Most car commercials show vehicles zipping through scenic corners on country roads or tackling off-road, mountainous terrain. That is an idyllic way to drive. The problem is that is not how most of us spend most of our time in our cars. Much of the time is spent easing on and off the brake and lightly touching the accelator as we inch along in traffic.
So, instead of looking at recommendations in terms of segments or lifestyle demands, we venture to discover the best car for sitting in traffic. For this we are talking about sitting in traffic as a driver, so will set aside the pricey and incredibly comfortable chauffeur vehicles such as the BMW i7, Mercedes-Maybach EQS SUV or Rolls-Royce Phantom.
Mark Richardson
Tesla Model Y. It’s less of a driver’s car and more of a $65,000 living room, or whatever the price is this week. The sound system is fantastic and, if you spend the extra $11,000 on Full Self Driving, then you can relax in the car and watch the scenery as the computer makes most of the decisions for you.
Purely electric power means it’s smooth and quiet and doesn’t smog up the air while you move a short distance in a long time. The seats, however, are not that comfortable for me over a long period of time – they’re fine for an hour or two, but I wouldn’t want to sit in a Model Y all day long.
We stopped at a Tesla Supercharger station and George spent $27 adding 250 kilometres of range.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
I would only lease a Tesla, however, because the cash price has shown itself to be volatile, changing on the whim of its chief executive officer. Leasing is a secure bet, so you know exactly how much it will be worth at the end of your time with it. Then there’s the politics of the brand, but that’s a personal decision for each buyer.
Second choice? A Lincoln with a massaging seat. So comfortable, and it actually kneads your back and butt. Lincoln calls its cars “sanctuaries” from the road outside and for good reason – they’re quiet and relaxing places to be when the doors are closed. The smallest Lincoln is the Corsair and its $60,000 Grand Touring edition has a plug-in hybrid engine to run solely on electricity when you’re stuck in traffic. The seats must be added to a package of features for an extra $13,000, but that’ll give you a wonderful Revel audio system and provide four years of semi-autonomous BlueCruise driving.
By today’s standards the free-standing screen on the 2022 Lincoln Corsair Grand Touring is small, but there are plenty of actual hard-buttons.Jeremy Sinek/The Globe and Mail
Miranda Lightstone
My immediate thought, and favourite car to sit in traffic with, is the $45,700 Ford Mustang Mach-E. It’s comfortable, roomy and airy thanks to the large windows and the massive moonroof (standard on all models). It also means you won’t be ripping through an expensive tank of gas as you sit there and idle for hours.
However, the most important feature is Ford’s BlueCruise.
The interior is minimalist and there's a large, easy-to-use centre screen.Kunal D'souza/The Globe and Mail
The Blue Oval’s autonomous driving system is rated at Level 2, which allows for hands- and feet-free driving. Having used it myself, it is a solid system that instills confidence in the driver, even in corners. The BlueCruise subscription costs approximately $65/month, but if you know you spend a majority of your time in traffic, it is well worth the investment.
My second choice is for all those who don’t sit in traffic alone: parents with young children. The $78,900 Chrysler Pacifica Pinnacle not only has ample space so you almost feel isolated from the brood in the back, but with the standard Uconnect Theatre (a rear-seat entertainment system with screen that fold into the backs of the front seats like some airplanes), the kiddos have guaranteed built-in entertainment, even when the charge wires are forgotten at home.
2021 Chrysler Pacifica Pinnacle AWDJeremy Sinek/The Globe and Mail
Kunal D’souza
I’m going with the Cadillac Lyriq. General Motors has been hitting it out of the park recently with its lineup of EVs and a battery-powered vehicle is what you want if you’re stuck in traffic. Energy usage is minimal when you’re creeping along at two kilometres an hour and, because there’s no combustion engine, you’re not spewing unburnt hydrocarbons into the atmosphere the whole time.
The Lyriq-V has a 33-inch diagonal LED display and an augmented reality head-up display.Courtesy of manufacturer
The $73,800 Lyriq is a luxury vehicle with lots of space, and a nicely trimmed interior with a great sound system, the importance of which cannot be understated for its ability to lift your mood when you approach that sea of brake lights. The Lyriq also has Super Cruise, which is one of the best hands-free driver assistance systems on the market. It will change lanes automatically and pass slower-moving vehicles without any driver involvement. When traffic thins out, the Lyriq is still good fun to drive with confident handling and up to 500 horsepower from its dual electric motors.
My second choice, which is also an EV, is the $96,000 Polestar 3. The minimalistic interior is beautifully styled, the seats are perfectly supportive and comfortable and the incredible Bowers and Wilkins stereo (one of the best I’ve heard in a car) makes it an excellent place to spend an extended amount of time in.
The interior of the Polestar 3 is Scandinavian minimalist to an extreme.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
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