The Absolute Best Car Ever for a Road Trip

Anyone who has ever taken even a small road trip will have some opinion or anecdote on what they feel is the best car for any road trip. There are so many different reasons for liking a specific vehicle for a road trip, but some reasons are far more logical than others. Sometimes to get a firm understanding of what works, we have to review a little bit of what did not work first. To that end I will explain a few automotive imperfections before I move on to what I feel really does work well for a road trip.

To give you some background on my love for automobiles, I have owned almost 30 cars JEEPS and trucks over the years. Many of these were definitely worth less than the fluids inserted into keep them alive. Some were even too dangerous to accept passengers with a clear conscience, like the 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air that had been modified to prepare it for the racetrack, and I used an old orange bean bag chair for a passenger seat. Would have probably been fine had I thought to attach it to something. Between the very loud (and fast) engine, the overheating, and that darn bean bag chair, my girlfriend was not very happy riding in that car, not ever.

Many of the cars I have owned died prematurely and horribly. I actually drove a baby blue 1971 Toyota corolla to Florida, and when it came time to come home I decided to stay for a year, and my friends drove her home for me. That trip lost me a few friends, don't worry they survived the trip, but the car did not. It was the worst road trip they have ever been on to this day. Shortly after takeoff she started sputtering due to a bad ignition coil, and just into the Southern tip of Ohio the muffler literally blew off. When it finally died they were in Cleveland and it was left for dead on the side of the road. When I sent a friend to tow her to my moms house, someone had bashed in all of her irreplaceable windows. So anyhow even when she was running well, this was not the best car for a road trip, too small in every department, engine, cabin, trunk, and a radio that was seemingly trying to tune in stations from its homeland of japan. This little car was kind of crazy cute though.

We own a 1997 Jeep Wrangler, and it is slightly tricked out with big tires, lift kit, custom top, large running boards, tuned exhaust, larger air intake, air shocks, non electric no hydraulic snow plow, and LED Christmas lights that run off an AC adapter year round. this car is great for around town, but I doubt it was ever intended to be used for a big road trip. This JEEP is like your cranky pants old auntie, she can be a real ball breaker on the highway. It is an amazing little truck for local stuff, and it plows the snow from our driveway like nobody's business, but take her on a road trip would be almost suicidal. It was not really meant for highway travel. The tire noise alone cancels out even the best stereo, and even then you have to crank the radio so loud that your eardrums feel like someone has been smacking you upside the head with a brick. So this is not even in my top twenty road trip cars.

Here in Northeast Ohio there was one specific local car that was admired as a cute little road trip machine. If you are old enough you may recall an older gentleman named Neil Zurcher ambling down our scenic byways in a tiny red and white Nash Metropolitan, and he did this television show on channel eight called "one tank trips" and it was a really cool show. However, my idea of a road trip does not include bouncing down the road at ten to fifteen miles an hour under the speed limit in what amounts to being a tiny rag top clown car. No offense Mr. Zurcher, it was a classy little car with a classy driver, but it was just not road trip material to me!

I feel that a true road trip machine needs a good radio, a decent sized engine with extra passing power, and plenty of room for the passengers to stretch out and sleep in between taking turns driving. Any truly good road trip car has to carry all your stuff comfortably, and it has to have an observable "road presence" which makes it more noticeable on the highway than all those cookie cutter tin cans rolling along the road today. Take for example the 1967 classic black four door Chevrolet Impala driven (mostly) by Dean Winchester on the television series Supernatural, now that to me is a perfect example of what a true road trip machine should be. There is plenty of room, it has a fast engine, and the trunk holds enough weapons, lighter fluid, salt, and Zippo lighters to fight off all of the demons that chase Sam and Dean Winchester around the countryside for an hour every Thursday night. Yes I know in real life this car gets really crappy fuel mileage, but this article is not about saving the environment, it is about what cars are coolest for road trips. I owned a green 67 four door Impala back in 1977, but it was truly a P.O.S., and the engine scattered when the timing chain shredded. I would not have trusted that car to make it to the local mall and back, let alone take her on a road trip.

Now when i was a kid our family had a 1967 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser, the one with the small smoked glass window panels embedded into the roof. This car was huge to me at the time, and it had a stout 330 cubic inch engine that could easily power it up into the hills of West Virginia where the step-dad called "Junior" came from. On any given family road trip we had at least 8 people in this car, 6 of which were less than 5 feet tall, and under 120 lbs. So we all fit rather nicely into this three seat station wagon even with all of our stuff. If we had extra kids along, then the stuff went onto the roof rack. In my opinion this vehicle was definitely the all time best road trip car ever! I loved that even the last row of seats faced forward! This meant a lot to a kid who was carsick before we even got 50 miles down the road. Riding backwards was the kiss of death for my system. To this day I get motion sickness, and have to take motion sickness pills to fly or ride on a boat! but put me on a roller coaster, and I am happy as a clam.

When I could afford a decent car I ended up in a 1974 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, black with white bucket seats, a factory installed 8 track player in the dash, fifteen inch factory color coded rims with chrome trim rings. The 350 engine got this baby up to speed fast, and it was still a big car even though it was only a two door. Heck those huge doors on that car probably weighed more than I did at the time. Anyhow this car was smooth on the road, and had a good sound system, with plenty of interior and trunk space, plus lots of juice under the hood. Definitely one of the cars I really should have kept. This car is my number two favorite road trip car.

One time back in 1995 I flew to Tulsa on a job at American Airlines for service work on a Chrome plating process, I rented a car to get me and some parts back to Geauga County Ohio. I ended up in a 1995 Ford Taurus SHO, and this model Taurus was the last year that it was still a fairly large car, with a giant trunk that even a mob wiseguy could appreciate. This model had a 3.2 liter V6 that rivaled the output of some larger V8 engines that year. I fit all of the items I needed into the trunk and backseat, and cruised at 75 to 80 mph most of the way across Interstate 44. This car had awesome seats, an amazing radio, and so much reserve power it was incredible to drive! This would definitely still be in the top 3 cars I have ever taken on a road trip.

For many years I drove a four wheel drive 1978 JEEP Wagoneer that had oversize tires, and was painted dark green with air conditioning and tinted windows. It had the venerable 258 cubic inch straight six engine that many a JEEPER relies on to this day. This truck was amazing in the snow and wet weather. The Bridgestone tires gripped in all types of bad weather. The only problem was all of the tiny leaks, some from outside and others from within. The one which led to her eventual fiery demise was an oil leak that sprayed onto the hot exhaust while cruising up Interstate 75 by Cincinnati. It was very dark on that stretch of highway at one in the morning, all except for the faint glow of the white hot oil fire burning under my hood! people were passing me and waving wildly, and I thought to myself, man these folks down in southern Ohio are awfully friendly! So I pulled over and tossed all my work junk away from the burning car into the grass, and waited over an hour for a fire truck to arrive! There was nothing I could do but sit in the grass and watch. By the time the fire died out on the side of the road, even the windshield wipers were melted away, it was a sad sad day for me.

Now I do have a friend who owns a newer Hybrid Ford Escape, and we have been to Chicago a few times in it, and other than uncomfortable seats, I think this little SUV could easily be on my top three list of best road trip cars. It has lots of reserve power due to the gas engine and electric motor pulling together to get you there, plus it has a sweet radio system with CD player. It also has plenty of storage, and it looks pretty good going down the road. Not to mention it gets really good mileage for an SUV.

So after thinking about all of the fun and cool cars which I have owned in the past, maybe it is time for me to hunt down an Oldsmobile vista cruiser, wonder what those are selling for these days?