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Not the reggae variety mind you, but the kid variety.
Rochester, NY to Hilton Head Island, SC and back … 980 miles each way.
We used our 99’ CPO 9-5 wagon (auto) with 65K miles on it (now 67K). I normally run 89 octane but switched to 93 for the last few fill-ups to precondition the car for the trip. It recently had its 60K major tune-up, so it was in good shape. I increased tire pressure to the indicated max on the tires (44psi). For the trip, I purchased the Saab roof rack bars and a Sears 15cu. ft. cargo carrier (which is made by Thule btw). The trunk area was approx. 80% filled and the roof had around 75lbs on it.
We left at 3:30AM on a Thursday morning to get some miles in before my 2.5 year old and 8 month old (both girls) woke up for the day. We traveled West and then South through I79 and eventually I77. On the way back we followed the exact same route. Traveling in the morning is great as long as you can stay awake. 5AM on the morning we left was the first of many times I wished I hadn’t given up caffine. Night panel was a welcome eye saver.
The car still has everything original. This includes turbo, DI, water pump, TB, etc. In a word, it performed flawlessly on this trip save for some increased tire noise I need to have checked out. No hiccups, just smooth, carefree driving as expected. Some random thoughts in no particular order;
This car is approximately 1000X better than my previous 9-3 when it comes to road manners.
For those of you who don't think that the cruise control is logical, it is. Speed changes are gratifyingly instantaneous.
Why “sport mode” can’t be set up as default is beyond me. I spent the entire time in the mountains on I77 and I79 in sport mode and it made the trip so much easier. It seemed to have zero impact on gas mileage.
On the subject of gas ... someone needs to explain to me how a $0.10 gas tax in NY translated to a $0.40 differential compared to almost all Southern states. 93 octane in SC was around $1.50/gallon while in NY it's $1.90.
When adjusted properly, the seats are astoundingly comfortable. Proper adjustment means tipping the front up as high as it can go and the back as low as it can go and then raising the seatback as near vertical as you can stand. I still felt fine after 12 hours on the road.
I managed almost 26mpg over the 980 miles both ways according to the SID (I didn’t calculate manually). This is understandable considering the weight and aerodynamic bulk of the cartop carrier. Coupled with the higher than usual speed (I tried to stay as close to 79mph as possible for the whole trip), and I’m not terribly disappointed.
My wife was quite the contortionist in moving from the front to back seats to feed our youngest while still moving. Needless to say, she grew tired of the routine very quickly. Back seat room was at a premium with two child seats in place.
Traveling with two young kids sucks to say the least. For example, they’re not old enough to be interested in the scenes from the highway yet. Nor can they entertain themselves with anything more than a simple book. However, memories of our youngest digging her feet into the sand on the beach made it well worth it. I work late hours most of the time and having a week to bond with her was invaluable to me.
This was the first time I seriously used the SID for trip calculations and it was great! On the morning of our last leg of the trip, the trip calculations made the difference between chugging straight through our normal breakfast stop in favor of making it all the way home.
Oh and to those of you who suggesting bringing a laptop to entertain our oldest … THANKS! Now who’s up for some Barney Marley songs?
-mark
posted by 65.37.84...
, Tue, 14 Oct 2003 09:07:26, Wed, 15 Oct 2003 13:56:53
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