Yakima  GrandTour Lo Roof Box

I'd like to give it a 5-star rating however the box REI delivered has a fairly obvious manufacturing defect: a rivet in the front and center of the box isn't properly seated (see pictures), possibly letting water in. The rivet should be holding the reinforcing metal tube that circles the inside of the box. As a result the inner tube is loose and not held in place, and presumably rattling when I drive over bumps, etc. This isn't a huge deal I guess so I'll try to fix myself -- versus going through the hassle of driving back to the store. I just expected better quality control on items this expensive and proudly labelled "Made in the USA"!

If you have limited height constraints, this is hands down the lowest profile option you'll fine, only 10" is added above your cross bars. The first time you open it, it's near impossible to do so, but I think that's a testament to the tight seal, which is good. When locking it, ignore the complaints, it just takes some fanagling; focus on pressing the front closed and the rear closed, not pressing in the middle - the locking mechanism will then click secure. The other functions of this unit perform as expected.

This isn’t my first rodeo or cargo box. It’s my third. My first was the classic 80’s Sears box that beats all in size and none in design and style. My second is a Yakima from the mid-90’s and was and still is fantastic but doesn’t compare in style and is too tall to be on my Outback and drive out of the garage. I went with the GrandTour because of my history with Yakima products, having had the same basic Yakima rack on now four cars, and because of the hight, volume, and style. It fits the car, it’s quite on the highway, it has more volume that my other Yakima box, it functions well and looks great. On top of that the staff from my local REI helped me install it.

This ski box is strongly made, long, wide and low. The box attaches to the vehicle roof rails at two lateral ‘cut-outs’ within which clamps (with limited forward and back range) securely grip the roof rails. The clamps are tightened using a detached Allen wrench key. There are several flaws in this design. Firstly, the cutouts do not have sufficient range to fit all vehicles. The positioning resulted in the box projecting well over the windshield and not far enough back along the roof of my Range Rover. The airflow made this unstable and noisy. Second, it would be easy to misplace the clamp tightening key. I wanted to like this box but returned it and replaced it with a less robust but more flexible Thule.

It’s a nice box but it isn’t like the photos shown on the website (either REI or Yakima). It was Nearly impossible to open the first time and took me 30 minutes. Once I closed it to open the other side and it took another 20 min. When I did get it opened, I saw It doesn’t have the flat bottom that was shown in the photos. some of the ridges are almost 2 inches high probably taking 2-3ft.² of space away from the actual box. I’m not sure if this is the old version but I’m returning it in the hope of getting one with the flat bottom. I’m working with the REI rep to see why it’s not the product shown in the photos. I ordered it online but picked up at the store. not sure if this was an old product they had in the warehouse ? there was no box with it and seems to have been opened before — it had scratches on it.

This box is the perfect height to be useful on trips yet not so large that your MPGs suffer or the drag is significant. Best box I have ever had for sure, plus half the price vs the similar re-branded boxes from my car manufacturer.