45 Years of Road Tripping Has Taught Me What Cars Work Best for Long Haul Family Trips!

Some of the best road trips I have ever been on were while I was traveling for work quite a bit, and it seems I was always driving a rental car somewhere.

One of the most luxurious road cruisers I ever drove on one of those business road trips was a 1995 Ford Taurus SHO taking a return business trip back from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Cleveland, Ohio. Another big rental trek was in a 1998 Ford Thunderbird going from Dallas, Oregon to Los Angeles, California. These two cars stand out as the best road trip cars I ever rented.

Then there were those trips back when I was just a kid of about 9 or 10 when we would all climb into one of the old beat up station wagons that my step dad used to drive. We would head out of town to see his relatives down in some remote part of West Virginia. Some of the station wagons built back in the sixties were like giant army tanks to us little people. There was plenty of room for all of our stuff, and the best ones were the 9 passenger models where the rear row was right by the back window. There were six kids and the folks, so that car was typically pretty full once we hit the open highway. Even though we were not all adult sized yet, there was still a lot of room to move around and get comfortable.

One of the worst trips with our stepfather, I will call him Junior, was when he had an Oldsmobile wagon with a broken rear window regulator, and that window would close almost but not quite all the way. This was good enough for him to start the fires and light the tires, but what us kids noticed was that the further we got from home the more we all felt sick. There was the splitting headache, and then came the nausea. I went first, so they all attributed that to my motion sickness, which by the way persists to this day, ask me about taking Dramamine pills every time I fly!

So the folks gave me a soda to calm my stomach, and we hit the road again. After a few more miles another one of us got sick, then another and so on. Finally Junior did some investigating, and determined that there was something wrong. My theory was that all these stops were cutting into his beer guzzling time with family at the other end of this ridiculously long road trip. So he did some snooping and finally realized that the combination of a horribly rusty exhaust system along with the broken window mechanism was causing us to get carbon monoxide poisoning. I at first he had two of us kids hold the window up, and when that did not work he stopped at a gas station and got some masking tape, the kind a body shop would use, and he sealed that window up but good! I am pretty sure that my mothers nagging in this one instance had probably saved all of our lives.

So now back to our story about the best vehicles to use for road trips. Obviously our needs will change over time depending upon how many passengers we expect to have in the car on our road trip. If it is just you and your significant other, then maybe her convertible would do nicely, or if it is your family of two kids with her two, then maybe a minivan is the best option. So I will paint the picture that is plastered on my mental wall based on the size of your road trip crew as the basic criteria as a starting point.

Just two people in your family on a road trip? This is the family size which has the most options available to them, but I think they would be wise to take the nearest convertible they can find. Ideally it would be a car which is as much fun as it is affordable. In that light I would, pick either the Mazda MX5 Miata, or the VW New Beetle. Either one is an absolute blast to drive, and both are really quite affordable. For $22,960 you can get a Mazda Miata MX5 Convertible, which gets 28 mpg and with a 12.7 gallon fuel tank you can go about 355 miles until it is dead empty. For just $26,390 the VW New Beetle Convertible seats up to four instead of just two, and with a healthy 14.5 gallon tank plus 28 mpg you can run this baby about 406 miles before running her out of gas.

Now if your family includes one or two little additions, you will want to look into something just a bit bigger and more of a small family oriented car type. To that end I would suggest a couple of smaller SUV's either the Jeep Compass, or the Kia Sportage. The Jeep can live in your driveway for about $15,365 and it can haul up to five passengers. This car gets a very respectable 29 mpg and with its moderate sized 13.6 gallon tank you can go about 394 mile to empty. The Kia Sportage sells for about $16,995 and it seats up to 5 passengers. With the highway fuel economy at 25 mpg and a 15.3 gallon tank you will get about 382 mile form home before you have to stop for gas.

So if you have been at this game for a while your family may have grown to a level where a smaller SUV is too cramped for your road trip, but you are not ready for the huge construction sized van yet either, then these next two models are more your speed. First the Dodge Caliber seats five comfortably, and you can own one of these for just $16,880 then the fuel economy is surprisingly frugal at 31 mpg highway, couple that with a 13.6 gallon tank and your family can drive about 421 miles before refilling! Next the Subaru Outback is a very smooth and comfortable ride, with seating for five and mileage that is decent at 27 mpg, but their gigantic gas tank with 18.5 gallon capacity will carry you a full 499 miles between fill ups at highway cruising speed.

Now if you are up to a family size where you will be taking a road trip with up to seven people and you are not quite up to the Kate Plus Eight, or the Duggar's family size, then you will want to finally admit that a big station wagon or minivan just may the perfect road trip vehicle for you! First up is the tried and true Dodge Grand Caravan SE which sells for around $23,660 and gets about 446 miles on one tank of gas using up about 20.5 gallons at a rate of approximately 24 mpg highway, all this plus legendary minivan seating, and you can haul seven passengers with cargo very easily. Then there is what I see as the perfect road trip car for any family large or small. The 2010 Ford Flex Wagon. This car seats up to seven adults, and can be purchased for just $28,950 with fuel economy of 24 mpg and a tank that holds 18.6 gallons you will be at least 446 miles away from your in laws before they realize you have left the state.

The real trick to creating a successful road trip is to plan ahead, and make a point of having fun! This is definitely one case where the journey is as important as the goal. So take your time, stop and see the sights, visit the local tourism offices so you can learn about all the fun possibilities an area has to offer. Don't be afraid to ask for directions! There is no fun on a road trip if everyone is tense because they are afraid to say anything that may upset the driver! Chill out and relax! That is what road tripping is supposed to be all about!!!

Vehicle specifications and prices came from www.edmunds.com

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