Yesterday, my wife and I drove back from Akron to Des Moines (almost 700 miles) and I wanted to share a couple of observations from the long drive back home:

1.The Sirius/XM Nav life traffic is almost worthless. It is quite inaccurate. Starting at about 125 miles east of Chicago it kept warning us of a couple of spots south of Chicago where traffic was moving at 30-40 mph. That turned out to be totally bogus. As it turned out, I was going at least 65 mph in that area. Additionally, it kept telling us that there was going to be a rerouting due to traffic congestion only to go back to the original route. This announcement must have taken place at least 5 times. There was no such rerouting.

2. For the first time (took delivery on April 5) since I've owned this car 2014 S550, I was warned by the "Driver Attention Monitor" to stop and take a coffee break. You know what? It was right on the button. I was getting quite tired by the time we reached western IL. I was not at the point of falling asleep, but I was really getting fatigued. Don't ask me how the system recognizes this. It's amazing. So, I stopped to fill up with gas bout 40 miles west of the Quad Cities, IA at the "Worlds Largest Truck Stop" on I-80. Then we proceeded to finish our drive home. This time after starting out with my attention being "high", it dropped to low rather quickly since I obviously did not get enough rest during the stop for gas.

3. Since we had a cross wind and sometimes more of a headwind on the drive west with south or southwest winds, my gas mileage averaged out at 28.3. However, driving in OH when the wind was really light in the morning, I was averaging 30.9. The car speed was between 70 and 80 mph most of the trip. Speed limit was 70. OH and IN were heavily patrolled.

4. We came close to getting into an accident with a simi truck. I was passing him on the left lane. My car was already on the side of the truck and noticed he was gradually sneaking over the lane markers onto my lane. At first, I thought he would quickly correct that and nudge over to the right as surely he would see me. Well, he got even closer to my car on my lane and I had to quickly maneuver into the left break down lane at about 76 mph. I gave him the horn as I was doing this and he pulled over to his lane. This guy was either not paying attention or he was falling asleep when I blew the horn. That was really scary. Btw, there was no one in front of this truck, so it was not a case of him trying to pass slower moving traffic on his lane. The question I have for you guys is this: There is no way, the S550 will warn me of such an occasion since he was closing in on me from the right side, correct? I have a lot of respect for these truck drivers, but I hate dealing with these humongous trucks on the Interstates. They scare me.

 

Thanks for the update on your ride. Glad you were able to get out of the way of the semi!

 

this thread would be awesome with pics!!
the worlds largest truck stop and a shot of the S550 would have been great Bean!


glad it's working out for you anyway

 

You're right Hyperion! I didn't even think about it at the time I was getting gas at the World's Largest Truck Stop. But here is the next best thing.

http://iowa80truckstop.com

 

Btw, I'm curious if any of you had the "Driver Attention Monitor" warning come on when you were driving. I think this is a great safety feature.

 

oh man Bean, the car in front of that would have been awesome........could have just photoshopped the Wendy's and TA signs out
guess I'm just a photo hound.....always have my camera within arms reach.......sometimes it's a burden, but sometimes it really pays off too.....


I have not had the coffee/expresso light go on yet, not been on any long trips.....
just 4500 miles of DD'ing lol

 

I already have 5350 miles on mine in just over 3 months. At this rate my car will be old and crappy looking within a year. lol.

I am taking a much longer trip this September when I drive it to MA and back with stops each way in Akron (for a couple nights rest) at my daughter's house. I will also be driving it up to Portland, ME and Cape Cod on that trip. I will probably put on 3,500-4,000 miles on that round trip. I will make sure and take photos at the WLTS in Walcott, IA on that trip and post them here.

As you can surmise, I love driving this car instead of being chauffeured in it.

 

They have these new things called airplanes

 

I would rather drive the S550 since I don't have any time constraints.

 

I have had it warn me a number of times during a couple roads trips. I set the sensitivity setting to "high" so I have probably seen this warning half a dozen times. Really curious what/how it works. I found it interesting that the nav system offers to find a place to stop and rest, so far I have not accepted the offer.
A couple times it warned me when I was fiddling with the command system so my eyes were not on the road as much as they should have been...is there a camera looking at the driver...really curious. Spent a little time trying to emulate being tired to see if I could trigger it at will, it didn't warn me during this time when testing.

My wife loves the feature, she can nap peacefully knowing the car will give the occupants an early warning the driver is getting fatigued.

Glad you were able to avoid the semi!

Love this car on road trips!

 

have you been in a plane lately? LOL.........I'd rather walk than ride a plane......and I love flying!

 

That's a true statement

Even first class is pretty pathetic.

But 3300 miles seems like a long drive, but hey sounds like Bean has the time, so go for it!

My rule for driving is same state car is an option, once you head into a different state, that's when I fly (as crappy as it may be--especially for biz where I need to get there and back same day).

 

the last time I was on a plane was to Disney(Florida) from NC, my wife and daughter and I did fly first class as a matter a fact.......and it was just horrible........this was last March, I told my wife next time I'd really like to drive

 

I was driving from PA to NY with some buddies after a LONG day of bbq and shooting. We were all exhausted when we got in the car to begin with. 40 mils into the trip - I was really exhausted.... not sleeping but I could have gone to sleep if I was in the back seat.

The attention monitor came on - and then my friends younger brother made a good suggestion.

"Lets get some Ice Cream and Coffee so this mother F***** doesnt kill us" lol

 

I've got 192,000 miles on my 2007 W221. If the drive is less than 6-7 hours, driving is much better than trying to fly out of a non-hub city.

And the car looks great also at that age! I think the interior holds up much better than the W220.

 

192,000 miles! I just traded in my 2008 W221 with a whopping 42,000 miles.