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For us the best has always been a full sized conversion van. You cannot find a more comfortable vehicle. The height of the seats makes a big difference. There is a ton of room. You can sleep in in in a pinch. While underway, your passengers can readily more around, trade seats, etc. You can get all kind of consoles and compartments to hold stuff at hand.
If you have multiple drivers, it is pretty easy for one to sleep while another drives. If you want, you can drive 24 hours with switching off between driving and sleeping (do not have to but that is an option). Rather than searching for a hotel, you can just pull over and crash in a pinch. The TV/DVD/Game Counseo0le is great for nighttime if you have kids (or even if you do not). They usually have an upgraded alternator, so you can put in a BA inverter and power any of you home items tha may be useful.
The gas mileage is not great (Something like 15/20), but it is well worth a little added cost.
Strange as it may seam, my favorite road trip car is..... a giant 4x4 turbo diesel truck.
I'm 6'1" and the seats are very comfortable, it's the right height for me to get in and out off and to load the kids. 8ft bed with topper... bring anything you like. Safely dictates (in my climate) that I carry four USGI sleeping system + foam mats. That just about kills it for a normal sized car, but doesn't make a dint into the 8ft bed.
No one ever tailgates, no one ever cuts you off or camps in the left lane. You can see over 99.99% of everything.
Despite being 20ft long and over 8,000lb it passes with ease (~500hp and 1000 lb/ft of torque). I don't even have to change down a gear. It'll pull from 40mph to 100+ in 6th gear. It does not loose much power at altitude (critical where I live at 10,000ft). It's gets 20mpg and with a 32 gal tank will go around 600 miles.
On really long road trips it'll tow our camper with ease. Nothing like having your own kitchen, shower, toilet and beds.
Obviously big trucks will not work for most who live in the city, but for us it has been awesome. Which was a big surprise to me as I've always had little Japanese cars.
One thing I always look for in a good road trip car, aside from good seats, A/C or heat that works well, ride, noise, etc., is it MUST track well. I drive 6hrs in a truck that didn't track well and it is extremely fatiguing to have to constantly correct the steering and fight the wandering.
After many long haul trips, and still only being 25. The best car that I've driven for something like that is a cadillac STS i think. It had a v8 northstar under the hood so it didn't get "great" gas mileage but it also didn't get bad gas mileage.
The seats were more than comfortable, and when you're the driver going from seattle-detroit with basically no stops, that helps a lot.
Cruise control is the most important thing in the world.
So my take on it, pay the extra money and get a luxury car. The suspension and handling of it matched with the comfort of the seats will be more than worth it in the end.
What is the best car for a person who often goes on long-haul road trips?
Characteristics of such a car would include comfortable seats (that remain comfortable over long distances) spaciousness, and decent highway gas mileage.
Also, are domestics still better than imports in this category?
Are you traveling alone or with x # of passengers?
For a couple, one of the most comfortable road trips my wife and I took was from eastern Quebec to West Texas (about 2500 miles) in a Nissan Atlima SEL a few years ago. Very nice seats, great sound system and good gas mileage, too. It would be cramped for four, but space was no problem for the two of us.
Wow this thread is all over the place. I think a general theme is to buy luxury, whether it be a car or SUV. I personally have the most fun on a road trip in a sports car, but for repetitive long haul road trips, a luxury SUV is my weapon of choice. Better all around vision, bigger gas tank, can see over cars in front of you, very little road noise, can haul at least 5 adults and some baggage, or two adults and a lot of stuff with the rear seats laid down. Worse case scenario also, if you get stranded in the middle of nowhere you can sleep in an SUV pretty easily.
I'd recommend any German midsize SUV, X5, Cayenne, etc. They are built for long drives on the autobahn, and the seats are some of the most comfortable I've ever sat in, and this includes plenty of luxury sedans, like a Towncar.
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