After much searching and being outbid on several auctions, I finally won a set of Votex load bars for my car! I hadn’t really been planning to buy to buy one so suddenly, but with some birthday money left over combined with a little Christmas shopping money, I spotted the auction on eBay and I couldn’t resist.

These parts are all original Votex pieces and were available from the VW dealer back when Mk3s were in the showroom. According to other enthusiasts on Vortex, the roof rack of choice seems to be either the OEM Votex setup or the aftermarket Thule (Swedish company, pronouced “too-lee”) setup. And actually, the Votex racks were all made by Thule for Volkswagen, so its easy to see why either are a good choice. The Thule design are similar to the Votex, except the Thule carrier bars are wider and stick out on each end past the feet.

Here’s a pic of my friend’s Mk3 Jetta with the Votex load bar setup installed:

The other reason people choose Votex or Thule over other companies like Yakima is because the Votex/Thule accessories are all interchangeable. Thule even makes adapters so that their rack accessories can be fitted to the Votex load bars. My next task is to find and purchase a basket for the load bars, but I’m still not sure which design to choose. Votex has its own design while Thule has 2-3 others. I’ll probably continue looking at what other people have done and then shop around for prices and availability.

Anyways, I can’t wait for the bars to arrive!