I posted last week that I was flying from Seattle, WA to Durham, NC to purchase a 03 MC. Well, 4300 miles later, I'm back in Seattle and happy with my purchase. Having a week off to drive across the country with a buddy of mine and the chance to get to know my new car was great.

Here's my trip:

Durham, NC > Knoxville, TN > Memphis, TN > Oklahoma City, OK > Albuquerque, NM > Phoenix, AZ > Grand Canyon > Las Vegas, NV > Sequoia National Park > San Francisco, CA > Seattle, WA

Tennessee was a great drive, I could live without the barren southwest.

Wish I had time to drive through the Sequoia National Park, the winding roads were really fun.

Only averaged 31 mpg, thought I'd get a bit more. Only downside on the trip is I bought an Icelink+ at Best Buy in Knoxville, had it installed in Memphis, and noticed alternator \ ground noise about an hour into driving.

It's good to be home, but I'm looking forward to another long drive. :smile:

 

Guess that answers my question about whether the Mini is comfortable enough for long rides!

 

Glad you enjoyed the trip! I did a similar run back in February (VA>KY>KS>NM>CA) to pick up my IB/W '04 MCS. The barren southwest was nothing relative to snowy Kansas!
The MCS is a great road trip car. My mileage was similar - low 30's. Did you calculate the mileage, or trust the OBC? I've found the OBC to be about 10% optimistic.

 

I trusted the OBC, but I got receipts and junk to go through since I wanted to run the numbers myself.

MrT-Man: I too wondered if it was going to be comfortable with the sports seats, and it totally was. I just wish I had an armrest, although a box of bottled water did just fine.

 

Glad to hear you enjoyed your trip. I went from Indianapolis to San Diego after picking up mine, and she was as comfortable as any other car I've road-tripped in.

 

Just imagine living here! I am planning a move up to seattle sometime soon. Much better!

and congrats!!

 

Did you get a chance to try the Dragon?

 

Curious what a road trip like that ended up costing you money wise? I have my mini slatted to arrive mid to end of november and I have a few weeks of vacation time to blow...

 

My trip - 3,045 miles, 5 days
Air - $20 + bottle of wine (cost for pilot friend to Fedex me a free ticket :-)
Train - $45 (Baltimore to Richmond, VA)
Gas - $193 @ $1.91
Lodging - $50 (stayed with friends two nights, one at a rest stop)
Food - $20 (I don't eat much when I'm road trippin' - lost 5 lbs!)
Tolls - $5
Wipers - $15 (disintegrated in KS)
Total $348
Would have love to make it a longer trip, but had to get back to work.

 

I wasn't really watching my budget, but I spent ~$70 a night at a Best Western (free continental breakfast and in-room inet). Food was what whatever we felt like eating, trying to hit up local places for dinner.

Got 31mpg, and just paid whatever premium cost ($3 on the WestCoast, $2.20 in the SouthWest). 500 miles a day is pretty easy, 800+ is getting really long.

 

Nice, another Seattle driver. Congrats!

 

Welcome home!!
We have some beautiful weather waiting for you!

 

You guys getting average 30mpg shouldn't be concerned. First time out in a Mini you tend to hammer down a bit. In the first 3 weeks of MCS ownership, I earned 2 citations (from NJ PDs). Now that I've settled down a bit, it's like 29-31 mpg with about 65% hwy, 35% in city traffic with red lites,etc.

Congrats to anyone who's willing to drive out of state to beat those CA markups. That goes for pre-owned as well

 

If you stopped in Knoxvile from Durham, that means that you did the Dragon, right?

 

I just did my cross country trip too. Did you get photos? I took the northern route as that was shorter for me:

http://hoopi.smugmug.com/gallery/942323

Also saved TWICE as much money buy picking up two Mini's on the trip. I call it the government spending model.

I wish I had taken more time to go your route as the scenary is pretty nice down there.

Reall funny part is that I'm in Seattle this week on business! Small world.