One thing to consider, if it's your girlfriend's car: is she tall enough to USE a roof rack, or is it strictly for you and your gear?

we had a roof rack on a Volvo wagon years ago, but my wife couldn't get anything on and off it without climbing halfway up the doorpost every time. we now are on our 2nd Bauer hitch rack. It has an extension that takes 2 seconds to add to carry 4 bikes instead of just 2. It's very easy to load and unload bikes - only danger is parking. Fortunately, the only time THAT happened, my wife backed into our au pair's SUV while the rack was empty (though it screwed up the ski rack attachment that was on it AND the Bauer rack enough that we had to replace it).