First road trip observations...

[pizzachef]

We took the wagon out on the road for the first time since buying it a few weeks ago. It was just a 5 hour trip each way between Harrisburg, PA and Albany, NY, but much longer than the around-town driving that we've done so far.

So the first thing that I noticed is that the speedo is about 12% faster than what the gps says. The car's got 195/70R14's, is that the right size tire?

Next, the temp sits right at about 85*C up until 60mph (gps speed), then at 65-75 it increases up to ~95*C. And hovers somewhere between those temperatures as we went up and down hills, sped up to pass, slowed down, etc. The outside temp was below freezing, around 20*F. So I was wondering what it would be like when the summer months came. I plan on doing a citric acid flush when the weather warms up, but are these operating temps about normal?

Next, the mileage I got, averaging 65-70 mph, was around 27mpg, but adjusted for the 12% offset in the speedo, that brings it down below 24mpg. Are others getting better? I had the tires inflated to their recommended max of 44psi...it was a bumpy ride in some places.

Lastly, and this is more of is sob story, heading back through PA, we hit some heavy snow around Scranton and had to slow down quite a bit. The car handled surprisingly well with the all season tires...I wasn't expecting snow on the trip, the weather said flurries . Anyway, its arount 10pm and we're moving along at a cautious pace of 40mph on the snow-covered interstate, and out of nowhere someone in an Acura sedan rams us in the rear. There were no other cars around me. We pull over, the old guy barely speaks english, and I call the cops, try to get the guy's insurance info, he doesn't cooperate and leaves. Now I'm on the side of the road in the snow with a liscence plate number, a smashed tail light, dented hatch door, and bent up bumper. The police show up I tell them what happened, they get my info and go looking for the guy. They called today to say they know where he lives and they'll be visiting him soon. Great. I've only got liability on this because I just added it to the policy and don't drive it too much yet. So hopefully he has insurance and I can get a new hatch door aith a wiper that works, and a new, prettier bumper. And maybe we can swing a paint job into the deal as well.

All in all, a sucky end to a great weekend. Its not really all that bad...the guy hit me hard and we barely budged, I was impressed. So, anyone know where I can get a used rear hatch door for an '85 300TD? The guy at the body shop is having trouble locating one.

Thanks for reading, if you made it this far!
-Geoff