Edge

In my quest to be able to carry six passengers and six passengers' stuff for a week at the beach, I picked up a rack and a cargo box.

The Q7 is my first SUV and I have no previous experience whatsoever with roof racks or cargo boxes. In my quest for information before making the purchase, I really wanted to see lots of pictures of exactly how everything attached and how it all looked. I was able to find a few pictures here and there (mostly on this site), but I still wasn't satisfied with what I found. So, this thread contains lots of pictures of my setup.

I went with the US Thule Rack only because Roofrackshop.co.uk was out of stock and couldn't tell me when the UK rack would be back in stock. I needed the rack immediately, so I went down to REI and purchased both the rack and the cargo box.

I went with the Thule Atlantis 1800 XT because I wanted a large box, but not too large so that I could still open the rear cargo hatch up all the way. I'm pretty sure that had I gone with the new Thule Boxter or the Atlantis 2100, I wouldn't be able to open the rear gate all the way. The Atlantis 1800 is 18 cubic feet and holds a lot of stuff. Although it does cover the "sharkfin," we have experienced no issues with Sirius radio nor with the satellite navigation.

Here's some pictures of my setup:

Full side view:


Offset side view (kinda blurry, sorry):


Full rear view:


Box and Roof rear closeup:


Box closeup from the side:


Aerial View:


Just barely enough room to open the gate all the way. The box can be positioned forward or backward about five inches:


I try to position the box so that it just barely clears the gate; the further to the front of the Q7 it goes, the more the front of the box bounces up and down slightly at high speeds:


Here's a shot of the box open:


Closeup of the rails, rack and box:


With the sunroof cracked open, there is still plenty of clearance:


The sunroof is completely functional:


The rack is clamped to the factory roof rails and the box attaches to the rack with closing clamps:


The clamps are tightened and loosened using a dial inside the box:


Here, the clamps are loosened and the box is ready to be removed. The box is pretty awkward, but I am able to easily put it on and take it off by myself:


I think the rack looks good on its own, and we leave it on all the time:


Here's another shot of the car with the naked rack:


It often comes in handy for hauling stuff:


All in all, we love both the Thule rack and the cargo box.

josgarc

Hey there, looks great! I often leave my thule bars for multi use too.

kristatos

If the tailgate on your TDI is like mine you can adjust how far it opens to leave more clearance behind the cargo box if you like. I put running boards on mine to make getting in and out of the case easier. Those cases are great things though, mine is not quite as wide and I think if I replace it down the road I'd go with the size you have there to hold more stuff. Nice looking TDI BTW!

Santorin Drm pig pal

Very thorough review. What was the price for the rails and box?

KBLOVE

First, the box and TDI looks great Edge. Second, Kristatos what type of running boards do you have and do you have pictures. Both of these items are on my wish list to get done prior to next summer’s extended weekend trips begin.

Thanks for the detailed info Edge.

GomerPyle

I have an almost identical setup. The only difference being that I've had my rack for years, before the oval load bars, so I have the rectangular bars and have gone through various feet to fit on various cars. I also had to get longer bars over the years. So I essentially have another rack for another car.

My one beef with the setup is that the car will not fit through the garage door, even with the suspension all the way down. I have a pulley system that raises it to the ceiling of my garage and makes it a breeze to install... well so much for that now. It worked really well for installing on my S4 Avant and A4 sedan.

Speaking of my other parts, anyone interested in a rack with front wind deflector, and 2 bike mounts? The mounts hold the fork, and wheels are attached to a flip up holder. I have the feet / bases for either a sedan or avant with roof rails. It's just collecting dust in my garage. Make me an offer for local pick up in Madison, WI if you're interested.

kristatos

Here's a kinda crummy pic of the running boards...not sure kblove what you're looking for but these are the oem boards that are bloody expensive but are ss and very nice.

98a6quattro

as someone mentioned, you can adjust how far up the tailgate goes. i think when its on its way up, if you hit the close button, it will set that position as where it will usually stop.

kristatos

On my TDI what you do is manually move the tailgate to the position you want and then hold in the button you use to close it for a few seconds. The dealer told me that one of the taillights is supposed to flash or something when it's set but I did it in the sun and didn't notice any indication on the taillight, but sure enough it worked.

Edge

WRT to the tailgate height adjustment, we find it difficult to load the back when the tailgate is in any position other than the full open position. With that said, it definitely does come in handy when I've got some lumber or something loaded on the rack.

The running boards look nice, but they don't work with the factory tow package. I usually open the back door and stand on the inside trimmed step area, then step up onto the tire and load from the tire - Adaptive Air helps with this to provide a decent amount of clearance between the top of the tire and the wheelwell.

My garage is not high enough to install lift for the box, otherwise I'd load it on the ground, lift it up, drive the car under and lower it down, saving my back and the need to jump up and down from the tire.