Thule Extra Special Buyer Directory

I got this for my 2009 Mitsubishi Outlander. It installed in less than 10 minutes. Very secure on vehicle. I was pulling with all my strength, the vehicle was rocking back and forth, and these bars did not move at all. Great product, includes locks for all 4 feet.

First off, the item pictured is NOT the 1500; the 1500 is shorter and taller. That said…

My wife had been bugging me for a cargo carrier for our BMW X3 for months. She’d already bought the OEM crossbars for the roof rack. We were going to Mammoth for a long snowboarding weekend and wanted the extra space, so I checked Amazon, read some reviews, and decided on the Thule Ascent 1500. The major consideration was length: it had to fit my snowboard. The 1500 fits with a couple of inches to spare. I found pretty quickly that it was light enough for me to put on and take off by myself, which is really nice. I wasn’t sure about the locking clamps at first, but after two round trips, I have no doubt that the box is secure. The top shell feels sort of flimsy when it’s raised, but once it’s locked down, it’s plenty sturdy.

On its first trip the Ascent carried two snowboards, two pairs of boots, a couple of duffle bags, and a bunch of food, with some room to spare. On a trip to visit relatives, we put a folded McLaren stroller in it (the stroller was actually too tall and kept the front edge of the lid from closing completely, but the lid locked and stayed closed) and there was plenty room for other stuff–which was helpful, considering that our dog was taking up the rear cargo area.

I have nothing but compliments for the Ascent 1500. The only con I can think of is that when it’s off the car, I have to store it in the garage somewhere.

We are planning a golf trip this winter with our BMW X3. If we weren’t taking our dog, his crate, his food, etc, we’d have had enough room for our clubs… we looked and evaluated and chose the Ascent 1500. Everything arrived yesterday.. the rails, etc by UPS and the Thule itself, by truck delivery. Everything arrived in perfect condition. My husband did a dry assembly of the rails and Thule on the ground. Then we lifted it up and placed it on the X3 rails. He had it secured within 10 minutes of installation. We’ve taken it for a test run and are thrilled at how quiet it is… There is a little whistle at 40 MPH, but at 50,60,& 70, it’s quiet. Tomorrow we will load our clubs in it and do another test run, but it looks great. Certainly big enough for two complete sets of clubs and 30 pounds of dog food, with loads more room for anything we’ve forgotten.. We did realize, however, that we’ll need to pack a step stool to make lifting in and out of the rack easier for both of us. We did buy locks for the racks as a theft deterrent.

Buying from Amazon was a breeze, as usual, shipping was free (a huge savings) and the discounted price was wonderful.

This product was a great investment. It enabled us to travel without any concerns about space as well as knowing our luggage was safe from theft and mother nature.

The cargo box was delivered several days earlier than expected. It was super easy to install. If you plan to install one of these, first measure the distance between your cross bars before you hoist the cargo box to the top of the vehicle. The mounting hardware inside the cargo box does adjust a little bit, but you may need to reposition your own cross bars first, as I did. Aside from that, super easy installation, was ready to use within 15 minutes. Don’t try to go through an automatic carwash with one of these on your rig or you may be sorry! (I didn’t, but met someone who forgot theirs was atop their vehicle and was told it ripped the darn thing off along with their cross bar. Not good!). The locking mechanism to the cross bars works well and the cargo box is easy to open, close and lock. I suggest you mount it to one side or the other on the top of your vehicle and not in the center position for ease of loading/unloading. No problems, no complaints, am happily satisfied with this purchase.

This roof rack works great and is easy on and off and very secure. I also bought the 4 thule bags to go with it, because as a set it works very well. We put it on our roof rack and secure it with 2 extra bungee cords and it does no move an inch. We go on very long road trips 400- 600 miles. They only problem I have ( or else it would have been 5 stars), we were driving in hurricane Danny through Vermont to Maine and had a minimal amount of water sepage. I must add that the bag was also left on the car overnight as well. We usually wrap the luggage in garbage bags and have never had a problem, this time I was being lazy. But I would I would buy this again. It is light weight and easy, it folds up small so you can take it off when you get to your destination. We are a family of 5 and 1 dog and it has more than enough room for 2 weeks of stuff