MR2 5000 km road trip PICS!!!

[e.widling]

August 18th my girlfriend and I took my JDM 1992 MR2 GT-S all the way down to Vegas and back. 5000 km of desert roads, mountain roads and long highways but the MR2 lived, sort of. By the time we reached Vegas the recently filled AC had leaked completely, making for a ridiculously uncomfortable drive to Hoover Dam in 45 C heat, apparently the hotest day of 2011 in Vegas at the time.

Having said that, the car ran smoothly and besides the broken AC I never had a problem. I got back to Calgary fine but the car is making a bunch of loose knocking sounds and it sounds like a cricket is living in my transmission somewhere.

Below is a rough google maps rendition of the way we took.

As for the roads, Moab has some wicked little valley roads with beautiful paving and unlimited twists and turns, definitely worth your time.

The best road just might have been the stretch on the I-93 between Idaho Falls and Missoula. The I-93 (scenic route) had remotely no one on it, has a speed limit of 60-70 for the most part (in mph) and it's full of twists as the road follows a small river most of the way.

Anyways on to the pics, I realized when I got home that I should have taken more photos of my car but oh well, here are all the pictures of either the MR2 or cool roads to see.

Let me know what you think!

http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz177/Eymeric_Widling/Vegas%20Road%20Trip/Screenshot2011-09-07at95113AM.png
This is the scenic route 93, a tiny piece of it but you get the point, it's a fun road.



http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz177/Eymeric_Widling/Vegas%20Road%20Trip/Screenshot2011-09-07at95314AM.png
This is the entire route we took, roughly.



http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz177/Eymeric_Widling/Vegas%20Road%20Trip/_EWI6348.jpg
MR2 in Arches National Park!


http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz177/Eymeric_Widling/Vegas%20Road%20Trip/_EWI6355.jpg
Different view of the 2 in Arches National Park. Where are the arches you ask? We were wondering the same thing, haha, we went back the next day and found them. For future reference they're actually called windows, and they're down a road that we obviously didn't take the first night there.


http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz177/Eymeric_Widling/Vegas%20Road%20Trip/_EWI6338.jpg


http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz177/Eymeric_Widling/Vegas%20Road%20Trip/_EWI6312.jpg
Hoover Dam, disgustingly hot, but worth it. Actually so hot there were paramedics treating people with heat stroke.


http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz177/Eymeric_Widling/Vegas%20Road%20Trip/_EWI6411.jpg
Tried to capture the essence of driving through Arches National Park at sunset, T-top off. It was wicked, Moab cools down at night unlike Vegas, so it's actually comfortable driving at night.


http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz177/Eymeric_Widling/Vegas%20Road%20Trip/_EWI6389.jpg


http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz177/Eymeric_Widling/Vegas%20Road%20Trip/_EWI6465.jpg
There are some roads best not attempted with an MR2. I got out to snap this one as recommended by the driver.



http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz177/Eymeric_Widling/Vegas%20Road%20Trip/_EWI6633.jpg
Craters of the Moon National Park, definitely worth a drive through if you have time.


http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz177/Eymeric_Widling/Vegas%20Road%20Trip/_EWI6639.jpg

[Nav13]

Your pictures make me regret selling mine. Looks like it was a fun trip. The driving pics look sweet.

[JEFFRIX]

Those are some awesome photos!

[SlickA70]

^X2.

[mr2mike]

Great pics, what kind of camera and lens were you using?

Ya, that I-93 area is hard not to speed on with the corners. Another great drive is on the Pacific Coast Highway south of Big Sur. Very tight corners, never getting over 30mph for a good 30 minutes and great views too.

That rattle could be underbody that got loose. Maybe the a/c line got free somehow and is rapping on the body. Depends on the type of sound.

[e.widling]

Thanks guys!


Originally posted by mr2mike
Great pics, what kind of camera and lens were you using?

Ya, that I-93 area is hard not to speed on with the corners. Another great drive is on the Pacific Coast Highway south of Big Sur. Very tight corners, never getting over 30mph for a good 30 minutes and great views too.

That rattle could be underbody that got loose. Maybe the a/c line got free somehow and is rapping on the body. Depends on the type of sound.

Camera was a Pentax K-7 w/ 16-50 2.8 for the most part, I might have used my Sigma 10-20 for a few like the hoover dam shot, don't remember. Glad you like the photos! If you want to see my actual photos check out my website www.ewidlingphoto.com or www.flickr.com/ewidling.

I'll have to lift the car soon when I get the chance to see what's rattling, I hope it's something insignificant haha. Thanks for the suggestions!

[taemo]

awesome pics bud.
road trips are always fun especially with a sporty car.

how was your gas mileage for the whole road trip?

IIRC for my SF-LA-LV trip(~5500KM) I spent roughly $550

[Sentry]

I LOVE that one of the interior taken through the T tops.

[Redlyne_mr2]

awesome pics and thread

[thinmyster]

Nice. makes me wanna drive my car at least once this year. I like the speedo color

[BokCh0y]

Originally posted by Nav13
Your pictures make me regret selling mine. Looks like it was a fun trip. The driving pics look sweet.

:werd: :(

Great Pics btw!!!

[n1zm0]

so your gf is telling you if its ok to pass on the highway? so trusting! j/k


love to attempt that in my own car one day.

[T-Dubbs]

nice pics!

[e.widling]

Thanks for the comments guys!


Originally posted by taemo
awesome pics bud.
road trips are always fun especially with a sporty car.

how was your gas mileage for the whole road trip?

IIRC for my SF-LA-LV trip(~5500KM) I spent roughly $550

I didn't keep track of my mileage that well. If I was doing 100-110 km/h I'd get about 600km a tank, compared to only 400km a tank if I was doing 140km/h or more, which happens a lot when you're driving straight through a desert for 5 hours haha. City driving here in Calgary I get just under 300km a tank. 40L tank.

Gas is pretty cheap in the states compared to Canada tho, so I'd do $35-$40 for a full 40L of premium. Depends where in the States too, Vegas wasn't cheap I don't think.

[e.widling]

Originally posted by n1zm0
so your gf is telling you if its ok to pass on the highway?

It was ok for the most part, there were a few
"Go for it..."
"Oops! there's actually a semi coming don't go!"