I wanna hear what you guys think about this. I'm planning on taking a ~3,000 mile road trip in 2 years (yeah, I'm planning WAY ahead of time XD) and I want to take my 97 Corolla DX. It seems to be in pretty good working condition, although it does screech like hell when I back out of a spot sometimes.
Would it be alright to take it on such a long trip? I'd be going 400 miles, stop for an hour or two, then another 200, sleep in a hotel, etc. Around 400-600 miles a day, and then stop in a few cities.
I'm wondering if renting a car would save me the worries and the $$ if something goes wrong with my (would-be) 15 year old car. I'd be going with 2 or 3 friends, and we won't be hauling camping equipment or anything, so I figure my corolla would be perfect for that kind of trip size-wise.
Thoughts? Has anyone else taken a road trip in their Corolla?
As long as you keep up with regularly scheduled maintenance then you should be fine.
Replacement of the timing belt, water pump should be your first bet. Inspect the seals, hoses and suspension components. Make sure your brakes and tires are in good condition and properly inflated. Do a brake flush if you haven't done so in a year or two. Replace all your cars vital fluids. Coolant, transmission, power steering.
Maybe carry a quart or two of makeup oil if you are burning.
That's about all I can think of off the top of my head.
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Last edited by PhatRoyale; 07-20-2010 at 03:36 PM.
Do you regularly take it on drives of a few hours or more? or is it only 10 miles to work and back every day?
Long trips bring in some different things - heat, resonance, vibrations, etc. - that you would never see driving around town, and that can make problems show up if the car isn't used to it. So take extra effort to get everything checked out and tightened down before you take off on the trip.
There were only a few times where I took it for a long ride (1-3 hours there, another 1-3 back) and it drove pretty smoothly, even at 85mph. How much do you think it would cost a local mechanic to check all those things? I'm worried I might break something, haha.
Car might be good for it now. Issue is this is in 2 years. In two years a LOT could go wrong. But unless it has any mechanical issues that would make you generally feel uncomfortable going any distance from home in it, it will be fine.
There were only a few times where I took it for a long ride (1-3 hours there, another 1-3 back) and it drove pretty smoothly, even at 85mph. How much do you think it would cost a local mechanic to check all those things? I'm worried I might break something, haha.
OK, so it's probably in good shape right now. Shortl before you take off on your trip, have nechanic you TRUST take a look at it. Tell him you are going on a trip and justr need it checked out.
How much will it cost? depends on the mechanic, probably 50-100 bucks to check it out, and then any repairs would be on top of that.
The average mechanic will find lots of things that need fixed, that's why you need someone you trust.
Yeah, I have a good local mechanic that runs his own shop, and he's fixed every problem we've had for a better price than others. Thanks for the advice. I think I'll take my corolla instead of renting.
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