I'm surprised that no one has mentioned this yet--SNOW TIRES!!! I am halfway through a road trip from Colorado to Iowa for Christmas (in the MMH) and I drove through conditions that would have killed us all with the stock HCH tires. If you're from Las Angeles, you might not be used to driving on snow to begin with and the stock HCH tires are downright awful in the snow.

Of course if this road trip is going to happen in the summer, the HCH would be an excellent choice. I would have really liked to have needed HALF as much gas.

 

Quite right.

Must be because quite a few of us take our snow tires for granted. It is easy to forget there many who rarely see any of that white stuff.

Cheers;

MSantos

 

I'm looking around April. But I am researching now. According to my navi from LA-Chicago is 2100 miles eta 28hrs.

My wifey and I will switch off between full tanks.

 

thanks for the heads up guys. I wasn't too sure if a hybrid could make such a run but I guess I will give it a try.

I'm looking forward to my road trip.

 

It's going to be a long trip. That kind of mileage in a short amount of time will surely tire you out. The car itself will be fine. I've done several cross country trips (7700 miles in 13 days, and one with 8100 miles in 3 weeks) as well as many other shorted drives (one included 1224 miles in 24 hours) Best thing is like what was mentioned: humans need rest. Stop every 2-3 hours to stretch, walk around. Your body will thank you.

As far as the big rigs, they don't need rest. Those engines were designed to last over a million miles. As long as it's running fine, there is no additional stress from making a 1000 mile trip, -vs- 2 500 mile trips back to back. Infact the 2 trips would cause additional wear from the stopping/starting. it's the human drivers that need the rest.

 

I did 1,435 miles in 3 days from Sac to the bay to San Diego, out to Palm Desert, back to Glendale, then back up to Sac (see my post about it here: https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...ood-bad-15493/ ). While I did stop at many sites to do computer work, most stops were only about 2 hours. Overall I thought the trip was quite nice in the HCHII and I don't see any problems with a "long-haul" trip. I do more driving than the average person... I now have 14,000 miles on it after 9 months of ownership!

 

this trip is getting closer. yay.

 

The main wear on an an engine occurs when it it cold. After it is warm, there is negligible wear on the engine. Truckers frequently leave the engine running when they stop for driver rest. Stress on an engine happens when it it run at full throttle, and the only time you would worry about oil is when the engine overheats. Your trip will put less wear on your engine than your daily commute. Wear on the driver is another story! Make sure you get enough rest--many folks have gotten killed by falling asleep while driving!