Hi.
We have a 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid. It has a funny black antenna stick out the back of the roof at an angle.
We are getting it together to purchase a roof rack and contemplating a roof box as well. But, the question is: will it fit?
Anyone have any inklings about this situation?
Thanks for any and all replies,
Frances & David

 

I have Yakima roof racks with kayak super mounts for our 16' tandem kayak. And for our camping gear I purchased a Yakima 11 cubic ft. lockable trunk. Its thier base model. 18" or so wide and about 7' long so the antenna is out of the way. I had to install a fairing on the fount rack to eliminate noise. The racks lock as well. The system is expensive but it is very good quality! I payed around $1000.00 Canadian. Very easy to install and remove.I always remove them when not in use. Hal

 

The roof rack will work fine--I use a Yakima on my HCH. I never really thought about the antenna and the gear box though. I haven't used my box for years now, so I haven't tried it on the HCH. I'm moving this weekend though and had planned to use it. I'll post up if there are any problems.

You will see a little bit of a mpg hit at city speeds, but not bad. It's more of an impact on the highway, or with gear on top. I pull my rack every time I plan to drive more than 60 miles on the highway--it only takes about 5 minutes to take off/put on the rack and one bike tray.

 

I'm compulsive enough to want to clarify the issue of a hitch + rear bike rack in advance so I don't shoot my warranty or Honda Care in the foot.
This is especially the case since my recumbent Bike won't fit in the back seat area or in the trunk, even with wheels off.
Honda's website says to check with my local dealer on such questions, and I got this response:

Trailer hitches on Honda vehicles, where Honda does not provide an accessory add-on, are a touchy subject for Honda. Personally, as long as you come to us, and you do not install the wiring, we would honor the warranty as it pertains to anything not directly related to the installation of the bike-rack-system (hitch, rack, mounting hardware, etc…). If any part of the bike-rack-system directly cause damage, of course that wouldn’t be covered.

Other Honda dealers might not see it the same way. As an example, if you were on a road-trip and your transmission went out for whatever reason, they may assume that you have towed a trailer because you have that trailer hitch. Whether they could prove it or not, it has caused some of our customers grief or at the least delayed their repairs at other dealers.

Another issue is liability. If you sell the vehicle with the hitch and the new owner decides to tow a trailer, they could see it as your fault if their transmission goes out because you didn’t obtain a signed and notarized statement that they understand the parts attached to the back of the vehicle are only to be used for a bike rack.

These are issues that I’ve seen come up in the past. Unfortunately, because of these other dealers, I can’t make a blanket statement that it will “be OK to do this without voiding (your) warranty”. It shouldn’t void your warranty, but it could affect decisions pertaining to your transmission, rear suspension, tire wear, etc.. and the amount of coverage that would be extended.

So it sounds like I just might not want to push the issue. Besides, it gives me an excuse to spend $3K on a new bicycle that will fit in the trunk:


http://www.greenspeed.com.au/gt3.html

http://www.ice.hpv.co.uk/trikes/t.htm

http://www.hpvelotechnik.com/produkte/ghp/index_e.html

I've tried the top two...and wow! Each reminded me of the one day I had a loaner Corvette while work was being done on my VW Squareback!

 

I have had my Hiden Hitch on ever since new. My dealer has never said anything about it during service . I just don't have the receiver or ball on when I take it for service. If they ask about it , it is for your bike rack! You can remove the hitch in about 30 min. if you trade it in. Hal

 

This was a particularly interesting topic for me as I just got my '04 HCH and I have a roof rack that I used extensively on my '98 HC LX sedan. I put it on for the first time today and went kayaking. My tank average was saying 48.4 mpg with about 390 mi already on the tank. My trip took my average down to 48.0 and it wasn't that long of a trip (mostly on 45 mph road with only a few red lights). I could tell the kayak was affecting my drive a lot. It was a lot like having a sail on top of the HCH :-D

I haven't tried with just bikes yet. I will definitely be taking it off when I don't need it since it affects MPG so much even with just the basic rack.

BTW I have a Thule system and highly recommend it. I've used it for several years now and have no complaints