Cross Country Move: Drive or Ship?
 

Let me preface this by saying I realize the vast majority of you will think I'm crazy for even considering shipping, especially seeing as it's the heart of the summer, but nevertheless, I'm torn. I'm moving next month from NJ to Oregon and I guess I'm wondering if driving is a smart move. I don't have any paint protection (clear bra etc.) and I feel...guilty?...about putting so many miles on the car within such a short period of time. Don't get me wrong, I love the car and I love driving long distances, but I plan on keeping it for a long time and I don't want to arrive in Oregon with bug gut acid and rock chips galore in a week-two weeks time frame :D If I don't drive, I'll ship, which is going to cost a decent amount of money and I'll have to ride the whole way with my gf and her dog in a 10 year old Toyota Matrix...not exactly ideal either lol. Have any of you done a cross country trip in one of the twins before and if so, how did it hold up? Any advice is highly appreciated!

Give or take (depending on start/stop points) it looks like NJ -> Oregon is 2700 miles. Not sure why you would be concerned over that unless you are trying to keep your mileage on the car low. That's a little above an average month of commuting for me.

Unless you are planning on some odd route through dirt roads, etc, a little caution when driving (following distances, etc) should prevent this from being any more abusive to your car than any other 2,700 miles put on the car. My experience has been vehicles love highway miles so shouldn't be a problem.

I just did a family vacation of about 2,300 miles in a week in our 2004 Suburban with 130,000 miles on the odometer. Never occurred to me not to do it. Had it been just my wife and I we would have done it in either her Mustang or the 86.

I just drove my 2016 BRZ from NH to SC on a round trip total of 2500. I will say the road noise is loud over crappy roads, but otherwise it was great. Keep a safe distance from the car in front to reduce debris from getting kicked up. Wash the car at the end of the each day.

some advice from a similar thread






http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=105204

Having driven cross country multiple times in various sports cars. Take the drive. It is well worth it, and you'll love the car more at the end of it.

Tape it

x2.
I will tape it if i drive that long way.
personally, i would rather ship and fly to OR.
also dont want to be in car with dog for that long time either because i dog/cat allergy..

Either this or just go ahead and spring for the Clear Bra. It'll probably be less than the cost of shipping and you'll get protection for years to come.

Someone explain the whole "tape it" thing. How is this 2,700 miles any different than the next/last 2,700 miles you drive bookending it? I'm OK if that's what you want to do but seems like if you were that concerned you would do it for the other 50,000 or so miles (or in my case 289,000 miles) you drive the car.

Now the clear bra thing makes sense but always not just for the trip.

The car will feel very small after a long drive and if you have issues with your dog, than that is a separate issue. The only issue I had was with my right leg/knee due to the knee pad in the premium level being hard plastic. It was not easy getting comfortable when using cruise control for long periods of time.

Rock chips and memories > pristine paint and low mileage

If you normally only drive it around a city, you may rarely get into traffic going fast enough on roads dirty enough to kick up garbage.

If you're usually driving a lot of highway miles, it won't make any difference. Mine has several chips in the paint from all my highway driving, albeit most of them are from sharing rural two-lane highways with big trucks. The worst are flatbeds that are or have been carrying heavy equipment with treads, because they don't bother to hose those things off, and they just rain gravel on everything behind them. You're not as likely to drive into gravel rain in downtown USA.

Thanks for the replies, guys. I have to say I've been a member of several automotive forums in the past and this is by far the most helpful and informative.

You guys definitely have me considering doing the drive again. I really do love this car and I have plans to stop at a few national parks along the way, so being in the BRZ would obviously make the experience more memorable. I guess I'm just hung up on the miles/wear & tear in such a short period of time. For those that suggested the clear bra: I already have a small amount of damage from rock chips. Would it make sense to put a clear bra over that at this point? Will it make the current damage stand out at all?

If it's truly clear, and the car is cleaned properly before it is attached, it won't look any worse than it does now. If the spots are small enough you can have them touched up, I'd do that first though if you are talking about something semi-permanent like the 3M film type protection vs what I think of as a "bra" (80's style car "cover").