Did you ever take a long roadtrip in high school?

[DrumminBoy]

Some buddies and I want to drive my Civic to Florida in April to stay with one my friend's mom for a week. The trip is about 1400 from Iowa to Naples, Florida where she lives. My parents are alright with the trip itself, but they said I cant drive my car because it has over 200k miles on it and they think it will break down. The car is still a champ on the highway, as I average over 42 mpg on my shorter highway trips (~100 mi.) Do you think my parents should let me/us drive?

EDIT: we're all seniors by the way, graduating in 2.5 months.

 

[parsley007]

i think they should let you go, but i agree with not taking your car since it has over 200k miles..roadtrips are fun

 

[fyleow]

Road trip to stay with someone's mom

The whole point of a road trip is to get away from parents and your home so you can party hard

 

[Mill]

All the way to Naples? I live in Alabama just a state away, and no way in hell would I drive to Naples. Way too far. Waste of time, just fly instead.

 

[d33pt]

probably not the best idea, but you guys are young and can manage if it breaks down. with all odds though, it'll probably make the trip fine. it's a honda after all.

 

[Xionide]

Originally posted by: DrumminBoy
Some buddies and I want to drive my Civic to Florida in April to stay with one my friend's mom for a week. The trip is about 1400 from Iowa to Naples, Florida where she lives. My parents are alright with the trip itself, but they said I cant drive my car because it has over 200k miles on it and they think it will break down. The car is still a champ on the highway, as I average over 42 mpg on my shorter highway trips (~100 mi.) Do you think my parents should let me/us drive?

EDIT: we're all seniors by the way, graduating in 2.5 months.

So they told you no. But they faked you into thinking they said yes.

Here is you (the sucker): Can I go on a roadtrip with my friends mommy and daddy pwease??

Here is the parents (tricky sh!ts): Yes sure son have fun.

Then you prance about till they tell you you cant go with your car. You proceed to bitch and moan about it on anandtech while using a dumb question to sucker people in to thinking this is more then you moaning about your parents.

 

[dman]

I think you should be able to go... if you are responsilble and have a few $k set aside for any emergency repairs like transmission or engine, or plane tickets to get home, then I'd say go for it. The breaking down part isn't so much the problem, it's the repairs that getcha, and if you can't afford to deal with it then you shouldn't be taking the trip. With 200K miles on the clock, odds are something will go wrong, and it probably won't be a flat tire, it'd more likely be something major, water pump, timing belt, radiator, etc--and probably 50miles from the nearest garage.

Then you'd need to stay in a hotel nearby until the car is fixed, and pay for emergency repairs, etc. It quickly starts adding up even if it's something trivial under normal circumstances.

 

[shimsham]

unless you completely overhaul your car, i wouldnt do it. chances are it wont break down, but i would think a trip like that would be hard on a car with so many miles. if it didnt break down during the trip, the wear and tear may make for some costly repairs in the near future.

but im no mechanic, and im really just talking out my a$$.

 

[DrumminBoy]

Originally posted by: Xionide

Originally posted by: DrumminBoy
Some buddies and I want to drive my Civic to Florida in April to stay with one my friend's mom for a week. The trip is about 1400 from Iowa to Naples, Florida where she lives. My parents are alright with the trip itself, but they said I cant drive my car because it has over 200k miles on it and they think it will break down. The car is still a champ on the highway, as I average over 42 mpg on my shorter highway trips (~100 mi.) Do you think my parents should let me/us drive?

EDIT: we're all seniors by the way, graduating in 2.5 months.

So they told you no. But they faked you into thinking they said yes.

Here is you (the sucker): Can I go on a roadtrip with my friends mommy and daddy pwease??

Here is the parents (tricky sh!ts): Yes sure son have fun.

Then you prance about till they tell you you cant go with your car. You proceed to bitch and moan about it on anandtech while using a dumb question to sucker people in to thinking this is more then you moaning about your parents.

wow, you're one of those guys that has everything figured out...kinda the mentality of most of my high school friends...so how old are you??

 

[DrumminBoy]

Originally posted by: fyleow
Road trip to stay with someone's mom

The whole point of a road trip is to get away from parents and your home so you can party hard

his mom is pretty lenient...ie, she has alcohol waiting for us

And to address the concerns of fixing the car while on the road, I bought it for $1k 2 years ago, if the thing breaks down and the repair is gonna be over $300, I'll sell the thing for scrap and buy bus tickets home. I just wanna get there and back.

 

[weezergirl]

Why dont your parents let you take one of their cars if they are concerned with your safety

me and my friends took a roadtrip from los angeles to seattle (FOUR GIRLS!) and my roomie's aunt let us borrow her car cuz her car would never have made it. hehe.

roadtrips are a blast. it's not about the destination but the adventures along the way..

 

[shimsham]

Originally posted by: DrumminBoy

Originally posted by: fyleow
Road trip to stay with someone's mom

The whole point of a road trip is to get away from parents and your home so you can party hard

his mom is pretty lenient...ie, she has alcohol waiting for us

And to address the concerns of fixing the car while on the road, I bought it for $1k 2 years ago, if the thing breaks down and the repair is gonna be over $300, I'll sell the thing for scrap and buy bus tickets home. I just wanna get there and back.

that easy huh? just sell it, and grab some bus tickets? where would you stay until it was determined what was wrong? who would pay for that? is the title in your name? i imagine a buyer would probably want that. whos to say that you wont break down in some podunk town and the mechanic will see dollar signs and try to rip you off by telling you itll cost 1500 to fix, thinking mom and dad will wire the money just to get their son home? then what would you do for transportation when you get back home? would trashing your car and buying a new one be worth one trip? why cant one of your friends drive? things dont always go so smoothly and easily, and its better to be prepared. if youre not prepared, then expect the reprecussions of not having a car.

im not flaming, just playing devils advocate on your parents behalf. they may have a point, you know.

edit: why dont you all chip in and rent a car? would one of your parents sign for that? seems like the perfect solution.

 

[Mill]

You cannot drive a rental car at 18. If you do then the rental company will be very pissed that your parents let you drive it. Then YOUR insurance will have to cover it(if you have that in your policy) because the rental car company's insurance will not. Plus, the rental car company might just sue you then.

 

[PowerMac4Ever]

Originally posted by: DrumminBoy

Originally posted by: Xionide

Originally posted by: DrumminBoy
Some buddies and I want to drive my Civic to Florida in April to stay with one my friend's mom for a week. The trip is about 1400 from Iowa to Naples, Florida where she lives. My parents are alright with the trip itself, but they said I cant drive my car because it has over 200k miles on it and they think it will break down. The car is still a champ on the highway, as I average over 42 mpg on my shorter highway trips (~100 mi.) Do you think my parents should let me/us drive?

EDIT: we're all seniors by the way, graduating in 2.5 months.

So they told you no. But they faked you into thinking they said yes.

Here is you (the sucker): Can I go on a roadtrip with my friends mommy and daddy pwease??

Here is the parents (tricky sh!ts): Yes sure son have fun.

Then you prance about till they tell you you cant go with your car. You proceed to bitch and moan about it on anandtech while using a dumb question to sucker people in to thinking this is more then you moaning about your parents.

wow, you're one of those guys that has everything figured out...kinda the mentality of most of my high school friends...so how old are you??

His analysis was perfect actually.. I'm impressed.

 

[cerebusPu]

i thought this thread was about road trips?

didnt have a road trip until college. my roadtrip buddies at the time wanted to do the whole entire thing unplanned. that is...keep driving until you hit bedtime and then sleep in the side of the road becaue it was too expensive to pay for hotels. anyways, we drove about 3 hours and blew all our money at atlantic city.

 

[anno]

speakin' as a mom of teens (they'll be 17 and 20 next month), I'd have a hard time getting behind a road trip of that distance before everybody is 18, at all.. and even after, without a reliable car.

 

[Excelsior]

The longest trip I have taken ( I am 17) is a 4hr drive to Atlanta from Charlotte. I could imagine doing a larger trip..but...I think itd be a BIT too much for myself to handle.

 

[T2T III]

1,400 miles seems like an awfully long way for such a vehicle. Granted, many cars do fine above and beyond 200K. However, I'd look into some alternatives to get there instead. The last thing you'd want to do is spend your week waiting on a car repair.

Best of luck to you.

Edit: While the "big" car rental agencies will not rent a vehicle to someone who is 18 years old, I would check into some other options. Car dealerships can rent vehicles, too. Maybe, they have lesser rules when it comes to renting a vehicle. It doesn't hurt to check the policies of more than one local car rental place.

 

[DrumminBoy]

Originally posted by: PowerMac4Ever

Originally posted by: DrumminBoy

Originally posted by: Xionide

Originally posted by: DrumminBoy
Some buddies and I want to drive my Civic to Florida in April to stay with one my friend's mom for a week. The trip is about 1400 from Iowa to Naples, Florida where she lives. My parents are alright with the trip itself, but they said I cant drive my car because it has over 200k miles on it and they think it will break down. The car is still a champ on the highway, as I average over 42 mpg on my shorter highway trips (~100 mi.) Do you think my parents should let me/us drive?

EDIT: we're all seniors by the way, graduating in 2.5 months.

So they told you no. But they faked you into thinking they said yes.

Here is you (the sucker): Can I go on a roadtrip with my friends mommy and daddy pwease??

Here is the parents (tricky sh!ts): Yes sure son have fun.

Then you prance about till they tell you you cant go with your car. You proceed to bitch and moan about it on anandtech while using a dumb question to sucker people in to thinking this is more then you moaning about your parents.

wow, you're one of those guys that has everything figured out...kinda the mentality of most of my high school friends...so how old are you??

His analysis was perfect actually.. I'm impressed.

How can you state that when you dont even know the situation? My parents are allowing me to drive as long as my car checks out at a mechanic, and they've already ok'd me buying a bus ticket, or riding in a friend's car if I dont decide to take my car. Why would I come and complain about that??

 

[dethman]

Originally posted by: parsley007
i think they should let you go, but i agree with not taking your car since it has over 200k miles..roadtrips are fun

 

[Dragnov]

I don't know about 200,000k car, but I don't know anyone that would want to put that much mileage on their nicer/newer car. I sure wouldn't.

 

[Xionide]

Originally posted by: PowerMac4Ever

Originally posted by: DrumminBoy

Originally posted by: Xionide

Originally posted by: DrumminBoy
Some buddies and I want to drive my Civic to Florida in April to stay with one my friend's mom for a week. The trip is about 1400 from Iowa to Naples, Florida where she lives. My parents are alright with the trip itself, but they said I cant drive my car because it has over 200k miles on it and they think it will break down. The car is still a champ on the highway, as I average over 42 mpg on my shorter highway trips (~100 mi.) Do you think my parents should let me/us drive?

EDIT: we're all seniors by the way, graduating in 2.5 months.

So they told you no. But they faked you into thinking they said yes.

Here is you (the sucker): Can I go on a roadtrip with my friends mommy and daddy pwease??

Here is the parents (tricky sh!ts): Yes sure son have fun.

Then you prance about till they tell you you cant go with your car. You proceed to bitch and moan about it on anandtech while using a dumb question to sucker people in to thinking this is more then you moaning about your parents.

wow, you're one of those guys that has everything figured out...kinda the mentality of most of my high school friends...so how old are you??

His analysis was perfect actually.. I'm impressed.

For once we get along