non-fatiguing cars?

I’ve had a 2l diesel golf since 2014 with DSG gearbox, ACC, winter kit, did a lot of driving for my job, it’s been very nice to drive, particularly after a long day at work, averaging 25k miles, all road types, per year.

Switch off the stop start and the ACC is then great in slow moving traffic.Good fuel efficiency but not ULEZ compliant.

Just don’t buy anything with GT or sport in its name as the ride is generally poor if you want quiet and comfort. (Yes I am over 50😀)

colleagues had the Skoda Octavia with the same spec and were very happy with them.

I have been repeatedly told that Volvo are super-comfortable, but I am not convinced. Maybe that’s because I am nearly 2m tall, maybe it’s because I have only really tried v70, v60 and v50 models in the cheaper, second-hand end of the spectrum.

Newer Passat? agsin problems with the tall thing

That’s interesting – my dad is 2.03m tall and he has driven Passat estates since the mid 90s. My brother is 2.07m and he has only driven Volvos in the last 20 years!  They both always have the seats down and a bit reclined. But there have always been cars they literally can’t sit in at all, so Volvos and Passats have done well for them generally

Volvo

Anything in their range, but not the V40, the ride in it is awful and its tiny inside.

Last volvo was an XC40, 70k miles in 2.5 years, not a single ache or bother from the seats. I can sit in a focus or passat for 20mins and I want to get out.

Volvo fit proper headlights, not the candles you get in most other cars. And there is a much simpler dash layout.

Other thing to consider in an advanced driver training course, surprised at how much I’ve picked up and making progress is far easier as you are prempting others movements and stupidity

5 months ago I switched from 2008 diesel Mondeo to 2019 petrol Mazda 6

The difference regarding driving fatigue is huge.

The Mazda is much quieter (surprisingly the equivalent diesel mazda 6 is supposed to even quieter) and the ACC & lane-assist make it less taxing on the brain

Not relevant to the original question, but the fuel economy isn’t bad either, 41 mpg rolling average, and 46mpg on my usual motorway trips

46mpg on my usual motorway trips

I’d consider that bad! A modern diesel should be getting 60+ on long motorway trips if you are driving the speed limit.

A modern diesel should be getting 60+ on long motorway trips if you are driving the speed limit.

It’s not a diesel, it’s a

2019 petrol Mazda 6

TBH with the height thing, once you get much over the 99 percentile (or below 1 percentile) it’s a crap shoot as to if you’ll find any car comfortable. (99 percentle is about 195 i think).
My exes partner is well over 2m and finds a V70 to be too cramped and a Passat to be fine and an E-Class to be impossible to do more than drive to work and back. (He’s got an E-Class now…)

It’s not a diesel, it’s a

2019 petrol Mazda 6

Ah, fair point :)

Make sure the ergonomics work for you – driving position and well laid out instruments and controls, plenty of adjustments all save energy/fatigue.

Due to back issues on longer drives I was told to look into the driving position, but I mention it, as it also caused me lots of fatigue. It was suggested I try to get a car where your not sat on the floor (road) and need to pull yourself up to get out (especially if your tall). A more upright seating position, where your legs are bent and not almost straight out, as a good starting position.

Then look at your driving position when you drive. Though you may start in a good upright position, what are you doing after an hour in the car, are you hunching forward? Bad habit like this will just add to your discomfort & fatigue, and are only fixed by you paying attention, and not slouching as you tire

Should you really be driving if you find it that exhausting after only an hour? Sounds dangerous to me.

Ignore, posted on wrong thread

An EV is stil,his best option though 🤷‍♂️

What good is an EV if you can’t charge it?

From the OP…

Incidentally, parking round here rules out EVs

Should you really be driving if you find it that exhausting after only an hour? Sounds dangerous to me

For the most part, I don’t drive now. My wife has taken on all driving duties – if she’s tired or feeling ill, then I’ll do 45 mins to give her a rest. She’s not really a big driver, so this rules out some of the stuff we used to do. So if I can get up to, say, 90-120mins comfortably, that’d give us more flexibility and help me take some pressure off my wife, who has been an absolute star the last 3-4 years.

Had to drive to Germany on my own during Covid. I was dreading it as we had shared driving previously and I’d still arrived shattered. On my own in the Tesla I was fine. It’s quiet and less vibration than any car I’ve had, plus the driving assist is useful.

Charging is less of an issue for a model 3 because you don’t have to do it everyday with a 300 mile range.  

Adaptive cruise control with good lane keep assist.

I find lane keep assist really annoying, it just bounces you between lines. However, Lane centre assist is brilliant.

Not sure whether you’d find it on a £10k car yet tho.

Sorry? BMW? Indicators?

They’re on annual subscription, only the poorer drivers don’t have them functioning.

Well, let’s bring EVs into the chat, maybe I’m over-worrying?

Situation: we can’t always park in front of our house. There can be a car or van there for days at a time. MrsDoris commutes 25 – 50miles a week, and our regular longer journeys are 130mile motorway stints, starting after work on a Friday, to family who also don’t have off-street parking.

So I need something good for ~150 miles, with heating and headlights, that was last charged a week ago and has since done 50 miles (also with heating and headlights!). Even that would be annoying, as we’re stopping to charge 20 mins into the drive home. Which I don’t don’t think is achievable for 10k (or even 12?)

Also I get the feeling that some of the longer range budget EVs that are starting to appear now, sacrifice ride quality and sound insulation to hit that price point. Which also isn’t ideal!

But open to ideas. Has anyone here run an EV as their only car, without reliable home charging?

I almost changed my Vivaro for a mk3 Mondeo last week.

OP – sorry if I missed it but have you said what you drive now

From memory it was a 51 plate. The old Transit engined one. I changed the dual mass flywheel when it started shaking itself to bits for a single mass (Transit) one and it didn’t make it any worse. The seat, which strangely enough felt pretty comfortable, probably contributed to the discomfort on a long journey.

Well, let’s bring EVs into the chat, maybe I’m over-worrying?

– They are fine for general driving including long distance
– If you’re committed to low emissions then get one but I’m not sure I would if I didn’t have off-street parking and charging. Cost will not be much cheaper than your ICE, and you will have to go out to charge it and wait if you can’t do it whilst parked up somewhere e.g. at work or home.
– You don’t get much for £10k.

We have a Leaf which was £9k and it’s great, primarily because electric motors are much much nicer than petrol or diesel engines, but it’s about a tenth the cost per mile BUT only because we can charge cheaply at home. You can get discounts if you subscribe to rapid charging networks, that may be worth it if you’re regularly rapid charging. We don’t have a sub, and if we have to rapid charge on the road, it is about the same per mile as diesel. Plus, if I only had rapid charging, I’d have to go out and sit there for at least half an hour (about 45 mins in my case) doing nothing whilst the car charged.

Also I get the feeling that some of the longer range budget EVs that are starting to appear now, sacrifice ride quality and sound insulation to hit that price point.

No. Our Leaf is whisper quiet and it’s a budget EV. Manufacturers realised that without an engine you need to make everything else really quiet as well otherwise it sounds louder, if you see what I mean.

However, I don’t like driving it far because the seat is all wrong, it doesn’t have a reach adjust steering wheel (although some models do) and the ride is a bit rubbish at speed. It has this weird thing where it pitches forwards and backwards on motorways.

On the other hand, EV driving long distances is awesome because you have to stop and chill every so often. One of my favourite trips in our old EV (which drove better than the Leaf) was through Mid Wales, we had to stop in small towns to charge up. Went for a walk, had a pie from a bakers and sat on a wall in the square. Fantastic.

Even that would be annoying, as we’re stopping to charge 20 mins into the drive home.

You don’t have to drive til its empty before charging up…

Volvo V70 auto here – so yes, Volvo +N. By quite a distance the least tiring, most relaxing car I’ve ever driven.

I suspect that only adaptive cruise control could improve it.

My personal history of sofas on wheels suggests that most anything larger than a focus would be “basically ok”. I like sofas on wheels. Generally speaking for a £10k sort of car, you just head for the largest car shaped car in the range and its a done job. i.e. the large family or budget luxury/exec offering.

I’m currently driving a 2018 Vauxhall diesel powered sofa and it’s very good on the fatigue front. It’s a nose better than our Passat actually.

I’d avoid VAG group because price, and (opinion) they’re overrated, and I have owned a few VAG group motors.

I’ve got a V90 with adaptive cruise control and pilot assist (can steer itself under certain conditions). Add good seats and a big stereo and the only thing more relaxing is the moment  after death…..I imagine! (It’s also pretty fast and handles quite well, plus you can set it up so safety systems don’t interfer with enthusiastic driving).

So a V60 VEA engined Volvo is what you want.

I have to think the style of driving plays a big part.

I’ve driven to the alps dozens of times in a 1.3 Fiat Doblo van. Hardly the benchmark for refinement and comfort but I had aftermarket cruise control fitted and would drive down with zero issues every time. Just cruising along at your own pace rather than the wacky races is a much more pleasant experience.

Current car is a 2.2 diesel Mazda CX5. I’m regularly up and down from Glasgow to Manchester. 4 hour trip barring any issues and the best way is sticking the cruise at 65mph and sitting in the inside lane, overtaking when needed. Again I’ll have no issues. The car’s a manual with shedloads of torque so I rarely have to drop out of 6th gear which makes things nice and relaxing.

I (think I) am generally a pretty chilled driver, but would certainly be interested to read more if you’ve got any links?

Hi OP.  I was loaned a copy of Roadcraft and basically spent a chunk of time reading up on stuff like sight lines, car control, positioning and driving strategy and then trying to put different bits into practice, focussing on one or two aspects at a time for a few days. I think the real gains in terms of saving fatigue just came from simple stuff like less large accelerations and unnecessary braking, less “surprises” and better flow/wafting ability.  Was good for the fuel economy too. 🙂

Also once you’ve bought the E class get a subscription to audible and feed your mind as you roll along. 

So what you need is an E class, with air ride . 16in wheels, and Volvo seats.

If you’re driving for more than say an hour make sure your wallet is not in your back pocket . It creates a pressure point and can cause back and leg issues.
And relax , leave a nice gap , look as faar up the road as you can , hold the steering wheel low down and don’t death grip it

For some reason there are loads more Cs than Es with Airmatic – which is their name for air suspension all round. I think that includes variable dampers too, so you basically select ‘sport’ or ‘comfort’ mode etc and it softens the suspension and makes it more supple.

Update – we ended up plumping for a 2020 Mazda CX30. In the end we ruled out bigger saloons because parking is such a nightmare round here. It looks chunky but it’s actually shorter than our old Mazda 3.

Whoever said that any modernish car would be a substantial step up from a base-spec 2009 family hatchback was right! Even bluetooth feels like magic :lol:

It’s quieter, more comfortable, and thoroughly pleasant to drive. All the mod cons reduce stress in their own way – from auto gears to parking sensors to ACC (which I really love around down actually – you can set it to 20mph and it will even stop and start for you). The lane assist isn’t up to much, mind. And it’s got a HUD which feels very futuristic. But overall it does encourage you to just sit back and drive nice and smoothly, much more than the old car ever did. Can’t quite put my finger on exactly why, but it just does!

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions. I do also have a copy of Roadcraft here on my desk. Which I need to properly gen up on, one of these days….