I’m going on a 8 hour drive in a 2012 equinox for the first time, longest drive before was 2 hours back when I was a newer driver.
The car does not have any smart phone type features like the newer cars, it will connect the phone for calls but that is it, there is a charging port but I’m guessing its usb2 so it won’t be all that fast and may not keep up with the phone, I have a battery bank and plenty of cables though, I won’t be stopping for those Bluetooth FM cigarette plug things because I’ll just being doing this the one time and it doesn’t seem useful enough to me.
I am very confident behind the wheel but just curious if anyone has any tips I haven’t thought about before.
I don’t think I’ll get very tired driving but I am known to get a slump of energy a couple hours after lunch but I don’t think I’ll eat a very big lunch so I may not have much of a slump.
I am driving this car back, I came here in a truck with another driver, something interesting I noticed between trucks vs small cars is that the taller trucks leave you less exhausted and so you can drive longer with an easier time because there is a perceived slower speed of things moving in and out past your field of vision.
Thankyou in advance!
Update after the trip: I had to drive through the literal worst possible conditions, late night and with heavy rain, but it went super good, the car I was driving handled the rain no problem and I had loads of fun driving, I did not use the radio at all because I figured if driving tiredness was about stamina then less stimulation should keep my going longer, tiredness was not an issue and I did sip some mountain dew the whole time I realized that I could just not have a energy drop after the caffeine weara off by just drip feeding the drink basically lol, that was a great idea as I had plenty of energy the whole time and slept well after. Basically I just enjoyed babbling to myself and playing my mind radio. I think in hr future I am going to drive more because this was actually more fun than being a passenger in the car. I did stop about every 2 hours as I was coordinating dinner and stops for the other car I was following which had a dog and grandma and dad.
Probably my biggest piece of advice is to use cruise control (if you have it) and go a tiny bit slower than the general flow of traffic, like 1-2 mph. Don’t be a pylon, but stick with the flow of traffic and lean toward letting others pass you. Generally avoid driving aggressively because following closely or making frequent passes is stressful and tiring, which adds up quickly on long drives. Take your time, relax, and enjoy it.