Five family road trip must-haves

Overseas holidays might be off the agenda this Christmas but the interstate borders are being unwrapped just in time for a family road trip.

If packing the kids, an esky and all the pressies into a car and heading out of town isn’t how you normally spend the holidays, then here’s five must-have features that will ensure the entire family remains comfortable, connected and, most importantly, safe on a long drive.

Best of all, they’re all standard equipment on the value-packed MG HS Essence mid-size SUV.

Everybody – and everything – needs to have their own space on a road trip. Being cramped up can spoil a trip before it even starts.

As one of the most spacious family SUVs in its class, the MG HS Essence has room for five within its luxuriously-appointed cabin, which is trimmed in full leather and features electrically-adjustable and heated front seats as well as a full-length panoramic sunroof that brings extra light into the cockpit and makes it feel even more airier.

The MG HS also has a generous 463 litres of space under the cargo cover in the boot, allowing you to pack a family load of suitcases, as well as a small esky and Xmas gifts without interrupting rear vision for the driver.

Travel Hack: Keep any gifts you might be taking with you in their boxes before wrapping them. When loading up the car make sure you load the heaviest items at the rear of the boot and place any food, water or the esky where you can access it easily during roadside rest stops.

It’s important to stay hydrated when driving but there’s few things worse than taking a swig from a ‘cooked’ drink on a hot summer’s day while on a long road trip. So how can you keep cans and bottles cool while you’re driving?

It’s a cinch with the MG HS, as the centre console storage box can be chilled by the climate control air-conditioning. This will keep your drink bottles nice and cold. Trust us, it works a treat.

Travel Hack: Even if you have an MG HS with its chilled centre console, place a few extra bottles of water or sports drinks in the freezer the night before you hit the road as these will slowly melt and stay icy cold during the day. Also, pack plenty of light snacks (try and limit the sugary sweets, for obvious reasons) and plan to stop for lunch or dinner at small country towns along the way – they need our support and our dollars.

If you’re heading somewhere new for the holidays, a great way to get there as quickly as possible and prevent the inevitable taunts of “Are we there yet?” is having the latest in satellite navigation.

All three MG HS variants – the entry-level Vibe, mid-tier Excite and range-topping Essence – have smartphone mirroring as standard within their class-leading 10.1-inch colour touch-screen centre display. This allows seamless connection to sat-nav apps via either Apply CarPlay or Android Auto.

The MG HS Excite and MG HS Essence also have cutting-edge in-built sat-nav functionality that provides live traffic updates and displays an up-to-the-minute estimated time of arrival. That way you can tell them exactly when you’ll get there!

Travel Hack: When planning a road trip, enter your destination in the sat-nav days before you leave – preferably at a similar time to your intended departure – to get a better understanding of the time it will take to get there and the suggested routes to take. Also, do some research on the small towns along the way and find a few fun places, or small detours, you could visit, such as playgrounds, tourist attractions or national parks.

Almost every member in a modern family has a mobile device, and they can be a great tool for passengers to while away time on a long road trip. But making sure they don’t all run out of battery isn’t an easy task in most cars, which have limited charging ports.

That’s not the case in the MG HS, which has two USB outlets in the front and another pair for rear seat passengers plus an additional 12V point in the centre console. Phew!

Travel Hack: Rather than just letting the kids while away your road trip and get bored with the same video games they play at home (or fall down a YouTube rabbit hole!), download a couple of fun but educational apps specifically for the holiday. My Car – Mechanics for Kids is an interactive explainer of how modern cars operate. Barefoot World Atlas is a fun way to learn about different parts of the world. Alternatively, give them a creative project like capturing the road trip using an app like 1 Second Everyday: A Video Diary.

It’s all well and good to keep cool, comfortable and entertained while on a road trip, but ensuring you get to your destination safely is even more important – especially as holiday traffic can be chaotic.

With a full suite of active driver aids compiled together as MG Pilot, all three MG HS variants are equipped with the latest in high-tech accident avoidance technology, including automated emergency braking with pedestrian detection, lane keeping assistance, adaptive cruise control and Traffic Jam Assist.

Using an array of cameras and sensors around the car to constantly monitor the immediate environment, MG Pilot maintains a safe distance to vehicles ahead, even in heavy stop-start traffic. Think of it not only as a safety net but a convenience that makes long-distance travelling less fatiguing and frustrating.

Travel Hack: While having a safety net like MG Pilot is important, there are a few critical tips when driving long distances that prevent you from needing to rely on it. First of all, plan your trip before you leave and look for interesting places that could break up the driving with regular stops every two hours. Planned well to coincide with meals, etc, these breaks rarely make the actual travel time longer. Best of all, they will make the journey more memorable and less stressful for everyone.

Also, try not to drive when you’d normally be sleeping as you’ll be fighting your natural body clock. If you are leaving early in the morning, for example, make sure those that are driving have the same amount of sleep as usual the night before and have at least one passenger to interact with and remain alert while driving. It also makes sense to pack the car the night before you leave if possible.