Boxes, bags & baskets
The trunk is full and the trip is tomorrow. This is the section for adding volume — and for working out how much you are actually allowed.
Roof & Route is funded by affiliate commission. If you buy through a link on this page we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never decides what we recommend or the order we recommend it in — read the full disclosure.
A roof carrier is a volume solution. That distinction matters more than anything else on this page, because it is the difference between buying the right product and exceeding your roof limit without noticing.
Here is the arithmetic. Most vehicles publish a dynamic roof limit between 100 and 176 lb, including the bars and the carrier. Subtract 12-18 lb of crossbars. Subtract 45-55 lb for a full-size hard box. What remains — often under 90 lb — is what you can pack.
Ninety pounds is not much dense cargo and it is a great deal of soft luggage. So: sleeping bags, jackets, pillows and camp chairs go up top. Tools, tinned food and full coolers go in the car or on a hitch carrier.
Tap any row to jump to the full write-up below. Scores are our editorial judgment on published specifications — not a star rating, and not a product we claim to have tested.
| # | Product | Best for | Score | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thule Motion 3Dual-side opening, the best mounting hardware in the category, and a low-profile XL that clears garages other boxes do not. | Best overall | 8.6 | |
| 2 |  Yakima SkyBox NXLong and narrow on purpose, so bikes or a boat still fit on the same bars. | Best value, and best beside a second carrier | 8.4 | |
| 3 |  RoofPax Car Roof BagDoor-hook straps mean it works on a bare roof, and it folds into a closet between trips. | Best without a rack | 8.4 | |
| 4 |  Thule Canyon XTAn open basket takes what a hard box refuses, and pairs with a waterproof bag for most of a box's usefulness. | Best for awkward shapes | 7.8 |
Prices checked November 11, 2026. Product photographs come from Amazon and are refreshed with the prices. Affiliate disclosure.
#1 · Best overall
Dual-side opening, the best mounting hardware in the category, and a low-profile XL that clears garages other boxes do not.
What works
What doesn’t
Our scoring
8.6overall
#2 · Best value, and best beside a second carrier
Long and narrow on purpose, so bikes or a boat still fit on the same bars.
What works
What doesn’t
Our scoring
8.4overall
#3 · Best without a rack
Door-hook straps mean it works on a bare roof, and it folds into a closet between trips.
What works
What doesn’t
Our scoring
8.4overall
#4 · Best for awkward shapes
An open basket takes what a hard box refuses, and pairs with a waterproof bag for most of a box's usefulness.
What works
What doesn’t
Our scoring
7.8overall
A hard box is best on weather, security, noise and aerodynamics. It is the most expensive, it needs crossbars, and it lives on a garage wall for eleven months of the year.
Where the vehicle decides the box we rank by vehicle: cargo boxes for a Subaru Outback works the published roof limit for each generation against what an empty box weighs, which is the arithmetic that decides the size.
A soft bag is cheapest, folds into a closet, and some work on a bare roof with door-hook straps. Worse on everything else, and the right answer for one trip a year.
An open basket takes shapes a box refuses and costs less, at the price of no weather protection and considerably more noise. A basket plus a waterproof bag plus a net is the value combination people overlook.
We compare all three properly in roof rack vs cargo box. For the two category winners in detail, read the Thule Motion 3 review — including the three cases where the cheaper Force 3 is the better buy — and the Yakima LoadWarrior review for the honest limits of an open basket.
Volume figures are hard to picture. Roughly: 13-16 cu ft is two adults’ soft luggage for a week. 16-18 cu ft is a family of four’s, or two duffels plus a stroller and camp chairs. 21 cu ft and up is ski length, or a family of five’s bulky gear.
Then check three physical limits before you order: your crossbar spread must fall inside the box’s stated mounting range, your roof must take the length without fouling the windshield or the hatch, and your garage must clear the loaded car.
That last one is the most commonly missed. Measure the loaded vehicle, not the specification sheet.
Consumer Reports measured a 19% loss on a sedan with a rack and rooftop carrier fitted, and 13% on an SUV. Those are large numbers, and they are the single strongest argument for putting heavy loads on the back of the car instead.
What the published testing found, and the six things that reduce the penalty, are in do roof racks affect gas mileage. If your load is dense rather than bulky, read roof or hitch first.
Heaviest items on the floor, centered between the crossbars. Fill the voids so nothing slides. Keep everything below the lid line so the gasket can seal. Dry bags inside for anything that must stay dry, because hard boxes are water-resistant rather than sealed.
Then check every latch individually and lift the lid edge — if it moves, a latch has not engaged. The full sequence is in how to load a cargo box.
Each of these goes deeper on one decision, with the price we last read from Amazon on its top pick.
Best cargo box for SUVs
Hard-shell boxes for SUVs, ranked — plus the weight arithmetic that decides your size before volume does.
Top pick: Thule Motion 3
Best rooftop cargo bag
Soft roof bags with and without a rack, what they cost you, and the vehicles that should not use one.
Top pick: RoofPax Car Roof Bag
Best roof basket
Open roof baskets — cheaper than boxes, better with awkward shapes, noisier and unprotected.
Top pick: Thule Canyon XT
Shape, garage height and room for a second carrier — the real deciding factors.
Top pick: Thule Motion 3
The box that replaced the Force XT — what changed, what you give up, and how to size it.
Top pick: Thule Force 3
Narrow by design so a second carrier fits beside it — what that buys and what it costs.
Top pick: Yakima SkyBox NX
Best cargo box for sedans
Cargo boxes that suit a sedan's short bar spread and lower roof limit, not an SUV's.
Top pick: INNO Shadow 16
Best cargo box for skis
Ski-length roof boxes, how long a box your skis actually need, and which take snowboards too.
Top pick: Yakima SkyBox NX
Box or basket: weather, noise and security against awkward, dirty and oversized loads.
Top pick: Thule Force 3
What the Motion 3's price premium over the Force 3 actually buys, and which size suits which roof.
Top pick: Thule Motion 3
Why the LoadWarrior wins the basket category, what the extension adds, and the two things no basket will do.
Top pick: Yakima LoadWarrior
Force or Motion
The within-Thule box decision: what the Motion 3 premium buys over the Force 3, and when the Pulse is enough.
Top pick: Thule Motion 3
Best low-profile box
The flattest boxes worth owning, ranked, plus the tape-measure check that decides whether any box fits your garage.
Top pick: INNO Shadow 16
Best box for minivans
Boxes ranked for a minivan roof, plus the tailgate-clearance check that decides how far back the box can sit.
Top pick: Thule Motion 3
Every vehicle page carries the published roof load limit, the roof type by model year, and what actually mounts to it — cited, and honest about what the manufacturer does not publish.
What it costs you in mpg, whether it will be noisy, and how much your roof is actually allowed to carry — sourced, dated and honest about what nobody publishes.