Picked up the car yesterday and drove the Birmingham - Chattanooga - Knoxville - I-81 route back. Very pretty around Chattanooga with the river and mountains.
One slowdown for traffic in Chattanooga at "rush hour" but not enough to completely stop, and then quickly back to speed. Knoxville had heavy interstate traffic for something like 5-10 miles through town. I think two interstates merge for awhile and then split back up outside town. Heavy traffic but running at speed.
No problems anywhere with road construction at this time.
The car was reasonably as described with one exception. The seller did not mention the cracked windshield! Maybe not a big deal in Alabama if you don't have annual equipment inspections there, but it is a big deal in Virginia. So the windshield must be replaced. The rest was pretty much as described within reason.
It runs great and the SD ride is nice. I was completely surprised to find that the cruise control works. It is the smoothest cruise control I've ever driven. No surging, hunting for speed, etc. Really great.
I had one problem during the return trip that my extensive reading here on the forum helped get me out of fairly quickly. About 100 miles from home, I lost power, then down to 40-mph, then the engine died. "Great" I thought, "the engine is blown already."
Got it safely pulled over and decided it felt like fuel starvation. I had noticed the area around the primer pump was damp with fuel when looking over the car in Birmingham.
Well, the primer pump handle was loose. I tightened it back up, but the car still wouldn't start. Then I turned it back out and gave it a few pumps. Fuel squirted out of it but also I could hear it going into the spin-on filter area. Tightened down the pump - this time it started. That was a pretty lucky fix for being so far from home on the road.
So, first part from FastLane - New primer pump!
Ken300D