Honda is really reaching on this one. The roof rails only come on the EX-L but they are not really useful without the cross bars and they charge $448 for the pair. I'm calling BS on this. I can see charging for the bike accessory or the snowboard rack but $448 for the crossbars, highway robbery. The base model Subaru Outbacks have racks and crossbars, as do many others. Outrageous!
Here's an image of some spendy crossbars. I'm out.
Out on the crossbars, or (gasp!) on the HR-V altogether??
Definitely some strange marketing going on there. Going to tick off a lot of people... I don't need them personally, but I sure thought it was strange that they're not even available accessories except on the EXL, and to charge that much for crossbars is nuts.
I emailed Yakima yesterday to see what their plans are. We'll see what they report back. I had a hard time trying to figure out what they offer for the CRV from the site even though it has similar rails. This could be my deal breaker too. After talking to Yakima on the phone last year to resolve rack issues on my Fit (towers sliding back in headwinds carrying road bikes) they highly recommended subaru's for their roof rails. They did say the Outback gets the most complaints from their customers, the swinging crossbars have fixed width making it difficult for some carriers to attach.
And that is just the crossbars. You would still need the specific rack to carry your particular load, and that can be almost another few hundred dollars.
I run into this problem when considering the CR-V trailer hitch (something HR-V can't do). It is around $500.00 + the trailer ball size you need. Roof racks and trailer hitches are expensive.
We do not have that as a listed fit for that vehicle. Though I will put that car into the "please get a rack for this" for our fit team and hopefully they will be able to take a look at the car and make a fit for it.
Make sure to inquire with them to get it up the list.
Throw this site into Google Translate and you'll see that Thule Part Nos. 753, 3027, and 861 will have you in business.
State O' Maine, we'd call L.L. Bean
This is an older thread, but for the sake of accurate info...
You can get the x-bars for $359 from the dealer. The extra $100 is for installation. Ha! It will take you 25 minutes. The hardest part is attaching the clear protective stickers to the rails.
These might be coming off except when needed, the wife says highway noise is awful. Doesn't include a faring.
Can you take a pic of the bars? I'm curious if they're the "through" style bars that stick out past the towers or if they're the kind that curve down into the towers. Not a lot of accessory sites have pics of the bars and I'm not sure if the one accessory shop pic I've seen is accurate or not. Bernardi Parts has them for $359, the Honda eStore shows my dealer charging $450 for the part and $499 for part+install with other dealers in the suburbs charging upwards of $550! I've installed waaaay more difficult Yakima Q-towers on my old car, pretty sure I can handle these after reading the instructions at Bernardi's website.
I wasn't interested in paying $2000 more for the EX navi model just so I could have roof racks, leather and the navi system. But when I asked about adding roof racks, get this: Honda wants $1300 or something crazy like that just for roof rails. Not counting cross bars which are another $450. It's ridiculous. The parts guy at Honda was apologetic and was shaking his head. Anyway, I'm not remembering the exact price but a $2000 roof rack system is insane.
The HR-V rails appear to be very similar, in construction and attachment. If anything, the HR-V version may be easier to install as the original rubber/plastic insert may not have to be cut ... I say "may," as I'm just picking and poking at cars on the local dealer's lot (two whites, a black, a blue, and two EX greens).
Honda Canada replied to my Tweet asking about roof rails on the EX by saying it was a price consideration and that the roof structure in the lower trim levels is different from that of the EX-L. Sounds like a lot of bullpucky to me!
We'll see how they respond when I asked for an explanation as to how the roof structure differed since they both have the EX designation.
Michael
There's likely no difference in roof structure, as that complicates logistics and assembly. Also, all HR-V's have to pass the same roof crush test (at least here in the states) so likely he roof structures are identical.
Probably just a marketing ploy to get people to buy the EX-L instead of anything less expensive if they want roof rails. At some point in time someone is going to damage things and need replacement so they have to be available to the dealers or a body shop.
You can install a trailer hitch, but the car's not rated to tow anything and you risk voiding your warranty if you grenade your transmission trying to do so. A few bikes should be OK, though, but the engine just doesn't have enough torque to comfortable tow more than a few hundred pounds if you're also carrying passengers. I did it once out of desperation and it was a terrible idea.
Interesting:
– Good price.
– Instructions and Step 10 show drilling the roof .... scary.
– Too bad the instructions are not text ... and easily dumped into google translate.
– Despite the title of the listing, these appear to be quite different from the U.S. OEM rails.
Hey guys, look at these cross bars on AliExpress. Dirt cheap at $76. I think it'd be worth giving these a try. I'm planning on attaching a ski box to it.
I just installed these roof rails on my 2016 LX.
Build them first, leaving the crossrail adjustment allen heads loose.
You may have to bore out some of the shoddy aluminum interior spacers too.
Good luck!
I just installed these roof rails on my 2016 LX.
Build them first, leaving the crossrail adjustment allen heads loose.
You may have to bore out some of the shoddy aluminum interior spacers too.
Good luck!