Short term car needs

[911pcars]

Originally Posted by PBH

Could be a very good choice.

I PM'd Chris for details regarding his friend's Volvo wagon.

Sherwood

[911pcars]

An update.

Not knowing what vehicles will still be available when I arrive, I've put off doing any serious searching until the next few days. Flying out next week.

I contacted a couple of dealers on Craigslist and explained the situation. Naturally, they prefer the simpler scenario; they sell car, I buy car. End of story.

However, both offered to sell the car I purchase on consignment after my daughter's gig ends after 90 days. I hold the title until they sell. They profit on both ends. Might work.

Another idea is to purchase a used Prius since they hold their resale value pretty well. 50 mpg isn't bad either. I don't really want to buy a new one for $30k. At the end of summer, we sell it, or as an option drive it home with or without daughter (depending on her school schedule). I figure it would only take about 5 tanks of gas to get home and maybe 7-10 days. It'd be a good bonding trip as well though not as good as doing it in a 911. I'm sure we could generate some road stories for the memories. For example I could duplicate the Top Gear route through Alabama, even paint the words "NASCAR SUCKS", "COUNTRY WESTERN RUBBISH", MAN LOVE RULES or "HILLARY FOR PREZ" on the car for some highway interest.

Reminder:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Rq-kK7GEb7M

Once it's home, I can patch the bullet holes, then sell it or the current econo Honda or keep it.

Any comments? Too ambitious?

Sherwood

[Jim Richards]

The Prius idea sounds pretty good. I think you'll have a great time taking a road trip back home with her. Plan a less direct route and take in some of the interesting sights along the way. Not necessarily the big name sights. There's lots to see and you and your daughter will have great memories to share for years to come.

[MFAFF]

I think this calls for a complete change of tack...

The whole exercise should be about gettting the best vehicle for the trip back...one which will have the greatest 'offending potential' along your chosen route...

Afterall everyone near Dc will be offended to some degree...(after living there for 5 years I found myself offensive let alone others )...

So head south in a besloganed foreign car... head north in a massive gas guzzler spewing fumes.. either way you need to focus on offending the maximm number of people in the minimum time....what a great challenge..

Just as an example when I lived in the US I drove.. with a good buddy of mine a little Hyundai sedan (red on red on red) from Red Bluff in Ca all the way to Vermont via SF/LA to Corpus Christi in TX... Mobile, New Orleans...the Outer Banks in NC to DC and then up to NYC and north..

I leave to your vivid imaginations the different reactions we received in the various parts of the country....

I guess that leaves the original purpose of the thread a bit redundant..

[KFC911]

She should "hook up" with a squid and have him drive her around or use his car.

ps: Can you tell I don't have a daughter ?

[911pcars]

Thanks for the errr. ..... encouragement guys.

Slight change in plans. She begins school 4 days after her job in VA. How fast can a Prius make it back to CA? BTW, it's about 2300 mi. Let's see, if we drive 575 mi./day at 70mph, that's 8+ hours in the saddle each day. That's brutal. They shoot horses, don't they?

If I do this, it'll have to be at a more leisurely pace which means she flies back and I drive, or we revert to Plan A, buy/sell a beater. Ahh, life's choices. I may have to wait and instead offend the folks back in CA.

The saga continues.

Sherwood

[Porsche_monkey]

Geeeez is this Sherwood or his wife? Make a decision!

[Jim Richards]

Originally Posted by 911pcars

Thanks for the errr. ..... encouragement guys.

Slight change in plans. She begins school 4 days after her job in VA. How fast can a Prius make it back to CA? BTW, it's about 2300 mi. Let's see, if we drive 575 mi./day at 70mph, that's 8+ hours in the saddle each day. That's brutal. They shoot horses, don't they?

If I do this, it'll have to be at a more leisurely pace which means she flies back and I drive, or we revert to Plan A, buy/sell a beater. Ahh, life's choices. I may have to wait and instead offend the folks back in CA.

The saga continues.

Sherwood

4 days is nuts. Send her home on a plane and you drive it/sell it, or give it to me.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by 911pcars

Thanks for the errr. ..... encouragement guys.

Slight change in plans. She begins school 4 days after her job in VA. How fast can a Prius make it back to CA? BTW, it's about 2300 mi. Let's see, if we drive 575 mi./day at 70mph, that's 8+ hours in the saddle each day. That's brutal. They shoot horses, don't they?

If I do this, it'll have to be at a more leisurely pace which means she flies back and I drive, or we revert to Plan A, buy/sell a beater. Ahh, life's choices. I may have to wait and instead offend the folks back in CA.

The saga continues.

Sherwood

When I recently moved, I left Fairfax, VA on a Friday afternoon, stayed in Bristol, VA that night, Oklahoma City the following night (stopped driving by 7:30pm) and was at my hotel in Phoenix by 5:00pm local time on Sunday. OK city to Albuquerque is 560 miles and I made it in six hours with two stops. I was doing over 100 mph for 5-6 hours on end. You can easily get home to CA in four days.

[pwd72s]

Brock Yates and Dan Gurney made it from NYC to Southrtn Cal in under 34 hours. They were driving a...well, never mind...

[911boost]

Have her buy an older used Civic, or Toyota Tercel (you can pay, but have her find it etc.). It will be a good learning experience. That should be pretty reliable, then have her donate it and the end of her time there. She will appreciate the tax write-off since she's young, and won't have many dedcutibles.

It sounds to me like you are going through way too much work, and that drive is going to suck. I have done it, twice, and unless you have some time to sightsee, it won't be much fun.

Also don't expect to get 50mpg on the highway in the Prius.

I still feel the same way as Clarkson about them too.

Bill

[911pcars]

"Geeeez is this Sherwood or his wife? Make a decision!"

Hey, I'm into overanalyzing. Do you mind? Humor me.

Sherwood

[Porsche_monkey]

Have you considered....

http://www.e-ride.ca/Electric_Motorcycles/index.html

Environmetally friendly.

*May require more time for the trip from Ca.

[911pcars]

Originally Posted by PBH

Have you considered....

http://www.e-ride.ca/Electric_Motorcycles/index.html

Environmetally friendly.

*May require more time for the trip from Ca.

LOL. The lack of a at the end indicates you're seriously suggesting my daughter and I ride two-up on an admittedly eco-friendly electric scooter for 2300 miles. Hmmm. Okay. I'll consider that too. How long an extension cord would I need?

Sherwood

[Porsche_monkey]

Should have been green font. My bad.

I am anti-scooter (and motorcycle) but only for safety reasons.

[Jim Richards]

Originally Posted by 911pcars

LOL. The lack of a at the end indicates you're seriously suggesting my daughter and I ride two-up on an admittedly eco-friendly electric scooter for 2300 miles. Hmmm. Okay. I'll consider that too. How long an extension cord would I need?

Sherwood

Install solar panels on your helmets.

[911pcars]

OK gentlemen, a brief summary of my car search to tie this thread up.

Arrived on Tuesday, 5-27 after a day long flight. Tues. night: crash.

Wed.: Visit a few cars from my Craigslist compilation. It's pretty short. Note: Many VA cars have many miles; perhaps due to the distance between cities; distance between home and work. I see a couple of drivers, mostly beaters, cast off from Navy personnel now in the seas around Iraq. One example, a '92 Camry in a used car lot is in fairly good shape despite having 300K miles, but it drives smooth and everything works. This one ends up to be option no. 2, believe it or not. One seller is a no-show and end up wasting my time driving to their location.

Thursday: Visit a couple more. Craigslist, at least this week, has fewer cars with my specs during the midweek. Last weekend picks are gone. Now I'm left with a weak selection; mostly cars not sold during the previous week (Chevy Impalas, large trucks, parts cars. The pickings are looking very slim. Most are rough examples with issues requiring more time to resolve than I have. I don't even have time for a PPI due to the required turnaround time. End of the month and many folks need their yearly inspection tags.

One seller has a new ad on Craigslist this morning; a '96 Honda Civic in my price range, but it's in Richmond, about 1.5 hours away. I call and make an appt. for noon.

The car has a few dents and 212K miles. Interior is fine and the A/C works. A brief test drive shows everything working. I'm running out of time, and I'm scheduled to pick up spouse and daughter at the airport later that night. On Sat., I'm leaving and everything has to be set. so we strike a deal at $1900; leave $100 deposit and make the 1.5 hrs. drive back to Norfolk airport to pick up the ladies.

The car and owner's friend:


Friday: We roll out to Richmond to meet the seller and consummate the deal. That was the easy part. Then, VA DMV issues appear. They require sellers to turn in plates upon transfer of ownership. We had hoped to register the vehicle in CA and add onto our existing AAA insurance policy. However, that would take a few days and we wouldn't be able to drive w/o plates. AAA in VA is a separate franchisee and operates differently. We end up registering and insuring the car in VA. Remember your last trip to the DMV? It took a long time for us too, and that was in Richmond.

In fact, we had to visit the Norfolk DMV on Sat. AM to finish the transaction. Wife and daughter made the visit Sat. AM while I spend the morning checking what I could including "fixing" the wiper switch that decides to be ON more than OFF on the drive back to the hotel. Since I'm to fly back in a few hours, there's no chance to replace it. Instead, yanking the circuit fuse "fixes" the problem. I show daughter how to replace the fuse in case it rains. Clean and reoil the spiffy K&N-type air filter (hotel AC dries the fiilter element quickly); check and adj. tire pressure: 3 were at 50 psi; one iat 20. Reset all to 35 psi. Now she's set. We spend the next 2 hours practicing the drive from her temporary home to work.

Prerequisite engine shot:


It''s a decent 20' car:


Epilogue:
Sat. 3pm. (EST) I'm on the flight home. Like the flight to VA, I feel like amputating my legs on the flight back due to lack of blood circulation in the tight confines. Equally pathetic, I look forward to the complimentary bag of 7 peanuts and glass of water. I arrive home Sunday, 2am PST, the result of a layover and flight delays - a 12 hour journey. I'm dead.

But everything surprisingly and luckily turned out well. Thanks to all for your suggestions. My daughter has been on the job for a couple of weeks and adjusting nicely. Her commute to work is only 10 miles and her landlord is nice and accomodating. She dropped the car off at a garage recommended by her landlord where they changed the coolant and oil and checked the brakes. Clean bill of health. Car is good for 3 months, maybe more.

The next challenge won't be so difficult, but it might also be interesting - an attempt to sell the car, hopefully timing it right before her return to school in the fall. Since gas prices have skyrocketed, she shouldn't have any problems selling it unless people give up driving altogether. Might even make it in the black financially since econo-cars will be even in more demand 3 months from now.

Some of you guys suggested a drive back home. However, her tight schedule won't permit it, but I might consider it. If this Honda gets 35+mpg and lives beyond 3 monts, it'll cost about $300 in gas for the ride back to the west coast where it'll be gold by the time gas rises to $6/gallon by summers end.

But I could be pushing my luck.

Sherwood

[Milu]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

Brock Yates and Dan Gurney made it from NYC to Southrtn Cal in under 34 hours. They were driving a...well, never mind...

-and it was cunningly disguised as a racecar

One of the all time great automotive reads.

[Jim Richards]

Nice adventure, Sherwood. It sounds like your plans worked out well.