BMW 3 Series roof rack tent

No matter what year your BMW 3 Series was built, the 3 Series is a great and also very reliable vehicle. With the BMW 3 Series, you also have the opportunity to practice your new hobby, camping. You don’t need a heavy camping trailer or RV. You can also do without an uncomfortable ground tent.

The BMW 3 Series offers you the opportunity to mount a rooftop tent on the vehicle roof and thus reach campgrounds that you would otherwise never be able to reach with a large camping trailer or RV. With a rooftop tent, you can camp anywhere your vehicle can go.

A rooftop tent offers many advantages, such as the elevated position on the vehicle roof. Because of this, you are safe from small and large animals. You are also safe from water or rain that collects on the ground. Modern rooftop tents also offer a lot of comforts. Rooftop tents are also very easy to set up. Setting up a modern rooftop tent takes no more than five minutes.

For example, there are hard-shell or soft-shell rooftop tents. You can mount both versions on the roof of the BMW 3 Series. A hard-shell rooftop tent is very easy to set up (setup time is only about 2 minutes). A soft-shell rooftop tent usually offers more comfort, more space, and better equipment. Choosing the right rooftop tent is of course up to you.

All you need to mount a rooftop tent on the BMW 3 Series are the appropriate roof rails and roof crossbars. The roof rails are screwed to the factory mounting points on the vehicle roof. The crossbars are screwed to the roof rails and thus provide a stable basis for mounting the rooftop tent. All rooftop tents are attached in the same way and are therefore universal.

The weight of the rooftop tent and the people in the roof tent is transferred to the vehicle body via the roof rails. So neither the roof nor the body of the BMW 3 Series is damaged by a rooftop tent.

The registered permitted roof load of the BMW 3 Series is relatively low, but this only applies to the vehicle in motion. This is important if you are transporting a roof box or other loads on the vehicle roof, for example.

However, as soon as the vehicle is stationary, the permissible roof load increases many times over. So you can easily mount a rooftop tent on the BMW 3 Series and sleep with several people in the roof tent or stay in the roof tent.

I recommend that you mount a maximum of one four-person rooftop tent on the roof of the BMW 3 Series. With larger rooftop tents, the rooftop tent may be wider than the vehicle when folded. With a four-person rooftop tent, hard-shell or soft-shell, your whole family can stay safely on the vehicle roof.

Please note, however, that installing a rooftop tent on the vehicle roof increases fuel consumption and reduces the maximum range. The rooftop tent worsens the aerodynamics of the vehicle. The driving behavior of the vehicle can also deteriorate because the center of gravity of the vehicle shifts further upwards. So always be very careful when you are out and about with the rooftop tent and think about the increased fuel consumption. If possible, you should only assemble the rooftop tent when you really need it and otherwise store it safely in your garage or basement.

Below you will find a few examples of the most popular rooftop tents for the BMW 3 Series.

If you are looking for more information about rooftop tents or camping, you will find many helpful and informative articles on this website!