What car for a cross-country run?

You, a buddy, and miles of road ahead of you. Whatcha driving?

Do you go for comfort or speed? Choose economy in these times? Hardtop or convertible? Something stylish? Do you place reliability above all? Or just something that will make for a memorable trip?

[Project Rabbit GTI: Time to Retrieve a Car via Another Road Trip Adventure]

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As much as I'd want ultimate speed, I'd place a higher value on comfort and economy.

So I'll pick a Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo. 

Road trip?  Something big, quiet, powerful, decent handling but not at a major compromise for comfort.  That Caddy would be ideal.  If you really want, one of the sportier GT cars.  Audi S5?

I love convertibles but they are not made for long trips, unless you're talking about a Bentley Drop Head Coupe or something like that.

If it was me I'd probably go for this:

Big, fast enough, quiet, comfortable but nice to drive, invisible to most cops.  25+ mpg at 80 mph.

Comfort and economy.  Top speed is almost useless when going on a cross country cruise, as pretty much every single vehicle sold in the US can clear the speed limits by a comfortable margin.  Or uncomfortable, considering traffic, I suppose.

Did it in a Fiat 500 Abarth, which definitely fit the memorable criteria.  When I do it again next year, comfort is going to be a much higher priority than last time.

I'll report back if a 997 makes a decent cross-country road trip car in a few weeks . 

I've done cross-country twice. Need to do it again.

Porsche 944: comfortable, cool, not great a/c.

Honda S2000: a little less comfortable, good a/c.

For me, it depends on why I'm driving across the country.

Most of my long drives involve mtn biking, so having secure inside space for my bikes is the #1 priority.  Being able to go almost anywhere to ride and not have to think about where to stay is also something I think about. So for me, the ultimate road trip vehicle is a custom camper van.

If it's more of a meandering trip to see the countryside, then a Volvo 1800ES. Interesting and comfortable. 

My record so far:

77 Maverick- handled like crap, kinda cool, too slow
77 DeVille- handled like crap, more cool, too slow
RV- way too big, you can sleep in it, too slow
Penske Truck- way too big, you can sleep in it, too slow
16 Forester- relatively efficient, not cool, too slow

So it seems like next time I need something faster.  I disagree with alfadriver, depending on your route the ability to cruise at 85mph+ can be very important.

I can't imagine you could go wrong with most any modern sports or GT car. A porsche 911 or a ferrari gt car would probably be awesome. Panamera hybrid would also probably be awesome.

I'd love to do it in an MG Midget for the hell of it, but that would be neither fast, nor comfortable. Wonder how a miata would do....

Money no object, probably Bentley Continental GT Speed

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

What car sold these days can't cruise at 85mph?  And the amount of road where you can actually do that would shave barely any time off of the route anyway.  There's hardly any space that you can do that for any decent distance- too many other cars already on the road.

Extrapolating from 55 limit cars to modern cars, well....  

We recently did a road trip from MI to NYC in a 1.5l Fusion.  It was just fine at the 70mph cruise ability.

Evanuel9 said:

I'd love to do it in an MG Midget for the hell of it, but that would be neither fast, nor comfortable. Wonder how a miata would do....

Done a Lemons Rally in a Midget, and have done a near two thousand mile round trip in a NA Miata.  The Midget wasn't that bad, but it probably helped that we were doing a lot of driving off the interstate, and stopping at checkpoints pretty regularly.  The Miata was mostly okay, except for the wind noise.

Assuming it's summer driving conditions, I'd go with a Chevy SS. Big American sedan that can fly under the radar.  

If I need to go off the beaten path, or winter may be a factor, I'd look for a Grand Cherokee Overland.  Posh, and can still get you most anywhere.

Colin Wood said:

As much as I'd want ultimate speed, I'd place a higher value on comfort and economy.

So I'll pick a Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo. 

Shotgun. 

My favorite was my post USNavy trip from San Diego to Minneapolis in my MGTD.  
   I drove non stop until I hit an Indian reservation  sometime about midnight.  Threw my sleeping bag on the ground and went to sleep.  
   Sun came up and I rolled my sleeping bag back up and headed back down the road. 
   Second day I followed Route 66 and spent the night in a little cabin aside the Hwy.  got a nice shower and again left early in the morning.  Arrived in Minnetonka about 4:00 in the morning. 
     65mph was my average cruising speed  and I used 2&1/2 quarts of oil plus achieved 22mpg 

In reply to alfadriver :

The Forester for one- 85mph is under 20mpg.  It'll do it but not for long between stops.

This also depends heavily on your route, I've never done a minimum distance, point to point cannonball; there are plenty of places to cruise at high speed for long, LONG stretches if you're not taking the most direct route.

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

Where?  I've driven all of the freeways in Montana, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and Nevada, and there is enough traffic that you won't spend more than 20 miles over 85. 
 

And the non freeways are not really good enough for extended high speed cruising. 

Do you (like me) consider making stops on the road as part of a road trip experience? How many stops is the right amount then?

In reply to alfadriver :

Our experiences of Montana are apparently different, western Texas sticks out as well in my mind.

When I'm traveling cross country I'm usually pulling a race car trailer.  If I'm not then I usually want to explore trails that require some ground clearance and/or four wheel drive.  Wherever I'm going I want to be able to cruise at 80 MPH in quiet comfort with HVAC, satellite radio, heated seats and cruise control at my disposal.  This is my current vehicle of choice for cross country trips.

Here in the Southwest there are vast stretches of road where the speed limit is 75 or 80 and you can, in fact, set the cruise control at 85 for hours.  I usually set it at 82 because you're unlikely to get a ticket at that speed.

I drive cross country several times a year. I don't feel that top speed is a big deal, but having some extra power on tap is important to me. 85 mph is not uncommon out west, and extra power makes things like passing and mountain passes (I70 corridor for example) much easier. If you're putting in long hours, I also put a lot of value in great headlights, good on-center steering, and low wind/tire noise. Suspension travel and reasonable ground clearance are a bonus for long haulers; there are some truly horrible roads out there. Perfect for me, right now, with trailer is my GMT800 suburban 2500, without a trailer would probably be my old E34 525iT 5 speed that was super smooth and quiet while still being fun.

I'm usually trying to get where I'm going, so I only stop for the restroom and gas generally.

Cars I've driven from the midwest to the west coast and back in:

• E30 318is - worked great, but no AC was rough. Boost + 3.73 diff made it great on the highway, 28 mpg. I like small cars.
• Cummins 5500 Mega Cab long bed, 14,000 enclosed trailer - did the job well and comfy, but slow. Good for 75ish maximum on flat ground and low elevation.
• 1989 Caprice Classic with a 5 speed and ~375 hp. 16 mpg towing an open trailer with 2 bikes. Lots of wind noise at speed, but very comfy and lots of space. Lots of glass + '80 AC made for some very sweaty sections. This car really highlighted the need for good wipers - driving in the rain, tired, at night isn't great.
• 2000 Tahoe Limited, lowered. Great with a bike on the hitch hauler, though dodging potholes can be fatiguing. Really highlighted the need for good on-center stability from the steering as I did a few trips before fixing the tramlining properly. Too slow with 6x12 enclosed trailer. 8.5 mpg trying to go 70 most of the time. Planning for hills in the mountains and planning passes is also fatiguing. Getting caught in a blizzard sucked because I had to wait until the snow melted - pushing a bow wave of powder with 2wd and a trailer is sketchy. Gas tank is too small for towing mpg - 180-200 mile range means a lot of time stopped for gas.
• mid 2000s Express 2500 6.0 - great view of the road with the short hood, whoever tuned the front dampers didn't talk to the guy who did the rears. Ride frequency mismatch is pretty aggravating on long bumpy segmented sections. Not a lot of room for my feet. Stabilitrak re-engages over 20 mph wheel speed, resulting in getting stuck unnecessarily numerous times in sand.
• 2004 Suburban 2500 8.1 - current road trip rig. 10 mpg towing, about 14 not towing after some tuning. Not great, but better than the Tahoe was since I normally am dragging the trailer. Really highlighted how much good headlights, extra torque so no issue maintaining 80 mph in top gear, lots of suspension travel, fairly low wind noise, and very stable steering make in terms of driver fatigue. This is the only vehicle I have ever been able to comfortably drive from Indy to Vegas in 2 days solo with the trailer. 4wd has saved the day several times in snow storms that I previously would have had to wait out. 37 gallon fuel capacity is great.
• Bonus round: 2006 KTM 950 Adventure. On a bike, I definitely want extra power on the interstate. Loaded for camping, 80-100 hp feels like the right ballpark since power is such a good escape route at times. Long travel suspension was great for crappy roads, but I would have loved a bit more weather protection. I put up with it on this bike for 100k miles (and still own one) because it is so good off road and I'd rather make that tradeoff. For pounding pavement across the country today, I'd pick a BMW R1250GS or KTM 1290 SAR.

I was at a car meet in Tahoe once and got a call to head home to Canada for an emergency.  Drove straight through, 14 hours (average speed 65 mph including all refueling etc. stops) and was comfortable when I got out of the car unlike some people that I have seen crawling out of convertibles after that sort of run.

My nomination for a great vintage class long distance car: 1971 Jensen Interceptor

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

In reply to alfadriver :

Our experiences of Montana are apparently different, western Texas sticks out as well in my mind.

The roads themselves may be fine for speed, I just see it interrupted enough to not be worth it. There are more than enough trucks 5 mph below the posted limit that the ones just over pass enough to make high speed more of a pain than a gain. 
 

One other thing I've noticed is that the less passing one does allows you to enjoy the trip a lot more.  

Earplugs make a big difference to driver fatigue in the more, umm, interesting cars. I've done 2000+ mile trips in a classic Mini, a 1967 Land Rover (55 mph using the hand throttle as cruise control), several modified Miatas, the Big Dodge Truck (a very good mile eater) and a few other, more forgettable cars.

If I wanted to be comfortable and rested when I got where I was going, I'd drive an EV. Second choice would be the E39 M5, which shares a lot of the same characteristics.
If I wanted the trip to be memorable for the cool factor and still good on the interstates, I'd drive the '66 Deville Hardtop.
If I was hunting awesome roads, I'd grab an LS3-powered ND Miata.