Looking for a long-distance trip vehicle. Suggestions?

[Tangram]

Have you read all the recommendations here to consider an EV?

I am happy your EV works for you. No doubt it can serve an efficient purpose in certain circumstances. Just not sure it is in taking 700 mile drives. My buddy lives his for 98% of what he needs it for and he is willing to accept his annual trips to Hilton Head are going to be ‘a bit of a chore’ in his words.

Aren’t we here to help the OP make a purchase decision instead of talking about the car version of digital vs. analog? He made zero mention of EVs but otherwise listed detailed buying criteria, which suggests he isn’t considering an EV.

 

[djsina2]

The extra time to recharge an electric vehicle will lengthen your trip time to a VERY long day.

A good friend of mine just drove his Tesla Model Y (?) from Baltimore to Hilton Head SC down I-95. It took him 13.5 hours with little traffic congestion. That’s a 10ish hour trip with stops on a typical day in a gasoline powered car. Google says it’s 9 hours - without stops.

Flame suit on

Exaggeration. 2hrs 10min charging required to make that trip. All info available via the Tesla trip planner. With old people and pets you’re going to be stopping extra anyway.

Indy to Philly (660 miles) would be 1hr 55min charging in an X.

 

[djsina2]

Aren’t we here to help the OP make a purchase decision instead of talking about the car version of digital vs. analog? He made zero mention of EVs but otherwise listed detailed buying criteria, which suggests he isn’t considering an EV.

Need to move on from the whole gas vs EV thing. Antiquated thinking. Model Y is the best selling car in the world.

 

[steve williams]

my personal favorite for long distance family luxury traveling is a used

Mercedes S- 500L, long wheelbase, 4matic AWD

The double windows, the airmatic suspension, the comfortable seats, combined with a good working Distronic
makes the journey likes traveling in a luxury train.


( I love my personal Mercedes S)

I sold my Mercedes SL55 AMG for a Tesla Model S and sold my Mercedes E350 for a Tesla Model3 Performance.

 

[mxk116]

2015 Porsche Cayenne Diesel; 680 miles on a tank of fuel (30+ mpg on the highway), reliable, quiet and comfortable, 7500 lbs towing capacity, Porsche brakes.

Look no further.

Mine has 115,000 mile on it and is going strong. ~ 30,000 miles of that towing a 5500 lbs trailer & car

 

[steve williams]

A decked out Toyota Sienna hybrid checks most of the boxes. Yes a minivan but a long wheelbase for a smooth and effortless highway ride, safety features, tons and tons of room for your dogs crate etc. Me, I would simply go with a BMW X5 new or certified pre-owned, not worry about its moderate mileage and call it a day. Nothing beats it for safety, ride, and comfort.

As far as electric goes forget it. My son and I each drove to Tucson from Southern California over the holidays, He was in his Audi e-Tron and we were in my wife's Audi Q7. When stopping to charge there was inevitably a wait (one time of an hour) or the charging stations were broken. BMW has some great lease rates now so maybe go that route and go electric in three years when the infrastructure and battery range catch up to the technologies promise.

Enjoy the ride

The pertinent comment here is that the national Tesla supercharging infrastructure is years ahead of all other auto charging stations and it is easy to find a station along your trip as well as one with maximum charge rate

 

[Folsom]

Electric sounds like hell for anything over roughly 200-250 miles.

The Honda HR-V fits your bills fairly well except if you're tall you won't like it. It's a bit of a glove fit, but is comfortable. Dislikes are road noise (I would have it treated for a couple grand), and power is left wanting for anything over 65mph. The amount of room it can accommodate with how the seats move is really nice. Compared to the CRV comfort is way better, the CRV feels like you're driving a bus because the inside has so much room. I bet Mike's suggestions for the larger ones fit more criteria except MPG. Their Odyssey is a very nice minivan, IMO they kill it there, but it isn't what I'd ever choose personally. They don't have anything that lined up hard for me unless the driving is slow and you have it detailed with sound deadening and are not tall.

Toyota Highlander Hybrid is superb gas mileage for the size and power. I find the interior has a little bit of a glove factor but many models are pretty luxurious. They have the Grand model too. The new Rav4 sucks IMO. 4Runner bad gas mileage and not that much room. Sequoia is best gas mileage on a less proven engine, I would only buy the model before and the gas mileage on it is bad but it has the most dependable engine from the last two decades and probably this one in it. A lightly used Lexus AWD TX 350 Hybrid gets pretty good MPG overall.

Better driving cars... The Q5 from Audi is one of the most awarded SUVs ever. The fuel mileage is ok. When it comes to BMW the base X3 has decent fuel mileage. The X5 is really nice but has an absurdly powerful engine three times more powerful than you need for decent MPG or general use. I like these two choices a lot, they fit the "planted" bill probably better than everything but the tiny HRV.

In my personal options Mercedes, Chrysler/Dodge, Nissan/Infinit, Mazda (paint), GM/Chevy, have all been ruled out for maintenance, dependability, and other issues.

 

[Folsom]

2015 Porsche Cayenne Diesel; 680 miles on a tank of fuel (30+ mpg on the highway), reliable, quiet and comfortable, 7500 lbs towing capacity, Porsche brakes.

Look no further.

Mine has 115,000 mile on it and is going strong. ~ 30,000 miles of that towing a 5500 lbs trailer & car

A lightly used one might be nice, if you could find one! Pretty sure they stopped in 2016 making them.

The new hybrid lightly used might be realistic. I wouldn't be against Porsche as they're more reliable than most.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

The pertinent comment here is that the national Tesla supercharging infrastructure is years ahead of all other auto charging stations and it is easy to find a station along your trip as well as one with maximum charge rate

if EV sales targets get anywhere close to be hit, there will be an infrastructure meltdown. so there will be a failure on one side or the other. it will come down to whether taxpayers and Congress have the appetite to pay for it all. the marketplace has not asked for EV's. other than Tesla.

the marketplace so far (trends are down) is not warming up to new non Tesla EV's much, so the sales targets are pipe dreams. in any case, I'll be burning gasoline and listening to music.

agree that Tesla Nation has it figured out for now to a degree.

Honda has a new EV coming in the next few months, and it's been a big deal, but there has been zero interest from customers. our area is as hot on EV's as anywhere, and those things are stacked high on lots right now. the only people who can afford them don't qualify for the tax rebates. so it's a problem. not sure how it can work out how the Green politico's expect it to.

 

[steve williams]

if EV sales targets get anywhere close to be hit, there will be an infrastructure meltdown. so there will be a failure on one side or the other. it will come down to whether taxpayers and Congress have the appetite to pay for it all. the marketplace has not asked for EV's. other than Tesla.

the marketplace so far (trends are down) is not warming up to new non Tesla EV's much, so the sales targets are pipe dreams. in any case, I'll be burning gasoline and listening to music.

agree that Tesla Nation has it figured out for now to a degree.

Honda has a new EV coming in the next few months, and it's been a big deal, but there has been zero interest from customers. our area is as hot on EV's as anywhere, and those things are stacked high on lots right now. the only people who can afford them don't qualify for the tax rebates. so it's a problem. not sure how it can work out how the Green politico's expect it to.

Ford stopped making theirs as it was costing them $38K for a $35K car.

 

[andromedaaudio]

??? Not BMW , i drove the tesla model 3 / Bmw IX1 back to back .
BMW ...much more space / more luxury interiour / BMW a drivers car although the tesla drove excellent as well.

Off course the model Y has more space , but the BMW is just much more car for the money in my view

Munich. The BMW Group sold 93,931 fully-electric BMW and MINI vehicles in the third quarter – an increase of +79.6% compared to the same period of last year. The BMW brand once again doubled its third-quarter deliveries of fully-electric vehicles from the same period of last year (+100.3%). The company was thus able to translate customer interest in its fully-electric products into dynamic growth.

On track for solid growth in 2023: Dynamic BEV growth and global sales increase Q3

+++ BMW Group third-quarter sales up +5.8% +++ BEV deliveries climb +79.6% in Q3 +++ Deliveries of fully-electric BMW vehicles double once again (+100.3%) +++ BMW brand remains No.1 in global premium segment, builds on strong competitive position +++ Pieter Nota: “Overall, we are on track to...

www.press.bmwgroup.com

 

[djsina2]

agree that Tesla Nation has it figured out for now to a degree.

For now, to a degree? Y is the best selling car in the world, surpassing Toyota gas models. Market cap is bigger than every other manufacturer combined. Imagine what it will be like when Tesla fully figures it out.

 

[DasguteOhr]

Very economical, offers a lot of comfort Audi A6 3.0 TDI Quattro station wagon. You just climb out and you are relaxed after 800-900km of driving.i love that car.
Friends of mine who work in the field for companies drive 80,000-100,000km a year and are very happy with it.

 

[bozebuttons]

I am looking at the Honda CRV hybrid sport touring Plenty of room I have 2 dogs ,plenty of rear storage room,Rear doors open fully I have driven one Pretty quite ride and comfortable & stable.
I will be buying one soon Easy to get in & out of.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

For now, to a degree? Y is the best selling car in the world, surpassing Toyota gas models. Market cap is bigger than every other manufacturer combined. Imagine what it will be like when Tesla fully figures it out.

there are hundreds of models of cars, so Tesla dominating EV's with a hand full of models and Model Y being it's top seller is not significant.

EV's accounted for 7.9% of US Auto Sales in Q3 of 2023. and half were Tesla's. when EV's hit 30% or 35% of the total market without a multi- Trillion (with a T) Dollar subsidy from the taxpayers wake me up. add another multi Trillion of taxpayer money for infrastructure. it can only happen with subsidies. and it just might depending on who runs the country.

although when people see the tax bill who runs the country could change.

 

[andromedaaudio]

Off course its a heavily subsidized / rigged game .
But car manufacturers better adapt to this new reality in my view.
Government policies can last longer then car companies

 

[djsina2]

Off course its a heavily subsidized / rigged game .
But car manufacturers better adapt to this new reality in my view.
Government policies can last longer then car companies

Legacy car manufacturers will start disappearing. Old ways of thinking and innovating at a slow pace will no longer cut it. Someone can be an EV hater for whatever reason but the world will pass them by soon enough. Probably was the same way with the transition away from horse and buggy. The internet is 30 years old and some people still refuse to use it. Rigid closed minds.

I would take an ICE over EV for a fun weekend car but that’s it. Otherwise ICE does nothing better for daily use.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Legacy car manufacturers will start disappearing. Old ways of thinking and innovating at a slow pace will no longer cut it. Someone can be an EV hater for whatever reason but the world will pass them by soon enough. Probably was the same way with the transition away from horse and buggy. The internet is 30 years old and some people still refuse to use it. Rigid closed minds.

I would take an ICE over EV for a fun weekend car but that’s it. Otherwise ICE does nothing better for daily use.

I'm not an EV hater. I'm a free market guy. let the marketplace pick winners. not my Governor or mob rule in Congress or Hollywood.

legislating technology is crazy.

 

[andromedaaudio]

I have the IX1 X drive 30 for about 3 months now , other then a bit more range which would be welcome its more fun to drive then a ICE.
For the past 10 years i drove lots and lots of company rentals .
Best drivers car in my view BMW M sport second Nissan Qashqai / Tesla ( medium segment ).

 

[Mike Lavigne]

the world needs Tesla's. people want them, with or without subsidies. I'm good with that. but strong arming the consumers to buy EV's is a road to ruin for everyone. the reality numbers do not compute. it's all political hogwash.

time for football.