Topic: Northern Exposure: Favourite Features for Long-Distance Driving

[Autos_Editor]

Justin talks about his favourite features for long-haul comfort and confidence.

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[Scarecrow]

#1 - Comfortable, supportive seats.

[bensonc]

quiet interior. 

[Railton]

Great gob of power for passing
Long range gas tank.
All wheel drive
Excellent Power adjustable seats
Excellent NVH rating
Excellent Navigation System
Dual zone climate control with excellent capability for heating/cooling
Cooled/Heated Seats
Sun visor extensions
Pull down sun shades for rear seat occupants
Big trunk

Railton

[Snowman]

People to have intelligent conversations with.

[carcrazed]

Anything to keep the kid(s) quiet.

[Solstice2006]

Great article.  Best feature for long distance IMHO, and most cars come with it (except for base model compacts) is cruise control.  Or better yet, for the extra lazy, adaptive cruise control. 

As far is Sync, was that just an example of that type of system.  Because what about Chryslers UConnect which I have heard is one of the easiest to use. 

[Noto]

Jaguar's automatic front windshield defogger - eliminates the need for the a/c compressor to be on in the winter, keeps your front vis clear, and you never have to d!ck around with the HVAC controls that are otherwise perfectly set to an automatic temperature based on your preference.

[tpl]

Places one wants to go to that are within sensible driving range.  (mrs tpl drove to the Maritimes last year with a friend. To me that is the range for an aircraft,  same would apply to Florida)

[Noto]

Forgot to add:

Weekly, your writer spends 10 hours on the highway in his assigned test car covering some 800 km on top of his usual week of in-town driving. The other night, I had a conversation with myself about the math behind this ongoing venture. Over the current span of my career as a car-reviewer, that’s added up to over a million kilometres driven, perhaps 110,000 litres of fuel combusted, and no less than seven months behind the wheel.

  how much is your insurance?!?!?!  I hope Autos.ca covers it...just remember, neglecting to tell your insurer would be ill-advised, since you publish your driving habits online

[tooscoops]

Great article.  Best feature for long distance IMHO, and most cars come with it (except for base model compacts) is cruise control.  Or better yet, for the extra lazy, adaptive cruise control. 

As far is Sync, was that just an example of that type of system.  Because what about Chryslers UConnect which I have heard is one of the easiest to use.

sync and uvo do more than uconnect... at least in canada. uconnect is one of, if not the best, touchscreen systems, but it's voice recognition is only good. on ones like the grand cherokee, it can do some climate stuff, change radio functions and phone... but not to the extent of sync. on things like journey, it's just good for phone and music.


anywho, for me, steering wheel mounted controls. i rarely use any of the other stuff on the center stack when moving. i set a temp and from then on, it's all wheel stuff... i've got the radio controls on the back, the cruise on the right and the trip computer on the left to see my speed, distance to empty, current fuel usage, etc... add in that the wheel itself has to feel good. luckily that is one area that the dart seems to excel in .

[Fobroader]

Comfortable, supportive seats.
Cruise that holds the speed accurately.
Powerful engine so that its not struggling/revving the whole time.
Good stereo.
Side window deflectors, so I can smoke  .
A passenger I can have good times with.
Satellite radio, but only for the comedy channels.
Good visibility.

[JayBear]

I really love our sync and even though it isn't perfect it's good for us parents in the front while our 6 year old watches her movies in the back. Have an old smartphone with a 32GB SD Card for our music connected to Sync by USB (seconds as a trip recorder as well).

I would love a HUD and OnStar navigation seems pretty awesome!

[Northernridge]

The Berlin taxi excels here. The only other thing I need is a place worth going. 

[jyarkony]

Satellite radio, but only for the comedy channels.

 

love all the music stations, but comedy has always been the best cure for insufferable stop-and-go-traffic-in-the-middle-of-nowhere-road-rage...

[Fobroader]

Satellite radio, but only for the comedy channels.

 

love all the music stations, but comedy has always been the best cure for insufferable stop-and-go-traffic-in-the-middle-of-nowhere-road-rage...

The drive between Alberta and Manitoba, the comedy channels actually keep you awake.....its more of a safety thing. Between Spitz and comedy, I have yet to fall asleep

[Black Hatch]

I agree, music is a requirement on long road trips.
Kept me awake despite disturbing other people with my singing

I disagree about cruise control especially for inexperienced drivers.
We had someone from work who got into a rollover with the combination of
1. Not enough sleep
2. Twisty roads
3. Cruise control engaged

[tooscoops]

yeah, too long a trip, cruise is not to be relied upon... but often times if you are in that position, cruise or not, you are going off the road... many times, your foot gets pressed down even harder prior to an accident. so it's not like cruise is to be blamed.

but that goes for everything. if you are too tired to realize that you would be too tired to drive without assistance, you have to pull over.

that brings up another thing i have done on long road trips and what would help... big cargo area without things that will dig into my back so i can lie down and sleep!

just thinking... i need some good cupholders... (seems most NA cars have that covered, and also in the article the cubbies and stuff covers it)... but i'll get a couple coffees... then a couple hours later stop for more and forget to throw out the old cups, so i put them in other cupholders... and one holds my case for glasses and phone... so i need em all over!

oh, just thought of another... some cars just have one trip... some have two... and some of our new ones have two trip screens. tell you time, kms, l/100 avg, and a couple other things. nice to have that. i always keep one trip set to the entire time i have a demo, so it's nice to have a second one for tanks of gas, trips, etc.

[MR2Pritch]

Forgot to add:

Weekly, your writer spends 10 hours on the highway in his assigned test car covering some 800 km on top of his usual week of in-town driving. The other night, I had a conversation with myself about the math behind this ongoing venture. Over the current span of my career as a car-reviewer, that’s added up to over a million kilometres driven, perhaps 110,000 litres of fuel combusted, and no less than seven months behind the wheel.

  how much is your insurance?!?!?!  I hope Autos.ca covers it...just remember, neglecting to tell your insurer would be ill-advised, since you publish your driving habits online

Insurance is provided on the test cars-- since you cant insure something you don't own. Insurance on the Viper is, er, marginally reasonable even with its limited use.

[gord_boyd]

After two years with Adaptive Cruise Control, I'm a proponent for long cruises especially on highways
through mountains where idiots don't judge a slower truck and pull out without looking.