[ronnie]

Just finished a 4,800+ mile trip from Spokane, WA to central Missouri and back. It included a major side trip in the middle from central Missouri to Omaha, NE to Wichita, KS, back to central Missouri and finally back to Spokane. The trip was mostly interstate driving.

With my new snow tires, the EX handled very superbly on ice and snow. There was very little slipping and good traction, better control than I've ever had on snow packed and icy roads. The back window, which as you know does not have a wiper, even in heavy rain and snow stayed clear during the drive. The rear defogger along with the angle of the window did the trick. Good job Honda engineers with that one. Heater and front defrost worked well too. No problems there.

The safety of the the adaptive cruise control worked well. It automatically slows the car down when approaching a vehicle in your lane. It will even break automatically if necessary although that thankfully never had to happen.

A small but important feature is the remote start. From up to 800 feet away we could use the remote to warm up (to 72 degrees) the inside prior to leaving. Wife loves this.

Two issues. One was the front radar. Heavy wet snow in northern Idaho on I90 shortly after we left stuck to the radar sensors on the lower part of the car. Got the message "Some driver assist systems cannot operate: Radar obstructed." It got colder outside and remained obstructed for the rest of the trip to Missouri. Tried getting it off, but it was thick ice. Only the regular cruise control worked. And I don't think the automatic stop feature would have worked.

Another issue was gas mileage. I only averaged about 36 mpg on the highway for the entire trip. I started the Fuelly stats just a week prior to the trip so most of my 22 fuel ups you see below in my signature are road miles from the trip. When roads were clear on the interstates, I tended to drive a few miles over the speed limit. That means throughout Montana and South Dakota I was cruising at 83-84 mph when roads were clear. When roads were snow packed, it was more between 45-55 mph. When icy, more like 25-35 mph.

My wife and I have driven to the midwest in the winter about 25 times in the last 34 years. This car was the most comfortable and secure feeling car I've had for road trips.

 

[insightfully]

Thanks for sharing. Was wondering from your experience:

1 - Did you feel the Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) / Electronic Stability Control (ESC) kick in, or was it pretty seamless? Do you think this and your snow tires helped with handling on snow and ice?

2 - When regular cruise control was the only option, did the system automatically transition you to that OR did you need to manually turn on the non-adaptive cruise control by pressing and holding the 'interval' button (p507 in Owners Manual)?

 

[mgldan]

My wife and I have driven to the midwest in the winter about 25 times in the last 34 years. This car was the most comfortable and secure feeling car I've had for road trips.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! What cars have you made the journey in?

 

[ronnie]

Thanks for sharing. Was wondering from your experience:

1 - Did you feel the Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) / Electronic Stability Control (ESC) kick in, or was it pretty seamless? Do you think this and your snow tires helped with handling on snow and ice?

2 - When regular cruise control was the only option, did the system automatically transition you to that OR did you need to manually turn on the non-adaptive cruise control by pressing and holding the 'interval' button (p507 in Owners Manual)?

The VSA was seamless. Yes, I think the snow tires helped. They are studless and the tire shop told me that Consumer Reports ranked them very high in their recent report.

Regarding your second question. When the radars in front were iced up on the way to the midwest, when I tried turning on adaptive cruise control, I would get a message on the dash about it not working. I would then press the interval button to activate normal cruise.

Regarding the icing up of the radars in front. One time I thought I could take my ice scraper and scrape off the ice, but that didn't work. The area is so low to the ground that getting down there in cold weather (or even warm weather) would be difficult for a 61 year old. Also, the rectangular area is kind of inset so accessing it for that was extremely difficult. Only when it warmed up and started to thaw did it finally reactivate.

 

[ronnie]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! What cars have you made the journey in?

In 34 years we've driven to the Midwest in about 10 different cars. We also do the trip in summer and that usually involves a trip to Ohio where my wife grew up. Twice we've driven on to the East Coast to visit my son and his wife in New York and friends in D.C. and my sister in North Carolina. These days in summer we are driving to Houston on the way back to visit our son and his wife where they now live. In our early days when the kids were home we drove a Plymouth 7-passenger van, then a Chrysler minivan, then a Nissan Quest. Then a small Mazda Protoge when the kids were leaving the house and off to college. In 2010 we started driving our first new Honda, a 2010 Fit. In that Honda, one time we drove non-stop to Abilene, KS (1,550 miles) where my wife's parents lived at the time. There were 3 of us in the vehicle, all drivers, and we only stopped for gas and food. Then in the winter of 2015 we traded the 2010 Fit for a new 2015 Fit and now we have the Insight. I've counted able 52+ driving trips to the Midwest since we've been married.