Road trip distance?

kgirlbug2k

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2002
Location
Kitty Hawk, NC
Not in a TDI...yet...give me a week...(Car below will go and fetch TDI)

But my 2.0 is a wannabe...tent in the trunk, Vag-Com, 3 days of clothes, some emergency food and water, tools and a Bentley.

Did the Roswell run a couple times, going to sort of be repeating it to get the TDI, but team driving with my husband and best friend, to get it done in as close to 55 hours round trip as we can.

Best fast and hard driving trips so far? 22 hours to Wisconsin and back for my ATP classic rims, made it back in time for work by 8 minutes. Got irritated at the holidays last year, left for Wiarton, Ontario at 10 pm the day before NYE...spent NYE day half in Wiarton, half in Hamilton...caught the fireworks at Niagara Falls at midnight, and was back at work at 10 am in Cumberland, MD.
 

n8ronJ

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2007
Location
Niagara Frontier - Somerset, NY
TDI
2014 BMW 328d XDrive, 2003 Jetta GLS TDI 5speed Platinum Grey (sold), 2010 Jetta 6speed (bought back)
kgirlbug2k - I live about a 1/2 hr from Niagara Falls. They have fireworks? Must be the canadian side!

Anyways...

Does it count if your *planning* a road trip? Early next year I'm planning to drive from north of Buffalo NY to Kansas City via western Michigan (if I can talk my buddy into going!). Otherwise, it'll just be me and the open road. Wonder if it's a good idea to do the road trip right after a TB change - I'm due around then.

It would be awesome to meet some fellow TDIers along the way.
 

bikeprof

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2005
Location
Pagosa Springs, Colorado(YEAH!)
TDI
1996 Passat B4 Variant white, 1996 Town & Country 3.8 LXI
Planning a road trip is part of the trip, so yes, it is part of this thread...

Getting a timming belt done previous to your trip is good BUT, drive it around town for a while.
Make sure that ALL the bearings and tensioner, etc IS changed on the TB service.

Getting around in the USA is simple, a good map/GPS unit serves even better.
If you like beer, that then will be your reason to go places..., microbreweries :D .

Biodiesel is available in many places, D2-ULSD is everywhere so don't fret on that!

If you are going to the midwest go a little farther and hit the Rockies, from the Bad Lands south to the Carlsbad Carverns area.
You will remember these memories for a LOONG time afterwards :cool: !
 

Zlartibartfast

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2008
Location
Deep in the Heart of Texas
TDI
SOLD 2009 Jetta Sportwagen
bikeprof said:
Planning a road trip is part of the trip, so yes, it is part of this thread...If you like beer, that then will be your reason to go places..., microbreweries :D .

Biodiesel is available in many places, D2-ULSD is everywhere so don't fret on that!
Blanco, TX - home of Real Ale and BioDiesel!

Yes, there is a road trip coming up soon, that will include Cooper's Barbeque, Ink's Lake, and a whole lot of Texas hill country!

I'll be drivin' so I'll hand the camera to my Main Squeeze. If the photos are family-rated, you may see them here....
 

bikeprof

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2005
Location
Pagosa Springs, Colorado(YEAH!)
TDI
1996 Passat B4 Variant white, 1996 Town & Country 3.8 LXI
Real Ale, YES! from Blanco, Texas.
Yummmm!
I can get it here in Houston @ "whole paycheck"(whole foods).
The Ale is smooth and flavored well.

My mother and I sit eating good cheese and drinking while watching TV late at night, sometimes we empty three bottles...

(My mother was 90 this past Sunday, it's my turn to look out for her this month :) )
 

bikeprof

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2005
Location
Pagosa Springs, Colorado(YEAH!)
TDI
1996 Passat B4 Variant white, 1996 Town & Country 3.8 LXI
From what I see on the forum, recession has hit the TDIclub...
There is no one posting trips, experiences on the road or pictures(flat tires, camping, etc...).

I hope this new year the TDI's roll more!

:)
 

Mike in Anchorage

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2009
Location
Anchorage, AK
TDI
2016 Touareg Lux, 2015 Golf Sportwagen SE, new 4 Sept 2017;2009 VW Jetta TDI Sportwagen (Ruby) sold to VW on 22 SEP 2017
Maybe the cold blast has scared them all from traveling anyplace more then 5 meters from their coffee pots? Just a hunch.
 

Tom Servo

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2000
Location
LA (Lower Alabama)
TDI
2005 Gol TDI, blue and falling apart
bikeprof said:
Maybe I should temp us the group with donuts..., HU?
Coffee and donuts, no better traveling food than that!
All coffee does for me is encourage me to find every single rest stop and a few gas stations inbetween. :eek:

I did do a road trip recently, to Santa Fe from Grenada, Mississippi. It was a blast. My first tank out of town though was an abysmal 38.9 MPG. That improved and the trip overall averaged 42.7 MPG. Still lower than my solid 45 MPG average, though. :(

Took the quick way (interstates) there, then took mostly back roads home, coming "the long way" through the OK panhandle, Greensburg, KS, Wichita, KC and St Louis.

And I'd love to do it again if I had the money. :cool:
 

kgirlbug2k

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2002
Location
Kitty Hawk, NC
I take a lot of minitrips...this past weekend was to Limerick, Pa for snow tires, and Waldorf Md for a GTG...I think I put 683? miles on...not wholly sure.

Did get 41.4 MPG, which is good, considering I have a somewhat battered automatic.

Next weekend is our anniversary, so it will be a short trip to Punxsutawney Pa.
 

Tom Servo

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2000
Location
LA (Lower Alabama)
TDI
2005 Gol TDI, blue and falling apart
Going to get decent Mexican food or visiting a real supermarket (not a Wally-World, yuck) is a minitrip for me... 45-60 miles one way. :eek:
 

kgirlbug2k

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2002
Location
Kitty Hawk, NC
Decent Mexican food? About 1,000 miles LOL. We measure things in time here...2 hours to Pittsburgh, 2.5 to DC or Baltimore...most GTGs whether TDI, NB or Bus are a coupla hours
 

Keith_J

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2007
Location
West
TDI
2000 Jetta MT
How about 250 miles to help another member out with his TDI repair? I have another road trip in the near future...San Antonio TX to Missoula MT.
 

Tom Servo

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2000
Location
LA (Lower Alabama)
TDI
2005 Gol TDI, blue and falling apart
Keith_J said:
How about 250 miles to help another member out with his TDI repair? I have another road trip in the near future...San Antonio TX to Missoula MT.
That's darn kind of you. [insert thumbs up icon here]

I'm pretty sure next time I need some preventitive maintenance or something special done I'll be going to Car-Doc in St Louis... So my TDI guy is 400 miles away!
 

ItsADiesel

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2009
Location
Papillion, Nebraska
TDI
2002 Jetta TDI
my cousin and i took a road trip right after Xmas. we went from Omaha, Ne to Houston, Tx. and then from Houston,Tx to New Orleans, La. and finally from New Orleans back up to Omaha. it totaled 2300 miles not including driving around town it houston and new orleans. i got 48 mpg and averaged about 65-70mph. drive time was about 35.5 hours. it was a blast!
 

XXX_er

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2008
Location
northern B.C.
TDI
2002 golf
in 2004 we went to interbike for the bicycle trade show ,to save money 4 of us drove my 02 golf from Prince george BC to vegas only stopping for fuel & dinner at the border .

It was about 30 hrs & 2900km ,for the over nite portion we had a 24hr adventure mtn bike racer who had done 3 races solo so no problem

5 great days at the bike show ,got in the car and drove straight thru back home .Got a bad tank of deisel somewhere just north of vegas from a truckstop ,it ran Ok but the power was down a bit .

The adventure racer stayed up all night at the wheel again ,he sez he loves to see the sun come up and the thot of it keeps him going all night

the round trip cost only 340$ for deisal ,we saved alot of $$ on plane tickets and motels and I eventualy worked for the shop and saved even more money on my next 2 bikes
 

Motormouth

Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2009
Location
Edmonton, Canada
TDI
09 Jetta TDI on order
Aaah road trips....been doing them for 45 years and hope to do another 20 or so years of them. Current road trip vehicles in the garage.......

09 Jetta TDI - on order and first road trip with it will be Edmonton to Vancouver ( about 1800 km round trip ) for coffee
04 F 350 6.0 with 40 foot 5th wheel toy hauler
99 Honda Valkyrie mc
99 Honda VFR mc
07 HD Street bob 16" apes
06 Kawasaki ZX 14 - oooooh so fast
05 Arctic Cat H1 650 quad

Nothing beats a good road trip whether it is a hour, a day, a week or whatever
 

CMB430

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2008
Location
HQ of "get nothing done"
TDI
2009 Jetta TDI
Yes, we did one back in Jan from MN to VA and back. This weekend we will drive up to Rogers one day to visit Cabela's, then go down to Mankato the other day to visit our favorite C&S Hardware...the BEST place to get Carhart clothing in MN. This should be about 200 miles total.
 

Tom Servo

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2000
Location
LA (Lower Alabama)
TDI
2005 Gol TDI, blue and falling apart
Motormouth said:
Nothing beats a good road trip whether it is a hour, a day, a week or whatever
No truer words have ever been spoken.

If time allows, getting off the major highways can be a wonderful experience, too. There's a lot of beauty and charm in our country that the interstates bypass. And of course Canada is full of awesome as well.
 

brucetmoose

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2006
Location
Rochester, NY
TDI
Used to own a 2002 Jetta TDI - Black/Black
Marion, NY to Oakdale, MN - 1032 miles in one day

Yes, I actually did this in one day. Started at 5:30 AM, arrived in Oakdale MN around 12:30 AM the next day.

A long day, but it was MORE than worth it. Would do it again, and again, and again, and again.

VZ Nav says it's 1032 miles and took about 20 hours.
 

tdialltheway

New member
Joined
Apr 3, 2009
Location
Montana
TDI
2006 Jetta
Drove MT to Maine. in Jan. Now doing it in May stopping to pick up friends in NYC then stopping to get chiped by Jeff in P.A. then to Iowa to the Uncle. So not the straightest trip but will be 2,900 miles of pure joy! except for SoDak :( Then I will get to do it again in August. But I think I will go through Canada just to get a different perspective.
 

Kriesel

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2009
Location
Afton, MN
TDI
2006 Jetta TDI
Drove from my home (New Brighton, MN) to the Easter Jeep Safari (Moab, Utah), and back home again. Spent a little over a week in Moab. I made one segment of the trip through some slower mountainous roads between wyoming and colorado and got a decent 44 mpg. Otherwise the highway driving at like 80+ mph killed my average mpg big time... haha I need a different gear ratio for 5th gear I think.
 

xxdolphinscryxx

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 24, 2009
Location
Madison, WI
TDI
2003 Golf, Black
Got my road trip all planned out!!!
Leaving Madison, WI June 11th, heading to Bozeman for the Yellowstone get together thing, then continuing on to Seattle =)
Originally I was planning on flying to Seattle, but I came across the Yellowstone thing, and I said to myself ... "Self! You gotta do this! You've never been to Yellowstone." And of course, Self agreed =)
I'm super excited for this trip!
So my mileage will be .....

Home to Bozeman = 1,263
Bozeman to Seattle = 679
Yellowstone Trip = 295
Seattle to Home = 1,938

So minus miles to be driven in Seattle, my trip is going to cost me...... 4,175 MILES =)
AND I was thinking about taking the scenic route once I hit WA and doing the Rt. 2 through Stevens Pass instead of boring ole' I-90 through Snoqualmie. I've seen it all before.... LOL

Good thing I just got a TON of work done on my car ^_^
 

bikeprof

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2005
Location
Pagosa Springs, Colorado(YEAH!)
TDI
1996 Passat B4 Variant white, 1996 Town & Country 3.8 LXI
BUMP your trip an see you one more good luck!

Get PICS. you'll smile from the inner self when you recall these miles.

1. take your time, don't be in a rush 'cause you'll want to re-do the trip when you realize what you missed!
2. take a cold weather bag with, you'll know why when you need it!
3. visit other TDI'rs en route, more memories you will share
4. I'd say it is going to cost you ~120 gallons of ULSD, maybe a little less?
(5. good company is worth their weight in the jump seat if you can find the "right" passenger)
 

xxdolphinscryxx

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 24, 2009
Location
Madison, WI
TDI
2003 Golf, Black
bikeprof said:
BUMP your trip an see you one more good luck!

Get PICS. you'll smile from the inner self when you recall these miles.

1. take your time, don't be in a rush 'cause you'll want to re-do the trip when you realize what you missed!
2. take a cold weather bag with, you'll know why when you need it!
3. visit other TDI'rs en route, more memories you will share
4. I'd say it is going to cost you ~120 gallons of ULSD, maybe a little less?
(5. good company is worth their weight in the jump seat if you can find the "right" passenger)
Well =)
The first part of the trip IS a G2G with other VW's (and audi i guess) I'm sure there will be some TDI's around =)
I'm going to try and convince my brother to let me borrow his digital SLR, but i have my own point and shoot digicam too.
I've actually driven TO Seattle once before (when I moved there in 2003) and back (2008) however my car was on the tow thing behind the truck (all 4 OFF the ground)

I'm going it alone =) I like road trips by myself for some reason. I like to be in control, and I wouldn't wanna share driving duties (I am weird like that). Thought it would be kind of fun to have some one along, but, I'm just going to Seattle to see my friends and stuff so having someone along might not be as fun for ME because I'm there to see MY friends. Wow that sounds selfish, but its true. And this is the ONLY real fun/vacation I get this summer, so , damn straight its all about ME!
=)
Wil DEFINITELY post pics!
 
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xxdolphinscryxx

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 24, 2009
Location
Madison, WI
TDI
2003 Golf, Black
Tom Servo said:
I'm jealous. Some beautiful country up there!
hmmm mmm Yeup!!
and it KILLED me when I had to move back HERE to WI.
I will be moving back in a couple years though. Washington is just amazing!
 

series1000

Active member
Joined
Sep 28, 2007
Location
vancouver
TDI
01 Golf TDI
I'm planning a trip with one of my friends at the moment,16 days 9 states, 2 provinces and about 4400 miles. I wonder what my best MPG will be?
 
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