Rola 59150 Pursuit Folding Roof Top Carrier

I used this for a long trip (there and back), including some rain and mud, so I can speak from experience. The car I used it on is a 2003 Sequoia. It worked well for me. I liked the reinforced bug shield on the front. Now I know why it's there. The thing was totally waterproof and dustproof. Here are some things to look out for. (1) When assembling it, do it on the floor or out on the driveway, some place with a lot of room to move it around and move yourself around. Put it all together, and seal it up once just like you are getting ready to leave. Seeing it sealed up from an easy angle will be a lot of help when you install and pack it on the roof. (2) Be careful about the frame. It's slightly wider at one end than the other, so make sure you put the narrow end in first. If you try to put the wide end in first, it'll act like it's going to fit, but it really won't. (3) Give yourself lots of time to adjust the roof rack location and get the carrier attached to the car. The openings in the carrier where the U-bolts fit are very awkward to reach, especially the first time. Take your time! Use a ladder if necessary to get a good angle into the carrier from the side. (4) This is the most important one. There is a flexible metal bar that fits inside the top, back of the carrier and holds the whole thing open for loading. Without this bar in place, the carrier falls in on itself (intentionally) for storage. The bar itself stays in place because each end fits into a pocket inside the top, back corners of the carrier. Make sure you get the ends in the pockets! They are reinforced to deal with this pressure. If you don't do this, the bar will eventually wear a hole in the carrier. The problem with mine was that these pockets were sewn in backwards, so it was impossible to make the thing work. I found this out after the trip, and there's a small hole worn in the carrier from the bar pressing on it. I strongly recommend that you put this bar in place before putting the carrier on the roof. It'll be easier to install, and it'll hold the carrier open when you're trying to reach those U-bolt holes. Doing this on the ground also allowed me to turn the back of the carrier inside out so that I could finally discover what was wrong with mine after I got home. (5) There are all kinds of straps and buckles on the outside. Examine them when the carrier's assembled on the ground in your dry run so you'll know what to do with them it's on the roof. (6) The carrier comes with a cover so that it can be collapsed and sealed inside the cover when it's in place on the roof. That's fine while you're at your destination if you don't want to take the whole thing off and put it back on when you're ready to travel home, but I found that when I drove at highway speeds with it folded up in the cover on my roof, the whole thing fluttered and vibrated like crazy. If sounded like a helicopter was sitting on my car roof. I stopped several times to push and pull and adjust, but it never went away.

I bought this carrier to add extra space for traveling, and it provided much more than i thought it would. Plus it folds flat when not in use so you don't have to remove it while on vacation. It performed when at highway speeds with an occasional whistling sound. I would recommend this product to anyone that needs more room while traveling.

Two thumbs up.
I purchased this carrier prior to a 9 day vacation. I drove about 2000 miles with it. I have a three row vehicle which has little storage when all three rows are utilized. The Rola Pursuit had enough room to handle all of our luggage for 3 adults and 3 kids for the duration.
I drove with the carrier in 3 different conditions: fully loaded, in storage position (covered), and 1/2 loaded.
1.) Fully loaded there was no wind noise even doing 80+ MPH.
2.) Covered in the storage position - I would not recommend this except around town, at low MPH. Use the cover when you take it down for storage. It flaps even with the cover tightened when on top of the vehicle. Spend the 5 minutes to take it off and fold it up. It takes almost no room, and is easy to pull off, take apart and reassemble in another 5 minutes later when you need it.
3.) 1/2 loaded there was no wind noise, again doing 80+ MPH.
My gas mileage is typically 24 on the highway without the carrier. With the unit on top I was still getting 21 MPG.

This unit is probably the best ~ $250 I have ever spent.

I ordered this beacuse all of the bags that you put on the car are difficult to load and cannot carry larger items. This was exactly what I was looking for. It is long enough for golf clubs and boogie boards. The inside straps allowed me to tie things down. The carrier holds it shape so that it is easy to load. If you are at a destination that has a parking garage you can fold it down for extra clearance.

Excellent product, good experience.

My wife flew from Oregon to Arkansas to drive our daughter back from college in our BMW325 after graduation. Stuff accumulates, especially if you get an art degree. I wanted to make sure we could bring back as many of those $300/credit hour paintings as possible. We own a sleek locking Yakima clamshell carrier for our SUVs in Oregon, but it was too big to check as luggage with SWAir, and too expensive to ship via UPS or other shipper. Complicating the matter, we also have 2 sons who just finished their freshman and sophomore years at college in Oklahoma. We will be making cross-country road trips for several years so I decided to buy a new topper and have it shipped to my daughter.

Carriers come in 2 basic types: clam-shell plastic cases, and nylon "sail-bags". The clam-shell cases are great, but the good ones are expensive and difficult to store in a dorm room. The bags look ridiculously awkward and fuel-inefficient. They hold their form in the pictures (is that a good thing?) but they must blimp out when you strap them down. That bothered me too - I don't like the idea of strapping a bag on the roof with no airflow below. The Rola carrier seems to be the only product with the best of both worlds. My wife and daughter's fiancee installed it in minutes with no problems. It sits up nicely on a rack and holds its form even when fully packed. It doesn't have any locks, but you can easily add them to secure the zippers.

After 2100 miles, rain showers in Colorado, Idaho, and Oregon, there were no leaks, no air noise or rattles at any speed (up to 75-80mph), no rips or tears, and no other damage. All surfaces and parts made the trip in good working order. The aerodynamic front airfoil catches bugs, but they wash off easily. There was a decrease in mpg from normal driving, but I expect most of it was related to the weight involved - 2 passengers up front and every square inch of space in and above the car packed to the gills. I think their mileage (20mpg) was comparable to what we would have seen with our Yakima carrier. In short, it was a great product for our application. The boys will take it back to school in the fall, fold it up and store it under the dorm bed. Ship-shape.