i am thinking about driving from Atlanta to my mothers home in west palm beach
Replies to This Discussion
-
It is not a bad drive at all, I drove from Boca to NYC and back and plan on doing it again very soon. Much nicer drive than in my Jeep. If you have time, make your trip fun and try to get 55 plus mpg. If you don't bring too much with you it is very possible.
-
Im nursing a dislocated shoulder surgery, but as soon as the doc gives me a thums up... I'll be driving up and down the fl coast and upto Atlanta like crazy.. Seth any input from your experience of the trip would be good..
-
before you come to Atlanta email me we can go and get a nice southern meal
-
I took a great trip from Milwaukee, WI to Death Valley, CA. Amazing trip. I went a round about way to and fro as well. On the way out I went through Milwaukee to St. Louis to Kansas City to Denver to Moab, UT to Monument Valley, UT to Zion National Park to Las Vegas to Death Valley National Park. Spent a few days ion DV and then a week in Vegas.
On the way home I mirrored Route 66. I'm planning another trip for May, I just haven't decided what direction to head...
-
round trip to friends home about a 100 mile each way ,it was a very windy day ,took both hands on the wheel on this trip
-
Permalink Reply by mr bad example on -
i did 7 hours in my smart yesterday, about 330 miles, but smartster did a whole lot more, he went from halifax, nova scotia to south bend, indiana, and he'll be on the road for another 12,000km for the cannonball run. i'm thinking about next year's cannonball run, for giggles, depends on my "employment status" and if i can find a navigator. my current GPS failed me miserably yesterday. it might be interesting, older smartie vs. younger smartie.
when i was a younger idiot, i drove down local illinois roads at indicated speeds of 140mph at about 2am, the brakes on that car could never stop me, if i had to! now i'm a wiser fool. my smart will keep me below 90mph, until i disable the limiter (evil grin).
personally, i'd wish they'd lower the speed limits to 45mph, so when i drive, i could enjoy the scenery, but lower wisconsin was mostly farms and a lot of cows, south west spain had top-less teen girls on the beaches. (what is normal in spain would be "kiddie porn" in the usa.... then again, i could walk the streets of spain with an open beer and never saw a cop, if i win the lotto, i'm moving to spain!)
driving at 75mph is so "rushed" and "wasteful", if people just had more time. it was fun, following a racer at 75mph down 45mph limited roads, but yesterday, i was so behind with my GPS malfunctions, i just tailed the camaro at 75mph to get to road america almost on time.
it's funny, the smart loves to go any speed, 35, 55, 75... at 55mph, it seemed like it was taking a nap! just calm and quiet, driving hours and hours at this speed. even through high speed road contruction areas (kinda scary, narrow lanes, my neck and shoulders were tight and sore, either from the cold or time on the road), (me think's it's the cold). the smart seems up to anything, and if i'm able, i'll register for the 26th cannonball run, give stephen (smartster) a run for his money! we could have a "team smart" presence next time! at 75mph it says "ok, you got more?" (my dad might be up for the next "run" but he's like 290 pounds and 70 years old)
just something to think about...
-
Permalink Reply by Gary on -
Houston/Austin/Houston in one day...about 350 miles. I kept speeds @ about 60mph and had the wind @ my back all the way out to Austin...got 52.5 mpg. On the way back to Houston I had a major headwind and drove like madman (75-90 mph) and got 33 mpg.
This car is no fun in the wind @ highway speeds. Actually, you can't eat donuts, drink coffee, smoke or talk on the cell phone @ hwy speeds even when there are no crosswinds.
As a Harley-riding smart owner told me one time, you have to remain alert in this car just as you have to remain alert on a motorcycle. Then he said: "I've been a member of the Lert family for many years...yep, I was born ALert".
-
My sister has opened a very snazzy little gift shop in Greenville, Delaware and I decided for the Grand Opening which was yesterday I would show up with the new smart and maybe help promote the shop. She is selling embroidery and monogramming services on new C.A.D. sewing machine, plus cool high end fashion accessories and house wares for ladies and pets. Anyway enough of a plug for "STITCH" which is the name of the shop!
My son and I set out at 5:45 this morning from Bridgehampton, NY and headed South for Delaware. We just received maybe an inch of rain yesterday and roads were wet and the smart was looking a bit like a cinnamon donut. White with a whole bunch of brown flecks from all the spring tree detris that falls as the leaves go from a bud to full bloom. This crap gets real sticky when wet and this little WHITE car is the worst dirt magnet I have ever owned. Black interior carpeting with red seat covers and dash shows every single speck of dirt. I've had just about a week and have washed it once (thoroughly) and still feel like a heel cause the following day it poured down rain and I had to drive in it. Only problem is I can't dislike anything about the interior of the car cause it is just too swank for words. Smart Red/More Oranger than red and black is too hip. Anyway left the house with 599 miles on the car and returned safely with 1048 mile in the course of 14 hours. Not a huge run like when I was a teenager but enough for this middle-aged body to feel a bit stiff and sore from bouncing around in the smart.
NY roads are friggin AWFUL!!!!!!! I took major HWYs with very few stops as my son and I wanted to see how cost effectively we could make the trip but with not having to putter along shooting for highest MPG possible. On the way down we took Sunrise HWY to Southern State to Belt parkway past JFK airport through Brooklyn to Verazzano Narrows Bridge. Then crossed Staten Island and jumped on the Jersey Turnpike. Turnpike to Delaware Memorial Bridge and into..... wait for it........ Delaware! after the bridge RT. 141 north to RT. 52 north into Greenville DE! The run down was the BEST I have ever done to my sister's place. We were on the road at 5:45 am and on the Jersey Turnpike by 7:30 am. The weirdest thing about this part of the trip was I was only going 68 to 72 MPH cause of break in specs. Don't wanna muck up my brandiddy new 3 cylinder motor car! I just plopped it in D for drive and that was that. We did not hit a single slow down on the Belt PKWY which is the most notoriously horrendous stretch of road known to man when it comes to traffic congestion. Usually I lose, say 30 to 45 minutes minimum on the BELT every time I have traveled it. So when I flew through Brooklyn at 60/65 MPH this morning I thought, "today is my lucky day". We had the tunes crankin, classic live vintage Led Zeppelin on the ipod direct into the #9 Stereo the Sun was trying to come out and life was generally pretty damn good. So once we were through the BELT it was across the Hudson River into the Garden State and 2 hours later we were knocking on the front door to my sister's new store. We stopped once at the first rest area we came to on the NJ tpke added 6.4 gallons of comparatively cheap high-test gasoline, ($3.77 per US Gal.) had a quick bite to eat, grabbed a 2nd cup of coffee and we were off..... in a cloud of Monkey manure! My Mother used to say that when we were little kids.... She used to live her life like she a part of a Circus Act sometimes. Sometimes it was kind of amusing, others times it was rather tragic. Again, I digress.
After we caught each other up on the latest family niceties My Son and I began helping out with hanging up a couple of merchandising racks and putting things in order and all in all it was a good day with my family and a productive new beginning for my sister who has been going through a very, very rough patch in her life.
Now it was time to start the long Journey home to Long Island. Leave Greenville at
-
Permalink Reply by mr bad example on
-
yup, sometimes you have to be ALert! keeps you on your toes, but gets you there safe and in an economical mode. the wheel isn't big enough for two hands for nothing!
-
Permalink Reply by David L. Crooks on -
Well, I survived my 8+ hours round trip in my smart. It was a challenge going up the "mountains" in Penn... Other times I did my own Cannonball run trying to get to the BeaveRun race track going 80 MPH. I almost missed seeing the smart race car and Steve.
Going there I had to fill up and I got 41 MPH which is good. Then coming back I filled up again at sunk to 38 MPH, I was going 80 in the hills! Then today I filled up and got the lowest fill up so far for at 35 MPH. Maybe the rain is having its effect?
-
Permalink Reply by Gary on
-
My mileage tend to vary wildly and I think I know why (gonna word this carefully so's I don't have a bunch of suits from oil companies pounding on my door):
With only 3 cylinders and 71 hp our cars depend heavily on premium fuel to put the most power out. Wihout premium fuel the engine 're-tunes' itself to match the lower octane rating. Among other adjustments it makes to itself, it retards timing to avoid spark knock asociated with lower octane fuels.
With that having been said, I am absolutely certain that I have often paid for 'Premium' fuel and recieved 'Regular'. The lower power output and poor mileage would scarecly be noticed on cars with more mass, larger engines and bigger fuel tanks (poor fuel would be further diluted by a quarter tank of a 20 gallon tank than an 8.7 gallon tank). When my engine idles roughly and doesn't seem to have enough power, I know that I have been cheated...also, no matter how conservatively I drive, my mileage is poor.
-
I would tend to agree with you on your theory and I would not feel abashed in screaming it from the rooftops. We as the American people are getting ROYALLY SCREWED!!!! by our own government and the companies we either work for or purchase necessary commodities such as gasoline, fuel oil etc... The only trouble in proving it is the cost associated with proving those entities are actually in fact SCREWING US!
Welcome to
451 smart fortwo
Latest Activity on 451s
C'mon down to Florida for a weekend in February, everyone! Get away from the snow for a bit, and have a blast!
3rd Annual smart car Anniversary, Orlando, FL at Orlando, FL
February 19, 2011 at 12pm to February 20, 2011 at 4pm
Hello!
3rd Annual smart anniversary in Orlando, a 2 day event you won't want to miss!! for more info go to www.wix.com/smartevent/centralflorida
i just prefer a scan gauge permanently mounted (well sorta, it's on a suction cup mount to windshield now, might dash mount it in the spring) but it's always on and connected. i have a basic cell phone which i only carry with me half the time, so it…
What is the manufacture date? Look at Drivers door jam...
smartCar on Facebook/Twitter
