Thule Motion 3 Rooftop Cargo Box - 21 cu ft - Titan Glossy

Video Transcript for How does the 21 cu ft Thule Motion 3 Rooftop Cargo Box fit on a 2023 Chevrolet Tahoe?

Hi, everyone. Aiden here at etrailer. Today, we're gonna be taking a look at the Thule Motion 3, 21-cubic-foot roof box, and we're gonna see how it fits on the top of our 2023 Chevrolet Tahoe. Now, this is one of two colors of the Motion 3 in this particular size. We have with us today the Titan finish, which is a glossy gray. But you can pick this up in the more standard glossy black that you'll see in a lot of other roof boxes.

So if that happens to match your vehicle a little better, they're gonna functionally be the same. You just get a choice of colors for the esthetics. But let's check it out. Now, the Tahoe is a taller and larger vehicle, but if you've got it fully filled up with passengers and you're running out of places to put people's clothes, luggage, maybe camping supplies for a camping trip, a roof box is a great place to put those things. And I think this particular version of the Motion is an excellent fit for the Tahoe because you do have so much real estate up on the roof and this is gonna occupy that real estate really well.

But then just be aware of, though, with any roof carrier with your Tahoe is you're gonna have to reach up pretty high to get to it. You can open the box up from either side, but I would choose to offset it to the edge of the roof to make it a bit easier to reach where you can unlock it and (latch clicks) squeeze that latch to disengage it and push up on the lid to open it. You may need to step up onto your running board or your tire or something to get some better leverage for that. But we can hop up top and see what it looks like inside. Now, the thing I really like about the gray finish is the fact that the inside of the lid here is this really light gray.

And while it might not seem like it does much, it reflects a lot of the ambient light back into the box. It makes it really easy to see things in here. On the all black box, the clamps at the very back tend to be in some pretty deep shadow. And if you have stuff loaded up here, especially if there's some smaller items, say, stakes for a tent at your campsite or something, I could see that really getting lost in a box this large. Having a little bit of light reflected back goes a long way just making this a bit easier to load and unload.

The other thing that makes it pretty easy to load and unload is the lower sidewalls. So you can kind of just chuck your stuff up in here, get to a better vantage point, like your tire, rearrange things as needed and tie it down using the included tie-down rings and three-cam buckle straps that come with the box. Now, the box is long enough to accommodate up to 215-centimeter-long skis, so you can get some pretty long skis in here. And there's various sections that are raised and lowered, so if you have any snow on them that melts off, that will gravitate towards the low points and the raised sections will keep your gear elevated out of all of that. Now, if you are just using this for skis and snowboards, I do wanna mention that there's a version of this box that's the low profile that's going to be a little bit fewer cubic feet just because it's the same length. It's the same box, just shorter, and that one does only come in black. But it's a really solid option if you are looking to carry just those winter accessories because you might not need all the height. When it's closed, this box will add 16 inches from the top of your crossbar. And on the Tahoe, which is already a tall vehicle, every little bit might count. And if you don't wanna add that much height to your roof, the low profile one could be a good alternative while retaining the length and width. And I think Thule does a great job with their clamps too. This is the piece that joins the box to the roof rack. These jaws will fit a wide range of different crossbar sizes and the hand knobs up top are gonna be really easy to tighten. So when you do pop this down into place, you don't really have to fuss with much. It'll just click down in. You can start to tighten it, and once it's fully tightened down, it'll click due to the integrated torque device. I really like this design. It does stick up a little bit more, but the integrated hand knob I think is gonna be really user friendly and just (knob clicking) not be as much of a hassle as something that might use a tool like the Yakima SkyBox NX 18 where the tool stores by the latch, and you have to use that on the clamps. Those clamps are extremely low profile, but I like this design a little better just 'cause I find it easier without the tool. When you're closing the box, you probably noticed the gray strap that's on the lid. That'll allow you to pull the lid a bit closer to you and, hopefully, help you reach the handle a bit better. It's real close for me, but it's doable without having to step on the running board. And when you close that lid, (latch clicks) I'd recommend just grabbing the handle on both sides and givin' it a good tug just to make sure all the latches engage properly. The release handle that we saw and pinched earlier to open it should pop back in, and you shouldn't see any red on the handle. If you do still see red, it means it's not latched properly, and that also means you shouldn't be able to turn and remove the key in the locked position here. But even if you can remove the key, it's a good idea just to go around and double check that everything did engage properly. Now, at the front, you've probably saw that this is a really strong fit on the roof. It looks good and occupies the width really well too. But at the back I'd argue the hatch clearance is probably the most important thing to watch out for. But we have the box slid back pretty much as far as it can go, and we still have leagues of room for the hatch not even come close to hitting the box. So even if we did want to scoot it back a little bit further, then we could, and we're not gonna have to sacrifice any function of our vehicle because you probably want to take your heavier cargo and load it in the back here anyway. With that third row seats up, the space isn't really large back here, but it's gonna be better for your heavier items and this isn't going to be a good fit for your heavier items because the box can only hold 165 pounds. And that's gonna be true for really any roof box you look at. But it's really important to keep in mind here because it is such a large box. You've got a lot of space in terms of volume, but you want to keep the weight in mind, especially because you've gotta factor in the weight of the empty box when loading it onto your roof rack. That will probably be your limiting factor because of that. And you just wanna go by the lowest rated component in your whole roof setup. That way we're not overloading the vehicle, the roof rack or the box. But with all that space up top, it's gonna be good for your larger and lighter items, like duffle bags of clothes or camping gear, which tends to be more lightweight but take up a lot of space. Overall though, I think it's gonna be a really solid fit for the Tahoe. The Motion 3 is gonna be one of the largest roof boxes you can find here at etrailer. The next size down's gonna be around 18 cubic feet. You can find smaller versions of the Motion 3 if that's what you're lookin' for. But, personally, I think with the roof space you have available on your Tahoe, I'd say go for the big one because you've got plenty of room that you don't have to worry about the hatch being inaccessible. And it's better to have a little bit of extra room and not need it than not have the extra room and have to put your stuff somewhere and not have enough room in the vehicle. If storage is a concern, though, because you do have to put this somewhere when it's not on the roof, that's totally understandable. Going with a smaller box is gonna be a solid option. And if you like the Motion 3, you can find the smaller sizes available both in black and gray here at etrailer. Or if you're looking for something a little different, I think I would recommend the Yakima SkyBox NX 18. That's gonna be a textured finish over the box, and that textured finish in my experience does age a bit more gracefully. It doesn't show smudges and fingerprints really at all because it doesn't pick them up to begin with like the glossy finished would. And scratches and scuffs as maybe rocks get kicked up goin' down the road aren't gonna show themselves as much either. So functionally for me, I just prefer that because I know aging is inevitable, and I'd rather the box just age a little bit more gracefully. But I do think that the Motion 3 does a lot of things better in terms of the latch and the clamps. So for me, I think that'd be worthwhile to consider. I think I'd be able to look past the glossy finish in favor of those nicer features. But whatever way you go, I think you're gonna end up with a really solid option for a roof box. And this is just our look at the 21-cubic-foot in Titan Gray on our 2023 Chevy Tahoe. Thanks for watchin'.