Summer in North America is music festival season, and these multi-stage extravaganzas are perfect road trip destinations. We’ve singled out five of the best-known live music events on the continent and imagined what cars you’re likely to see rolling up to their gates – and the types of people who might be driving them.
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival – Indio, CA, April 13–22
Who
A high-tech professional from Austin, Texas
The Car
Tesla Model S 100D
The Story
Your most-recent performance bonus paid for your dream car and a ticket to Coachella to see The Weeknd – and judge whether Eminem is still as badass as you thought he was in high school. That’s the good news.
The challenging news is that you’re facing a drive of more than 2,000 km before reaching the California desert, thanks to the out-of-the-way locations of existing charging stations. Good thing the 100D can go a promised 594 km on a full charge of its 100 kWh battery. To stay within that driving range, you’ll have to go north to Dallas–Fort Worth (314 km) before turning west toward Abilene (291 km) and then Midland (239 km). From there, it’s a long haul to El Paso (491 km) and even further to Tucson, AZ (521 km), so make sure you’re fully charged. The 186 km drive to Phoenix will be a cinch, but you’ll have to charge there if you want to make it the final 396 km to Indio.
Who
A married couple with kids from San Francisco
The Car
Chrysler Pacifica PHEV
The Story
On a full charge, it lets your single-vehicle household run errands around town on electricity alone. The gasoline engine also gives you the freedom to make the 800-plus-kilometre drive to Indio without EV range anxiety, and offers lots of space for your gear so the four of you can camp on-site at Coachella (and your son can sleep in the van when it rains and his Pokémons get wet). Side trip to Joshua Tree National Park, anyone?
If you bump into the man with the fancy electric sports car, borrow his map of charging stations to find places you can charge up and save some gas (Modesto, Fresno, and Bakersfield could all be good stopping places).
Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival – Manchester, TN, June 7–10
Who
Shipping logistics coordinator for FedEx at Memphis International Airport
The Car
Nissan Altima
The Story
A lifelong Tennessean, you like to support businesses that invest in your state’s economy. That’s why you drive a Nissan Altima, one of the cars the Japanese company builds at its sprawling Smyrna factory just outside of Nashville. You’re using some of your hard-earned vacation time for an easy 430 km drive to Bonnaroo, where proud Tennesseans Paramore are performing this year. Stop off in Nashville for a night on the way back to eat some hot chicken and biscuits.
Who
Employee at Jeep’s Toledo, OH, manufacturing plant
The Car
Jeep Wrangler
The Story
You didn’t see this coming when you took a job building Wranglers, but after a few years working on the assembly line, you’ve become a serious off-roading enthusiast. You and your colleagues just started building an all-new Wrangler, but you’ve invested a lot of time and money kitting out your last-generation model for rock crawling.
You’re also a big live music fan, so this summer you’re indulging both of your passions by making the 860 km drive to Bonnaroo before spending a few days camped out at one of Tennessee’s best off-road driving facilities – Windrock Park in Oliver Springs – where you’ll do your best to keep it shiny side up.
Calgary Stampede – Calgary, AB, July 6–15
Who
A professional rodeo rider from Casper, Wyoming, competing at the Stampede
The Truck
Ford F-450 SuperCab King Ranch
The Story
This truck’s 9,525 kg towing rating is plenty to haul a trailer containing your horse, Cheyenne Breeze, on this 1,300 km drive, while its 3,461 kg payload is more than enough for the camper mounted in the eight-foot bed, so you can get a good night’s sleep before heading into the ring for your eight seconds of glory. Knock ’em dead, cowboy.
Who
A University of Regina student
The Truck
Ram 1500 Laramie Big Horn
The Story
You and your BFF are taking a few days off from your summer internships to check out the rodeo riders (their mad skills, Dad, not their butts!) at the Stampede. Your own truck is a beat-up Dodge Dakota, but you talked your dad into letting you borrow his Big Horn, a luxurious yet appropriate way to get to Alberta’s celebration of all things cowboy. Your dad’s not super keen but he figures at least the road’s nice and flat, and you’ll be able to see any bad weather rolling in well in advance.
What They Have in Common (besides loving pickup trucks)
All three of you will end up at the Luke Bryan show on July 14.
Lollapalooza – Chicago, IL, August 2–5
Who
An interior designer from Ottawa
The Car
Volvo V90
The Story
You’re drawn to stylish things but you also want a vehicle that can haul furniture and artwork in a pinch, so Volvo’s latest station wagon model is a perfect fit. Your law professor spouse is a little annoyed you chose a car that perpetuates the Volvo-driving university prof stereotype, but who is he kidding? He drives it more than you do. Still, you’ll get to spend some time behind the wheel on the nearly 1,300 km drive from Canada’s capital to the Windy City.
Who
A 20-something marketing pro at Winnipeg-based tech company Skip the Dishes
The Car
Mazda MX-5
The Story
You’re a serious driving enthusiast who really hates that your boyfriend labels the MX-5 a “girl’s car”. Never mind that you and your erstwhile Miata could drive circles around him in that Mustang he loves so much. He also has terrible taste in music, which is why you’re packing light and doing the 1,400 km drive to Lollapalooza solo – all on back roads, naturally.
What They Have in Common
Lollapalooza is an English idiom to describe “an excellent or attractive person or thing”, so obviously these festival-goers chose their latest cars with help from autoTRADER.ca’s 2018 Top Picks, in which the V90 was named top luxury car, and the MX-5 top sports car under $50,000.
Osheaga Music and Arts Festival – Montreal, QC, August 3–5
Who
A foursome of suburban moms from north Toronto
The Car
Ford Explorer
The Story
They have wine in Montreal, right? You and three of your besties are leaving your spouses in charge of the kids for a weekend and road-tripping to Osheaga. The seven-seat Ford Explorer is the ideal car for carting around two kids, their various sporting equipment, and a couple of their friends, so it’s got plenty of comfortable space for your squad.
An Explorer is the perfect Osheaga ride: the festival derives its name from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian word that explorer Jacques Cartier understood as the name of the place he arrived at in 1535. On your way down Highway 401, stop in at the Big Apple in Colborne for freshly baked pie, or take a detour to Prince Edward County (to stock up on wine).
Who
An EV enthusiast from Summerside, PEI
The Car
Chevrolet Bolt
The Story
This compact hatchback boasts more than 380 km of driving range. To test that promise, you’re driving to Osheaga to see all the big-name bands who never make it out to the Island. You’ve planned your route carefully, since eastern Canada’s not exactly swarming with charging stations. From Summerside, cross the Confederation Bridge into New Brunswick and take Highway 15 west to 11 north, to Miramichi (237 km) for coffee and a charge. From there, take Route 108 west to Highway 2 north to Edmundston (276 km) where there’s another charging station.
It gets easier from there, thanks to Quebec’s network of public charging stations, Le Circuit Électrique. Hang a left at Rivière-du-Loup and zip down Highway 20 to Montmagny for a power-up (243 km). At Lévis, cross the St. Lawrence to Quebec City and continue along Highway 40 to Trois-Rivières (194 km) for another stop to charge. From there, it’s an easy 138 km to Montreal.
