fpena944

I've got my 19th year high school reunion in Tampa, Florida this weekend (although I went to school in Germany). Since I've been spending so much time on planes for the past few months I figured it would be a good opportunity to drive my car and enjoy a Porsche in Florida.

I changed the oil, waxed and polished the car, and have been messing around with the stupid passenger side window to address any air leaks since replacing the regulator a couple of weeks ago. I think I got it all figured out so I believe we're ready!

Ten hours in a 996...hopefully we're still smiling when we arrive there!

Botsy67

That will be fun, enjoy the road trip and make sure to bring your V1... When I was in college in Boston, I went on a similar road trip from Boston to Daytona Beach Fl for Spring-Break. Man, that was a long drive and we did it in one shot in a rental car Cheers,

chsu74

Take a lot of pictures. My drive to Montreal F1 was 8 hours total including stops along the way and would do it again in a heart beat.

Tom M

I did 13+ hours/day driving from Portland, OR to Indiana w/o any problems. I've also done 10+ hours in my Boxster. The cars just go and so long as you have a comfortable driving position it's no problem at all. However, as mentioned previously, take along some sort of LEO protection.

fpena944

Unfortunately I don't have a radar detector anymore so I'll have to rely on the cruise control of the car to keep me from trouble.

The wife is already complaining about the perceived lack of luggage space, but I think it's just a good way of making sure we don't overpack for a simple four-day trip!

We've done several road trips but generally take the SUV, this is the first with the P-car. The previous long trip is to the Tail of the Dragon in Tennessee which ends up being about 3 1/2 - 4 hours away.

C4SnNJ

Have a safe trip. I'm on the fence right now myself. Have a trip to Michigan coming up and I would be driving from S. Jersey to Northern Michigan, about 750 miles. What were some of the key words and phrases you used to convince the wife? JK! Luckily my parents are taking their mini-van and we can throw our luggage in there.

mck911

Enjoy your drive down. I went to College in S. Carolina and always enjoyed driving over flying.

What HS did you go to in Tampa?

fpena944

I actually went to high school in Hanau, Germany (dad was in the military) but the person in charge of setting up the reunion lives in Tampa so she figured it was easier for people to meet there than overseas.

I did live in Tampa/St. Pete from 1995-1998 though. Loved it there but moved to NYC for work since I had a great opportunity waiting for me.

It helped that the kid is at Grandma's house so it will only be the two of us. But I told her that when I lived in Tampa I ALWAYS wanted to have a Porsche so it would be a dream of mine to drive it there.

...I also promised to pack light so she could have the majority of the trunk space!

gota911

If your wife wasn't going along then you could take your high school sweetheart for a ride.... and let her ride in the Porsche, too!


Sounds like it will be a fun trip! Have a great time!

fpena944

Haha! Actually I was lucky enough where none of my serious relationship ex-girlfriends were there. Whew!

Well I'm back...sort of...As soon as I got back I had to turn around and head out to San Francisco for some business meetings. But in any case the trip was a good time. We put a little over 1700 miles on the car. Now keep in mind that the actual round trip was only about 1200 miles so a lot of driving to different destinations and just doing everything we could in a short period of time was the intent.

As for how the car did, she did just great! The temperatures were hovering close to 100 degrees throughout the drive and during the time we were in Tampa. The air conditioner kept it nice and cool for us. We were only able to put the top down ONCE and that was at night.

Gas mileage for the time we were actually traveling was a touch under 25 MPG with an average speed of around 73 MPH. Not bad considering the temperature, humidity, and speed involved.

Comfort was decent. We packed the trunk with all of our "non-meltable" items while the perishables like toiletries were put in the back seat. The wife only complained once and that was on the trip home where she wanted to lean the site a little further back but the stuff back there wouldn't allow it. I actually felt pretty good after all the driving as well. The seats were comfortable and the cruise control helped me rest my foot.

The PSE was a non-issue at highway speeds, it actually quiets down when you're not on the throttle. Tire noise for the Sumitomos was okay except for some of the awful roads we had to go on (how can Florida have such bad roads when they have no winter?). Wind noise was acceptable considering it's a convertible - fortunately I fixed the air leaks from my regulator replacement job before we left so that wasn't an issue any more.

So go ahead, take your car on long trips if that's your thing. It'll give you a new chance to bond and appreciate the dual personality of the car - a performance car you can still use to arrive to your destination in comfort!

I didn't take too many pictures of the car but here it is in all of it's filthy glory: