Just finished my first long road trip in my 2004 manual tranny HCH, and I thought I would pass on my impressions.

The trip was from Phoenix, AZ to Clyde, TX, about 930 miles one way.

I packed clothes for ten days for myself and two kids under age 9, and all the Christmas presents I could haul. The trunk was packed full to the lid, the front passenger floor and seat were both full, and half of the backseat floor was full. My kids each have a booster seat and they have a little plastic console in between the seats. I have always prided myself on my ability to pack a car, and this one was "well packed."

We filled up at Sam's Club and left town about 1:00 pm on Wednesday Dec 22nd. Some of you might recall that there was an "arctic cold front" moving down into the South Central US about that time, and we were headed right into it. It was about 60 degrees when we left Phoenix and clear, but we would not end the night that way.

The first "leg" of the trip was from Phoenix to El Paso, about 445 miles, and we only stopped once at a Rest Area on that leg. The Interstate 10 speed limits in that leg ranged from 60-75 MPH, and were mostly 75. I drove the speed limit and with the cruise on at all times. I achieved 52.75 miles per gallon between the Phoenix Sam's Club and the El Paso Sam's Club, where I filled up on their $1.569 gas. By the time we got to El Paso at about 8:00 pm local time, the COLD WIND had arrived and I just about froze to death while I fueled the HCH. We averaged 75.77 miles per hour and 52.75 miles per gallon on that leg - pretty impressive I think, for a fully loaded car driving that fast.

We got to Van Horn TX at about 10:30 pm local time and got the last $45 room at a little Motel in town to spend the night before continuing to Clyde the next morning. It was about 30 degrees and cloudy in Van Horn, and the Trip A odometer read 557 miles and 46.5 MPG, and we averaged 65.5 mph for that first 8.5 hours of the drive.

The next morning, we had a light frost on the HCH at 4:45 a.m. when we left Van Horn. The HCH started without a hitch, and the defroster cleared the back window in about 10 minutes. We were in windy conditions the rest of the way, mostly cloudy but no ice or snow on the road until we hit Sweetwater TX, which is about an hour or so from Clyde. The roads were frozen but sanded, so we only had to slow a little. The HCH had no problems holding the road in the wind or the slightly icy roads.

The next morning, the temps got into the mid teens at night, but when I started the HCH up to go get a newspaper that morning, it was no problem and the car ignored the weather completely. The defroster worked fine in front and back.

We drove the HCH around town and a took few short highway trips the 10 days in Texas, and it got us about 44 mpg for the time there, which was OK to me because of the colder temps and the fact that the car was mostly full of passengers every trip out.

For the return trip to Phoenix, we left on Sunday morning about 6:45 am Jan 2nd, and drove straight thru. Stopped once for gas in El Paso again (gas only cost $1.519 this time) and we got about 50 mpg for the 14 hour drive back to Phoenix. The temps were in the 40s and 50s, and the car was just as loaded on the way back as it was on the way to TX.

As far as interior comfort, the one slight complaint I had is that the driver's seat got kind of HARD after about 250 miles. Other than that, everything worked great, the car ignored the cold, and I was very pleased with the overall mileage for the trip, which was about 47.3 mpg for the 2568 miles driven. I had expected less with a full load and the cold, so I am pleased.

Anyway, I hope this helps anyone planning a road trip to know what to expect from the HCH.