[MandMs335Msport]

Hey All:

Thought I would write a little review of our little road trip. We live in Central California and traveled ultimately to Austin Texas to see the inaugural Moto GP race at the new Circuit of the Americas. Our major stops were Vegas, Zion, Provo, Moab, Santa Fe, Austin, Flagstaff (Grand Canyon), Vegas, and home.

The Austin to Flagstaff route we did in one long-ass-day, 1,150 miles!

This car was purchased about a month ago with 23K on the clock, we left the house a couple of weeks ago with apprx. 25k, just shy of 30K now.

Any problems?? Not really, just lost the day-time running lights on the left side, other than that not a glitch. I'm not saying we did this, but I have HEARD that a grey car very much like ours easily hit 150 mph between Santa Fe and Austin?? Go figure. I also heard it was very stable, and the sun roof was up, pretty good.

Set the computer before leaving, ended up with a 26.2 mpg ((Alot better than expected)), 63 mph average, this is over 4,800 miles. Did have the fuel milage as I drove, noticed that when sitting between 85 and 95 mph the fuel milage gets dismal. If I would have driven under 80 for the whole trip, I know the milage would have been at least 28 for the average. In fact for the first 2800 miles, it was actually at 27.1 average. This car is has an automatic trans.

Something to keep in mind is that much of this trip was at altitude. Flagstaff is at times over 7500 feet, the car was still fast for sure. Fueling was spot on, never a glitch.

One of the best things about this car was dropping into Flagstaff from the south at 10pm after over 1000 miles that day, the lights on these cars are unbelievable. There was a car trailing me for the last 40 miles I know because he could drive my head lights. High beam actually blinds when reflections off signs, this repeatedly woke my wife.

Also, a very great investment that made this trip a success, a new radar detector, we opted for the Escort 8500x. Amazing, never screwed up, we even encountered a couple of laser alerts. I know at least 4 tickets would have been delivered with out this device. Paid for itself repeatedly. Don't attempt a fast road trip through unknown areas with out a good detector.

Great car, only one malfunction, and she does handle quite well.

Mark

[wilbur_the_goose]

Mark - thanks for your post! I'm doing a road trip from PA to the sandhills of Nebraska for golf this summer in my '10 (CPO) E92.

I made a similar trip in 2010 in my '07 E90 (since sold), and she performed great!

PS - great observation on the xenon headlights. When I was walking the dealer lot, I bypassed the halogen-equipped cars because I'm such big fan of the safety of xenon headlights.

[Sara]

pix?

[KeepitClassy]

Great read! Thanks for sharing.

[yarviinn]

[MandMs335Msport]

Originally Posted by yarviinn

What pics would you all like? The car is a stock space-grey m-sport, my wife is pretty, ummm

[wilbur_the_goose]

Here's a pic out of the front window of my old '07 E90 328i in the Black Hills of South Dakota (we drove out from Philly):

[Deep_Blue]

Nice! unless you have the laser shifter option, your Escort won't do anything against a laser gun but say "hey you're about to get a ticket"

I've been running a Valentine One for years, and the only ticket i've gotten was with laser. Its great for radar because you pick up the gun reading other cars as radar goes out in broad waves, giving you time to slow down.

Laser goes out in a beam a foot or so wide, depending on distance, so its coming for YOU. If your detector sees it, 99% chance you're already done.