ULTIMATE ROOF-TOP TENT TEST + SETUP GUIDE / 22,000km / 152mph / 400 horsepower VW GTI

22,000 km in 3 weeks, tested up to 152mph... This might be the ultimate endurance test of any Roof-Top Tent, and roof rack system. The video covers a real-time opening and setup of the tent, and my personal thoughts and hints on the setup.
It's a Thule Tepui Low-Pro 3 tent, mounted on Thule Wingbar Evo bars, on top of a 400 horsepower Volkswagen GTI used in the Rallywagen 2 challenge - pan-South America. Over 13,000 miles, thousands on miles on gravel, from sea level to over 15,500 feet, and with a maximum speed of 152mph.
The car was built in partnership with ECS Tuning and H&R Suspension, and was tested in a non-stop drive from Ohio to Las Vegas in November 2019 for the SEMA Show. During the first drive, we drove through snow in Illinois, cross the Loveland Pass in Colorado, and stopped only for fuel.
The car was then shipped immediately after SEMA to Cartagena, Colombia from where we drove it to Ushuaia, Argentina. But we took the long route via Bolivia - crossing the Andes), Paraguay, Sao Paulo, Brazil, and then headed west again to the Argentine Route 40. And then all the way back to Buenos Aires, Argentina.
+++ Rallywagen Series with ECS Tuning: • A Slammed Mk7 GTI Cros...
+++ Tepui Low-Pro 3 : tepui.com/products/low-pro-3
+++ Thule Roof Racks : www.thule.com/en-us/roof-rack...
+++ Tepui 4ft awning : www.thule.com/en-us/van-acces...
+++ Follow me on Instagram : / xjamiexoe
+++ Like on Facebook : / xjamiexoe
+++ Visit‪@ecstuning‬ : www.ECSTuning.com
+++ Visit H&R Suspension : www.hrsprings.com

[@arjaycrystal9123]

This is awesome. I'm getting one for my GTI for sure.

[@dwcloudgames911]

Great video. Just subbed. I was thinking of doing this to my car one day. Glad I found your video. Keep up the excellent work man. From Miami stay safe 🙏

[@windowsxp9120]

I’m gonna buy this setup and go across Canada in my gli. Awesome video man and great review!

[@stuartlloyd1035]

Best thing I have ever seen if I had the cash now I’ll buy one for my golf definitely need this in my life.

[@rahuldobhal9037]

Wow !! Thanks Jamie!! This video has given me more confidence in taking my VW POLO 1.5 TDI :) across the country

[@JamieOrr]

That’s great ! I wish you the best of luck! Have fun and stay safe ♥️♥️

[@adhurtado1]

Thank you for making this video. This is awesome.

[@jamiecleeves7921]

Brilliant video fab

[@Erpiiix]

I'm sucker for these tents on top of cool cars. Definitely on a bucket list for my next bike hauler build! And yeah as you asked on Instagram, really nice video 👍🏼 I personally love simple videos as much as crazy stuff going on.

[@JamieOrr]

Thanks Eric!!

[@UrbanNomad66]

Having this tent option for my mk4 golf brings new ideas . Ty! I really enjoyed this video and am now a subscriber. 💐

[@filipwennergren2712]

I’ve bought one thanks to this 👍🏾 I live in Sweden an were not welcome anywere this coronasummer...

[@matthewshambler2644]

That thing looks legit! Way easier than the mission of finding a hotel etc.. I guess as long as there’s a toilet nearby and a shower every now and then, you’re all set!

[@lagerace227]

That’s it , I’m going camping ⛺️🤣 in style 👍

[@JacesOwnWorld]

Why am I paying ridiculous amounts of money on rent? I’m getting this and renting it for a year. The gym has a pool and showers I can use for a whopping $10/month.

[@JamieOrr]

LOLOLOL :D

[@windowsxp9120]

Dude I had the same thought lmao. I live in Vancouver area and rents ridiculous. I’m just gonna go live in my GLI 🤣

[@wilnomadic]

great video, I wanted to put a rooftop tent on my macan and have the Thule aero blade and feet. Will try it out soon!

[@big_bird8597]

Bruh def has his roof overloaded my car is almost at the max limit with that setup I see so many people overweight their roofs it’s crazy

[@jettechdraincleaning7517]

Thanks for sharing…I have the same tent on my ‘11 VW sportwagen TDI

[@umitakbey8187]

Nice video buddy. Civilized car for a world trip :).

[@stephenredmond1504]

my concern going forward was the the golf roof bending while rolling or stationary more than the rack system itself breaking. You definitely showed i shouldn't be concerned, thx. 2019 MK7 with Tepui Ayer2 which is smaller.

[@philippebeaudette2720]

Is the roof still good?

[@dubbermagic]

Hey Jamie. Love it.. helpful information. Could you give couple more details how you wired in the led lights on the roof ? Thanks

[@landandsea333]

You mentioned the difficulty in using their webbing straps with the double d rings. Dont lace it through both Dees. That was intended to secure it once the velcro wears out and becomes unreliable. That tip was explained to me by the guy at Tepui that does their installs.

[@mikeyaxman5345]

The weight limits listed by VW and for any roof rails are for dynamic load, not static. Youll be just fine, Jamie.

[@Head_Case]

ive personally been wondering about that. im looking to get a tent setup for my wrx.

[@big_bird8597]

Bruh he has gif roof overloaded wym

[@antoinebcotes]

@@Head_Case 1 year later lol. Did you get that tent for your WRX? I have a WRX and I'm about to buy one. Just wanted to know how was your experience

[@TheBuuurnz]

Very informative! I'm looking to put a tent on my 08 city golf and make a trailer for my dirt bike so that I don't need to use my 3/4 ton in the summer with how stupid gas prices have become in 2022

[@mwmj4soccer]

Most of the time the rated weights for the roof rack/ bars are only showing dynamic load or what they are rated for when the car is in motion. not the static load when the car is parked. So you should be more than fine with 2 people on the roof of the car in the tent

[@Kaspurr84]

Bingo, the ratings are dynamic. The roof rack is secured to the structure of the car, the weight is nothing for it really.

[@AdonisGaming93]

the reason nothing snapped or broke is because roof bars weight rating is for dynamic weight. That is when the car is in motion and you are moving. When you are parked and stopped the bars can hold much more than just the 160lbs per bar.

[@andrewdeming5285]

Pure gold at 7:20, nice.

[@giannitahitu6454]

damn dude! This is sick! I have a staged 2 MK7R from 2014 and I'm wondering if I can put the Tepui tent on my OEM roof rack? Hopefully you or somebody else know the anwser...

[@christopherthomsen3926]

Thanks for the video. Do you think a mk8 Fiesta ST could hold a 2 person version of the tent, with just one person? I’m not sure what the roof is rated at

[@TURBOGARAGEOFICIAL]

Sensacional!

[@JamieOrr]

Thanks!!

[@user-ch4hp5jy2q]

Goals bro goals - I my 2010 gti - 124xxx miles

[@chrisgirolamo8865]

When you said you went to the 150 from the 135 wingbar, does that mean it's a completely different Thule product? or just a different accessory to the 135, which then makes it 150?

[@fardadkhaleghi7323]

What’s the roof load capacity moving and stationary on a mk7 gti to consider putting a rooftent?

[@jdublu21]

Jamie, how did the added roof weight feel while driving...mostly looking for curves at speed or sharp/u-turns for slower speed? I think you mentioned upgrades to your car...did you upgrade suspension? Do you think stock suspension will handle this well while driving?

[@laristhompson]

Could you please answer a question for me. Did you have to modify the Wingbar Evo 150 bar to fit on your golf or did the stock bar fit out of the box?

[@jackyoshino31]

That’s a pretty cool set up. I’m just curious, minus the high speed runs what your fuel economy was like with the added wind drag. And could you visualize this working on top of the roof of my Audi A3 TDI Sportback? Thanks

[@lukem9697]

i have a buddy with an A3 sport back, i myself with a gti, and i can say that the two cars are very very similar. of course adding the tent on top adds drag therefore making the MPG worse. it’s a minor thing, it doesn’t effect it too much. he has a tent on top of his car and it works amazing, i would recommend buying one if you haven’t yet. looks super sick plus serves as a comfy spot to sleep hope this helps!

[@MAFion]

Do you lock the car when you're in the tent? And if so, moving around on top of the wiggling car didn't set off the alarm?

[@brittoncole6474]

Can you give me a list of upgrades for your golf? Also everything you got for the tent set up?

[@kawzmOS]

Hey Jamie! I've watched this video like 4 times now over the last year. I've been entertaining the idea, I think I'm going to finally pull the trigger on it. One thing I'm curious about though, how does this effect the ease of washing your car?

[@aliceinchainz3003]

mee too

[@harveyhill764]

Could you fold it up with a duvet/sleeping bag still in there to avoid having to unpack every night? Thanks

[@benjamindaniels]

Can you link to the car build. I'd like to see the same possibilities for my Mk5.

[@txtpeer5179]

Soon on my S3

[@joeponder9668]

Fixing to outfit my m5 with the same unit. I think it’s the dopest thing ever when you see a car that you wouldn’t expect to be doing such a thing because of its “caliber”. Yeah bro that’s a tent on my roof, yeah bro my shit still does Smokey burnouts, get over it 😂

[@Rick-xe8jj]

Awsome! Do you think this tent would work on a OEM vw golf r 7.5 roof rack?

[@reesegreco4211]

curious about the same thing! Everything online points to not a good idea but this video seems pretty sound. I'm also looking at the same setup of Thule evo but with the OEM MK7 Alltrack.

[@adriana317]

Would this fit my Toyota Corolla ?

[@devindelcampo5662]

Hi! I’m going on a cross country road trip in my Mitsubishi Lancer with the Thule tepui foothill roof tent later this summer. This video was super helpful for me to see not only a smaller vehicle carrying a tent, but also lowered, as mine is too. I’m curious though, are you on coils or air? I’m just trying to get an idea of the kind of ride height that’ll be needed out west on dirt roads and such. Thanks!!

[@JamieOrr]

I’ve always been static on these long drives :-) If you’re doing thousands of miles of gravel, watch for a buildup inside the rear arches, I’ve killed a couple of tires, but that was in Alaska and southern Argentina. Have fun!

[@snowpeaker]

@@JamieOrr hi Jamie, I’ve seen concerns where Thule recommends NOT using a RTT with the clamp style rack on “naked roofs” since the pressure is applied to the painted body rather than structural frame like standard racks. In your experience do you think these are safe to use despite the manufacturer warning? I want to use the Thule foothill on my polestar 2 with OEM clamp style roof bars but I am worried about damage since these bars are not officially recommended for RTT on naked roof. Your reassurance or advice from experience would be greatly helpful. I am hearing they are technically NOT SAFE. but practically, it seems like it was safe for your use and abuse.

[@justsomeguy3467]

Wtf lol I've never seen this before,that's cool,!!

[@romankrivchenkov3578]

Hey man, amazing trip and review, what a journey! Wanted to ask what is the cage system do you have in your trunk installed and what's it for? Does it help with rigidity of the roof to carry more weight? Thank man!

[@JamieOrr]

It’s for passenger protection, and the rear brace is to hold a 2nd spare wheel and tire inside the car. It’s not attached to the roof structure at all :-)

[@stoicgradstudent3976]

Will the squarebars work as well? Wanna get this setup for my civic!

[@JamieOrr]

Yes, the tent uses flat clamps so it’ll work perfectly!

[@pedeepete]

my worry with this system is that the thule bars mounted in the seals would allow the damp and water to get in? is that something you've found? fan from the UK. GTD

[@JamieOrr]

I haven’t seen any water ingress at all honestly. I’ve used Thule for years and years (i literally collected different parts) on lots of different cars, so hopefully you’ll be okay too. :-)

[@marckcuevas9983]

You think I can put one on an early westy rabbit? Using the rain gutter footbeds ?

[@JamieOrr]

I'd feel less good about the Mk1 roof than the high tensile steel Mk5/6/7 cars, but... you could add more roof rack bars to help spread the weight a bit.. I've seen people putting the tents on Mk2s, 911s, and lots of other cars, so I guess anything's possible, haha.

[@brandonwuertz3480]

@@JamieOrr People do on split window bus as well, thats what i intend to do myself.

[@SP-Tech.solutions]

What do you think about the driving noises, when having this tent on the roof? How much higher is the fuel consumption on the highway ?

[@lukem9697]

it’s a minor difference in MPG. i also think the wind noise can beg exaggerated a little bit too much. if you’re listening to music or talking to friends in the car you don’t even notice it, even without both of those things it’s so faint that you can’t even tell it’s there

[@traCingskYnovA77]

😬Hii, this maybe a dumb question, I have a 2017 autobahn edition GTI, a w/ panoramic sunroof, is this tent compatible w/ my roof | car? If not, does anyone have any other suggestions? Thank you!!

[@JamieOrr]

Yes, it’s just down to clearance. I’ve used tents on VWs with sunroofs before. :-)

[@alenavyazhevich2703]

My car doesn’t have the ability to install a roof rack, are there alternate options where I can get a roof tent on my car even though it doesn’t have the option to install a roof rack

[@lukem9697]

i actually had this exact problem with my car! depending on where you live, Yakima, a reputable roof rack company, will actually have shops where they can permanently install a roof rack system on to your car, despite there being mounting points or not. at this point it’s up to you if you’d like to have a permanent system or not.

[@wangmengj]

I wish you can test in a honda civic too

[@Whoopx2_]

What roof rack do you recommend for a setup like this I wanna do this to my mk7 thank you

[@JamieOrr]

The Thule crossbars will support the weight on a 4 door. I was told a 2 door would be less suitable because of the rear clamps.

[@stuntworks]

@@JamieOrr Hi there, could you tell me the specific Thule rack model you would recommend for this? thx!

[@dastasze]

Why did you decide to go with the 3-person version of this tent instead of the 2-person?

[@JamieOrr]

For the increased space, and the excellent optional mattress upgrade. I also own the 2 person version, and the mattress makes a big difference.

[@calinafh1849]

Could you advise on if this affected your fuel consumption? And what was the overall height of the car with the tent closed?

[@JamieOrr]

It definitely effected the fuel economy, although I can’t give a proper result unfortunately as I don’t test with and without. My bicycle rack already uses around 5-10% more depending on the speeds. :-)

[@raymondseye]

I wonder if the weight will work on my 2020 yaris hatchback?

[@JamieOrr]

hmm not sure. i would contact them to ask or find out which setup is best for your vehicle

[@raymondseye]

Jamie Orr totally appreciate it. Thank you.

[@navargottschalk]

I just bought the same tent for a 2020 GTI Autobahn. The vehicle has the VW stock cross bars... Do you think it could handle this? I can’t seem to find much info on it. Other than this video of course. Much love! 🤙🏽

[@JamieOrr]

I used this tent on the Mk7 GTI that I drove across South America. The bars handled it perfectly - up to 160mph, and over 15,000 miles or something like that. :-)

[@navargottschalk]

To answer my own question, the stock VW crossbars cannot support the weight. 😓 The bars bent slightly inward with the Thule Ayer 2. Will definitely be upgrading to the Thule evo crossbars, hopefully those ones will be a bit stronger and won’t billow inward. Great video though, I still have confidence I can make it work with new bars. 🤙🏽

[@JamieOrr]

@@navargottschalk wow, that’s crazy! Good catch on monitoring them and spotting it. How much did you use it, and how many people etc ? :-)

[@navargottschalk]

I set it up for the first time yesterday. Haven’t taken it camping yet, but my partner and I got in and it started to sink after about 30 mins of being on the GTI. We quickly noticed and removed it from the vehicle and reset the roof rack. Thule Tepui Explorer Ayer 2 on stock VW crossbars, pretty sure we need a new rack. 🤷🏽‍♂️

[@coolguylstan]

@@navargottschalk let me know how it goes with the thule crossbars. I am very interested in making this happen.

[@justinnewbold5259]

Supercool set up and I enjoyed the video but I'd exercise a lot of caution using a roof top tent with the Thule Evo Clamp roof rack. Clip systems are not rated for tents by Thule

[@JamieOrr]

You're correct, and this was not officially sanctioned by Thule. We stayed in contact with their engineering team, and followed a recommendation to use a 4 door car instead of a 2 door with the narrow clip in point on the rear windows. I monitored the rack through the driving, and doubt that I could have realistically done a better and more harsh real world test of it personally. I'm super proud to say that during this unofficial test it performed perfectly :-)

[@justinnewbold5259]

@@JamieOrr That's fantastic and real world experience with this type of stuff is hard to come by but extremely important. Doing this with a (relatively) light tent like the Ayer would definitely be the way to go. Cheers man.

[@Spendo]

Do you think your roll cage helped make your roof not dent?

[@JamieOrr]

No, there was no connection between the roof and cage :-)

[@estebanmoreno9971]

Doing this

[@rockinloko]

🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷

[@Labios_Rotos]

Nice. But excessively expensive.

[@iankonstantino6648]

This guy can probably hear from a mile away

[@zackoff5803]

Soo he’s 5’9”….

[@lfcmarkeb7124]

looks very much like the 'tentbox' roof tent, but i guess their all made in China lol so pretty much all the same same

[@1Afattybombatty]

It IS NOT rated to carry that weight so why did you make this video? It's rated to carry the 140 yeah, but not a human sleeping on top. You look small, I'm 6'3 and weight 190 lbs. No way would I put this on a GTI and sleep in it. Lame

[@MiguelRPD]

You can't drive if you're over your roofs weight limit. But if you are parked you can place significantly more weight. At that point you are using the frame of the vehicle to hold the weight.

[@JamieOrr]

It’s rated for the weight in lotion, and as someone replied, you can’t drive with the tent open and people on it :-) I’m 6’0 and 180lb for reference, so not particularly small.

[@bootywarrior69420]

im gonna do this to my bimmer one day to do some sunday drive action to the alps and make some spicy bao for the night... also whats are the specs on ur vag gti? and is it a manual?