Took the S on a road trip out west, starting from KY. Went out to Jackson WY, up through Yellowstone into Montana, then down to Estes Park, CO for a few days and back home to KY. Estes-home was about 1,185 miles, which we did in one (long) day. The whole trip was about 8.5 days and 4,112 miles.

Aside from the first day, I was actually fairly comfortable. The wife and I came to the S via motorcycles. Compared to a bike the S has quite a bit more room. I'm only 5'7" so leg room was no problem. The first night my back was killing me but I put a towel in the lumbar area and it helped. Not sure what the issue was, maybe just needed to get used to the seat or it needed to break in as after that first day, had no problems the rest of the trip. The longest day on my bike (Honda ST1300) was about 1070 miles, solo. The wife would have never made it that far on the bike but managed just fine in the car. She also dozed off a few times, which she definitely couldn't do on the bike. I was certainly ready to get out of the car on the last day but I would have felt that way no matter what I was driving.

The car has been living a pretty easy life so far. Never out of the garage at night, only in very light rain a few times in 18+ months and washed/waxed regularly. On the trip we hit torrential rain almost all the way across Nebraska, zillions of bugs, a few gravel roads and of course, no garage at night. I definitely have my work cut out for me to get the bugs off and looking good again. I haven't looked real hard but I can't imagine I didn't get a chip or two during the trip.

I am sure another car would have been more comfortable for the boring drive out/back through the plains and we would have had more storage but once out west, particularly in the Rockies, the S was the car to have. Top down going through the mountain passes was fantastic. Since it's not the DD, we have a choice on cars. I don't think I'd take the S if there wasn't a reason too (like hitting mountain roads with the top down) but I wouldn't hesitate to take it again on a long trip either.

It's amazing how versatile these cars really are. Need a DD, fine; need a track car, no problem; want to drive across the country, get the keys and go.

 

awesome story! glad everyone had fun and got back safe.

the car is for driving! can't enjoy it if you're not in it driving!

 

The best thing about this car is you can really push it.

 

awesome quote

 

Nice, I recently did a trip too. 1200 miles in one week. Car was comfortable every single mile of the way.

 

I just did about 1150 miles in 2 days in the S2000 for a trip to the Smoky Mountains for a business related trip. Was comfortable even with back to back days of 9 hours in the driver's seat per day!

 

cant wait till i get to exp this feeling.
good read man!!

 

Cool story....

Two things I've learned from cross country road trips in the S2K.

1: take out the tools and jack stuff. roll it all up in a Tshirt and put it in the center of the spare tire. remove the foam tool holder. this gives you extra storage which is pretty limited.

2: fill the trunk and passenger seat completely full of stuff. The more clothes you pack in, the quieter the car is on the highway. it's amazing how much difference it makes.

 

I got my road trip coming in Oct. Looking forward to driving the S top down through the country.

 

"Two things I've learned from cross country road trips in the S2K.

1: take out the tools and jack stuff. roll it all up in a Tshirt and put it in the center of the spare tire. remove the foam tool holder. this gives you extra storage which is pretty limited.

2: fill the trunk and passenger seat completely full of stuff. The more clothes you pack in, the quieter the car is on the highway. it's amazing how much difference it makes. "

I pretty much did these two things.

While the car had a lot more storage than the bike we took more stuff. One advantage we wanted with the car was to be able to drive somewhere, hop out and go for a hike; something just not feasible on the bike. On this trip, we didn't know exactly where we were going or what the weather was going to be. It could have been (and was) anywhere between the mid 30's and mid 80's. We put shoes, jeans and rain gear in the deep well. The trunk was packed with soft luggage, camera backpack and hiking backpack. I had to push down on the lid to get it closed.

Again, everything's relative and while there was wind noise in the cabin, it was still much better than the bike and we could talk easily (top up); plus we usually had the tunes going. The only noise issue I had was when my top latch rattle decided to return midway through the trip. I well placed napkin took care of this for the duration of the trip.

I could definitely feel the extra weight on acceleration and in the turns. However, it was still fun and I wasn't running at 9/10's anyway. If you get a chance, I highly recommend a trip through the Rockies, top down of course. Surprisingly, I only saw one other S the whole trip, in Estes Park. The folks in WY and MT looked at us like we were martians, as pretty much everyone drives a big 4WD vehicle out there.

I keep rambling on about the trip, can't help it, we had a blast. I hated to sell the motorcycle but we got the S to take it's place and add a little more practicality; probably not a term most folks use when buying this car. The car performed wonderfully for us and did pretty much everything we hoped it would, though just a tad more storage would have been nice. More frugal packing would take care of this issue though.

Now I just need to find a track day......