Road Trip WWYD???

becca011906

Senior Community Member
Ok we are going to be going down to Flordia the end of Feb. and we can't decide what car to drive down there. We have the land rover discovery with the 2 jump seat in the back, so that we could spread the kids out a little more and give them all some room, and then we would need to most likely get a storage bag for the roof rack for a few of the items, it had a roof dvd player but it's broke we are taking it in next week to see how much and if it can be fixed... if i put ds in the jump seat then the girls out board in the middle they would all have cup holders, and space for stuff on the seats next to them... the gas milage is 16 miles to a gallon high way, and maybe 10 miles to a gallon town miles... NOT good according to AAA website gas calulator it would be $280 round trip (not including gas/driving while we are there 7 days) ...

the other car is our dodge intrepid... so we would have to put the three kids across the back, i'm positive we could fit all our stuff in the trunk b/c its a HUGE trunk, but the kids wouldn't have cup holders, their toys and stuff would need to be on the floor boards w/ me handing it to them... We are thinking of maybe getting a dvd player that hooks to the back of the seats, we had one like this and i worked well on the last trip (sept '05) but it has since broke and can't be fixed... on to the gas milage, according to the same website is 27 miles to a gallon high way and maybe 25 in town... total round trip would be $165.00.

So any one have any thing i haven't though of to add in??? I just can't decide, dh says he doesn't car either way really, he'll be the only one driving, since i don't like to drive with him as a passanger driver, he has always driven to FL in all our 7 trips... LOL
 
ADS

Splash

New member
Um, no way you can make it from Indiana to FL round trip for $165 in gas, unless you drive a crotch rocket.

I'd take the car, because I am anti SUV :). The kids don't need cupholders, and they'll have more fun poking each other anyway.
 

Dillipop

Well-known member
I'd take the car because I'm cheap and hate wasting gas. This will also let you limit what they bring, since you will have little space.
 

becca011906

Senior Community Member
http://www.fuelcostcalculator.com/
Actully this is very very accurate for figuring how much you spend in gas to and from places... we used it on the last trip when we left 5 days after katrina hit and it figured with in about $20 or so...

http://www.fuelcostcalculator.com/TripGasprice.aspx that's the figured with our car's make and modle, and year...
here's the land rovers...http://www.fuelcostcalculator.com/TripGasprice.aspx


edit sorry the links won't work you have to add in the info to get it to figure it...

Land rover
2003
discovery

Dodge
2004
Intrepid

If you figure it the Intrepid has a 18 gall on tank ( i think) prices as 2.30 a gall on a fill up is $41.00 and you get 27 miles to a gallon so 486 miles to a tank, and it's around 1000 miles round trip... so i think it's pretty close right???
 

skaterbabs

Well-known member
I'll be the dissenting voice.
Take the LR - everyone will be more comfortable that way. We've done trips in a sedan, and our Suburban is MUCH nicer. We would never take the Jeep or Cam's Saturn wagon for a long road trip now that the Suburban is available. While we all fit, it's not a comfortable trip, and honestly if you're going to be stuck in a car that long, for heaven's sake, be comfortable.

To me, sacrificing bodily comfort for that long of a drive is false economy.
 

scatterbunny

New member
My state has the highest prices in the continental US right now. :( $2.69/gallon. Although everywhere I travelled this past week it was $2.70-$2.73/gallon.
 

Patriot201

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
My state has the highest prices in the continental US right now. $2.69/gallon. Although everywhere I travelled this past week it was $2.70-$2.73/gallon.


OMG!!!! :eek: :eek: Is that because of the recent issues in Oregon?

Usually D.C.'s gas is extremely expensive. Ours isn't too bad right now. $2.49-$2.52 isn't too bad. It has been MUCH worse in recent history! :)
 

becca011906

Senior Community Member
that was a HIGH guestimt for our area, we are pretty rual area but right now we are at $2.19 everywhere...

also the land rover takes premium gas only, and the intrepid takes whatever... i'm not sure if the gas calculator takes that into considerantion or not...
 

scatterbunny

New member
OMG!!!! :eek: :eek: Is that because of the recent issues in Oregon?

I really don't know why. I heard from someone that it's because we get most of our gas from Alaska and a pipeline is down up there? I don't know if that's true or not.

All I know is that it was down to $2.20ish a few months ago, went sky-high right before Thanksgiving, went back down, and now it's back up again. The conspiracy-theorist in me thinks something fishy is going on. :p
 

becca011906

Senior Community Member
see either way we are going to spend less then last time we went down b/c it was 5 days after katrina hit and prices were $3.20 at the LOWEST all the way down and the whole time we were there, we drove my grandparents town and country and i hated that van so much except fo the storage space it had...
 

urmysunshinex3

Senior Community Member
We drove to Galveston, TX from OKC, OK last year and own a Suburban. We rented a Ford Focus for the trip. Honestly, it seemed easier in the Focus. If anyone dropped anything it was easier to get to it and hand them snacks and books etc. We don't have a dvd player in the car and for the trip we borrowed one that attached to the seats. My kids were mesmerized by it. They hardly uttered a word the whole time, even when we were in stand-still traffic for 4 hours just trying to get out of Houston. My boys were in their Decathlons at the time and my daughter sat between the two. If you do take the Land Rover, you or dh could sit in the back with the kids part of the time which helps to entertain and also keeps you from constanly turning around to hand them fallen items. I didn't do this because I get car sick easily if not sitting in the front seat. I do admit though my main reason for renting the Focus was gas milage, but it worked out better in the Focus anyhow.

Lynette~Mom to my 3 sunshine's
 

becca011906

Senior Community Member
see that's why i hated the town and country b/c i couldn't reach the middle bucket seats, and always was climbing into the back to get the kids something, but the discovery is actully a small SUV length wise, high wise it's a HUGE SUV (prolly why it's awful on gas) but i can reach the middle row child with out problems at all, in the intrepid i don't think i could reach them either... b/c there is a lot of room from the back row to the front seats...
 

SusanMae

Senior Community Member
ok---here's my thoughts:

1. The pack on top is going to mess with your aerodynamics--and cut your milage in the LandRover.

2. Don't the packs on top make them more top heavy and MORE likely to roll over?

Susan
 

becca011906

Senior Community Member
thanks for thoes thoughs susan... we were looking tonight at how much the running bars are going to cost and it's going to be to much to mess with and if we ended up taking it we would have to make it work with out packing on top... my mom and step dad are going down with us in a s10 truck so we could always tie the stroller in the truck and a cooler, ect. so we could fit all our stuff with us... but we aren't to sure about having ds in the jump seat the whole drive down... the crunch zone is a little less (not much but still) then a mini van... so we might still do 3 across in the LR too...
we also would need 2 new tires on the intrepid before going...
 

Simplysomething

New member
If space were the only issue, I'd take the Land Rover. Because I've driven to FL in a Ford Fairmont, a Dodge Colt and a Ford Escort... in the fairmont, there was me, my mother, my grandmother, and my two brothers (I was seven). In the colt, my mother, my grandmother and my grandmothers dog and me.

In the escort, last time we went, me, my mother, my oldest DS and my nephew. The only time there were carseats was the last time I went, and there was the nephew in a booster and ds in his seat (which was either the cargo or the century, I'm thinking the cargo, because that was when we switched him). ANYWAY, my point? Like I have one. (I also remember going down there with my aunt--and I don't remember what sort of car she drove, but it was a station wagon).

Anyway, all the times I've driven down there, it's been tight. And sure, we make our own fun...but it's tedious. lol. Which of the cars has the most comfortible front seats? The LR or the Dodge? Factor that in, because you're going to be on your ass for a good long while. lol. I'm serious.

A smaller car--FULL? Makes a long drive seem even longer. If I had the choice, I'd take whatever had the bigger interior and try to factor in the additional gas by getting rid of some other thing we planned to do. Not that the kids would be any less contained--because they'd still be in seats no matter what. It's more of an illusion of space.

Anyway. lol
 

becca011906

Senior Community Member
yes... even when we had to get the kids in the van i would have to crawl in there every single time i hated it... since they were only 5,3,1 they all needed help buckling up.
 

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