There seem to be a fair number of pictures of THULE and YAKIMA roof racks on FitFreak.net but not many pictures or information about cargo boxes. Having just bought one, I thought I'd post some pictures and share my experience.

Overall: I love it, I don't really notice it is there while driving, and hope it makes a great long term investment -- just like the Fit it sits on!





The setup you see consists is all YAKIMA brand. Yakima round roof racks, "towers" to raise the racks above the roof line and "Q-clips" to hold the towers in place by using mechanical pressure to clamp onto the door frame. Everything is extremely high quality and after you get it installed right, you can grab ahold of the rack and physically rock the entire car by trying to push and pull the towers or racks off the car.

This the 2008 version of the YAKIMA SkyBoxPro 16S Cargo Box.

When shopping online, I was looking for much smaller boxes so that the air flow of the front end would gracefully rise over the hood, windshield and continue up over the cargo box. Because of the size of this, you can see how it extends over the windshield a bit but this doesn't seem to cause any terrible harm.

You can't see this in these pictures but this 2008 version of the SkyBox has a very nice attractive cross-hatch in silver pattern - it looks like silver carbon fiber and is rather attractive up close. I also like the side profile shape as it is similar to the 07-08 Fit's half aero/half boxy shape!

The SkyBox clamps very securely to the roof racks and I've just done my first 600 miles with it hauling cargo both full and empty with no problems.

There is a noticeable wind noise with the cargo box on but it is of the type of any exterior addition such as a bike rack on the back or something sticking out a window. You know its there, but it doesn't get in the way of a normal conversation or audio listening in any way. Roll the windows up and you won't notice it, with them down, you'll notice a difference with it on and off.

The roof racks alone -- without a fairing -- make a horrible vibration on the roof and a whistling noise above 40 Mph. If I was keeping the racks on all the time and occasionally putting a bike or kayak on top, I'd put a "fairing" panel on the front to keep the airflow going over the windshield and up and over the roof rack instead of between the racks and the roof and that would kill the noise.

I'm really quite satisfied with this setup. I got the SkyBox on sale at REI as a 2008 closeout and then used an REI March member sale to get 20% off the towers. This is an EXPENSIVE setup but everything seems extremely high quality and I expect it to last a very, very long time and/or resell at a pretty good price.

A quick plug for REI: I've been buying a lot of gear from them lately and I've been extremely impressed with the quality of their staff. I did some homework then asked plenty of questions in the store and got great answers. Returned to have someone new to me check out my installation and got very good service again. Especially in this economy, we should all be supporting employees with well trained and friendly staff!. (PS. I'm not paid/employed/etc by REI!)

 

Thanks for taking the time to post these pics, I've been wondering what one of these would look like on the Fit!

 

that actually doesnt look half bad. good job dude

 

Your welcome!

I learned i a cross country road trip in 2008 that the Fit is great, but packing it up with stuff reminds you that it is a small car. I had a mountain bike in the back seat with the seat bases folded up and supplies and gear tucked in all around it. Had a foot locker functioning as a safe for valuables in the cargo area with things packed all around it. Just too much stuff for too little room.

But with this SkyBox should let me move plenty of stuff (sleeping bag, tent(s), pantry, etc) to the top so the car is more organized and easy to access all items.

I'll post a picture of the car packed when I start the trip so potential Fit owners will realize how much this little car takes.