Is anyone hauling a kayak or two atop the new Toyota Venza? If so, I am curious as to your tower and crossbar set-up. From what I can gather an after-market rig looks like a substantially better option than Toyota’s ‘factory’ rails and cross members.
Thanks.
curious too
the lease on my rav4 runs out fairly soon and i like the look of the venza. from what i can tell by looking at the yakima website, you have to go with those towers that clip onto the window area, and then you can do whatever you want. i wish it came with built in rails like the rav4- the Q towers installation is a breeze and super sturdy (and i can use the same setup on our honda pilot too). no roof rails might be the deal breaker for me- stick with the rav4 instead (please toyota- a 4wd hybrid)
af
Rails on the web site
I went to the Venza web site b/c my wife has been raving about this thing. There are rails available according to what I saw. A Venza showed up in the employee lot where I work. Looks better in pictures than in person. Love the dash-mounted shifter. A Honda idea, I think.
If the rails are any good
– Last Updated: Apr-13-09 11:43 AM EST –
I'd sugget using them instead of clip-on-door racks. If your vehicle does not come with a rack you can still get one installed. I bought the factory rack for our Mazda MPV from Mazda for about $120 delivered (including pretty serviceable cross-members that were good for up to 100lb). That I installed myself - easy job if you are moderately handy and have a drill - I only poked thru the headliner in one out of 8 or so holes -;) and only because I was lazy and did not use a proper spacer for my drill. Then you can use whatever aftermarket system you like on top of that. I'm sure Toyota sells the rack rails as an accessory and dealers or pretty much anyone with some experience can install.
Alternative is to install permanent bases for a removable rack from Yakima (I'm sure others make that too). The bases are small and inobrusive and do not make any noise/resistance when the rack is removed...