The 25 Best Road Trip Cars

Image via Complex Original

This is America, the land of endless highways that criss-cross an enormous empire. The road trip is an important part of our cultural heritage. It's no secret that some cars are better suited for this than others. You know that very well if you've experienced the difference between how a Smart ForTwo and a Jag handle the highway. We've included cars from all price points on this list. Some are here for their miserly sipping of petroleum. Some for comfort and luxury. And some simply because they're iconic, and the list wouldn't be complete without them.

25. A Beater

Base Price: $750
Road-trip-friendly Features: Cheapness, don't really care about it
Mpg (city/highway): Bad
Number Of Cup Holders: 1.5 (unbroken ones)
Cubic Feet Of Cargo Capacity: negligible
Complex Says: Why put all those miles on a nice new car when you could run a crappy old one into the ground? Hope you have a AAA card.

24. Porsche 911

Base Price: $82,100
Road-trip-friendly Features: Handling, engine, surprising amount of comfort
Mpg (city/highway): 19/22
Number Of Cup Holders: 2
Cubic Feet Of Cargo Capacity: 11.7
Complex Says: The new Porsche 911 is a little longer, which adds highway stability and cargo room. Perfect for that long drive.

23. Mercedes SLS AMG Roadster

Base Price: $183,000
Road-trip-friendly Features: Engine noise, comfort, Stirling Moss fantasies
Mpg (city/highway): 14/20
Number Of Cup Holders: 2
Cubic Feet Of Cargo Capacity: 6.1
Complex Says: The SLS AMG is cool, but the roadster is just so much cooler. It's nice on a track, but it wants to eat up highway miles in style.

22. Jaguar XF

Base Price: $53,000
Road-trip-friendly Features: 5.0L V8, Comfort, B&O sound, not a BMW
Mpg (city/highway): 16/23
Number Of Cup Holders: 4
Cubic Feet Of Cargo Capacity: 17.7
Complex Says: The BMW 5-series might be built better, but the Jag makes up for it 10-fold in sheer coolness.

21. Chrysler 300

Base Price: $28,170
Road-trip-friendly Features: Luxury for less than $30k, good dynamics, looks like a poor man's Bentley
Mpg (city/highway): 19/31
Number Of Cup Holders: 4
Cubic Feet Of Cargo Capacity: 16.3
Complex Says: Chrysler has turned around in recent years. What was previously derided as looking like a cheap, Chinese knock-off of a Bentley is now a luxurious, competitively priced, well-handling car that looks like a cheap, Chinese knock-off of a Bentley.

20. Bentley Continental GT

Base Price: $189,900
Road-trip-friendly Features: Comfort, W12 engine
Mpg (city/highway): 12/19
Number Of Cup Holders: 2
Cubic Feet Of Cargo Capacity: 12.6
Complex Says: W12 engine. Bentley. Quilted Leather. That is all.

19. Porsche Panamera

Base Price: $75,200
Road-trip-friendly Features: Porsche speed and handling, five-door space, too quick for people to see the hunch-back clearly
Mpg (city/highway): 18/27
Number Of Cup Holders: 4
Cubic Feet Of Cargo Capacity: 44.6
Complex Says: If you want to take your friends and all of their stuff with you, you want a Porsche. Don't worry if you look weird from behind. The Panamera checks all the right boxes.

18. Ferrari FF

Base Price: $295,000
Road-trip-friendly Features: Hatchback cargo capacity, purring V12, quilted leather, AWD
Mpg (city/highway): 11/18
Number Of Cup Holders: 2
Cubic Feet Of Cargo Capacity: 28.3
Complex Says: Enough space for four people, two beverages, and their luggage in a Ferrari. It's unheard of, and it's awesome.

17. Cadillac CTS-V Wagon

Base Price: $64,515
Road-trip-friendly Features: Wagon practicality, berzerk speed, road trippin' in a Caddy
Mpg (city/highway): 14/19
Number Of Cup Holders: 4
Cubic Feet Of Cargo Capacity: 58
Complex Says: Do you need to take four other people and a metric crap-ton of stuff across the country as fast as possible while hitting up race tracks along the way? No...we don't either, but this would be the perfect excuse to plan that trip.

16. Jaguar XJ

Base Price: $73,700
Road-trip-friendly Features: Extreme luxury, 5.0L V8, good cargo room for a sedan, four-zone climate control
Mpg (city/highway): 16/23
Number Of Cup Holders: 4
Cubic Feet Of Cargo Capacity: 18.4
Complex Says: Four-zone climate control? Now nobody can whine about the temerature.

15. Maserati GranTurismo Convertible

Base Price: $137,300
Road-trip-friendly Features: Some of the sexiest styling on the planet, comfort, Ferrari V8, leg room
Mpg (city/highway): 11/18
Number Of Cup Holders: 4
Cubic Feet Of Cargo Capacity: 6.1
Complex Says: Cargo room might not be the best, but this is the most rear leg room of any convertible on the market.

14. Toyota Prius

Base Price: $23,520
Road-trip-friendly Features: Fuel economy, low gasoline consumption, miles per gallon
Mpg (city/highway): 51/48
Number Of Cup Holders: 3
Cubic Feet Of Cargo Capacity: 21.6
Complex Says: Burn as little gas as possible in the Prius. Cargo room isn't bad either.

13. Maybach 62S

Base Price: $432,250
Road-trip-friendly Features: Reclining seats, gadgets to play with, movie screens, chilled champagne
Mpg (city/highway): 10/12
Number Of Cup Holders: 2 (and they're flute holders)
Cubic Feet Of Cargo Capacity: 15
Complex Says: Chilled champagne, a leather recliner, and a movie sure doesn't sound like a road trip. Unless you're filthy rich.

12. Lotus Evora

Base Price: $64,000
Road-trip-friendly Features: Mid-engined, awesome gauge cluster at night, cooler than all hell
Mpg (city/highway): 17/27
Number Of Cup Holders: 2
Cubic Feet Of Cargo Capacity: 5.7
Complex Says: Take the scenic, twisty route in this one. It's the only practical mid-engined car.

11. Fisker Karma

Base Price: $96,895
Road-trip-friendly Features: Hybrid fuel economy, comfort, decent speed
Mpg (city/highway): 33/38
Number Of Cup Holders: 4
Cubic Feet Of Cargo Capacity: 6.9
Complex Says: Don't bring more than one friend if the Karma is your ride of choice. The 6.9cu-ft trunk can't hold much at all.

10. American Muscle

Base Price: $24,995
Road-trip-friendly Features: American muscle, sheer size, retro-cool factor
Mpg (city/highway): 18/27
Number Of Cup Holders: 4
Cubic Feet Of Cargo Capacity: 16.2
Complex Says: You get to have the classic American dream of driving Route 66 in a muscle car, but with dual-zone climate control and decent fuel economy.

9. Hyundai Genesis

Base Price: $34,200
Road-trip-friendly Features: Price-to-luxury ratio, good economy for the power, people still can't believe that your luxury car is Korean
Mpg (city/highway): 19/29
Number Of Cup Holders: 4
Cubic Feet Of Cargo Capacity: 15.9
Complex Says: A car this luxurious shouldn't be this cheap. But it is.

8. Mercedes S-Class

Base Price: $92,550
Road-trip-friendly Features: Comfort, car practically drives itself, diesel
Mpg (city/highway): 21/31
Number Of Cup Holders: 4
Cubic Feet Of Cargo Capacity: 16.4
Complex Says: Thirty-one mpg in a limo of this size? Awesome.

7. Honda Fit

Base Price: $15,175
Road-trip-friendly Features: Cup holders, fuel economy, tons of room, more cup holders
Mpg (city/highway): 28/35
Number Of Cup Holders: 7
Cubic Feet Of Cargo Capacity: 57.3
Complex Says: Do you like to have soda, coffee, and a smoothie while driving with friends who also brought beverages? If so, the Fit's seven cup holders should do you fine. The size makes it easy to park too. For all those emergency bathroom breaks. Also, we don't understand how there is this much space in such a small car.

6. Chevrolet Volt

Base Price: $31,645
Road-trip-friendly Features: Geek cred, fuel economy, supporting American ingenuity
Mpg (city/highway): 35/40
Number Of Cup Holders: 4
Cubic Feet Of Cargo Capacity: 10.6
Complex Says: The Volt is a cool vehicle. It heralds a new era of innovation from the big three, and it doesn't look half-bad, either.

5. Maserati Quattroporte Sport GTS

Base Price: $134,700
Road-trip-friendly Features: Leather and alcantara, Ferrari engine, seeing the peasants in their slow sedans as you pass them
Mpg (city/highway): 11/18
Number Of Cup Holders: 4
Cubic Feet Of Cargo Capacity: 15
Complex Says: While it's not the fastest sedan in the world, it is certainly one of the most dynamically pleasing and quite possibly our favorite.

4. Ford Mustang Convertible

Base Price: $27,310
Road-trip-friendly Features: Channelling Steve McQueen, the wind in your hair, Americana
Mpg (city/highway): 19/31
Number Of Cup Holders: 2
Cubic Feet Of Cargo Capacity: 9.6
Complex Says: For a 300hp muscle car, the Ford Mustang gets fantastic fuel economy. Cargo room may be lacking, but that's what the back seats are for. The Mustang road trip is an American rite of passage. It must be done.

3. Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen TDI

Base Price: $25,540
Road-trip-friendly Features: Fuel economy, enough cargo room for another car, real green cred
Mpg (city/highway): 30/42
Number Of Cup Holders: 4
Cubic Feet Of Cargo Capacity: 66.9
Complex Says: Hybrids may pollute the environment a ton in production, and seep horrible chemicals into landfills when the batteries give up, but diesels are clean and efficient, without any of the drawbacks of hybrids. The leather interior of the Jetta Wagon is sure a plus at this price point.

2. Aston Martin Rapide

Base Price: $207,895
Road-trip-friendly Features: Sex appeal, comfort, cargo capacity, V12 for passing Buicks
Mpg (city/highway): 13/19
Number Of Cup Holders: 3
Cubic Feet Of Cargo Capacity: 31.3
Complex Says: If James Bond didn't get all of his friends killed, he'd drive one of these. Four can travel in the utmost style in this Aston.

1. Mercedes Benz E-Class Wagon

Base Price: $57,150
Road-trip-friendly Features: Comfort, massive amounts of space, AWD for road trips to the Yukon
Mpg (city/highway): 19/27
Number Of Cup Holders: 4
Cubic Feet Of Cargo Capacity: 57.4
Complex Says: This Benz doesn't just have the comfort of a superbly engineered E-class. It has enough cargo room for six months worth of supplies.