For our recent Snowboard review session to Stubai we had Thule as a partner for all our “carrying” necessities. Thule is a well-established brand from Sweden and specializes in helping you transport anything and everything you find important on your trips.
We took along a number of board bags and also a car top carrier to fit fifteen snowboards, a few skis and preferably some extra luggage. We received the Thule Motion XT XL for that. With inside dimensions of 200 x 80.5 x 39 centimeters and 500 liters of content, we were sure a lot of stuff would fit in there.
I have to say, it looked cool, such an ultra-sleek and aerodynamic car top carrier on a fairly boxy Jeep of 17 years old. I thought it was a nice combination (but I have a slight bias in any case because I love my Jeep.While driving we couldn’t hear any difference in wind noise between driving with or without the carrier. In the spirit of total discloser, I have to add that the Jeep is not the most silent car ever, so the extra sound of the roof box may well have disappeared in the noise anyway.
Getting the carrier in place was super easy. I was a little worried that it would be difficult due to the somewhat weird size of my roof rack (which is a fixed Jeep rack), but the “Powerclick” assembly system where two claws easily grip the roof rack worked very well. Just align the car top carrier easily and turn the dials in the carrier to fix it in place. You can actually keep turning until you feel and hear that the Powerclick system is secure.
The case is a fairly straightforward, as mentioned, a smooth design and construction of tough plastic material and a triple “SlideLock” locking system, where you can not remove the key from the lock until all three latches are properly closed. This ensures that your suitcase can never be opened accidentally when you are driving. What we did notice is that with a full packed carrier it sometimes took some fiddling to ensure that all three locks were free to close and lock properly.
What was also cool about this carrier is that the lid opened to both sides of your car. The hinge system that keeps the lid raised also folds open to two sides. That gives you some resistance when you open the suitcase, but then the lid, when raised, is also held in place quite well so you can easily access and pack all your stuff.
All in all a very nice car top carrier: tight, safe and easy to use. And if it fits and suits a Jeep Cherokee from 1999, it will suit any modern car even better. And last but not least, also for your summer vacations, this carrier will give you lots of space to take all your summer sports goodies.
Thule Motion XT XL
Car Top Carrier
Retail price: € 695,-