3000 Mile long road trip in a BRZ!!!

[wanghaoyu6]

Hello Everyone. I bought a BRZ at the end of this November after about a year of contemplation. Then this Christmas I decide to take her to a long road trip. I was looking for some info on the internet (including this site) but can't seem to find people driving for more than a few hundred miles. SO I registered and came here to share my experience of my BRZ on a road trip, from Illinois to Colorado/Utah, 3000 miles, passing 11000ft, below 0 temp and huge winter storm.

First a bit background about me: I have never driven a "sports car" before, in fact my previous and first car is a Prius (yeah laugh all you want), and I have never driven a manual trans either, besides motorcycles that is, so getting this thing on a road trip across the continent was quite a big deal for me (I got pictures!)

I started off from Peoria, IL and head off to rocky mountain national park near denver, via I-70. took me a day and a half, got to the RoMo about 3pm on the 2nd day, and realized the whole place is covered in snow. I should mention that I have Blizzak WS70 on steelies mounted on the car before I left from home.

The same night, unexpected things has happened: I stopped on a park road to look at the map and when I decide to move again the car started sliding, sideways. The road was snow packed and, as I later found out, very slippery even to walk on. Maybe it's also my lack of experience of driving a manual, the car eventually slide into the ditch on the side of the road. I tried cat litter, shovel out snow, rug under the wheel with no luck, eventually had to call a tow truck to pull it out, then I was able to drive down the mountain. Too lucky I was (barely) have signal to call 911 to get me a tow, otherwise in that after dawn, below 0 and 30mph windchill weather, I might not be breathing right now...

2 days after that was Christmas day, I wanted to take the chance where nothing is open, to travel to Moab, UT for Arches and Canyonland national park, again, via I-70. I experienced the worst snow storm I have driven through: I was not able to see anything anywhere, the road is covered with the white stuff, the sky is white, the side of the road is white, the car in front of me is white.... On the road there is a lot of salt and gravels that are laid down for traction, but rocks and icy was kicked up from the vehicle in front of me and, as I later found on, made quite a few paint chips on the hood, non of those are very noticeable, but definitely there. This is some really delicate paint! I had my Prius in similar situation with no problem at all, a big rock made a huge dent on the hood and didn't chip the paint, whats goin' on??

Anyway that section of I-70 pass some very high altitudes, the car does have noticeable power loss starting about 8000 ft, at the worst, I was not able to keep up speed 65mph on 5th gear, had to rev to about 5000rpm on 4th to get up to traffic (and No, I don't want to hear about WRX)

Got to Moab eventually, 6 hours trip took a whole day because of the weather. spend a few days there and took some great pictures. Also tried kick out the rear end a bit on the snow for the first time, was fun.

No one seems to take the BRZ to a long road trip so I did it, and I am here to share my experience. Overall it was a great trip. Regarding this car, it's not as uncomfortable as some people claims, for the total of 4 and half days on the highway I never felt the seat uncomfortable. Road noise was acceptable and no rattle on the highway, avg mpg was 31.7. Car start up fine in sub zero temp, took a few more crank but start right up (I have the limited), though the dash display respond very slowly, and had to reinsert for the stock nav to recognize the SD card. Washed the car almost everyday on the trip to get rid of the salt, window didn't stick. Engine does suffocate on the mountains, but manageable; paint chip too easy. Snow tires are definitely needed on the snow, but don't rely on it. In general, I think this is a very good road trip car.

Now comes with questions: how do I get rid of the paint chips, it's too small to use touch up paint, but I am afraid leave it light that will cause it to peel more.

Any comment is appriciated
And please be nice to the guy that came from a Prius

Tim

[BD7]

good job ！

You didnot fell seat uncomfortable, you must have an iron backbone...

[Traffic]

Great story thank you for sharing!

[nova.86]

Awesome! thanks for sharing! I love reading about adventures like these haha. My friends invited me to go to the snow tomorrow but idk how my brz would do but I'm feeling confident now that you endured a 3,000 mile trip lol. Looking forward to you posting here!

[olsonpg]

I just did 2000 miles to canada and back with no cruise control and too much camber = Two almost blown rear tires and lots of hidden french fries.

[bhmax]

Nice write up and pics, thanks! I just used some Dr. Colorchip on my BRZ and have used it on another car also. It's not perfect, but I'm pretty happy with how it works. You can use their squeegee to spread it into the chips and keep it mostly off the good paint areas and then polish the leftover paint off a few minutes later.

[Tcoat]

Great write up and an obvious learning experience for you.


In 2012 all governments around the world signed an agreement to reduce the amount of volatile organic compounds used in paint. This means that all cars made from 2013 up have "weaker" paint then previous ones and comparing to any car made before that is not fair. The good news is that with the newer style paint you do not get the flaking and peeling from chips as bad as you used to. I drive a pile of highway miles and as a result the front bumper, hood and fenders look like they were blasted with a shot gun. None of those chips have spread in over a year and 50K miles. Grab some touch up for the orst of them and just wax over the little ones. All will be good.

[ashtray]

3,000 miles? Sounds like a nice bonding session!

[JD001]

Nice to read about your adventure, someone enjoying driving the car. You guys are lucky that you have vast spaces to explore.

[bcj]

Congrats. Quite a thing to take on the Rockies at Christmas.
Last week in the Cascades they weren't letting cars up the passes without chains.
I haven't invested in that direction yet.

I'd be very interested in a report up and down the Mississippi levies sometime.

Here's what I've been up to in the meantime

[Ultramaroon]

Thanks for sharing. Nice steelies!

My wife and I both find the seats to be quite comfortable. 12+ hours are no problem.

[RichardsFRS]

Wow in the winter no doubt. You're a fool for that but I envy and admire you for the trip. I wish I could take a road trip alone but i'd get bored and my wife would be pretty pissed she didn't get to go. I got to have a place and a plan. Don't think I could take a road trip in this car; it would kill my back.

I do want to road trip one day, down one coast of FL thru the keys and back up the other. We will most likely rent a jeep for that

Thanks for sharing, I like road trip pics and adventure, sounds like you had one!

[wanghaoyu6]

Originally Posted by BD7

good job ！

You didnot fell seat uncomfortable, you must have an iron backbone...

Really? It really wasn't bad for me... Maybe the old Prius seat made me invincible, or maybe I'm just fat

Originally Posted by nova.86

Awesome! thanks for sharing! I love reading about adventures like these haha. My friends invited me to go to the snow tomorrow but idk how my brz would do but I'm feeling confident now that you endured a 3,000 mile trip lol. Looking forward to you posting here!

As long as you have some snow tires on I wouldn't worry about it at all about sliding, if you don't play too hard that is... The most difficult part for me is to get the car going from the dead stop (refer to original post stuck in ditch/tow truck). If you have the manual, try start on 2nd.

Originally Posted by nova.86

Awesome! thanks for sharing! I love reading about adventures like these haha. My friends invited me to go to the snow tomorrow but idk how my brz would do but I'm feeling confident now that you endured a 3,000 mile trip lol. Looking forward to you posting here!

AWESOME!!! I will def check them out! Thanks for sharing!

Originally Posted by ashtray

3,000 miles? Sounds like a nice bonding session!

Haha! You bet!

Originally Posted by olsonpg

I just did 2000 miles to canada and back with no cruise control and too much camber = Two almost blown rear tires and lots of hidden french fries.

Oh Nice! One thing I forgot to mention, coming from a Prius I feel like the throttle in this car is not in a comfortable position for me, the heel of my right foot got numb after about 30 mins in driving without cruise. So 80% of this trip was on cruise for me. Not that this car is designed for highway driving or anything but thought I mention that. Anyone feel the same?

Originally Posted by bcj

Congrats. Quite a thing to take on the Rockies at Christmas.
Last week in the Cascades they weren't letting cars up the passes without chains.
Here's what I've been up to in the meantime

Yeah... Colorado got that Mandatory Passenger Vehicle Traction Law going this time, that you have to have snow tire/chains to drive in certain time/road, no cops seems to check 'em on the road though.

[TM]

Awesome experience! I drove my BRZ on a 3,000 mile cross-country roadtrip when I moved from NY to CA. But I did not have to guts to drive it during the winter, so I actually stored it until spring, then flew back to NY to drive it over. I took the I-80 all the way through. Rochester, NY -> Chicago, Il -> Salt Lake City, UT -> San Francisco, CA. My back never felt tired or uncomfortable. Total cost of gas was slightly less than $300.