Road Trip. 1300 Miles non-stop
 

For those that wonder if the FRS is a good car to do a road trip, the definite answer is YES. The same qualities that make it a pleasure to just drive on our day to day chores make it an excellent choice for an extended drive.

Feeling like I wanted a bit of time to myself, I decided to go for a drive.


Just got back from a great road trip to the Black Hills of SD. While I took leisurely three days to get there, I had to be home by Weds, so Tuesday morning was pedal to the metal and head for the barn. Here we are saddled up and ready to cruise some of the best roads I have driven with this car
http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/...psj22eyh4t.jpghttp://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/...pseq3fypfh.jpg

You should invest in a GoPro to document your trip. That would be awesome.

The Go-Pro would have shown the hundreds of deer that serve as mid-turn chicanes!

Great to know, I plan to drive down to New York next year in this car

This is Jackson WY > Los Angeles in 1 day back in September 2013 for me:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKL7dvhPIFY"]Time lapse, Jackson WY to Los Angeles CA - YouTube[/ame]

I always wanted to go cross country with some friends and document the whole trip. That a awesome video.

I took a trip from Scottsdale to Benson, Arizona. Not sure how many miles, but it took 3 hours and I drive pretty fast. Car was comfortable. My only complaint is that I wish 6th gear was geared longer. At cruising speeds .... the rpms seems a little high for highway cruising.

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...f0&oe=55D2475E

Forgot to add, I did this trip in May 2014 w/ my 18" Work wheels, Toyo tires, and Ohlins. Ended up being around 2200 miles over the course of 4 days.

Best drive so far.

-alex

what camera did you use? any battery or full memory card issues?

Hero 3 Black w/ 64GB memory card. 1 picture every 10 seconds.

The entire drive took me around 16 hours because I stopped too many times, including 2 hours enjoying whiskey at High West Distillery in Park City UT.

-alex

Now THAT's a great sports car trip ..... :w00t:


humfrz

Road Trip. 1300 Miles non-stop
 

The last two weeks I put 1600 miles each trip to Phoenix. One of which was for a concert (ufest) and the other was 20 minutes after I got back for a funeral. Grand total of 32xx miles. I enjoyed driving the car on the twisty roads. The straights aren't bad. On the trip there I average 36 mpg and on the return trip 32 mpg on the way back. I love this car. Especially in Phoenix. Here at home 76xx feet above sea level I feel like I lose a gear due to the elevation. Over there the car comes to life.

Last year did Jacksonville, FL to Corpus Christi, TX. 1100 miles and did it in 17 hours.

Heavy foot;)

i took a trip from olympia, washington down to Santa Barbara, california. Such an awesome trip. Everyone should get a chance to drive hwy1 on the cali coast. Trip was 2780 miles in total.

Thanks for the tip! My brother and I are planning a road trip next summer. We would take our own car and well... make a loop around the western US.

Great to know that the car will hold up well for long trips. Hopefully, my body will do the same xD Oh, and we plan to do the loop in 5-7 days.

I read both your posts as one post and was like "What the hell!?" "No kidding you drove fast." :D:D

If I may make a suggestion, once you hit San francisco take a coastal route down to LA. There wont be a whole lot to see taking the 5 or 99 through central CA.

That's almost the same route I'm taking this June to attend a niece's wedding along the way. Except that I'll be starting the loop in Portland and sticking to coastal Hwy. 1 in Cali and be at the helm of an LS460 with air suspension, certainly not my choice but it's what enthusiasts must sacrifice for love.

To be very honest, comfort on the highway is the biggest gripe I have with my FR-S, especially on less than ideal sections of concrete highway.

I am a bit older than the average FR-S/BRZ owner, however, at 36, and realized this was the case before purchasing the car based on both my test drives, and Michael Karesh's EXCELLENT review comparing the FR-S & RX-8 on his 3rd annual Appalachian Road Trip.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/201...06-mazda-rx-8/

My actual route was slightly longer and with more scenery.

That's more like my planned route except for a detour through Lassen Volcanic Natl. Park. We'll be staying in interesting small towns using Airbnb accommodations that I recommend to everyone for a more interesting experience than most homogenized hotels.

Picked up my FR-S in Stanleytown, VA last week. Drove it back to Boston, MA with some fun miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Perfect was to break it in while behaving. About 800 miles, 7 states, only two tanks of gas, 2 toll roads, in over 13 hours.

Thanks! I'll be sure to make a note of that. I've always wanted to see the CA coast and visit the beaches. It'll make the trip a bit longer but worth it in the end.

Perhaps I'll make a thread on the forum and ask people from every western state for good road trip routes when the time comes. :)

You make me feel ancient at 56! Maybe I will grow-up some day.:sigh:

Or NOT.:burnrubber:

As to comfort, the only road that broke my soul and butt was HWY 69 in MI as I headed north for the border.

Having made it through those states (more than once), in a miata, I'd suggest you hug the coast closer on the way south. Also, that looks more like a 14 day road trip to me .... ;)


humfrz

Michigan has the worst highway road surface conditions of any state I've driven in.

Many of my car purchases are influenced by the conditions of the roads of where I am living at any given time.

I once bought a SUV with a heavy duty suspension option (Bilstein HD shocks) because the roads were killing my car at the time, bending wheels, breaking control arms, etc.

A Miata is a great roadster for Arizona or Nevada; not so much for stepmother less sunny states with frost heaved and broken pavement.

Did a 7500km (4700miles) trip in 2013, and a 5500km trip last summer in my GT86. No issues. That included Autobahn, Nordschleife, Swiss alps, Italian mountain roads and a few Monte Carlo rally stages. This car is a great cruiser!

One year and another trip on California Hwy. 1, that time heading North from San Diego, was planned after an earthquake closed the road near Carmel. We had the road almost to ourselves up and back between San Luis Obispo and Big Sur in a Supra. Epic.

I'm thinking after hitting Portland (there's this sushi place that I want to visit again), I go directly west towards Cannon Beach then straight down Highway 101 to San Fran. I don't know xD

Would sleeping maybe 5-6 hours a night and hauling ass while spending maybe an hour or two at certain spots cut that down to maximum 7 days? :P

I'll have two weeks of vacation, 1 week around March-April getting used to the car (and manual transmission) while the second week is used for vacation during June or July.

Honestly, I don't know why I'm planning this far out! XD Things could change.

Well now, will you have a co-pilot (to spell you driving) .. ??

If so, my suggestion for week one.

I-5 to Portland to have your raw fish; take Route 26 over to 101; 101 to Leggett, CA; jump on route 1 down to Cambria; take 41 over to I-5 and hammer back to Seattle.

5 days down; 1.5 days back, half day to unkink your back .... ;)

Week two of your split vacation. Just do Utah.


humfrz

No co-pilot. My brother will be taking his own car and we are going to do a two car road trip. (It'll be when pigs grow wings and fly when I let someone else drive my car)

But I'll bookmark your post and add it to the "future list of things I'm going to do with the car"... um list. :)

Actually gonna be driving fr Georgia to Massachusetts by myself in the next month or so. First time doing it in a manual, but I'm actually pretty excited for it.