[Mpower]

On my last trip to Michigan, I found my car pulling to the right slightly at highway speeds. It was fine at city speeds and hence went undetected.

Extremely frustrating and annoying...my arms were aching terribly from tugging on the wheel constantly for 5 hrs to keep it in a straight line.

[amitoj]

Put two cranky kids in the back seat and you will see none of the options in the list or outside it come even close!!
From the list, however, I'll pick driver ergonomics. Being 6'3", I find this to be a big sore point for me with almost all the cars.

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by amitoj

Put two cranky kids in the back seat and you will see none of the options in the list or outside it come even close!!

Lol! It is so true! Even one would frustrate you as much. And a co-passenger who drives you nuts by giving multiple driving instructions? Umm... Wifey is not in that category luckily for me

[carzone]

For me, it has to be the in-car comfort and the choice of songs that are playing.
I cannot bear heat, hence have the AC on most of the times. Don't know what effect does driving for long without AC have.

Also, driving a car with better seat support also plays an important role. Driven a comfortable sedan for 3 straight hours, but had to take a break in my hatchback. No, I am not a regular highway driver, hence the lack of continuous driving time.

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by BlackPearl

I feel physical fitness is the most important thing for long drives along with the ability to relax while driving. I drive one of the most uncomfortable vehicles available (A Bolero 4x4 with leaf springs all around) and have a slipped disc, yet I drive crazy hours e.g. drove 26 hours non-stop from Phalut to Kolkata. Last year while going to Ladakh, we did Kolkata-Patnitop in 44 hours non-stop (except for bio and food breaks); and there are many more such long drives that we have done. So I have not voted for any of the points mentioned.

Hi,
I believe you just did a London - Inverness - London jaunt. A comparison (wrt this thread) would be nice, and put things in perspective.

And then compare it with your bike rides.

Regards
Sutripta

[IshaanIan]

Vibrations, Smell, Poor quality plastic which becomes slippery in our hot, Indian, tint-less world AND poorly molded seats or narrow ones which harsh Johnson's two mates :P

[sansvk]

From my experience of highway driving, it would be an underpowered car - Best example would be my Petrol Figo. On the 4 lane roads its good and stable at high speeds, yet a lot of gear shifting is required to keep it up at that speed. On a 2 lane road, its terrible, at the end of the journey your left leg is in bad shape.
Same stretch, on a different journey in a Honda Civic was far less tiring.

[shinuak]

Originally Posted by sansvk

From my experience of highway driving, it would be an underpowered car - Best example would be my Petrol Figo. On the 4 lane roads its good and stable at high speeds, yet a lot of gear shifting is required to keep it up at that speed. On a 2 lane road, its terrible, at the end of the journey your left leg is in bad shape.
Same stretch, on a different journey in a Honda Civic was far less tiring.

I completely agree, an under powered car will be very tiring on an otherwise excellent highway. I experienced this as latest as yesterday on my trip from Bangalore to Trivandrum. Midway through the journey, some sensor conked and it felt as if I was driving a car with rev limiter, the rpm was not going beyond 2800k and spend not beyond 110 which was too frustrating and tiring. I will go the other way round and suggest some more "smaller yet significant " things which help alleviate tiredness on long drive, per me
1. Dead pedal
2. Lumbar support
3. A nice pair of goggles, believe me your eyes tire on sunny day due to the glare.
4. Soothing music
5. Center arm rest

[LithiumSunset]

Originally Posted by shinuak

I completely agree, an under powered car will be very tiring on an otherwise excellent highway. I experienced this as latest as yesterday on my trip from Bangalore to Trivandrum. Midway through the journey, some sensor conked and it felt as if I was driving a car with rev limiter, the rpm was not going beyond 2800k and spend not beyond 110 which was too frustrating and tiring. I will go the other way round and suggest some more "smaller yet significant " things which help alleviate tiredness on long drive, per me
1. Dead pedal
2. Lumbar support
3. A nice pair of goggles, believe me your eyes tire on sunny day due to the glare.
4. Soothing music
5. Center arm rest

Fully agree on the dead pedal. If there is one thing I miss the most in my car, its the dead pedal. I'm currently in Sarahan and hill driving reminds of its absence the most. Has anybody tried a good fix for this, particularly for an SX4?

[FlatOut]

Originally Posted by devansn

Great thread. This is one area that people do not consider while choosing the car. I think many people have mentioned points that are not directly related to the characteristics of a car as well here. As I understand, the very reason why this thread is here is to find out what car to buy if you are a frequent long distance traveller. The other factors like starting a journey early, choosing good roads, wearing comfortable clothes and footwear, etc. are to be taken care of irrespective of the car you choose. All the more, the car cannot be changed frequently.

Also, the lack of good brakes as per my experiences causes tremendous fatigue. Lack of handling, steering feel, brakes, etc. keeps us in tremendous tension all the time, which in turn contribute to fatigue.

Thanks for your comments. You both read the question, answered it and even saw how this thread could be helpful to other fellow bhp-ians if everyone bothered to talk about what they find good or not so good in their cars, rather than universal tiring elements.

Originally Posted by joybhowmik

Point taken. However, the vote and the forum are primarily directed to an Indian audience... the large majority of the driving population here do not drive fancy vehicles with super smooth suspensions, super quiet engines, super efficient NVH - in fact they choose vehicles based on economics. So, yes! agreed such drivers might fare far worse than the owner of the fancier merc on an ideal butter-smooth road, but the small point remains, that they would fare far far worse on a road less than ideal.

So are there no cheaper vehicles which are any good? Surely a second hand larger Honda would make more sense than a new Maruti 800? (I'm guessing, since I don't have an intimate knowledge of second hand values in India). For years in Europe we had many cheap cars which were brilliant, many more which were awful. They have all become less so, but there are still big differences between cars which only a long journey shows up.

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

A little discomfort actually keeps you more alert - too much comfort is as bad as very little comfort, of course. I keep changing seat setup every few hours just for this reason.

Are you a long-lost relative of Alec Issigonis? He argued this same point to justify the Mini's 'eager' ride. (His suspension engineer was the famous Alec Moulton who soon improved on the lousy original and radically altered his own Mini's suspension to be a lot more comfortable). What do you mean by 'a little', SS-Traveller?

Originally Posted by Simple_car

Dear Flatout sir,

Good thing I read the entire thread. Else, my answer would be different.

As far as car-related factors go, I have only 2 things:
1. Poor driver ergonomics. This is the most important one for me.
2. Poor handling and suspension. This would be my choice if the ergonomics are good.

Rest, all of the factors I don't have many issues even during very long drives. My longest drive has been of 12 hrs., completing 800 kms.

Thanks,
Simple_car

12 hours would be close to my limit - is there anyone else who like SS-Traveller can stay at the wheel for 30 hours without sleep?

Given your poor roads, how on earth do manufacturers like Audi manage to sell many cars? Are their suspensions heavily revised for India? And are there any cars with long-travel, supple suspension which cope well with the potholes?

[Simple_car]

Originally Posted by FlatOut

So are there no cheaper vehicles which are any good? Surely a second hand larger Honda would make more sense than a new Maruti 800? (I'm guessing, since I don't have an intimate knowledge of second hand values in India).

12 hours would be close to my limit-

Given your poor roads, how on earth do manufacturers like Audi manage to sell many cars? Are their suspensions heavily revised for India? And are there any cars with long-travel, supple suspension which cope well with the potholes?

There are cheap which are good here. But they have come just recently. Honda's may be reliable et all but I would not choose one here because of the suspension tune of their cars. Honda's are tuned to be soft and have a boat like ride quality. Definitely not for long drives.
The cheap cars with good suspensions and characters for long drives are the 'newer' suzukis (swift, dzire, ritz), nissans (micra and sunny), and fords (figo, fiesta). I won't include hyundais since their suspension is also poorly tuned for highways.

Amongst the premium manufacturers, all of them make some revisions for suspension etc. when they plan to sell the car in india, but mercedes is the best amongst the lot. They raise the suspension, make it more pliant, and still give a spare tyre. The nvh levels in mercs are also better (my opinion). The other manufacturers sell because of badge and relative ignorance of people.

Thanks,
Simple_car

P.s. 12 hours is not my limit, I had reached my destination

[tharian]

Originally Posted by sansvk

From my experience of highway driving, it would be an underpowered car - Best example would be my Petrol Figo. On the 4 lane roads its good and stable at high speeds, yet a lot of gear shifting is required to keep it up at that speed. On a 2 lane road, its terrible, at the end of the journey your left leg is in bad shape.
Same stretch, on a different journey in a Honda Civic was far less tiring.

A lot depends on the driver who is driving the underpowered car, in this case a 1.2 Figo.
I agree it can get a bit tiring at times doing long trips on this car especially when it is loaded. I am not saying it is a good car just because I have one, it is becuase I enjoy driving any type of car and try my best to adjust to the car's character so I can enjoy it, which is the same with the Figo.
I have done quite a bit of long distance on expressways, un-divided state and national highways, etc and the only reason I felt tired at the end of the journey on one of the trips was, wrong seating position. I am 6'2 and this being a low slung car, I have realized if the seating/driving position is not perfect, it will end up in joint pains and exhaustion.
Regarding the number of gear shifts to get that power, I enjoy that a lot since most of the braking is done by a blip and downshifting . To each his own.
Like you mentioned, the car is also enjoyable becuase of its stable nature on highways and good handling.

Coming back to the topic, for me, constant high speed leads to exhaustion due to the high levels of contineous concentration required and of course bad roads and blinding lights top them all.

Regards

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by FlatOut

Are you a long-lost relative of Alec Issigonis?

Your underlying tone of sarcasm and attempted one-upmanship has been duly noted.

What do you mean by 'a little', SS-Traveller?

Exactly what you mean by 'long' in the thread title, FlatOut.

12 hours would be close to my limit - is there anyone else who like SS-Traveller can stay at the wheel for 30 hours without sleep?

You're new to the forum, but regulars don't need any introduction to hvkumar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._V._Kumar), arguably the mostly prolific long-distance driver. Apart from him, there are dozens of others who can stay at the wheel for 20-30 hours without sleep.

[nashwin55]

Poor driver ergonomics, I get bad shoulder and neck pain, feel the reason for the is due to poor neck support and even after using good quality OEM neck support.

I feel there is no neck support provided, rather than providing head rest, there is no std neck support provided at least in my wagon r.

Feel the seat design should give ample neck support on your collar bone area.

[Sheel]

Road and traffic conditions.

Car's characteristics are different. I frankly am not perturbed and keep on driving if the A/C works. Almost every week (maybe twice a week), I drive 200kms, do work for 7-12 hours and drive back again and it is on varied Cars. Don't think I am bothered much as I normally stick to 2,000+ revs in a diesel Car (save for the Yeti)