I never envisioned driving my wife's Outlander across many states, I thought it was too small and darty for a long highway trip. But we did it, and I was pretty pleased with the Outlander's cruising ability. Before the trip, I got new tires and new front brake rotors and pads (one of the OEM front rotors caused steering vibrations at highway speeds since the car was new).

We started in South Florida and drove to Amelia Island (just north of Jacksonville), then Charleston SC, then Baltimore, then New Haven, then Narraganset RI.

Me, my wife, two teenage kids, and a small dog, and a ton of luggage (I removed the third row seats to lighten the rear and get a bit extra space.

Here are some pictures I took of the Outlander while in CT

 

Would like to hear more about your experience removing the 3rd row seats. I know it's been talked about a lot here and should be a pretty simple unbolt.

What did you put in/on the opening it made in the trunk? Did you remove the seatbelts/hardware back there too?

Did you notice any difference with the seat out (aka, is it worth it). How much space opens up in the cavity in the trunk? 6 inch storage compartment?

Our Outlander is going from Toronto to PEI this September and back which is about 3,500km round trip + booting around the island.

 

Unbolting was easy. Lifting the sucker was a bit hard... it is heavy, and I am not a wimp.
It has these "ears" and you need to maneuver it out while dealing with the heft.

No, I did not remove the seatbelts.

You don't gain much space at all by removing the third row. All that fit in there was:
- an emergency kit (like a small briefcase)
- a foot pump
- a half bag of dog food
- a small wrench/socket set
- a torque wrench
- a few small loose items
all that came flush with the main floor.

But I was glad I didn't have that extra weight in the back.

 

Took some pics before I put the 3rd row back in.

While the seats were out, I left the bolts in their holes (didn't want any air whistling through these holes on my road trip )

So you can see exactly where the bolts are.

All the carpeting is on velcro, easy to remove or flap away.

Except one piece of carpet that covers the seat's spring mechanism - that piece of carpet stays with the seat assembly.

And there are two plastic covers that cover the bolts where the front legs go. They easily come off and just as easily get reattached.

I would say the best way to start removing the seats would be while they are folded:
undo the bolts that hold the front legs and the sides.
Then pop up the back and undo the bolts around the spring mechanism.

 

nice, so how many miles was that?

Are you saying the OE rotor can cause vibration in the steering wheel even without pressing the brakes, sounds like it may be unbalanced?

 

I feel comfortable driving 6 hours in the outlander in one day, lumber support is lacking I wish there is 1" piece of memory foam I can put there for long trips.

The Navi POI sucks (need phone with internet connection to find addresses), but in an unfamiliar town I always look at the screen and find my way around local streets fairly well, thanks to the real zoom button / joystick not touchscreen crap..
plus the passenger can change the address itinerary always made it very helpful on long trips (many cars you cannot manipulate the OEM navi while driving)


Here is a picture of the next MMCS looks like the joystick is gone

 

How much do the seats weigh that you took out? I wonder if this would make it less grippy in snow since you are removing what, 100lbs? from the back end of the vehicle?

 

About 3K miles roundtrip.

Yeah, at least one of the factory rotors was unbalanced or had some weird runout that was hitting the brake pads at high speeds.

 

sorry, I didn't weigh them, but seems like they are more than 50 lbs.

 

Recently I had to shop for rotors I could have gone with autozone cheapies.
But I ended up getting the stop tech sports stop (previously powerslot brand) for just a little more $. The reason is they are much better machined and also coated on the center and edges so it doesn't get rusty and get rust between your wheels and rotor . I know many people just say get the cheapest possible but for a heavy car like the outlander the runout and such is exactly what I didn't want to go with cheapie rotors.