Ultimate road trip vehicle? Options

[popke03]

A '95 celica? A wha? SO heres the story...

I am a recent college grad, did my time at my regular summer job, then started "looking" for a job. Two days later I decided that I was not going to work right now so I took my savings bought new hoses for the Celi, put 'em in, did the oil change, and took off. I was a little wary of driving around the country in my Celica, I love the car, but it just didn't seem like a "road trip" kind of vehicle. Too small, little off road ability, a target in big cities, etc. I didn't ahve much of a choice so I figured I woudl endure.

(At this point I shoudl mention I have an ST, few mods, automatic (give me a break I have had so many knee surgeries I should play in the NBA, but it is a testament to the comfort of the cabin of the car), brand new tires, a stereo I will get to later. and NO CRUISE CONTROL)

First stop Austin, TX, which is a 22 hr journey from Lansing, MI. Drove it straight through, no stops longer than 10 minutes, my sanity is now in question. I was doing clos to 450 miles to nearly drain the tank, which for those of you counting is getting close 40 mpg, reason number one why it is the Ultimate road trip vehicle (URTV). We've all noticed that gas now costs more gold, and don't give me the line about europe's prices, because the US is large, and there isn't a country in europe that is bigger than a school bus. They don't have to drive as far. Plus they have a decent mass transit system, but I digress.

I had everything I needed to live camp etc, stuffed in my trunk which was already cramed with my Soundstream 10 and Amp, which along with my Alpine 7998 and polks up front is reason number two* (*yes I know not stock equipment) why this celica was the URTV. I highly suggest anyone who spends any decent amount of time in a car to have a stereo with mp3 capabilities, yes the sound is often crappy, but if you can find someone who cares at 3am after 15hrs of driving 12 cokes and 3 empty bags from BK they SHOULD be commmited.

Any way after I wore out my welcome in Texas I drove over to the Grand Canyon. Cool place, car did great, thorugh the entire dessert the engine temp needle didn't even think of moving towards the half way mark, sometimes I thought maybe it was even getting coolder, but that might of been a mirage, reason number 3 for my case as URTV.

Ok I have to brag a bit and unfortunately not about our awesome car. As I was leaving the Canyon, outside of Flagstaff, I stopped to help out a trucker (lent him my cell phone if anybody cares) so it turns out he was hauling Ferraris across the country to LA, so unfortunately he made me sit in a brand new 575M. Celicas are awesome but they aint nothing like a Ferraris.

Hit LA next where my now bug encrusted celica was looking like a ford pinto next to the million dollar cars I was parking next to, eliminating the fear that my car was going to be the one getting jacked (I am sure parking next to million cars also probably helped just from the extra attention those vehicles get).

Next did San Fran up right. No problems with the hills, although my brakes strated doing some funny **** on the way there.no problems in the city.

I stayed with some friends up on the mendocino coast, in their little backwards ass town I had my brakes fixed for under 100, pretty good considering it was the only work I had done the entire trip (reason number four, its just a damn reliable car) and it was int eh middle of no-where.

Did portland and Seattle, cool ass towns, not much happened with the car, got the oil changed. then I headed back towards MI. As always the snow that I woke up to one morning in Montana was absolutely NO problem for the Celica, As long as I didn't drive it like a jerk I was fine. pretty much no other problems. Which is reason number five, No tickets, no hassles, it flies just under the radar as long as you are carefull.

I think I touched on reason six already, but I easily fit everything I needed for six weeks in many different climates including camping and fishing gear in my trunk. leaving the cockpit empty for extra folks and discouraging thef tin the city.

So on top of all those reasons, I am happy to report that my car did not sacrifice any of it's Celica-ey goodness. Accel, handiling, smooth ride it kept it all.

6 weeks, 9000 miles, 150+hours driving, 18 states, 6 12packs of Coke later, I think we can make a good case for teh Celica being the Ultimate Road Trip Vehicle.

[Chrobis]

Nice trip man... Now go do another 6 weeks on the east coast