hitch bike carriers starting from 50 bucks to 1K! I got Allen 4 bikes premium with locking. It has anti-rattle, lock built in and is folding. I had paid $150 but they are all over map due to supply issues. My only thing is that next time, I might get a 5 bike one since it has little bit more space between two bikes. Otherwise, it is a little struggle to put 4 bikes on a 4 bikes stand. Paddles and handles get tangled up just trying to put them up!

For carrying extra bags, it depends how much you plan to take. I also got a hitch box for about $150 to carry some extra bags. I recently went on 10K miles cost-to-cost trip with it. I had my spare tire, tools and big cooler on the hitch box. I had opted to not fold the 3rd seats to create more cargo. The extra space was needed for very long drive.

Keep in mind that the cheapy hitch carrier(Drawtite) that I got for about $190 sits low. The other more expensive one, that goes behind the bumper, may be two-three inches higher over all? I don't know. I haven't really scrapped our hitch carrier itself. But the Hitch Box is another story. I highly recommend getting an 8 inch or even 12 Inch Hitch Riser to attach the Hitch Cargo box. Without it, you might as well be mowing grass! The hitch box add some length and gets weighted down. The Riser costs about 60 to 150 depending on how high you want to go. I say Higher is better. I also added a couple of hitch stabilizers for about $15 each. I added 3 hitch locks too. One for Main Hitch Receiver, another for the riser, and since mine is a foldable carrier box, I put a lock in the folding part too. Locks go for about $15 buck each, or less in double packs.

Hitch based accessories add some length too so may be look for double parking spots a little bit farther.

The other issue with Hitch mounted accessories is that you will need to disable automatic parking break. Otherwise, get used to getting whiplashed 10 times trying to reverse 5 feet! The rear camera, and 360 view if Platinum, gets blocked too.

I don't have any experience with top mounted cargo boxes, but I avoided it because our trip was taking us thru some big cities. Big city garages can sometimes be very short that might limit your parking choices.

NewbieVan said:

2021 sienna
Husband wants a hitch, I want a roof rack.
I guess I am worried that being a hybrid hauling something by a hitch would be harder the the engine.

thoughts? Is it worth getting the hitch?

Click to expand...

As others have mentioned, it depends a LOT on what you want to "haul".

If it's bicycles, a hitch-mounted rack is relatively easy to load and unload. Makes getting into the rear of the van a bit awkward, but that's why the side doors are there. If you try to put those bikes on a roof rack, you are going to have about three feet of extra height. Real quick now, answer two questions: 1. How tall is your van? 2. What is the clearance at the local burger drive-thru? Yes, it seems silly at this point, but there WILL come a day when you will forget your "load" is up there and you will drive right into something.

If you are just going camping and need a bit of extra room, one of those cargo pods will hold a bit of gear quite nicely. It will cut into your fuel mileage ALL the time, whether it is empty or loaded. Speaking of 'loading', are either one of you over seven feet tall? I'm only 6' 5" and find it difficult to even wipe the top of the van after washing it, let alone trying to lift something up there.

If you have a building or gardening project, let's just say there is no practical way to carry a cubic yard of mulch on the roof, you WILL need a trailer for that.

As far as the hitch dragging, that depends on your environment. I have had hitches on my vans since late 1993, when I put one on our Previa. Another Previa and two Siennas later, I think I have dragged the ground (not backing into a curb) just once or twice. Others seem to have that problem just getting into or out of their driveway.

And so the speculation continues.

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It depends on the angle of the driveway section between the street and the adjacent sidewalk. We did a week in Cape May, NJ in July staying in a rental home and I repeatedly hit pavement with the 'hidden hitch' on our Gen-III when loaded down.

We have a 4 bike Yakima swingaway hitch that places the bikes around the side of the van so that we can open the rear hatch. It's a nice design, but heavy and expensive. I still have the roof trays that I used on the Subaru up in the attic. I'm fine with lifting my relatively light road bike up onto the roof, but most of the mountain-style bikes are way too heavy for me to lift and secure on the roof without help. Just too risky. I haven't (yet), but a friend planted his $6k carbon road bike into the garage door header when he forgot it was on the roof. Ouch.....

We have a Thule cargo box that can be used on the roof for those occasional big road trips. And a cargo tray for the rear hitch for a few bags of mulch or to move the lawn mower to the shop.

The big 5x8 utility trailer hauled the blocks for the firepit this summer, and cubic yards of mulch or the lawn tractor when it needed service. And for annual dump runs.

So both roof racks and hitches come in handy!