S550 Road Tripping (Leave your long distance pros and cons)

[AshNashKC]

Thanks everyone for the reply’s! I’m not a chick that takes a ton of crap she doesn’t need on trips, thankfully! I am getting gif more and more excited for vacation. COVID sucks, but a road trip with some great view will help! Just under two weeks left to go!

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[PaddyPrix]

Done cross country 3 times, each time tried a different route to see different parts of it, done the I-40, I-70, and I-80 passes. If there's ever a next time, I'll take the I-90 route way up north. Fave spots were the I-70 through Colorado going up, down, and through mountains, and I-81 also up, down mountains. I may have exceeded the speed limit by a touch. I didn't break the records, but I did Salt Lake City to Cedar Rapids in under 10 hours, and Concord, NC to Connecticut in under 6.

edit - Oh yeah, when you're in the middle of nowhere, do remember that the faster you go, the worse your mpg gets, especially if you have the AC cranked. That said, these cars have a real deep 6th gear, so you actually get deceptively good MPG when travelling rather fast. Covid has changed things, but we'd make it a point to break off and take a state highway to cross over between some of the interstates, and pass through some lesser known towns to find some cool people and places off the beaten trail for pictures, food, and whatnot. Amazing at what you can find sometimes, really memorable stories, and could even make you a great trivia partner, now that you know exactly where James Dean died, where Cadillac Ranch is, or what the Cloud Gate really is.

 

[mustanghammer]

Howdy back from KC!. We have taken two 2500+ road trips in our 2017 GT. The latest was a trip this year down to the Destin FL area. In 2018 we daisy chained a trip across the south through MO to IL, KY, TN, AL, MS, AR and back to MO. As others have mentioned, a Mustang is a fun car to have on a road trip. My favorite part is when we leave MO and I can take off my front plate.

Study your route and make sure to add in as many fun 2-lanes as you can. With a Mustang you have a built in excuse to drive off the beaten path...or the Interstate. My favorite road so far is MO Hwy 32 through the Mark Twain National Forest. Check it out if you ever go east.

As far as fuel economy goes, our car averaged 24.8MPG in combined highway and city driving for our most recent trip. At several points we were averaging over 27. We always used premium gas and I'm not a lead foot (5-6 over posted) so your mileage may vary.

We have done road trips in Camrys and Accords in the past and honestly the Mustang has plenty of space if you plan accordingly.

 

[andyturbo2000]

Did a Vegas to El Paso round trip taking in Colorado as well. Just under 3000 miles. Mustang couldn’t take two suitcases in the boot so really glad I rented the soft top as the second case would only go in with the top down. Apart from that it eat up 400 miles a day ish for 10 days straight travelling at 80-90 mostly.

 

[Elp_jc]

Biggest drawback by far is the 16-gal tank. You have to be stopping a lot more than scheduled since you don't know if you're going to find a gas station when you actually need one. At least that's a problem where I travel, in the desert southwest. My wife's 4-banger has an 18.5-gal tank; geez. Other than that, the seat ventilation SUCKS. It's basically only on the bottom of the seat, which doesn't even include the side bolsters, which make you sweat since you're touching them all the time. Could also be quieter, but that's not bad. And I'm comparing that with luxury European cars, so not exactly fair. Ha ha. That issue should improve when the summer tires crap out, and I swap them for ultra-high-performance all-seasons. And finally, I was expecting MagneRide normal mode to be a bit plusher, or better yet, to have an extra 'comfort' setting. Normal is acceptable to me, but my wife complains it's firmer than she'd like, so I couldn't take it on a recent 1,200-mile ride. And also due to lack of storage space, but that I knew it was a limitation before-hand, so not something unexpected. Overall, it's a really nice GT car, even in PP1 form... which is the minimum acceptable compromise for me. Any less capable, and I prefer a sport luxury sedan. But really happy to have a manual GT car I can at least take to short to medium trips with my wife .

 

[lacanteen]

3700 miles in 6 days was the longest trip. The worst part was finding a parking spot at hotels where the car was least likely to get dinged. Drives like a dream.

 

[Calhoun]

Longest trips so far: Omaha to Lake Tahoe and back. Omaha to Chicago to Mississippi and back home. Omaha to Theodore Roosevelt National Park and back. Huntsville AL and back several times. It's a great road car and I purposely got the adaptive cruise control because I knew it would be a road trip car and I love it. Put the back seats down and we got 2 sets of golf clubs, 2 suitcases and a cooler.

 

[Ed M]

‘99 GT vert, WDC<-->Las Vegas round trip. Twice. The trick to packing is DON’T USE FULL SIZE SUITCASES!

 

[SAL-E]

Phoenix to Cincinnati and back 2 years ago on my 2017. About 4000 miles round trip. I was by myself, and the car performed flawlessly. Very comfortable for 700 mile legs. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

 

[Smooth]

I bought my 2015 GT in July and flew to the dealership and drove it 11 hours (600-ish miles) home with my gf and we both really enjoyed the trip. 2 weeks ago, I took it on another 11 hour (750-ish miles each way) trip and again, really enjoyed it.
My daily driver is a 2018 F150 with 5.0 35" tires and a 6" lift and I've made the same trip in it and it is terrible in my truck. I can't even complain about the fuel mileage in the mustang compared to my truck because the truck is soo bad. The weight, tires and aero of the truck make it such a dog to drive.
Anyway. my first post, thanks

 

[kz]

Good morning from Kansas City!

New girl, checking in. I haven’t taken a road trip in the mustang yet, but the countdown is on. In two weeks, I’ll be driving from the Midwest to the West Coast. Tell me about your longest trip over the road. What have the pros and cons been? I’ll be taking my 2015 5.0.

Happy Saturday!

Drove 12 hours form Cincinnati, OH to Lincoln, NE for SCCA Solo Nationals with 4 wheels/tires in the car, tools, jack/jackstand, two bags of clothes, cooler and some other things. Car was absolutely full. Drive would have been more comfortable if this car wasn't that loaded,but overall it's perfect road trip vehicle. Cruises very well and accelerates when it is needed.
(I took bunch of other longish drives, just not as long to other events to compete as well, so have some experience road tripping)

 

[zxd9]

I live in GA and have driven to IN, WI, OH, FL, and MS many times. 880 miles one way is longest I've done. It's a great road trip car. I've done 4 hours stretches and feel great. I get 25mpg doing 70-75 mph.
I have found that putting the steering mode in comfort is best for long drives.

Bring something to clean your windshield with. I personally hate looking at bugs for longs periods of time and they always end up right in my line of site.

Enjoy!

 

[downtoearth1986]

I have not taken a road trip in the mustang yet but I have several times with my corvette. I drove from Saint Louis MO to Phoenix, Arizona which was about 1400 miles. It was fun as my son rode with me and was able to keep me company . I was able to drive the distance in under a day. I normally leave at night but it could be dangerous do to deers on the road. I would suggest planning a good safe route and be equipped to combat the toll fees smh.

 

[ahl395]

I frequently do ~700mi round trips.

Of course it makes the drive way more fun than in a normal car. My car has a ton of miles on it already just because I love driving it long distance.

Cons are gas mileage/expense, and if you have a loud exhaust your ears may be ringing by the end lol.

 

[XS]

Drove 16 hours from Cleveland to Selina, KS two years ago. I didn't want to drive that far or that long, but it was the weekend after Labor Day and I assumed with all the kids back in school and vacations done for the year I'd be fine and didn't make reservations anywhere - boy was I dead wrong - every hotel was booked up. To top it off it was pouring rain from Columbus to KC so sometimes I averaged 70mph, other times it was down to 40mph. Absolutely grueling drive, but I think back on it fondly. I'll tell you this, only my bottom end hurt after that trip and I was astounded. Every vehicle I've ever road tripped, at right around 8 hours I get back and neck pain. Not the Mustang! A MUSTANG?! I couldn't believe it. Since then every year I single-tank it to SD from my hometown in CO without stopping, it just eats the miles!
The cons are, for me:
Nobody calls in a Honda Accord doing 120mph, but seems like every vigilante on the road can't wait to call in a Mustang doing 85mph - personal experience.
Worry - it's a lot easier to road trip a beater through places like Baltimore, Cleveland, etc, than your baby. They have potholes that will break a wheel, and the strut... and the tie-rod end.. easy, for example - plus other road rash things, etc. Also leaving it unattended overnight at a hotel is a bit worrisome.
Everyone in anything remotely sporty messes with you. The first Honda Civic is like, ah whatever maybe I'll run 'em. After the 40th Honda/Subaru/Challenger/Camaro it gets really old.
Just my two cents.

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