Is our car bad for road trips?
 

I'm thinking of maybe doing a road trip from central FL up to Ohio and I was wondering if having a turbo on long road trips can be bad for your car.

Reason I ask is I noticed that a normal 4 cylinder car at like 80mph is usually always under 3k rpm. And my car at like 80mph is at around 3200-4K. My thinking is that our engine at that rpm for say like 5 hrs straight would be bad for it compared to a non turbo 4 cylinder.

I tried searching on google and couldn't really find a good answer to weather or not driving at high rpm in our car can be bad for it on road trips.

No, dude. Unless you forget to downshift and floor it up a mountain this thing will get there no problem.

Think about it. Why would they build a car that blows up in sustained runs at 80 mph?

Just change your fluids if they need it, check the tire pressure, and enjoy the view.

Awesome thanks. Just wanted to make sure I wouldn't be doing any harm to my car by driving in the high rpms

Revs would be between 4-5k@80mph on a Integra GSR...what's the big deal? lol

4k even @ 80mph on stock tires/stock trans, and it'll take it like a champ, haha.
I may have owned one for a long time. :wink1:

If road trips are bad then I'm Fucked. 75k on a 2013....whole lot of miles and road trips.

Your fuel economy won't be that great above 70 MPH but it'll do it no problem. It really isn't loud at all with stock exhaust, the real problem is road noise. Get a nice quiet set of tires and maybe change your dampers if comfort is what you want. With those two mods 80 MPH will feel much different than it does right now.

I have a GenOne and am from Denmark. Going on vacation in Southern France, I usually do 140-150 MPH all the way through Germany on those fancy autobahns of theirs... My car is on 120.000 Miles now... doesn't use a drop of oil, and still have the original turbo. I wouldn't worry about it so much mate ;)

Maybe your car is different. In 6th you should be at 3krpm at 82mps or so. 4k rpm in 6th means like 100-110mps or so.

When I saw this topic I was thinking only about ride comfort and possibly fuel economy rather than just engine speed. I travelled through Germany and held the car steady at 120-130mph (200-210kmph) with short sprints up to 150mph (GPS) and that went for several hours, more than 5. The only problem was the bumpy german autobahn in some areas.

Oh look, another one cruising past porches on the german autobahn :)

I just recently drove my car from Upstate NY to Myrtle Beach SC and back, and drove it all week down there. Oh how I miss vacation, lol. And my wife at the time was about 6 months pregnant and I'm on coils, no complaints... So yeah, it's a great vacation car.

@clydefrog; Pass through Raleigh on your way and drop off some of what you're smoking, it sounds like a good time

On the dragon I sustain 4500-6000 all day. Gas is a killer but the car never has a problem.

You're good. At a steady 80 mph, you won't even be in boost. It'll just ride along like a smooth NA 4-cylinder. 27+ mpg.

Genjuan and I drove it 2600 miles from WA. Not a single problem.

Would a car that cruises 80mph at 2200 rpms be better for fuel economy or engine wear? Yes.
Is your car gonna feel any pain from a road trip? No. Highway cruising is far easier on the drivetrain than your daily beating.


I wish 6th gear was more of an overdrive, but I'm not trading my car because of that! I don't drive enough on the highway to sweat it.

No. Your car will disintigrate on the highway after 28 miles.

I suggest looking into a common commuter car like a Honda Accord. I will take the useless speed of your hands for a fair price of $5. It's not worth much if it can't go on roadtrips.

Our cars are made for highways and roadtrips! It is a hatchback and a highway beast. On our last roadtrip I decided to take the MS3 over the CX-5, simply because the MS3 is so much fun on the highways.

I drove my MS6 100 miles non-stop once. I popped the hood to check the oil and the turbo was a pool of melted goo. FML.

i hate it when that happens. the goo was EVERYWHERE.

I've driven my juan between SoCal and Austin, TX a total of 13 times (13 one way trips), around 18,200 miles over the last two and a half years. I cruise at 75, and average between 27-30 mpg. Cruising at 80 drops down to 23-25 mpg.

Biggest thing to consider is octane availability. I run an E-mix when I'm home in Austin. E doesn't exist on my route west of Austin. 350 miles west of my apartment, 93 octane doesn't exist. I self-tune so I have the advantage of having all three tunes on my AP.

I have done a couple road trips in my car in the past year. When I go on long road trips, I break them into 25 mile segments where I will stop, pop the hood, spray the intercooler with water, pipette 50.0 mL of coolant into the crankcase, wait 30 seconds, pipette 25.0 mL of coolant into the power steering reservoir, then do three hail mary's.

I drove 400 miles once. My waterpump broke in 0 F weather.

Then, I was trying to make another 200 mile road trip and my thermostat got stuck open.


My car doesn't like road trips. lol. Has not failed once locally.

Several trips from Dallas, Tx to Wisconsin - 16 hours straight through - have had 0 issues so far that would be related to this.

Ive drove my car to and from college, around a 600 mile trip, over 20 time and never had a single problem. Only thing I can say is change the oil after the trip and you should be good to go

I've driven my 2011 across the country (CA --> NJ, NJ --> CA) twice now. Both times the only problem I've ever run into was a lack of lumbar support. I'm also slightly too big for the car, so getting legs cramping was a problem as well. You'd think that after driving 10+ hours a day for days on end, you'd get kind of sick of the car. I still love driving the car every single day.

The gas mileage isn't the best at ~80mph. I managed around 25-27 MPG whilst on the road. Though, sometimes I couldn't always put 93 octane in. Sometimes I'd have to settle for 89/90. So that kind of ate into the mileage a bit.

The biggest problem I ended up with after the trips was a chunk being taken out of my windshield both trips. The first was in Colorado, where I had it filled before it had a chance to turn into a crack. The second was in Nevada, but I live in SoCal now, and the car won't see freezing temperatures for a very long time. Not much you can really do to mitigate that risk.

All that said, hope everything works out well. I recommend getting some quality podcasts (I personally love Hardcore History and Serial).

I've driven my car to florida from az and back a couple times, thats about 2300 miles one way 33 hours and not a single hiccup. I recommend keeping it at 70 mph if you want to get better fuel economy

Ya, I keep it at 74 for long trips cause I don't think it's worth worrying about police the whole time and I get 29 mpg on the dot.

The car will run all day at 80 mph without breaking a sweat. I love interstate cruising with it; at 3k rpm, the turbo is snoozing but getting into the gas wakes it up in an instant. The acceleration from that speed makes passing a fun exercise.

Drove from South Florida to Long Island Ny and the car did excellent. Averaged 33mpg and had a whole lot of fun

Went from Georgia to socal. No probs. win in my book. And hit 32mpg. How the fuck do you get between 3200-4000rpms at 80 lol. That's such a wide gap. You must work for a cable company somewhere. 'Yea we'll be there between the hours of 8am and 4 pm so make sure you're home'.

like everyone else said, just change the fluids, check your air pressures and you are good to go

Check your tire pressure before, watch your gauges during, and have a good time. I have taken mine for several 1,000 mile trips and enjoyed every minute.
:drive:

Since this got refreshed, I got to add, these cars aren't good for road trips. They are too much fun. On a 400 mile trip, I lost count of the 60 to 100+ mph runs I did to get around slower traffic. That is this cars sweet spot. I got worse mileage on that trip than I usually get around town :-)

Yeah these things are a blast on the highway.

A little late to the party but.....Just got back from 5000km road trip over the Rockies to British Columbia and back. Loved every minute, well except when wife wanted me to slow down. Cruise control on hills worked beautifully to pass everyone, rpm's stayed constant turbo spools up. Even the mileage wasn't too bad(again when wife told me to slow down), and the twisty bits were even more fun(til I caught up to the next camper). Had no issues with anything, kept AP on just to monitor.