For many years, I’ve had a 2003 Mazda Tribute. It has worked wonderfully for two 11-foot long x 2 foot wide kayaks, side by side on top. But, um, a tree just fell on it, and it’s toast. So I’m looking for a new car. I DO NOT want a pickup. SUV or hatchback would be best. Suggestions? I’ve heard good things about a Honda CR-V and a NIssan Xterra. Would these work OK?
Either of those would likely work. Most cars nowadays have an overhang of plastic at the top of the back window (guess for aerodynamics) that can be an obstacle for backloading. There are ways around it to still backload kayaks.
Thank you. The issue is whether there is room. Now, I could always affix two J hooks, but it would be nice to just lay the kayaks down flat. I’ll check into this plastic obstacle. I use a roller for mounting, and that might avoid such an obstacle. I need to check on the spacing of the rails. For 11-foot boats, they can’t be too close together. On my Tribute, they are 3 feet apart, and that works well. The (sideways) length of the rails is 58 inches, which easily accommodates two 2-foot wide kayaks.
I’ve been happy with my Subaru Forester. Reliable and low enough that I can lift the boats up. Not sure if the latest models have raised roof rails though.
1 Like
I had not considered a Subaru Forrester, but looking at it, it appears to be a pretty sweet car. I’ll check it out. I believe roof racks are standard, but I’d need some rails as well. I do see a lip over the rear window. Is that inconvenient for a kayak mounting roller?
I am a huge fan of my Mazda3. A low roofline is important, and this car’s is officially 57.3". The backglass has a nice angle for using suction cup rollers, and the rear hatch spoiler doesn’t get in the way. Another great feature with this car is that it has weld nuts in the roof channels, so when I want to install the roof racks I screw studs into the weld nuts and attach the racks onto the studs.
Here’s what two 15’ kayaks look like on top of it. This was a special occasion, so I used the cheap squarish foam blocks on the roof racks.
1 Like
That’s interesting. The “mild hybrid” option is a bit confusing, though. I like Mazda’s so this is worth a look. From your pictures, it looks like the rails on the rack are barely long enough, though.
They haven’t made an Xterra for many years
It doesn’t look like much extra width, that’s true, but with the foam blocks between the uprights, they were centered beneath the kayaks, which were touching, and there was at least 3 inches of rack sticking out on both sides. But then again, these were not skinny sea kayaks.
There’s room to carve on the foam to slide them out a few inches if you had wider kayaks, or if you didn’t want them to touch.
This picture also shows the rear spoiler lip and the foam roller I use on that car.
Thank you. Those are the kind of foam blocks that I use. I guess I’m just concerned that I have enough room on the crossbar/rails to do good tie downs. Of course that’s not an issue with the car, but rather an issue of having long enough crossbars. For two 2 foot wide kayaks, I need at least a 48 inch crossbar, but I’d like to have a lot more!
Forester is a go to. CR-V rack points are too close together, which limits the ability to carry longer boats securely.
Hmm, my old car does not have that lip. I’d check it out at the dealership.
Other criteria that I look for are raised rails (which IMO make for more solid rack mounting than door frame grippers), how far apart you can get the crossbars (42" on mine), and how horizontal the roof is front to back so that the bow doesn’t point up at the sky.
THAT is important. If you mean that on the CR-V the crossbars are too close together, that’s a deal breaker. I want at least 3 feet. What kind of crossbar separation can you achieve on a CR-V?
Do I understand you can get the crossbars 42 inches apart on a Forester? That would be really nice.
My 2014 Honda CR-V crossbars are 36" apart and I have transported up to 21 feet kayaks. The long ones were kevlar or carbon/kevlar and tough (not more fragile surfski). I routinely take my polyethylene and thermoform 12 and 15 footers to the river, all of this using yakima saddles.
On the current CR-V with flush rails, bar spread with the Yakma Sightline system Is 32" o/c. On a Forester with the raised rails, max spread is 46" o/c.
Squarish design is making a comeback, at least with some manufacturers, which should be far better for crossbar positioning than the impractical egg-shaped cars we’ve suffered with for too long.
OK, after test drives and cost assessment, I’m converging on a Mazda CX-5. Their crossbars are only 48 inches long, which is marginal, but Rack Attack can fit me with 53 inch crossbars. So that’s the route I’ll probably take. Looks like the racks will allow crossbar spacing of well over 36 inches, which is what I was shooting for. Out of curiosity, any of you good folks have experience with kayaks on CX-5s?
1 Like
Correct. Can’t speak for the 2025, mine is a 2015.
I also have a 2015 CX-5 (a 2 wheel drive with the Miata 6 speed manual transmission) and it’s been a great car, approaching 70,000 miles without a single mechanical problem – I have only ever had to pay for fluids and filters maintenance, batteries and tires.
It gets up to 34 mpg highway/26 city (a few less when carrying 2 boats) and I also had U-Haul put a light-duty hitch on it so I can tow a kayak trailer, though I rarely do that. I have hauled pairs of 15’ to 18’ kayaks thousands of high-speed highway miles on the Thule racks for over a decade (see photo above of the Mazda loaded to drive a 3,000 mile round trip from Pittsburgh to the Saquenay Fjord in Quebec). The trailer hitch provides a solid connection for stern lines – there is not much to connect to under the car otherwise – maybe newer models have remediated that.
Only recently added two sets of cradles – a local guy cleaning out his garage sold me a box last year of about 20 Thule parts for $50!
I put Thule cross bars onto the optional factory lateral rails, usually shorter 43" ones since I am transporting one or two slender sea kayaks (21" to 24" beam) but I also have a pair of 53" ones for when I haul the solo canoe and another boat.
Things I do NOT like about it are the “wing” with the radio antenna in the fin that is above the hatch – can’t open the hatch when boats are on the rack. And I hate the egg shape. After 10 years of driving it I still have little feel for the corners of the vehicle and have frequently scuffed up the corners on low obstacles. Previously I mostly had “rolling bricks”: Volvo and Subaru wagons, Dodge Minivans, Pickup trucks and my current other vehicle is a 24’ GMC box truck. All of those I could precision parallel park within inches of the curb with two swoops. The CX-5 continues to thwart my skill.
I also dislike how so many short wagons and hatchbacks like the CX-5 don’t allow the back seats to fold flat all the way to the front seat backs. There is little justification for this flaw – even my tiny 1978 Subaru DL wagon folded flat and I could sleep in it. I’m guessing it’s another industry ply to try to push people into a larger (and more fuel hogging) vehicle than they actually need.
Call me a crabby geezer, but I refuse to use the stupid “SUV” label for station wagons – I learned to drive in a 1955 Chevy station wagon and that is what any vehicle with a tailgate should be called. This loony appellation was clearly developed by the car industry because of the association of station wagons with – horror of horrors – suburban housewives.