There’s still much debate about range on both electric and combustion cars. We’re all familiar with cars that have microscopic fuel tanks and the concept of EV range anxiety, and since both share similar concepts, let’s put it to the people. How long can you specifically drive in one sitting without stopping and taking a break?
This means no fill-ups, no stand-up leg-stretches, no bathroom breaks, no pulling over for food, just driving. Pretty simple, right? I’ll go first. You might think that doing this whole car thing for a living might imbue me with superhuman stint abilities, but my answer’s likely more modest than you’d expect.
If I really have somewhere to be and I’m in a car with comfortable seats and a big enough fuel tank, I can do 425 miles in one shot. That’s about six hours in a car, and that’s more or less my limit. I’ve done it multiple times, to the point where it’s stable, repeatable, and an answer I feel confident in. Now, is it the most comfortable thing in the world? No, but by managing hydration and timing meals, it’s totally feasible.
However, not everyone can one-shot 425 miles. Some people are good for longer, truly testing the limits of fuel capacities. Some people need more frequent breaks, and that’s also totally okay. I don’t want to say that human backs and knees are wear items, but discomfort is a real thing that’s nothing to be ashamed of. So, let’s turn it over to you — how long can you drive for in one sitting?
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I’ve generally had about enough on a non-stop run at the 500-mile point. In fact, it’s exactly 506 miles from my in-laws place in Orlando to the Buc-ee’s on the other side of Atlanta. My family and I have made that trip a couple of times now – it can only be done in our ’94 Fleetwood as the Volt runs out of electrons and gasoline way too soon. What’s impressive is that both my wife and daughter can “hold on” that long without complaining – they’re total road warriors.
After filling up the Caddy, hitting the restrooms, and having some brisket, it’s back in the car for another five or six hours – 12 is plenty for a family-day’s drive. When I was younger I used to do total-time runs of 15 hours with some frequency and once managed an 18-hour stint by myself, but I’m happy to spring for a motel room these days.
Heh. My wife may not have that kind of roadgoing stamina, but to her credit, she is (to borrow a fantastic term I picked up from a friend of mine) “bush broken.” She will have to stop to pee before I will, but we don’t necessarily have to stop at a place with a toilet. As long as there aren’t any cars coming and she has some degree of privacy and some napkins or tissues from out of the glove box, she’s good.
I married well.
“Bush broken” I may have to borrow that. Reminds me of around 12 years ago, we took a road trip in our ’87 Brougham out to see my sister in DC. We brushed up on all the old-school family road games such as “slug-bugging” and “with my eye I spy…” and then took off across the country on the original Lincoln Highway. It was a great time, but before going by Chicago, there’s a stretch devoid of pretty-much anything for quite awhile. Our daughter, then 4, sounded the liquid alarm somewhere along that stretch and we finally just pulled over near a ditch that seemed kind of steep. No worries, a single car didn’t even pass by. However, I had to laugh after buckling our daughter back in, and hearing my wife say “hold on, my turn”, before heading back down into the ditch. Made sense, she had the diaper bag with the wet wipes and what not and we had no idea when the next stop was going to present itself.
I also married well.
Fellas, get you a woman who is equally comfortable rocking an evening gown with long gloves, and taking a shovel and a roll of toilet paper into the trees when nature calls on a camping trip. I married one. Highly recommended.
Great wife there! But you made me remember my sister in law.
She could drink 2 beers while driving about 4-5 miles from her place to ours.
But for some reason she could never make it from her car to our bathroom.
Seriously. She would always end up squatting and peeing in my driveway or front yard. It was kind of funny but not appreciated by the neighbors.
The 160 miles each way to New Orleans was always good for 4-5 pee stops along
I-10, always on the side of the road. Rest stops and gas station rest rooms were like Kryptonite to her for some reason.
On a big trip I can drive the full tank and time bathroom and light food stops together, so, anywhere between 350-500 miles between fuel stops, depending on which car I’m driving and what part of the country I’m in. As for trip time in the driver’s seat, 17-18 hours/day or something like 1100-1200 miles/day are about my normal limits for solo drives. I’ve done lots and lots of ‘shorter’ trips (meaning under 12 hours trip time) over the years, including yesterday. Good seats are critical to knocking back the miles and tunes certainly don’t hurt.
I used to travel a lot for work, and I did 5-6 hour straight shots weekly, and 7-8 hour straight shots every month or two. That’s seat time, mind you, so mileage varies by how much traffic I had to deal with. It got so routine that I started to get annoyed if the rental car I got didn’t have a large enough fuel tank to support the 8 hour drives without filling up mid way.
Back before the earth cooled, and I was young, I used to drive from Calgary, AB to Huntsville, TX for university four times a year. 2,100 mi each way.
’86 Nissan Pulsar SE, and stops were timed to fuel, eat, and potty all at one time. Usually around 30ish hours. But for most road trips still, the break interval is based on refuel requirements more than anything else.
I tend to drive the full tank of whatever I’ve got (typically a small car).
Most annoying car ever was a 2004 Subaru Forester XT (2nd gen Forester) – its range was maddeningly short … per online specs: 270.3 mi city / 333.9 mi hwy
Current car: 349.8 mi city / 492.9 mi hwy
Don’t know that I’ve ever driven a car more than 1,500-ish miles (one way); but, I’ve done that trip a bunch of times and always as a straight shot.
Hattiesburg, MS to Springfield, MO 582.7 miles. Left Hattiesburg and the kids fell asleep. Drove till one woke up.
Did it three years ago heading back from my brother’s wedding in Cali. Superior, MT to Crow Agency, MT, in one gulp, no stops, 459 miles. The only time in my life I’ve driven through an entire tank of gas. And all in one state!
It helped that the coffee I got in Superior was quite inferior, and I didn’t drink much of it, thereby allowing me to go the whole way without “going”.
I have an F-150 with the diesel and a 48-gallon fuel tank. I’ve done a few trips to the lower 48 or back where I’ve racked up 1000 – 1200 mile days with one 45-second stop (literally stopping and taking a leak on the dotted yellow line since there are no cars within miles at certain times of the year and day on the Cassiar Highway) and then a fill-up at the start or end of the day. So without stopping at all; about 600 miles before the bladder calls out. A spare water bottle can extend that if making time is really important.
Range is important to me. Outside of my Miata, I don’t own a car that can cover less than 600 miles on a tank.
That Depends.
I’ve done roughly 450 miles quite a few times, and that was limited by the car’s fuel range. That is a long stint though. By the time you pull up to a gas station you’re awfully happy to stretch your legs and find a bathroom.
Usually the limit is closer to 350 miles because my longtime daily driver only has a 10-gallon gas tank.
Longest I can do with just gas and bathroom stops is about 20 hours. Longest I’ve ever done with just gas and bathroom stops was 32 hours, but that included driver changes so I’m not counting it.
Now that I am old, 1 hour before the bladder hits critical mass.
At one time 4 or 5 hours.
Overall about 8 to 12 hours is my max.
I’ve never had a car with a large fuel tank or mileage amazing enough to make up for it, so about 250-300 miles is my limit for the question, but I’ve done 19 hours straight stopping only for fuel and piss (Detroit to Laramie, ~1300 miles) and was only really tired in that my eyes were dried out and I drove cross country (3501 miles) in under 50 hours with only about 1.5 hours of attempted sleep included. Couldn’t do that today, though, as I’m older and that car has passed on and I’ve never found a car with better seats and sitting ergonomics while also being stable enough on long distances to not require too much effort, yet still be engaging to drive. Nowadays, my limit is about 2 hours, though I rarely drive that long at a time anymore.
Without stopping, 350-450mi is about the farthest I can go on a tank of fuel for my road trip cars. Then just a gas and bathroom stop and back to it. I’m not one of the “must hydrate!” folks so a few hours between bathrooms breaks is not a problem.
For total miles in a day, I prefer to stay under 1000mi in a push. I do 600mi trips fairly often and they don’t bother me. The few times I’ve went to 1k I made it fine but I was getting pretty beat up by that point.
The longest I’ve gone in one sitting was about 6 hours or about 430 miles. I departed at about 7:00 PM after working a show all day and drove straight home. It was tough. The most I’ve driven in one day is about 16 hours, but there were breaks and plenty of stops built into that.
My bladder is good for 150 to 200 miles.
Finally, a kindred spirit.
For me, about 500 miles, I do it a lot. By a lot, between once every other month up to twice a month. The low fuel warning light usually comes on after 530 or so, so that’s about a hard stop anyway
Three weeks ago I drove from Cincy to Philly – about 8 hours drive time – stopping about every 2-3 hours to stretch my legs. That’s about my current limit for single sitting.
However my personal longest drive was a doozy: Las Vegas to Cincinnati, non-stop, solo. 31 hours, including a fitful 1 hour nap in Oklahoma City, and another similar nap at a rest stop somewhere in Missouri, with the expected food and fuel stops.
I hit OKC feeling okay, wasn’t sure how much I had left on my credit limit (so no to a motel room), and the AAA Triptik said ’15 hours’. This was before cell phones and GPS.
I listened to the same Devo mix tape all the way from OKC to Cincy. It was the only thing that kept me awake, and only barely with many head nods.
Personal longest? Baltimore MD to Georgetown SC, about 8-9 hours. “Normal” max? 5-6.
No stops? Probably 3 hours, 150-200 miles. Even that I would only do if I had a good reason. I drive a lot for work, and try to make a point to stop every 2 hours or so to stretch legs / bathroom break / grab snacks or drink / return texts/emails/calls. I also will stop for meals to give my self a longer break at lunch, and occasionally dinner. All in, I can cover about 10 hours a day with breaks, meals, and required sleeping.
I love driving and love road trips, but I have never understood those who drive 4+ hours without stopping at all, seems like torture.
Literally without stopping, about 700 miles when I had my Mercedes E320 CDI. That was a long time to go without stopping. Including fuel stops, I can’t think of a time I’ve driven much more than 1000 miles in one day.
Two siblings were pissed at Budget a decade ago when they moved from Pennsylvania to Arizona. For the distance, Budget said the minimum rental period was 10 days.
They made the drive in 3. One of the days had 18 hours of driving.
Me personally, longest nonstop drive was when my parents moved up to Maine for a time, and they borrowed my van. Despite driving half of the way up to Connecticut to meet them and swap vehicles again, I was so happy to get it back that I drove the next 3.5-4 hours home in one go.
I did Boise to Ogden, Utah in my Giulia no problem. Just left on a full tank and showed up in Utah four and a half hours later; Google says it’s about 300 miles. It helps to have a comfy car of course, but I’ve done multiple 12 hour drives in a couple 500 Abarths with nothing but a couple splash and dash breaks and came out of it just fine.
Generally give or take about every two hours of a drive, and my check bladder light begins flashing. Which is usually about the time I could use a walk anyway also.
Not sure how long I could drive, as I make a point of not pushing, but I just follow the ideal guideline of a short break every 2 hours and a long break every 4, and if I’m driving more than 4 hours, I only drive in daylight. I’m probably being too cautious, but it’s better to not look for the limit, lest I find it.
I drove from Joliet Illinois to Vegas and partially back in one sitting (that was not smart) my now fiance took over for a few hours after I had been up and driving for what was probably 26-27 hours if not more. But that was when her and I first started dating so almost 10 years ago so I wouldn’t do that ever again with our taking breaks or switching drivers. This past year though I had been regularly driving from the DC area back to north west Indiana and vice versa every other weekend and I also drive straight from North Western Indiana down to Florida when visiting the fiances Dad. So I would say the longest I can drive now is probably 15-16 hours or so.