So how has your Ralliart able to handle a long road trip? Any issues come up? My first time owning a turbo charged car so wanted to know how the Ralliart specifically would hold up in long distances. Plus if you have any advice on what to do when you have to travel far. (State to state) NOT ASKING MPG! Asking engine wise.

 

Does great, cruise control doesn't do as good of mpg as a light foot and drifting

 

drove mine from rhode island to missouri and back last year 0 problems

 

Nice thanks for the reply's. Just wanted to make sure since I occasionally take long road trips.

 

Drove mine from Los Angeles, CA to Tampa, FL and back this past summer and averaged 26 MPG (1 MPG better than EPA estimates), cruise controlled it 99% of the time. I even used the cruise control to speed up and slow down while on the open freeway, as a way to deal with traffic, it kept me mentally engaged in the activity because using hand controls to control speed is a little different from usual. I chose to average ~72 - 73 MPH for the entire trip, because that kept my RPMs between 2500 and 3000 RPMs. In that RPM band you get the best balance of "on tap power" and fuel economy.

Poor choice of words mangs. "Drifting" and fuel economy are mutually ~exclusive~, because smoking tires and sliding around bends sideways eats fuel like there's no tomorrow. On the other hand, fuel economy and ~drafting~ go hand in hand, BUT the flip side to that is drafting requires you to be less than 2 seconds behind the car in front of you. The problem with that is: 1) rocks getting kicked up and chipping your paint and/or windscreen, and 2) the closer following distance requires people to stay on their toes. When you're on an interstate for 6+ hours at a time, reaction times dwindle as the monotony of it drags on, the brain tends to wander...

At any rate, on the interstate it's just like any other car, unless you're on lowered suspension. In which case, I strongly recommend giving New Orleans a wide birth.

 

Don't drive like an ******* and you'll get good MPG. Utilize cruise control. Up the tire pressure to the maximum. Only brake when you have to. Also, don't drive like an *******.

 

i've taken the car on quite a few long trips - longest 1400km, my suspension was a bit firm for some of the country roads, it handled well and the fuel economy was quite good (well, compared to stop start city driving). with the sportback was able to stuff a huge amount of gear in. the seats are comfy for long trips and for the passengers, surprising amount of room in the back

only annoying thing is that cruise can only be operated in normal mode, so when you go to overtake, flick to sport>overtake>flick back to normal>resume cruise

 

I don't like cruise control--there's nothing wrong with it, but it just doesn't suit me. Instead I try to just keep a somewhat steady pace, keep light on the gas, and do as much braking by letting off rather than going on the brake as possible. I have no opinion on Auto/Manual as it's going to be 6th gear at highway speeds anyway.

My personal best is 25 MPG. One trip after I refueled I was showing 330mi to empty; I worked my way up to 370 before it started to go back down.

As for cargo and passengers: I've done some trips with a full car and the first complaint I get is how there's not enough space in the trunk. 5 people with overnight bags and the trunk was full to the brim. That complaint gets silenced when people get in the back seat and realize they're not as cramped as they expected.

 

I've been driving 600-800 miles every weekend for the past 6 weeks going up to vermont to go snowboarding.

And once a year, I take a week off and go on a 2000 mile road trip.

It's fine on cruise control at 65mph, I get ~26-27mpg. However, at 75mph avg, it starts to drone after a while with the road & wind noise. At 80-85mph, it gets a bit tiring after 5+ continuous hours.

 

Thanks guys well mpg really isn't my main concern. Just wanted to know if it can run well going long distances and from the looks of it it really can go. Just wanted to make sure I wouldn't have problems with over heating the engine since it is turbo.

 

Technically you're less prone to overheating on long highway drives.

 

A good tune can increase those MPG.

 

Again not asking about mpg. Just wondering how the engine holds up in trips.

 

One thing I'd like to add to my earlier statement, the stock (engine) cooling does it's job well. When I did my 'round country road-trip last year, I used EvoScan to keep an eye on coolant temps, and it normally stayed in the 180 - 190*F range. The ~only~ time it climbed higher was on an extremely long (10 - 20 miles) uphill gradient. I can't remember the % of the gradient, but it was on I-10 leaving California, and I recall there being signs recommending people shut off their A/C's to help reduce the chances of overheating. On this long gradient, I kept an eye on my coolant temp and it peaked around 210*F with the A/C on. After that, I knew the trip was going to be uneventful.

The only thing I could gripe about is the A/C. If you're driving sun up to sun down, you'll notice there appears to be great disparity in how well the climate controls are working. When the sun is beating down on the windshield it will not appear to be working so good, and when the sun in casting its light on the rear of the car the A/C will seem positively frosty. I attribute this to the windshield being so fricken big, and while the ambient temp is probably what you set it too, the sun baking your skin through the windshield creates the sensation that it's hotter. To combat this, I kept a towel/small blanket near by to through over my knees when the sun was in position to roast them through the windshield.

 

Thank you for the info. I know just the signs you are talking about haha. Well that's good that the Ralliart can maintain its temps. Gives me a bigger relief when I go and take trips.