What is the longest distance you've driven in one trip?
 

The farthest i've ever done in my own car is JFK and back.

I ask because i'm about to do a 40+ hour trip running from Connecticut to the top of Maine and back again....and then i'll be doing the same run the next day. Has anyone ever had any issues with their cars when driving (highway cruiseing) For ultra long distances?

charlotte, to clevelend and back to charlotte... about 10 hours... NOISY IN A NA TD... really painfull, but otherwise uneventfull.
40 hours will not be done all at once. you will stop every 4 hours or so. you will rest each day, eat rest eat rest... the car will be fine. it will actually work better with so much sustained highway work. keep an eye on the oil level each stop, and the water level. and watch the water temp as often as you watch the speed of your car.
have fun!
I've driven MUCH further in other vehicles. but 600 or so is the most in my benz.
with long trips the only thing to really worry about aside from other drivers is fatigue. rest, drink and eat frequently. don't drive alone if you can avoid it. don't get too comfortable in the seat... really scarry to wake up staring at a bridge embankment with the cruise control set on 70...ask me how I know... I didn't hit it... head on anyway... cought it in the side of the car as I fought for control of the car...
http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Newell&state=SD#a/maps/l:::Charlotte:NC::US:35.226898:-80.8433:city:Mecklenburg+County/l:::Newell:SD::US:44.714699:-103.420303:city:Butte+County/m::2:::0::/io:1:::::f:EN:M:/e
took this trip in a van when I was 16... crossing the rocky mountains as a first time driver is NOT fun... especially with a improperly loaded uhaul trailer behind you...

I guess long distance is relative. I know people who commute 300 miles a day......

Longest I've ever driven in one swell foop is the 750 miles from California to Salt Lake City (wife's family is there). Been doing that at least once a year for over thirty years, diesel Mercedes for the most recent three years. That trip takes us about 12 hours with minimum pit stops.

If your car is in good shape, you should not have any problems regardless of miles driven. Of course "good shape" is a weasel word, it can mean anything or nothing. So, let's turn the question around: do you have specific worries about some part of your car or only an uneasiness about the trip, a "nameless dread?"

[Woman: "Oh doctor, I have this nameless fear." Doctor: "Don't worry, Ma'am, we have names for everything."] :D

Jeremy

Did Albuquerque to Kansas City in the E320CDI a couple weeks ago.

Did Albuquerque to Tulsa on one tank in the GL320CDI last summer. This was part of a 4-day round trip to Cincinnati.

Think perhaps longest ever in one day was SE Colorado to Norman, OK, to Albuquerque in '79 300D back in about 1981. IIRC, that was about 1100 miles. Road and Track was right about the hard seats.

I bring the following on my long trips(400mi+)
2x pre fuel filter
2x post fuel filter
2x vice grips
Screwdrivers(both types)
Air filter
(Full size spare) & jack
Bottle of green 'slime' and a cheap(but working) air compressor
Jerry can of diesel
Minimag with niteize dropin and lithium AAs(48hr+ runtime)
Quart of oil
Gallon of premixed coolant

But then again I'm paranoid about anything mechanical

Add a cheap metric socket set and DUCT TAPE and you are good to go.
BTW I take usually keep a spare gallon bottle ot rotella in the trunk.

Oh the farthest trip in one shot was from New Paltz, NY to Bloomington, Il about 17 hours one way. Did that a few times in the SD nice comfortable cruiser. Could never imagine doing it in the BMW, that car gets painful after two hours.

Other regular runs were from NY to Roanoke, Va - 8 hours. I do the trip from WV to NY just about every weekend 4.5 hours

Longest I have ever driven in one trip was around the country. I have also driven cross country as well. Neither in a Mercedes :).

Longest I have driven my benz was from atlanta to NC to TN to NC to TN to N Ga. This is what happens when you find out that alcohol has been banned in fed park campgrounds before they update the website.

First trip camping with current car the flex disk busted in 5 lanes of stop and go rushhour traffic. I had everything needed but the replacement flex disk (which my wife brought me from home). 2 hrs later I was on the road to go camping again. I recommend a 1/2 socket set from HF 10mm-21mm, 1/2 driver, 1/2 breaker and some common wrenches.

Its not really in line with the MB thing, but last summer I did 5200 miles in a 73' Saab 96. Only trouble we had was with the low octane/ 10% ETOH fuel and a little pinging.

I did change the tranny oil, in Crested Butte, CO. that was about it.

Always carry Filters and enough hand tools to do the simple to moderate fixes, along with the odd sockets/wrenches that might be hard to get in the middle of nowhere.

Something's wrong with the math.
 

What is the distance between points? I didn't know that it was possible to find a point in CT that was at least a 20 hour drive to any point in Maine. Averaging only 50 miles per hour, that's over 1000 miles (each way). Maybe it's my midwestern ignorance, but I thought it couldn't be more than 500 miles or so from any point in CT to any point in ME.

SteveM.

In 1976 my Mrs. and I traveled from Lafayette to Detroit, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec city to the bay of Funday, down Maine to Mass, up to New Hampshire back to Boston and back to Lafayette. 4000 miles in two weeks on my '72 BMW 600.

Tom W

Yeah that seems a bit extreme. I always have the full tire/jack and a bottle of oil in my trunk. I will definately be adding a bottle of coolant and a socket set/screwdrivers for this trip...just in case.

Overall though I know I shouldn't be worried. From everything that I've ever read, doing a run like this is less damageing to the car then constantly stoping and going around town.

The total miles for this trip will be around 2150 miles....which will mean that once i'm back it will be time for my usual 3,000 mile oil change:D

Correct, a long highway cruise, far less wear than daily commute...when the 3 kids were tiny, we fired up an aerostar, and drove over 1400 mi. without shutting the engine off,
had all food/supplies, stopped to stretch/pee/fuel up. Chicago to southern utah. If that thing was fine, the MB can do it, no sweat

I urge you to bring the spare fuel filters; but more importantly the lithium powered AA minimag will come in handy on more than just this trip; can can be "built" from parts available at any WM/target

http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=St+David&state=ME#a/maps/l:::Stamford:CT::US:41.053299:-73.5392:city:Fairfield+County/l:::Saint+David:ME::US:47.339401:-68.231903:city:Aroostook+County/m::2:::0::/io:1:::::f:EN:M:/e
um... how are you turning this trip into a 40 hour drive?

Long rides
 

In 1966 with Reta and 4 kids and I traveled from Milwaukee to Detroit, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec city to the bay of Funday,(isn't that in PEI, Tom) down Maine to Mass, up to New Hampshire and Vermont, back to Boston and back to Milwaukee. 4500 miles in three weeks on my '66 Chebby Suburban with 283 V8 and 3 speed w/OD and a small trailer trailer. Never ever thought about the price of gas. In 68 we did Yellowstone to Milwaukee, right at 1000 miles nonstop in a new Caprice Coupe with a 396, finishing up a trip to Edmonton with family and I think we kind of ran out of vacation time. Doing truck trades for Mack in 2002 my longest ride was from Spokane to someplace near Homestead, but I can't remember the town where the Mack Stealer is located. Bobtailing a new Mack tractor and pulling my little Ford Ranger it was a real nice ride in the winter, took the better part of 6 days and over 3000 miles. Sure was a good thing most of those Macks had air ride. With my 85 W123, a round trip Indianapolis to Manassas, VA this winter has been it. I was wanting to go west with it this summer, but Reta's health and the price of fuel is keeping us home. And that is difficult when you have a great grand daughter who celebrated her 4th birthday just before the 4th of July in Denver.

Border of Alabama to Buffalo New York and back. 12 hours each way. About 750 miles each way.

Drove 12 hours straight going up. Broke the return trip up in to 7 hours and 5 hours.

-Jim

I drove from Canton Texas to Satellite Beach Florida in 24 hours non stop, except for food and fuel.
I was leaving Texas while hurricane Charlie was tearing up Florida. I got to Florida the morning after the storm. Wait a sight.
And I had my dog Charlie with me. Go figure.

Ft. Worth to Buffalo
 

I think it was around 1400 miles in my dad's '70 Chevy wagon. I drove it in around 42 hours including some sleep / napping in rest areas. This was the tail end of a 6 week trip of helping a friend move from Buffalo to Ft. Worth. Then we hit the Grand Canyon, Vegas, San Jose and back to Ft. Worth. I think we drove around 6 - 7000 miles that trip. Would love to have the time and $ to do that again.

The only problem was the battery died on the way back from San Jose to Ft. Worth. We were pretty lucky. We stopped in nowhere NV to pee on a cactus at dusk. Got back in the car, it started fine and drove another 2 hours. When we stopped for gas the battery was stone / cold / dead. Would not put the electric back window down on the station wagon dead. Of course the jumper cables were in the storage compartment with the spare. We refueled, fired it up and never shut it off until we hit Ft. Worth.

On my recent spring break trip to Texas I traveled 2,000 miles in the 300d over a 6 day period. Wichita to Austin, Austin to San Antonio, San Antonio to Corpus Christi, then Corpus Christi all the way home.

Other than my nearly catastrophic oil cooler line incident during the first 5 miles of my trip, no other issues.:D

I would not hesitate to drive it anywhere. Basic tools, fuel filters, zip ties and duct tape is all I would bring. Perhaps a few belts as well if they haven't been changed in a while.

A week after I bought the CDI drove from Starkville, MS to Phoenix, AZ. Detoured to the Grand Canyon, etc so the total round trip was a little over 4k miles. I did the same trip about 3 years ago in my 79 300SD. :cool:

The longest at one sitting was from Starkville, MS to Santa Rosa, NM in the CDI. Was about 15 hours of driving and nearly 1200 miles. Think I stopped a total of three times. I don't think I would ever drive longer than that in one day... was very tired when I pulled off for the night.

I'm in the Hartford area so its 530 or so miles to the Fort Kent area. I'll be doing the trip two times each way so it will be a total of 2120 +/- miles. My freind says that its a ten hour drive but I think he makes lots of stop. I'm actually used to long drives so i'll be makeing one stop in Bangor plus a fillup once I get there.



With that being said, I think that I'd rather do this trip them drive from Stamford to Hartford on say late on a Friday afternoon......

I did 510 miles across CA once. That was in my first car. Car ran fine (high mileage too) and got good fuel mileage. I noticed that it idled much better when I arrived home after 1000 highway miles. Your car will love you!

I used to regularly drive between Tulsa, OK and Eastern North Carolina. That was long enough for me.

I did a number of long trips in my W126 TD.

I determined that I should carry an extra set of belts, an alternator and the tools to change these parts.

If I were driving a 40 hour trip, I would break it up into 3 days and 2 nights of sleep at a minimum. Car camping at a KOA w/a tent and sleeping bag works for me. No chance that I would drive 20 hours straight, it's just not safe.

Thats easy!
From Vancouver BC to Montreal Quebec round trip in one week! Its 6365km one way...You do the math!
Crazy Cannucks Eh!
Cheers
Dan

In 1994, in a 1984 Ford Bronco, West Los Angeles to Houston (one mile down Bundy, turn left, drive 1600 miles, turn right, one mile down Blalock), 24 hours in one shot, by myself, no sleep stops. Bad, bad idea - I'll never do it again. Road hypnotizing is real.

October 2007 - Lincoln Park, New Jersey to Dallas then on to Mansfield, Texas. Left Jersey at 7am Thursday morning. A/C compressor seized around 1pm in West Virginia. Drove til 2pm. Parked in a rest stop as to not kill the dog from heat stroke. Resumed the trip at 5:30pm. Arrived in Dallas to check in with my new boss at 12:15pm Friday then on to my friend's place in Mansfield. Even when stopping for fuel and to walk the dog in those 31 hours, I never shut the car down except the 3 1/2 hrs in the rest stop. I lost 1/2 a quart of oil but not due to burning. The oil cap seal was bad.

Can't keep quiet any longer . . .
 

Well, if we're gonna get out of the Mercedes lane...

Santa Clara [CA] to Table Rock Lake State Park [SC] and back over a couple of weeks on my 1973 BMW R75/5 [1974] -- 6714 miles

Santa Clara to Los Angeles, the "California 1000," back to Santa Clara also on the R75/5 [1974] -- 1888 miles in 58 hours

Santa Clara to Missouri with girlfriend, two-up on the R75/5; girlfriend flew back, I continued up to Wisconsin and then back across the top of the nation to CA. [1975] -- about 4000 miles

"I was younger then."

Jeremy

Longest Trip was Baltimore to Demopolis Al. right around 1200 miles non-stop back in 2000 when I first bought my Passat. Other trips, back and forth from Western Mass to Milwaukee a couple of times non stop, each about 18 hours of driving, sometimes solo. I have driven to Charlotte NC from Baltimore non stop I was delivering my buddies 1999 740il. Made it 510 miles and got 25 MPG. Other memorable trips, from York, Pa to Athens, OH to pickup a John Deere Garden Tractor with my Passat pulling a trailer both ways, same day, about 800 miles round trip. Longest trip in my E300 was Oct of 06. 1 week vacation 1200 miles.

Cooperstown New York- Dayton ohio. in my 240D.
an amazing trip. I just got in. need to calc. MPG when i go to the pump later.
I only stopped for fuel twice. used just over 20 gallons 600 miles not running @ 100% so... yea. I did this trip in october when i got the car here. one way. and now i'm doing a round trip. :)

i keep a gallon of rotella. and i did this trip with no spare :O or tools, other than the ones laying on my back seat. it was ultra quiet after my floor coating and padding. I'm beginning to love this car more and more....
only thing is. i needed a sunroof. only my left arm is burnt. :(


just pack the basics. you'll be fine.

January 1978, drove my 1972 MGB Solo straight thru' Boston South Shore to Coral Gable Florida in 28 hours, no snow storm (blizzard) on the return trip in May so it only took 25.5 hours.... About 1600 miles each way...

June 1982, drove a 4 door Chevy Chevette Automatic (Theft Recovery) solo from Reno NV to Boston South Shore in 75 hours which included resting 3 times during the trip, 4 hour, 6 hours and 8 hours... A little under 3000 miles...

November 1985(?), co-drove straight thru' from Dallas TX to Boston South Shore in a 1978 Buick Skyhawk 231 V6... 12 gallon tank worked out to roughly 3 hour shifts (~180 miles = 3/4 tank) except late at night when I had to pull a double, entire run was about 28 hours over about 1800 miles....

These days I'd like to think I know better than to do that stuff anymore...

from los angeles to vancouver canada, and back within 3 days.

1600 miles


Albuquerque to Michigan


In a 200D



Hauling 20 cartons of Coors beer...... ;)


In those damned old push button top cans........

I'm currently about 1000 miles from home (in SoCA) in another week and a half I need to drive to TX, then to MO, then back to CO. I guess that's about 5000 miles altogether. I've taken a few 4-5000 mile drives, eventually I always bump into an ocean.

I've driven from Denver to Tulsa and back. 750 miles and 12 hours straight through each way only stopping for fuel.

Farthest in a single trip was last year to Florida and back...all in all from the time I left to the time I was back I drove 2,750 miles in a 7.5 day time span. :D Only issue I had was my voltage regulator died on the way home....a little help from a MB tech (roadside) and I was on my way again after about a 2 hour delay. Sad part is that I was going to replace it before I left but didn't. Oh well...serves me right.

I've also gone on other long trips.....from here to Gettysburg to Washington DC and back....that trip was close to 1,800 miles in a week, and I had 0 car issues. :) Last week I drove 300 miles to and from Northern MI.....I've done a ton of 250-600 mile trips....

My dad has taken his SD on some lengthy drives as well....all with no issues.

These cars are awesome. :D

Acton CA to Chadbourn N.C. in 3 days, stopping to rest at night. Ride was a 1997 Mazda 626(Sis's). Left Acton at 6 in the morning hit Albuqurgue and dined at 9 P.M their time that night. Next night was in Salisaw Ok. and at 3:p.m. the next day arrived in Chadbourn as the Hurricane reached Wilmington N.C. Chadbourn is 30 miles west of Wilmington. Rained Like the dickens, but not much wind.
2518 Miles in 3 days. Not bad for a couple old folks and two cats. 6-700 miles a day is about my limit now. If I'm by myself, then I oad the cd changer with Bob Seger and the ike and drive stopping ony for gas, food and relief(all at the same stop if i can).

Most in an MB was Grass Valley CAto Acton in my new to me SEC and then the next wek back to Grass Valley, toback to SAC, then on to Santa Rosa, with the SAc MB diesel crew. To Marin County Cheese Factory(diesel Drive), back to San Rafael for the night and then San Rafael to Acton. All in the SEC.

I did a Milford CT to Orlando FL, straight through with almost no stops back in Fed. Went by pretty quick, we had three drivers so we rotated and it wasn't bad. We just stopped for fuel, and to piss every 4 hours or so, since we wanted to make time they were like 10 minutes.

Took my moms 2007 Rav4, didn't even check the oil or tire pressure or anything. Just threw the bags in and left, cruised 80-90 most of the way down and got 28mpg. Its an appliance for sure.

I have been all over New England in the SDL. The only tool I bring is a 17mm socket with tap on it, on my breaker bar. Just in case I get a flat its 100% better than the wrench MB gives you. Other than that my tool kit is a credit card and cell phone, yet to find a problem that the old Visa can't fix!:D

I'd like to take it up to Niagra falls this year again for a few days.

The longest trip I've taken in the 300D is a day trip that took me from Houston to Austin direct, and back to Houston via Luling, TX. That day, I put close to 400 mi on the car.

1100 miles in one go, St. Paul, MN to Washington, DC.

Only stops were for gas, and once for food when we got caught in Chicago traffic... we weren't going anywhere.

daBenz is allergic to interstates, so I keep it to 750mi or less per day. No AC or cruise. Longest trip (so far) is about 3200mi.

Outside of a semi-truck, the longest trip was about 10,000mi, on a 500cc motorcycle somewhere in a rectangle from eastern ND to Omaha then west to the coast. Only took three months, and I stayed in a motel exactly one night. That was a few decades ago, and I deliberately kept to 300mi per day or less.

Any vehicle will break on a trip. How often depends on the maintenance done before the trip. I guess I've been lucky: have had only one "show stopper" that took more than an hour to fix.

Search around this site for an interesting tale by PEH, who drove a long way with a "broken" benz.

Once in the W8 - 1400 miles in 24 hours. First half of the trip was done in 8hrs 45min - subtracting the hour stop for food & fuel. ALLEGEDLY.

MCAS Cherry Point, N. Carolina to Wichita, KS in 28 hrs.............at 55mph. Then back to N. Carolina 6 days later. Let me tell you, I don't miss the "Carter" speed limits.

Went from Ottawa, Ontario to Halifax, Nova Scotia three years ago. Just over 18 hours in one day with the wife, 3 month and 8 year-old sons.

In my old '77 300d (non-turbo). The only problems we encountered were a cracked and leaking fuel cigar hose (fixed by wrapping duct tape around it - didn't actually fix it....just reduced the leakage) and of course a crying baby for most of the journey.

Did the return journey four days later.

Trip
 

Longest trip in my 1981 240D (4 speed manual) was from Fayetteville, NC to Indianapolis, In.

Drove the speed limits between 65 and 70 most of the trip and averaged 30MPG. Went up in 1 day and came back in 2.

Alternator went out on the way up, but since a Diesel, just did not turn off the engine until arrival in Indianapolis. Sister-in-law indy, replaced alternator from NAPA.

On long trips, I think driving my 240D is cheaper then the Ford. Ford gas gets around 20-24 MPG, but uses more gas then Diesel and even with the price difference, came out a head with Diesel.

Only complaint wife had has how loud my 240 is.

Bob
1981 240D aprros 220,000 miles

Longest ever trip was when I graduated from college in 1982 and my brother and I drove his 1978 Chevy diesel (5.7:eek:) from Virginia to Fairbanks Alaska and back. 11,000 miles in 3 weeks. The longest stretch without turning the motor off was 29 hours. We rotated sleep as I'm a night owl and he's a morning person. I'd never attempt that trip knowing what I know now about those engines, but it performed fine and got about 22MPG. The only casualties were the windshield and 3 tires. I think it was the 3000 miles of gravel road on the AlCan highway that caused those:D He still has the truck, but after 5 replacement diesels, I put an Olds gas 350 in it about 10 years ago.

Thunder Bay, Ontario to Dallas - 1300 miles, by myself, straight thru -22 hours. Never again.

Longest Trip
 

About 10 years ago, drove my '81 300SD from Anniston, AL into NY on the first day of a trip to NH: about 16 hours, and just over 1000 miles that day. Would not do it again - but not because of the car! This baby has over 280,000 miles on her, and if I were of a mind to do it again, I would drive her...

1,101 mi from Disney to get back home. This was back when the speed limit was still 55 and you were lucky if you could get away without a ticket on I-95 for going 65. Radar traps were everywhere back then.
I had two other people with me to make sure I was alert, copious amounts of Coca-Cola(before a liking to coffee), and I drove the whole thing, stopping for bathrooms, food, and fuel only in an Olds Cutlass Cierra.
It was a 'personal challenge' that I will never repeat.
21 hrs.