My CD came without roof rails. I don't care that I don't have them as I had them on my 2012 Touareg and I had never used them. I'm glad that I never bought the crossbars for it as VW is buying it back.

Someday, someday, I might need to put something on the roof but I have a trailer if I ever needed to haul anything that could fit on a roof rack. I like that I don't have the roof rails.

Anyone else have the roof rails that doesn't use them?

 

Me. I've looked at buying the crossbars from Suncoast, but like you, I never had the need to put something on the roof.

 

My wife's CD has roof rails and we've never used them. Same with all our previous vehicles that had them.

 

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I have them. My wife's Lexus RX-350 has them. We use her Lexus for Christmas tree shopping/transport.

That said - I love how the gloss black ones look on a white Cayenne. So - I'm happy I have them. I do have cross-bars that will fit them (bought them for my 955) and aside from trying them on for size they've never been on either Cayenne.

It's sorta like having a vehicle with a top speed of 177MPH. You know you're never going that fast, but it's a nice feeling to know if you wanted to..

 

We had them on a Volvo V70 years ago. We used them to take bikes on vacation. My brother has them on his Q5. He uses them to haul lumber. My CD does not have them. I wish it did but I will manage.

 

Speak for yourself.

 

Used them twice in 4.5 years, still happy to have them though. I also am of the opinion that the 958 looks sooooo much better with rails than without. Without just makes me think of the bald guy that's just given up and stopped trying...

 

Honestly... I wish i ordered them when I built my Cayenne.. Didn't think I needed them, but bought a large fishing canoe and put it on the roof. Calculated the weight < 200lbs and would be ok. Bought high quality Yakima canoe holder and roof rails..

I now have 4 small dints in my roof because of the weight of the canoe + wind..

If you can get them, get them - it's worth it!

 

The capacity is exactly why I ordered them on mine. Porsche is upfront in the weight limit (or was at the time), but neither Yakima nor Thule made it clear for their gutter mount systems. I finally had to call them and finally got that 100lbs were the limit. Being over half less than the factory option (220lbs) made the rails a clear choice.

I have seen a few reports of people successfully getting dealers to install them after the fact, but I've seen far more reports of them refusing. Might be worth talking to your dealer about if you still have the canoe.

Edit: I see you are in Vancouver, if your dealer is not helpful you might try a trek down to Seattle. I believe that is where I heard one of the successful retrofits was done.

 

No racks and don't want them. I hate loading things on the roof of a vehicle. I use a trailer, hitch basket, or truck for numerous reasons.

 

Thanks for the advice Gnat, much appreciated... I'm actually in the process of selling the canoe (which is one of those wide heavy weight fishing kayaks) and have bought a solid AquaGlide inflatable, which is just as good, but weighs 30lbs instead of 200lbs and fits easily on the trailer hitch carrier :-)

 

Purchased the crossbars and 320L cargobox recently. Our son wanted to take a friend w us on spring break and w skate boards, beach chairs, and umbrella, I needed space. This thing rocks! Hardly any noise at 80 and still got calculated 30.2 mpg (normal is about 31.8-32.6)! Very good design and light weight, I can lift it into position by myself. Overall height is just under 83" which means I can "clear" any parking garage or drive through that is 7' or higher. Not cheap (bought bars from Suncoast and the box from local dealer to save high shipping costs). Probably won't use it that often but at least we have the option now. We already have a hitch mount Thule bike rack which is how I prefer to carry bikes. Just sharing ...

 

Never

 

This is why I got the factory rails but didn't order the cross-members. I've got one of those huge roof boxes that we use rarely. Which I wish I'd gotten with their fancy-*** clamping system instead of the U-bolts and wing nuts, but anyway.

If/when I need to use it again (possibly this summer) I'll order some cross-members or try the Thule/Yakima equivalents.