Rooftop Tents

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rajiv33 said:
Has anyone tested out any rooftop tents on their SE yet? If so, any recommendations?
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Did you add the required roof rails when you ordered your SE? I assume you've googled to find this Tentbox product. I have no recommendations--how many others have you found?
 
I'm not particularly fond of rooftop tents aside from the novelty. You would need to get aftermarket reinforced crossbars and make the choice between a lighter and more spacious softshell versus a heavier, but convenient hardshell. Most of the time the tent isn't in use and either you have a place to store it or you just permanently leave it on the roof.

I would much rather run a roof cargo box and take a hub tent like a Gazelle T4 overland or an insulated ice fishing tent + wood stove if you are winter camping. If money is not an issue for you, then by all means go ahead and get a rooftop tent!
 
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rajiv33 said:
Has anyone tested out any rooftop tents on their SE yet? If so, any recommendations?
Click to expand...

I haven't had an opportunity to test one myself, but, outside of the US, Mini sells two rooftop tents from a company called Autohome as part of the MINI Original Accessories range, and one of the two—the Autohome Columbus—was featured on the Cooper SE when they were introduced last year. InsideEVs actually wrote an article about the tents. According to that piece, "the manufacturer insists [the tent] does not have a negative effect on the car’s aerodynamic properties [and] even though it is extra weight placed very high on the vehicle, Mini says handling is also unaffected, since it is offset by the heavy battery that’s located very low in the vehicle."

While Mini doesn't sell the tents here in the States, you can purchase the Autohome Columbus directly through Autohome. If money truly is no object, they offer a carbon fiber version of the Columbus that's 20 - 25-percent lighter than the comparably sized fiberglass model.

I haven't been able to find any reviews of the Autohome Columbus used with a Mini Cooper (SE or otherwise), but, if you're interested...

Here's a good overview of the Autohome Columbus compared to a popular option from Yakima:


And here's a review of the Autohome Columbus after one year of use—the presenter is a bit long-winded, but he does provide quite a lot of detail on the workings of the tent:


If you do buy a rooftop tent for your SE, please do share your experience here!
 
insightman said:
Did you add the required roof rails when you ordered your SE? I assume you've googled to find this Tentbox product. I have no recommendations--how many others have you found?
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Yes, I did add the rails just in case I got an itch to add a tent. So far the ones I like the best are the ones from Autohome (over $5K!!!), who have teamed up with Mini overseas, and the iKamper Mini (really like this one, and they claim it works with a MINI), but they are pretty pricey as well (>$3K).
 
teslarati97 said:
I'm not particularly fond of rooftop tents aside from the novelty. You would need to get aftermarket reinforced crossbars and make the choice between a lighter and more spacious softshell versus a heavier, but convenient hardshell. Most of the time the tent isn't in use and either you have a place to store it or you just permanently leave it on the roof.

I would much rather run a roof cargo box and take a hub tent like a Gazelle T4 overland or an insulated ice fishing tent + wood stove if you are winter camping. If money is not an issue for you, then by all means go ahead and get a rooftop tent!
Click to expand...
Agreed...pricewise, a rooftop tent makes very little sense, but I really like the idea of one for some reason. Like you said, it's the novelty of being off the ground.
 
kicksology said:
I haven't had an opportunity to test one myself, but, outside of the US, Mini sells two rooftop tents from a company called Autohome as part of the MINI Original Accessories range, and one of the two—the Autohome Columbus—was featured on the Cooper SE when they were introduced last year. InsideEVs actually wrote an article about the tents. According to that piece, "the manufacturer insists [the tent] does not have a negative effect on the car’s aerodynamic properties [and] even though it is extra weight placed very high on the vehicle, Mini says handling is also unaffected, since it is offset by the heavy battery that’s located very low in the vehicle."

While Mini doesn't sell the tents here in the States, you can purchase the Autohome Columbus directly through Autohome. If money truly is no object, they offer a carbon fiber version of the Columbus that's 20 - 25-percent lighter than the comparably sized fiberglass model.

I haven't been able to find any reviews of the Autohome Columbus used with a Mini Cooper (SE or otherwise), but, if you're interested...

Here's a good overview of the Autohome Columbus compared to a popular option from Yakima:


And here's a review of the Autohome Columbus after one year of use—the presenter is a bit long-winded, but he does provide quite a lot of detail on the workings of the tent:


If you do buy a rooftop tent for your SE, please do share your experience here!
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing all this info. Did see the Inside EV article which is what peaked my interest, but the Autohome tents are just so expensive. I will check out the videos you shared as well. So far, my front runner is the iKamper Mini (which they show as fitting on a MINI).

https://ikamper.com/products/skycamp-mini/

If I purchase one, I will be sure to share my experience with it.
 
rajiv33 said:
Thanks for sharing all this info. Did see the Inside EV article which is what peaked my interest, but the Autohome tents are just so expensive. I will check out the videos you shared as well. So far, my front runner is the iKamper Mini (which they show as fitting on a MINI).

https://ikamper.com/products/skycamp-mini/

If I purchase one, I will be sure to share my experience with it.
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The Skycamp 3.0 mini is just around the corner. You can see the details at
https://www.ikamper.co.kr/Skycamp-3-mini
 
kicksology said:
According to that piece, "the manufacturer insists [the tent] does not have a negative effect on the car’s aerodynamic properties
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Ha! That is the biggest load of steaming marketing bulls**t I've ever seen.

I'm really surprised they can legally claim that, I guess their angle is that the tent is far enough from the roof that it doesn't negatively effect the cars aerodynamics but that wouldn't include the increased drag from the tent itself?

By that logic, I could sell a literal parachute and say the same thing since it would be far enough away to not effect the airflow around the car...
 
Carsten Haase said:
Ha! That is the biggest load of steaming marketing bulls**t I've ever seen.

I'm really surprised they can legally claim that, I guess their angle is that the tent is far enough from the roof that it doesn't negatively effect the cars aerodynamics but that wouldn't include the increased drag from the tent itself?

By that logic, I could sell a literal parachute and say the same thing since it would be far enough away to not effect the airflow around the car...
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They may be right. I read somewhere that the fancy hood scoops on a lot of muscle cars did nothing because the air flowed over them. May be the same principle. I wanted to be an engineer and I wanted to be rich. B school won out and I am not rich. Should have gone to school to be an engineer.
 
Tommm said:
I read somewhere that the fancy hood scoops on a lot of muscle cars did nothing because the air flowed over them.
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What? Did somebody say "hood scoops?" We don't need no...

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Tommm said:
They may be right. I read somewhere that the fancy hood scoops on a lot of muscle cars did nothing because the air flowed over them. May be the same principle. I wanted to be an engineer and I wanted to be rich. B school won out and I am not rich. Should have gone to school to be an engineer.
Click to expand...

I am an engineer but unfortunately haven't figured out the rich part yet...

Fundamentally, drag is a function of shape and frontal area. Even if the tent was magic and didn't increase the drag coefficient (it almost certainly does), there's no denying it increases the frontal area and thus has to increase drag.

* Unless they are claiming the tent actually reduces the drag coefficient in which case their engineers should go work for NASA instead of making tents!

The muscle car thing is totally believable, air flow transitions from stagnant at the surface to full speed over some distance (called the boundary layer). Depending on the shape of the hood scoop and other surrounding geometry, it may do something or do absolutely nothing (even if it isn't blocked off with plastic like most of them).
 
After driving Westfalias for almost two decades, I just don’t get rooftop tents. However I would like to hear someone’s perspective as to how these affect range. Everyone I know that has these type of tents leave them on all summer so they are paying for extra fuel even when not camping.
 
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