Last Updated on April 24, 2023 by Paul S.
If you are a family of two to a family of 5 sometimes you don’t have enough room in your car or SUV for a big trip on the road! Roof cargo boxes are a go-to if you need to carry more stuff on your trip.
But for some, you have to ask the question why would you settle for a small roof box when you can get the largest one on the market and have the ability to grow into it? This saves you time and money from reselling your small roof cargo box and purchasing a larger one! If you pick the largest one from the get-go you typically can’t go wrong.
In this post, we cover three of the largest roof cargo boxes on the market from three different brands. This provides you with great options in size and in price.
So read on to get all the best info.
Table of Contents
Largest Roof Cargo Box
Thule Motion Xt Xxl
From the famous Swedish company Thule the largest Rooftop cargo carrier they have is the Thule Motion XT XXL.
If you don’t know Thule they are huge in the automotive accessories department for carrying things on your vehicle! They do bike racks, baskets, roof boxes, and more!
The most important thing to note about the Motion Xt Xxl is that it has 22 cubic feet of storage for all of your gear or stuff!
Here are the specs about Thule’s largest roof cargo box:
- External dimensions: 91.5 inches x 37.5 inches x 18 inches
- Internal dimensions: 84.5 inches x 33 inches x 16 inches
- Height it will sit above your cross bars: 17 inches
- Weight: 55 lbs
- Weight of cargo it can handle: 165 lbs
- Open from both sides?: Yes
- Locks are included
- Skis/snowboards can fit into this box – Max length = 215 cm/84.64 inches *
- Color: Black Glossy
* Typical powder skis are going to be pushing 190 cm and snowboards around 165 cm but it depends a lot on the rider
Check out the link for the most up to date pricing on Amazon.
- Largest Cargo Box
- Fits skis/snowboards
- Dual side opening
- Most expensive on the list
Yakima Skybox 21 Carbonite
The Yakima Skybox 21 gives you its cubic feet of storage in its name. That’s right it has 21 cubic feet inside this box.
Comparing this to its arch nemesis Thule it is a little smaller! But where Yakima might save you is in the cost. It is around $230 cheaper at the time of this article.
The skybox includes a textured top for those of us that will be a little rough on it transporting your gear around the wilderness. We prefer this top to the Thule top because I can see all the Thule shine scratching off easily where I drive.
Check out the specs!
- External dimensions: 92 inches x 36 inches x 18 inches
- Internal dimensions: 81 inches x 36 inches x 15 inches
- Weight: 62 lbs
- Weight of cargo it can handle: NA
- Open from both sides?: Yes
- Locks are included
- Skis/snowboards can fit into this box – Max length = 215 cm/84.64 inches *
- Color: Textured Black/matte finish
* Typical powder skis are going to be pushing 190 cm and snowboard around 165 cm but it depends a lot on the rider
Yakima also states that this box can fit ski/snowboard gear for up to 3 people! We love that!
- Fits Skis/Snowboards
- Dual side openings
- Fits gear for up to 3 people
- 1 cubic foot smaller than the Thule Motion above
JEGS Rooftop Cargo Carrier
This JEGS sport rooftop cargo carrier is nothing to look at but it does have 18 cubic feet of storage.
Plus! It is almost one third of the price of the Yakima. But if looks are your thing I would say this roof box is ugly as far as roof boxes go. That would be one of our negatives besides that it is smaller than the other two.
Let’s get to the specs!
- External dimensions: 61 inches x 39 inches x 12 inches
- Internal dimensions: 57 inches x 38 inches x 17 inches
- Weight: 35 lbs
- Weight of cargo it can handle: 110 lbs
- Open from both sides?: Yes
- Locks are included
- Smaller skis and snowboards can fit in this box but not adult sizes
- Color: Textured Black/matte finish
- Budget friendly price!
- Dual side accessible
- Locks provided
- Smallest on the list at 18 cubic feet
- Cannot fit large skis/snowboards
Largest Rooftop Cargo Box Wrap Up!
No matter which one of the rooftop cargo boxes you choose above they should all fit your needs. But again sometimes picking the largest will end up saving you over the long run.
That is why we recommend the Yakima Skybox 21 Carbonite. It is only 1 cubic foot smaller than the Thule Motion but you see significant savings. Plus it fit our snowboards in there which was a big deal killer for us. But if you don’t need it for snow sports that gives you a good metric on what you can fit in it!
- Fits Skis/Snowboards
- Dual side openings
- Fits gear for up to 3 people
- 1 cubic foot smaller than the Thule Motion above
We also loved the textured top because that will save it from looking really scratched up. We are very hard on our equipment especially because we offroad a lot. So pinstriping will happen on our trips.