Bike rack for Passat

Can anyone recommend a bike rack for a Passat Estate? It doesn’t have a tow bar and I don’t really want to spend £700 on a tow bar being installed. Has anyone got the Thule Outway Platform? Does it mean you don’t need a light board attached to the rack?

Looks like they have the height to clear the lights and number plate, but if you’re able to lift them that high why not just go with roof bars? Passat estate isn’t as tall as an SUV.

I’m in the exact same position. That looks like all the disadvantages of a roof rack (mpg, clearance) with none of the benefits (access to the boot).

I’d just get second hand bars and some UpRide or ProRide racks, they’re dirt cheap on eBay and the other suspects.

What’s the issue? I’ve got a cheap old Halfords rack, hooks on top and bottom of the boot lid (2011 Passat, if it makes any difference). Carried my son’s 2 bikes 200 miles to Exeter and back without a problem.

I have a 2010 Passat estate, with roof bars and so have gone with a roof rack, but if it’s just me and the bike I drop the rear seats and put the bike inside the car instead.

I have a Saris Bones 3 rack too which I bought for my Mazda 3 and it hangs bikes off the boot, something I was never particularly happy with, it never seemed very secure to me.

I had a 2012 Passat with a tow bar. The bikes mostly went on the roof. I think we may have had the roof carriers first but even so I miss the easy roof racking of bikes that we had with that car. I drive an SMax now and it’s just a smidge too high to be the regular bike carrying method.

Four bikes on the roof cost me about 10mpg from memory in a 2.0 DSG diesel without going any slower on the motorway etc.

What’s the issue?

If he needs a light board then that’s the guts of the cost of a towbar once you wire the bastarding thing in.

That’s the issue right there. May as well spend the extra £150 on a brink towbar and get a towbar mounted rack.

Food for thought so far though. I could keep putting the bike inside, but would rather ‘try’ and keep the interior semi-clean. But that doesn’t help me when going away with wife, child and two dogs.

I bought a cheapish full boot liner for my Passat. Has worked well when bike has had to go in the boot. I also have rubber boot ‘tray’ from my old Insignia. If I need the seats, the bike/s go on the roof. It does have a tow bar but that’s for shed-dragging duties and as I already had the roof bars and carriers I’ve never really considered a towball bike rack.

Oh bikes always go in the boot, but when you’re moving a load of gear down to the uni, the old rack gets used, bikes with the wheels off, held at back window height, never needed a light board. Good thing about the old strappy racks, they’re height adjustable. Dunno, maybe I just don’t overthink it, been using the same rack since the 90s, was on the back of my Saab for a drive down to the Alps yonks ago.

Yeah, you do have to spend a bit of time making sure everything is secure, pipe lagging to protect paintwork, forks etc. but once its all on, its all on.

Is £700 really the cost for a tow bar fitted? Would a lightboard be extra to that?

We’ve just ordered a Kodiac and it was £1k for the dealer option, was rather hoping for half of that after market?

That sounds right, 320 odd for a Westfalia bar (other options available), 110 for the module, 200 plus for a loom and 70 for the programming. That’s before Labour. Mine involves plugging the loom into the dashboard or somewhere close by.

I’ve seen fully fitted prices around 800 quid, frankly I worry about that being too cheap, reeks of scotch blocks and half arsedness even through official fitters. Ford want at least another hundred quid on top.

Blimey, only wanted one to carry bikes as just thought it would be so much easier than the roof. Might stick with roof bars…I’d be looking at £1.2k with a decent Thule rack.

Man, you folks do like to splash your money on the weirdest things.

Daylight robbery if your paying £800+ for towbar fitting. Main stealers always jack the price and if your doing lease car you’ll be getting killed for depreciation for towing.

Plus some cars have the dynamic stability that needs specific interface to trigger the car switching to towing stability modes.

But this is basic lights for a trailer board. Dead easy diy and scotchblocks are poop. But you can easily take a feed off the brakes and indicators without it being half arsed or reliant on scotch blocks.

And if you’re half handy whilst you’re at it then taking the bumper off the passat to bolt the towbar rail in place of the stock bumper rail is easy enough too.

For me, get a boot liner for when the missis is not around. If you regularly have the missis and boot loaded then get a towbar and tow bar bike rack. Modern bike geometry and frame design and I’ve struggled to get boot hanging bike racks that the bike will fit and heavy bikes on the roof i’ve never felt comfortable with. Plus kills mpg. And all too easy to batter car park barriers if you have a momentary lapse in concentration!!.

But you can easily take a feed off the brakes and indicators without it being half arsed or reliant on scotch blocks

Not on my 2014 van. Even a low current relay sets off all the bulb failure warnings. But a towbar, DIY fitting and OE wiring loom for the electrics wasn’t much more than £400 I think.

@silasgreenback it’s almost as if you never even read my post.

That’s everything needed to plug into the existing systems without making it all shit the bed. That’s not even the fitting, just the parts. Yes, I could make up a loom if I knew what plugs I needed and it would be a lot cheaper than OEM but I still need the module and towbar. Then it needs programming so nothing else shits the bed.

There are a ton of devices in modern cars that preclude slapping a towbar on and just bodging it in, if you have auto parking, blind spot indicators or anything else that relies on the myriad radars and sensors in the wings and bumper then they will all have a shit fit of you put a towbar on. Similarly the bus will throw alarms the first time you connect on.

Man, you folks do like to splash your money on the weirdest things.

No, I just want a job done properly if I’m getting it done and not messing up the already temperamental system I just paid a significant amount of money for. I wish the bits didn’t cost that much but here we are.

@squirrelking

My apologies for upsetting you sir. As you say, there are a mass of sensors but I’ve DIY’d my Passat, properly. granted a few years ago and for the reasons you eloquently state paid for my xc60 to have one fitted.

In neither case did it cost me the figures quoted here and all still works without anyone shitting themselves.

I was quoted 4 figures by dealerships. But used a reputable aftermarket fitter.

I think what the debate does underline for me is … If you don’t tow and you can easily get bikes on the roof you need a really good reason to splash out on a tow bar and towbar rack especially for occasional use.

I have a set of nice aero roof bars I need to sell from my old Passat. They are the ones that hook around the doors, not that go on roof rails though. May be of interest?

Also I DIYed an OEM spec Westfalia Towbar on that car. Bought from PF Jones who were great and would find an experienced fitter to talk to you in the phone if you needed it. The instructions were impressive detailing exactly what trim to remove and where to put everything.

Just gerrit on the roof – if I can manage it…. ;-)

IMG_20220419_105154~2 by davetheblade[/url], on Flickr

Back when I has a Golf Estate (with roof rails) I occasionally used a “Strap-on” boot rack, mounted higher to try and sit above the light clusters and Reg plate, it sort of managed but I reckon I could easily have been pulled over.

I’ve got bolt on roof bars for the current car (without roof rails) but they’re more of a faff to fit than the tailgate rack. I’m happier now using a Sea sucker (knock-off), mainly because the rack can be moved from car to car without much fuss/complication and I know I’m not going to get pulled over for obscuring lights/reg plate…

@silasgreenback no doubt you have wired one in before now but cars are far more complex and “self aware” than they were then. As for the costs, good luck bypassing them if you want to do it properly. You could certainly save on the rack but the rest is non negotiable. And again, the figures I quote are from after market, as I said Ford want at least a hundred quid more. If you can find me a decent price for a bar fitted to a Mk4 Focus Estate using the correct bits be my guest because I sure as hell can’t and neither can the majors.

Last car I installed a tow bar and electrics to was an 07 reg Fiat Punto. Spliced in an after market relay, remove the rear (not a) bumper and bolt on the hardware, not hard. Modern cars are a total different beast with all the sensors and stability stuff going on. Even if the wiring kit is a plug in module, you’ll need something way beyond a standard code reader to sort all the car firmware out. I’d need to be entirely sure that was possible before doing it myself.

Even if the wiring kit is a plug in module, you’ll need something way beyond a standard code reader to sort all the car firmware out. I’d need to be entirely sure that was possible before doing it myself

I have Forscan but not entirely sure which modules (plural) I would need to recode to get the full capability, I know how to find all that out but as you say it’s not trivial. I’d imagine VAGcom would do the same thing on the Passat.

Daylight robbery if your paying £800+ for towbar fitting. Main stealers always jack the price and if your doing lease car you’ll be getting killed for depreciation for towing

£800 wouldn’t even get me the kit from a main dealer last time I asked them, never mind the fitting and coding

I have a 2015 Passat, within the last 2 years I’ve had a detatchable towbar from tow trust fitted by a mobile fitter, cost me around £350 fitted and wired (the cheaper way wired in, I’m happy the rear outer parking sensors dont work).

Why pay dealer prices when mobiles are cheaper and come to you!

2015 is pretty ancient in terms of this discussion.

Although,  TBF the OP doesn’t state how old his is so you may have a point.

Why pay dealer prices when mobiles are cheaper and come to you!

Remember my Passat mega threads?  They were caused by a poorly installed third party towbar control unit.  I’m not saying it’s bound to happen, but there you go.

I’ve had similar issues with my 2009 Citroen C8 randomly unlocking and opening itself as well as turning random lights on for no reason, all solved by pulling the tow electrics fuse.

But what do I know?

the cheaper way wired in, I’m happy the rear outer parking sensors dont work

As well as stability control, BLIS, auto park and who knows how many other systems from the knock on effect? I appreciate you may not have all that nonsense but when you do, that’s why the proper kit costs so much.

Anyway, did some shopping around and can get the loom, relay and a decent bar for £416 which is still a lot before I even stick a rack on.

mine’s a 2018 Passat Est, so has all manner of electronic sensors etc, so don’t fancy ballsing it all up. I think £300 labour is probably par for the course from a mobile fitting vehicle spec loom. 

I’m not a fan of roof mounted bike racks, so comes down to what rear to get. Longer term, the utility of a tow bar may come in handy for a few other things eg getting firewood from mates wood too, if I got a trailer.

Hmmm, I’ve asked main dealer how much tow bar will be. Looking forward to laughing at them. I was quoted £500 from mobile with universal loom and fixed towbar. Question: Has anyone got a fixed towbar on a modern car with sensors and do you get interference with rear sensors when nothing on the towbar?

if you’re happy having the bike overhanging the lights a little (like a thule xpress), you can fit a towbar and just ignore the need for any electrics. Total cost around £150 and no risk of ruining the electronics

The proper kit doesn’t cost all that much. The dealer’s book price on fitting does though.

if you’re happy having the bike overhanging the lights a little (like a thule xpress), you can fit a towbar and just ignore the need for any electrics. Total cost around £150 and no risk of ruining the electronics.

If you’re happy for your and someone else’s insurers to play silly sods if you get rear ended and to be discussing that with the Police in the aftermath or to get your journey interrupted and a ticket for failing to have proper rear lighting and an obscured/unlit number plate then that’s the risk you really run because other people’s safety depends on those lights including the passengers in the car.

Certainly on a Passat estate the number plate is likely to be on the boot lid between the light clusters as well.

Yes I know I’m a grump.

Question: Has anyone got a fixed towbar on a modern car with sensors and do you get interference with rear sensors when nothing on the towbar?

I’ve got a 2014 Passat Estate with removable tow bar and the parking sensors aren’t affected when it is attached. Obviously with the bike rack on they are…..

Thanks Filks, weighing up fixed or detachable at the minute, as the savings are about £100.

Main dealer got back to me today. £900 fully fitted tow bar. Which was less than I thought it would be.

Saying that, they did say the same price to replace timing belt and water pump…