Road trips in your Sonic

[pounamu]

Hey everyone,

Has anyone here taken their Sonic on a long road trip? Cross-country or anything similar? I'm thinking of driving from Boston to LA and wondering how the car would handle that. Would love to hear your impressions and also any advice about taking a road trip in the Sonic.

 

[NewZJ]

I drove from Denver to Seattle in a moving truck while my fully loaded sonic followed, it handled great according to my flatmate

 

[MaD]

Well, last month me and my wife went from here in Bellevue WA to Portland OR for her birthday and did 345 miles on one tank, did 3 hours of freeway there and back and running around down there in Portland.. Zero issues and really easy, love the long drive and it was fun. Im sure I could of drove all the way to Mexico with no issues

 

[McD6113]

My wife and I drive from just North of Atlanta, GA to our hometown in PA a few times a year to visit our families. Its about 750 miles each way and we split the driving. We never have any issues with the car except that the gas tank usually outlasts our bladders (I'm not really complaining about that too much though).

 

[Beastlick]

Drove from Milwaukee, WI to Dallas, TX at the beginning of the year for a paintball trip. Only ended up costing 3 of us $180 gas bill round trip.

 

[attrapereves]

I drove from Missouri to Louisiana and back in the wife's Sonic and drove from Missouri to South Dakota in mine.

 

[stever525]

Detroit to Chicago several times a year with the wife and baby. I think the Sonic is more comfortable long distance than her Cruze.

 

[littleturbo]

My sonic has been from Columbia Missouri to wytheville va . a 1400 mile round trip been to Kansan city multiple times and to Chicago witch is a 7 hour one way trip. Love the trips in the little car

 

[qwed94]

Mine has been to Branson and back several times. (about 4 hours 1 way). Very comfortable drive and ride. Took that trip one time in a rented Cruze. Drove nice, rode nice, but uncomfortable sitting after about 30 minutes.

 

[TMac]

I went to Maine a few months back with my girlfriend and our dogs. They fell asleep before we left MA.

 

[ahtoxa]

Drove from Milwaukee, WI to Dallas, TX at the beginning of the year for a paintball trip. Only ended up costing 3 of us $180 gas bill round trip.

I drive from Dallas to Chicago (north side, near Evanston) once a year to visit family. So far, I've driven the Sonic Dallas-Chicago-Dallas 3 times.

That, and I often do smaller road trips locally to hit hiking/biking trails.

 

[hammrdwn510]

may be doing Chicago to seattle here soon..... will come back

 

[laborsmith]

The RS has been to Las Vegas (ticket for 95 in a 75 on the way back, good I wasn't driving at that moment), New Orleans twice, Indianapolis and Chicago for the Big Ten BB tournaments, Chicago for the splitter install, Grand Rapids for many reasons (family and ZZP), Nashville, and Strongsville for the Ohio Sonic gathering.

Excellent and comfortable driving. Do miss power seat but that is all.

Per my memory, Las Vegas was before lowering but after WaveTrac install. All trips on after market wheels and tires.


Laborsmith

 

[wingnut]

Been from the Harrisburg Pa area to Jacksonville NC a couple of times. About an 8 hr trip, doing 70-80 mph on 95. My sonic is actually more comfortable and stable (aside from big rigs) than my wife's prius on the same trip. Overall I am very happy with my sonic's highway road manners.

 

[ahtoxa]

Another thing to add, since I thought of it this morning.

With the 1.4T and 6MT, it seems that 75 mph is a good reasonable speed. Meaning that while your fuel consumption isn't ideal, going 55 mph to obtain great consumption isn't ideal either. I've experienced that 75-ish miles an hour gives a great balance between speed and fuel economy. If I remember right, at that speed on flat terrain you are just a hair under going into boost (or maybe right there on the verge of going into boost).

Doing 75 most of the way on my annual 2000 mile road trip netted me good results. I'm usually just over 40 mpg and one did 42.5 when I was by myself and avoided stops on a trip with good weather and cool temps.

 

[robsander]

Cincinnati Ohio to Enfield Connecticut. 798 miles. 10.5 hours lol. That qualifies as a road trip right? Quick, but I may or may not have raced a Golf across most of the state of Pennsylvania haha. (Fyi stock 1.8T>stock 1.4T as far as speed :-/) But in all seriousness the trip was great. Only small small things were I needed to stop and let the car cool just a bit longer at fill ups (and this was during normal 80 MPH cruising not racing around or anything) I was surprised at how hot the floor and engine bay got after about 6 hours of driving. The exhaust fumes started getting a little heavy as far as the smell/headache. Once the car was cooled for 10-15 mins it was fine. And I've mention before, the lumbar support seems good going to the store, but not across country although I am tall. Oh and also, the dimmer switch for the dash and radio was wonderful. I had mine as bright as they would go and it felt like a cop was shining his Maglite in my eyes for 7 hours until I remembered the dimmer.

10.27 1/8 mile

 

[ahtoxa]

If I'm taking road trips alone, I play the game of trying to have my bladder outlast the tank of gas. Given that I stop about ever 400 miles for gas, it's hard to do. But, I cheat. I use empty gatorade bottles.

 

[robsander]

If I'm taking road trips alone, I play the game of trying to have my bladder outlast the tank of gas. Given that I stop about ever 400 miles for gas, it's hard to do. But, I cheat. I use empty gatorade bottles.

Definetely the 32 .oz though. Those 20 or 24 .oz just don't hold the volume necessary for a full bladder fill up haha

10.27 1/8 mile

 

[ahtoxa]

Definetely the 32 .oz though. Those 20 or 24 .oz just don't hold the volume necessary for a full bladder fill up haha

10.27 1/8 mile

With the small ones, there's also the problem of the angle. With the larger 32oz ones, the neck is crimped, obviously, which makes it easier to hold liquid when the container is tilted heavily to the side, as the mouth of the bottle is higher that the side of the container in the 32oz vs. the smaller ones.

Basically, there's a far reduced chance of bodily fluid spillage during the process. Either that, or one has to lift themselves up higher in the seat while driving. That can be more complex for tall folks like me.

I'm pretty experienced in crafting 'trucker bombs'. I just toss them in the dumpsters rather than the ditch.

 

[ahtoxa]

I recall that OP is a female. I'm sure she's not impressed...