Do you wish to find a suitable cargo carrier for your Subaru Ascent? We are here to help with considerable solutions. Why do you want to add a cargo carrier to your Subaru Ascent? We guess you want to increase the loading capacity for your Ascent and load more luggage on outdoor activities like camping, road trips, skiing, fishing, golfing, and more.
Subaru Ascent gives you 17.9 cubic feet of storage space at the back of the third row of seats, and if you fold the third row of seats down, you can get a total of 74.6 cubic feet of trunk space for carrying luggage. Subaru Ascent is a midsize SUV with abundant trunk space to satisfy most outdoor enthusiasts’ demands on transporting their luggage or gear on the roads.
Before giving you the options of rooftop cargo carriers for Subaru Ascent, you need to observe your Subaru Ascent and find if it has existing roof rails and crossbars. It is better to understand the relationship between roof rails, roof racks, and crossbars before choosing the most suitable rooftop cargo carrier for your Ascent.
Quick-Pick List of 5 Cargo Carriers For Subaru Ascent
Roof Racks or Crossbars For Subaru Ascent
If you find your Subaru Ascent has a pair of raised OEM roof rails, you can use the below crossbars as a foundation of a complete rooftop cargo management system. With a compatible roof rack system on the car roof, you can consider adding cargo boxes, cargo baskets, cargo bags, or other roof-mounted cargo carriers to carry what you need out there for most outdoor activities.
Option One
Rhino-Rack Vortex Aero Bar is the first consideration for Subaru Ascent with factory-installed raised roof rails. Vortex Aero bar has multiple length options for different car models, so you must pick the right size option to work with your Subaru Ascent. We have done the study and found the perfect suitable size is 54-inch Rhino-Rack Vortex crossbars, which can perfectly fit on the roof of Subaru Ascent. You need to get a set of compatible Rhino-Rack mounting feet to work with the Vortex crossbars.
Option Two
You can consider using a pair of 58-inch Malone SteelTop crossbars to hold most roof-mounted cargo carriers. However, most people wonder if they need a pair of crossbars for using roof-mounted cargo bags, and we have opinions on the topic.
Malone crossbars have integrated mounting feet on each bar, so you get a complete roof rack system with one purchase. However, the Rhino-Rack Vortex crossbars are combinations of two bars and four mounting feet, and bars and mounting towers are not in a bundle. You need to pay twice to get a complete roof rack system if you choose to use the Rhino-Rack Vortex crossbars.
Option Three
Malone AirFlow2 is another solution to create a roof rack system on your Subaru Ascent. When choosing the appropriate size of Malone AirFlow2, the 58-inch model is the perfect result. Malone crossbars are much cheaper than Rhino-Rack bars, so you can choose the one that fits your budget.
If you prefer to buy genuine roof racks for your Subaru Ascent, you can contact the local Subaru dealer to consult for recommendations. Otherwise, you can find compatible roof racks on Amazon or Ebay for your Subaru models.
After having a pair of study crossbars on your Subaru Ascent, you can follow the recommendations below to find a roof-mounted cargo carrier to transport almost everything on the roads.
Detail of 5 Cargo Carriers For Subaru Ascent
PerFlex Exclusive Rooftop Cargo Carrier
Although your Subaru Ascent has a large trunk, you can use a PerFlex cargo box to add extra storage space on the car roof. The Perflex provides 17.7 cubic feet of space for luggage. PerFlex cargo boxes have three color options: black, silver, and white, so you can pick a color that matches your Subaru Ascent. However, if you want to repaint a cargo box to another color, whatever the color is, you can follow a guide to learn and DIY the color changing for a hardshell cargo box.
Its dimensions are 73 x 34 x 17 inches or 185 x 86.36 x 43.18 cm (L x W x H), so you can use these numbers to know the actual size of a Perflex cargo box and check if you can put a specific item into the cargo box. Most hardshell cargo boxes are universal fit on roof racks or crossbars, but some particular models require minimum and maximum bar spreads between two crossbars; furthermore, the Perflex 17.7 cargo box needs a distance between front and back crossbars to be 22 – 36 inches or 56 – 91.5 cm.
If you have a pair of adjustable crossbars, as the above options, on the car roof, you don’t have to worry about the bar spread fitment.
The Perflex 17.7 cargo carrier weighs 36 pounds, and we believe most of us can lift it for installation; however, we recommend two men for the job because of the security and accuracy concerns. We can find an integrated lock mechanism on the PerFlex cargo box to protect your belongings during outdoor trips. We know some tactics to increase the security of a hardshell cargo box.
The manufacturer gives you 4 keys, so you better leave a key in the car for times when you forget to bring a key with you. Subsequently, we know some methods to open a cargo box without keys for people who lost their keys to their cargo box, not only PerFlex.
Find more information about the PerFlex cargo carriers –
Thule Pulse 614 Cargo Box
Thule is the most popular brand in the industry. Subaru uses Thule items as its OEM parts of their cars. Thule Pulse cargo boxes have three size options: Medium, Large, and Alpine, and two color selections: black and glossy black. You can choose one to fit your outdoor needs and make your Subaur Ascent bigger with more loading capacity.
When comparing The Thule Pulse 614 with the PerFlex cargo carrier, you can find differences in their dimensions. Thule Pulse 614 is 67 inches long, 35 inches wide, and 16 inches high with 14 cubic feet of loading space; otherwise, the PerFlex is 6 inches longer, 1 inch narrower, and 1 inch higher than the Thule Pulse 614. Consequently, the differences in dimensions and loading capacity are not huge.
If you wish to use a cargo box to transport skis, the Thule Pulse allows you to load skis not longer than 155 cm; however, the PerFlex allows a 175 cm maximum length of skis or snowboards to be loaded. The Thule Pulse cargo carriers open from the passenger side, but the PerFlex cargo box opens from the dual sides, which brings more convenience to users.
Detail of the Thule Pulse 614 cargo boxes
JEGS Rooftop Cargo Carrier
If you have a tight budget, the JEGS cargo carrier is an affordable option to create ample storage space on your Subaru Ascent. When checking on JEGS cargo carriers, you find two size options: 10 cubic feet and 18 cubic feet.
We recommend the 18 cubic feet model for your Subaru Ascent. JEGS has the lowest price compared to other options in this article. However, it is a square cargo box not for carrying long gear because of its 57-inch length.
It is a perfect solution for loading road trip luggage and equipment. You can find more information about the JEGS cargo carrier in another post, which introduces its features, designs, dimensions, and loading capacity with videos, photos, and reviews.
Thule Motion XT Rooftop Cargo Box
Have you heard about the Thule Motion XT? It was the most popular roof-mounted cargo box in recent years. The Thule Motion XT series has 4 size options and three color selections, so you can choose one that meets the size of your luggage or gear. We recommend the XXL model for your Subaru Ascent because of its 22 cubic feet of internal space.
You can find Black, Titan, and Grey color options to match different car styles. However, some people decide to repaint their cargo boxes with unique color styles to showcase their personalities. The Thule Motion XT is the most expensive in this article, but it is worth the investment because of its quality and trustworthiness.
If you want to know if the Thule Motion XT XXL is long or wide enough for your luggage or gear, you can use its dimensions 91.5 x 37.5 x 18 inches or 232.41 x 95.25 x 45.72 cm (L x W x H) to know its actual size and check the suitability.
However, you should pay attention to the extra height when adding a rooftop cargo carrier to your Subaru Ascent because the added height can cause driving difficulty when entering places like underground parking.
If you wish to know more about the Thule Motion XT cargo boxes, you can visit another post to find videos, photos, and feedback to learn and compare with other rooftop cargo boxes.
MCBD Rooftop Cargo Carrier 21 Cubic Feet
We pick a soft cargo bag for your consideration. If your Subaru Ascent has factory-installed raised roof rails, you can use a soft cargo bag without a pair of crossbars.
When the cargo bag is fully open, its dimensions are 51 x 41 x 17 inches or 130 x 105 x 45 cm (L x W x H); additionally, it gives 21 cubic feet of internal space for loading stuff. When you don’t use the cargo bag, you can fold it and store it in the trunk. The easy storage method makes the cargo bag a popular choice among outdoor lovers.
Conclusion
You can find 5 rooftop cargo carriers for Subaru Ascent in this article, and you can pick one of them to boost the rooftop loading capacity of your Subaru Ascent. We also find compatible rooftop cargo carriers for other Subaru models: Outback, Crosstrek, Legacy, Impreza, Forester, and WRX.
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