Trip Report! NJ to FL and BACK!

[JimHare]

Trip Report! 24 June – 30 June 2007

Just got back from a R/T to Florida to see the aged relatives. Dad's turning 88 in a couple of weeks and has developed a medical problem that makes every trip count, if you know what I mean...

As mentioned in a previous post in “Dealer Reviews”, we had the Deville checked out by General Sales in West Chester PA prior to the embarkation, just to make sure nothing was about to fall off, blow up, or break down. They replaced a broken motor mount and the crank pos sensors.

We left on Saturday 24th about 10:30, heading south. Trip was pretty much uneventful, took US 13 to Norfolk, US 58 to Emporia VA, and then hopped on I-95 all the rest of the way.

Arrived Port St Lucie FL approx 8 PM on 25th. Figures for Down-slope trip: 1,114 miles, 63.5 average MPH, and 25.3 mpg. Highest price paid for gas : $3.09 for Shell Regular in Georgia

Back up, we just stayed right on I-95 all the way, drove straight through. Left PSL at about 9:30 yesterday morning, arrived back in Salem about 3:30AM today..long trip, but no problems whatsoever. Figures for Return Trip, 1,089 miles, 62.4 avg mph, and a rather astounding 28.6 MPG. We ran in to some volume slowdown in SC around Charleston, and several rain showers in North Carolina and Virginia up through Baltimore but other than that it was an uneventful trip. Didn't see a lot of Smokies on the road, but I did have a scare in SC when I passed one hiding in the bushes at about 75 (along with the rest of the traffic) and he pulled out, but he nailed a van about three cars behind me... Hundreds of re-cap treads all over the roads, they must not have done a clean up in a while.

We did have to have a low-beam headlamp bulb replaced in Florida, but other than that the Deville never missed a beat. Ran with A/C on most of the time. Looks like it used about a quart and a half of oil. Do have to put in a plug for “Suburban Chevrolet” in Stuart, FL, who replaced my bulb on Thursday, in about 20 minutes, vacuumed the car, and sent me on my way for $44.50. Very nice people, if you need GM service in the surrounding area I recommend them highly.

[Jonas McFeely]

I couldnt imagine averaging 63mph on I-95. Anything under 75mph is unbearable to me on the highway. I keep it at around 80-85mph when i go to the beach,and thats in an '85 Brougham.

[Wiseguy2]

Originally Posted by Jonas McFeely

I couldnt imagine averaging 63mph on I-95. Anything under 75mph is unbearable to me on the highway. I keep it at around 80-85mph when i go to the beach,and thats in an '85 Brougham.

Maybe it's the trip computer average. When I took the M5 down to Chattanooga for 5erfest I rarely cruised under 85..usually much faster... between tool booths, stops, construction, etc the On Board Computer showed me averaging like 71.

[JimHare]

Yeah, it was the car's computer average - and even though I usually try to peg the Cruise Control at Speed Limit +5, the slowdowns in SC ate into it, and the rain storms in VA didn't help. I've often found it suprising how quickly the average drops when you slow down considerably - you can be driving for an hour at 75, and then if you stop and crawl along at 5 mph for about 15 minutes, it drops way down.

I don't ever remember being absolutely STOPPED on I-95 like we were, in the middle of East Cornhole, SC, for no reason whatsoever. It probably took us about 45 minutes to go 5 miles.