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Had to take the wife to a spinal specialist in Dallas for a round trip of a little more than 800 miles in her car. Her car is a 2007 Chrysler Sebring with 2.4L and 4 speed auto. It has an average MPG display instead of a real time MPG display. Though the interstate max speed limit was 75, I kept it around 70 and stayed in the right lane. When I went to 75, the MPG began dropping so I went back down to 70. Averaged 32.5 MPG. At around 418 miles, we had a 1/4 tank left. The suspension was good but the seat was too firm. Had to make frequent stops to get the legs moving. Like the automatic AC. Set the thermostat to about 70 degrees and other controls to auto and not have to touch it again. We're going to have to do the trip again next month for her follow up. Might make the trip in my old 2003 Malibu with 97,000 miles.
I just put 900 something miles on my car in less than 24 hours going up to NH for a job interview as well as doing some house hunting. My car has 134k on it and I averaged 31mpg at 75-80mph. I got 459 miles out of my tank before I filled it up. Windows down, and radio up. Two stops on the way up...one for the bathroom and the other to wake up and one stop on the way back to NJ...quick bite to eat. I enjoy road trips much better when im alone, for some reason makes it go faster.
I rented a 2006 Sebring in 2006 when i drove from NY to Atlanta and back for a vacation. The car had an issue with the electrical system which caused a dead battery the AM of my return, and a stuck horn on 2 occasions during my trip down. when i returned the car i received a discount for the problems.
i liked the road manners of the Sebring. it handled very well great road feel and was fun to drive
I just put 900 something miles on my car in less than 24 hours going up to NH for a job interview as well as doing some house hunting. My car has 134k on it and I averaged 31mpg at 75-80mph. I got 459 miles out of my tank before I filled it up. Windows down, and radio up. Two stops on the way up...one for the bathroom and the other to wake up and one stop on the way back to NJ...quick bite to eat. I enjoy road trips much better when im alone, for some reason makes it go faster.
Have to make frequent stops when traveling with a lady who has spinal problems. She's unable to drive such distance due to her pain medicine (illegal to drive when taking them). I hate going to Dallas. Don't like the highway design and something in the air there always makes me congested. Next time we go, I'm taking some Claritin a few days before and during the trip and am bringing along a small room air purifier.
I completely understand... when I have my family with me, we make frequent stops as well.
my wife hates the many stops i make when we're our trips back to WI... guess when one drinks a gallon of tea, then one or two pit stops may be needed. My excuse of "stretching the legs" doesnt seem to carry any weight these days... so now i'll blame it on my age...
I routinely do a 600-odd mile one-way trip (usually rack up about 1400-1500 miles total while away), although I take rental cars now not my own. Not that it wouldn't make it; it would probably be fine and I did take it once. But with 220k on it even though I know its entire history I prefer to have a bit less chance breaking down on, say, the middle of I-80 in the PA Wilds.
I usually drive for the entire 600+ miles (and in one day), so I set the stops, and I stop when I feel like it. Yeah, I drink a lot of tea myself so that usually adds a couple stops. But it is better for your health to get up every couple hours anyway. So if I'm gonna stop and get out anyway, it doesn't matter usually if I also have to pee. Big deal. Being able to run 5 hours or whatever without stopping doesn't do anything for me. It takes around 11-12 hours elapsed time; more of the variance is in traffic than stops.
My last such trip was in a 2013 Prius. It was suitably impressive. It can cruise easily at 80mph and will get 45mpg doing it even with the air on. The seat was not the most comfortable I've had but was better than most (have had much worse). The steering wheel was the more uncomfortable part for some reason, very weird.
I've still never met auto climate control that I don't switch to manual. I could totally live without such a feature, which I have had on my last two really long drives. Having split driver/passenger temp would be useful, but dial in a temp and forget it never ever works for me. I have to adjust fan up and down sometimes, etc. The car is not smart enough to do that to my taste. And knowing the actual temp that I've set is less helpful than I would have thought. There were many times that I dialed it colder than what I would in a home for example. Can just as easily achieve that by turning a dial that reads from cold to warm.
Almost all the other rentals I get will average around 30mpg with the same driving. Doesn't matter if it's a bit smaller like a Cruze or larger like a Camry. They will end up within 1-2mpg of each other. The Sonic that I (unfortunately) took on about a 500 mile roundtrip might have gotten about 33.
Just be careful with the automatic transmission. Especially on longer drives like that.
Some domestic trannys dont seem to like long, all at once drives like that. Make sure you at least check the trans fluid before driving.
This is mainly a problem in the summer when its hot and where you are it gets pretty hot.
400 miles one way is getting to where you should be considering pulling over for an hour or so to let the car/transmission cool off for a while.
65-80mph in the heat with AC on, transmission locking up and unlocking non stop for a couple hundred miles is a pretty good recipe for a mechanical failure.
I just put 900 something miles on my car in less than 24 hours going up to NH for a job interview as well as doing some house hunting.
900 in 24hrs? Wimp!!!!
I did 900 yesterday in just over 13 hours driving from New Orleans to Miami Beach! Okay, I exaggerated a little; it was only 875. But in my defense, it came at the tail end of a 2600 miles cross-country trip from Las Vegas to Miami Beach which began a few days earlier. Had to stop for a couple of nights in NOLA to enjoy Bourbon St., the French Qtr., and some good Cajun cookin.
We did the drive in a 2012 Jaguar XJL and averaged 26.9 miles/gallon. Having built-in seat/back massagers sure helped deal with those long hours on the road.
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