I love this Yakima SkyBox Skinny, but you won’t believe why

I’ve written plenty of reviews about roof rack equipment or road-going gadgets at this point in my travels. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that it’s my favorite modification that I’ve ever made to any car I’ve owned. However, for the past week, a new toy has lived up there, and it did so during my most recent 1,000-mile road trip to bay-fish in South Texas. Its name is the Yakima SkyBox NX Skinny, and it’s still there as we speak.

I’ve had other roof boxes before, but despite all the Yakima products I’ve indulged in over the past few years, this one takes the cake as my new favorite for a reason that I never really expected — fuel economy.

My average MPG didn’t budge

Not even Texas speed limits could make a difference

When I first installed the box, which was a surprisingly easy process (more on that later), I thought that I would lose some fuel economy. This is the typical trade-off with roof boxes, and has been the trade-off for my entire time, owning and using them on different vehicles. You get the extra space, but not the fuel economy you’re used to. Checks and balances, etc., etc.

This is due to the fact that you’ve now got an extremity protruding out into the air that was not present when your manufacturer tested the car in its wind tunnel. These are obvious facts that I previously thought to be unavoidable.

Hence, I went with the Skinny SkyBox as opposed to a larger model. In my head, I thought “maybe this will save me half a mile per gallon, maybe even one if I’m lucky,” but still thought I would live in the low 20s-per-gallon and be stopping several times along my route. That was by no means the case, and I saw the same mileage that I was used to without the roof box as I did beforehand.

I averaged around 28 miles per gallon coming and going, which was a shock to say the least, given that the Texas speed limits didn’t see my average speed drop below 75 miles per hour the entire trip.

How much does it actually hold

Spoiler alert: way more than you might think

I was able to fit three bags the size of airport carry-ons in the SkyBox, one small bag, some collapsible fishing poles and a collapsible plastic stool (which I highly recommend finding room for if your vehicle has a lift kit) very comfortably. If you travel with super-large bags that are the same size as checked luggage, they might be too tall for the Skinny, but if you’re a bag person, the SkyBox Skinny might just be your jam.

The smooth hard plastic lining inside looks like it would be easy for things to slide around on, but with my rack loaded down nothing moved an inch. Even my fiancée’s hard plastic-covered bag showed no signs of scuffing or vibrating. I could see something sliding if it was stored up top on its own, but if you’re a cloth bag traveler like me, that shouldn’t be a big issue.

Installation was a breeze

Hats off to whoever designed this system, because it works

The SkyBox arrived in one piece, and amidst the Texas heat, I forgot to take photos of the box itself, but it measured about eight feet long. The product ships whole, so there’s no extracurricular building after the fact.

It comes unlocked, with only one side designed to open at a time. The keys are stored inside the box during shipping, along with the circular tool pictured above. This is the only tool you need to remove or attach the box to your roof rack, which makes the process easy enough for just one person to accomplish. In comparison to the universal roof rack I own, the box was easier to install than the rack itself.

You first have to unscrew four clamps from inside the box, which is what I’m doing in the first photo. This loosens the clamp and its sliding mount so that you can adjust them to your needs and specs. Then, after you’ve placed the box on top of your car in the desired position, tighten those same clamps down until you hear a click, and then it’s hands-off. It really is that easy.

I’ve installed boxes before that required three different sets of Allen wrenches, and it was an hours-long affair sometimes if I was by myself. This took all of 20 minutes, and that was with a West Texas water break mixed in.

Why would you buy the Skinny?

For those of us who need to use their garage, it makes the most sense

I’ve already been asked by plenty of friends why I would rather have the skinny than a larger, less compact roof storage box, and my answer is simple — hail. Believe it or not, we get our fair share of it here in West Texas, and as such, it’s a gamble to leave any car parked in the street. I wanted a box that would comfortably fit in my garage while mounted and wouldn’t make me sweat pulling in and out on my way to and from work or traveling.

My 2022 Volkswagen Taos is a bit taller than it was from the factory due to the lift kit, and the tires don’t help in that regard all that much, either. Couple that lift with the roof rack being elevated from the roof itself, and the base of the SkyBox Skinny is a fair amount higher than if it were laying flat on the roof of a normal Taos.

Despite that, however, I still have plenty of room to open the SkyBox and retrieve whatever might be inside without the fear of hitting my garage door when it’s open and above me. On larger boxes I’ve had in the past, this was not the case, as I would either have to shut myself in the microwave that is my garage to get anything out, or unload outside before pulling in. All in all, the SkyBox Skinny just makes this whole process easier, and it earns serious brownie points for that.

And in truth, that’s probably what I like about the SkyBox skinny more than anything else — its ease of use. It was easy to install, it’s easy to live with, and it’s easy to use. Yakima products might not be the cheapest on the market, but they’ve hit another home run with this one.