Hi there

I've owned a green Panda Trekking since August 2013 and have been loving it. I was thinking of extending the space facilities over time, and was considering getting my first roofbox/roofbar setup for trips down to Cornwall. I didn't fancy the expensive Fiat versions.
I was wondering whether it would be possible to get any of these cheaper alternatives without invalidating my warranty..

Motionperformance EssentialsTM Solid Universal Roof Rack Bars for Cars & Vans with Roof Rails - Quality Branded (Amazon)

Motionperformance Lockable Secure Universal Roof Bars - (Fit All Cars With Roof Rails) (Amazon

Sorry, I can't post urls as I'm new, annoyingly.

Would someone be able to give me some advice/alternatives to these?

Many thanks!

Kat

I don't really understand that if you've spent a great deal of money on a beautiful brand new car, why you would take the risk for about £50 or so saving? Even if it was £150, the same argument still applies.

I've bought lots of spares and accessories over the years from different car manufacturers. I have found FIAT to be fair and reasonable. Quality has been as good, and the range perfectly adequate. On things like a boot liner, FIAT were half the price of the ones I'd bought several years before. Ok they were smaller boots in comparison, but they we not half the size. The material was harder wearing than the Mitsubishi as well, but about the same as the Nissan.

I say you'd be fine with whatever roof bars you want, it wont effect your warranty.

However, I do agree with jasfiona, why skimp on a pair of cheap (looking) roof bars and spoil the look of the car?

I personally have Thule wingbar fitted on my car. They were more expensive then the Fiat ones, but having driven quite a few miles with both Fiat and Thule bars on my Panda, the extra was well worth it. The only time I can hear my roof bars is when it's raining and I approach around 75mph indicated. The Fiat ones roar in any weather from around 45mph.

I think the Thule look better too as they are lower profile.





You pays your money as they say. Oh, and welcome to the forum too.

Original don`t look good on a car imho. Too much space between roof and bars.
Thule wingbar are amazing but very expensive and I don`t like alu style on a black car.

I prefer black roofbars.
These pair is custom made and only 70 pounds including shipping

http://www.ebay.it/itm/Barre-Portat...8708?pt=Porta_Pacchi_Bici&hash=item19d614c8a4

Or maybe these two from well known Italian brand Fabbri

http://www.ebay.it/itm/BARRE-PORTAT...4651?pt=Porta_Pacchi_Bici&hash=item417b06259b

http://www.ebay.it/itm/BARRE-PORTAT...0893?pt=Porta_Pacchi_Bici&hash=item3f2e519fbd

Both looking good. Low profile similar to Thule.

Thanks a lot everyone for getting back to me and the welcome, very informative. The only reason I wasn't looking to spend a lot, is because I would use them actually on the car very rarely; only for holidays. It looks like I probably will have to spend the extra - and I would probably get something like the Thule versions - at least then I can just keep them forever.

While I'm here - can anyone recommend a good long roofbox as well - the type that would hold bodyboards and the like?

I've noticed some rusting to the exhaust of my 5-month old Trekking over the last couple of days, and that seems very soon to me - is this usual for such a new car?

katgem , you may have seen this pic before as it's in the accessories catalogue. It gives you an idea though how the car looks with the roof box. I think it looks great.