Las Vegas to Grand Canyon - Car?
Discussion
Knoxville2410 said:
That's exactly what we'll be doing.
Who did you rent through, is that the V8 Camaro?
Wasn't a V8 unfortunately, standard rental spec Camaro... It sat at 120mph up the i40 quite happily though.Who did you rent through, is that the V8 Camaro?
Watch out for troopers sat on the '93, its a big long road and very tempting to put your foot down
I did this a few years ago in a Mustang Convertible. I was staggered how a car could have such a big engine and make such a good noise whilst delivering such little performance and economy!!
As others have said, convertibles are pretty redundant - we had the roof up the whole time, except for a quick morning blast.
Coming down a large hill near the Hoover Dam, decided to open up the Mustang. Hit about 115mph and the roof flipped open (I hadn't realised I had to close some catches once up - d'oh!) - made for a very hairy moment with the roof acting like a giant airbrake.
Roads are pretty dull - long endless straight roads, very few cars in sight - so get something with a good engine. Handling pretty much irrelevant! If I had my time again, definitely a Charger!
As others have said, convertibles are pretty redundant - we had the roof up the whole time, except for a quick morning blast.
Coming down a large hill near the Hoover Dam, decided to open up the Mustang. Hit about 115mph and the roof flipped open (I hadn't realised I had to close some catches once up - d'oh!) - made for a very hairy moment with the roof acting like a giant airbrake.
Roads are pretty dull - long endless straight roads, very few cars in sight - so get something with a good engine. Handling pretty much irrelevant! If I had my time again, definitely a Charger!
Did the same thing except it was part of a West coast road trip.
Booked the Hertz adrenaline collection which guarantees a model so you won't be fobbed off with a non-SS one.
Nice car for the rental cost but my overriding feeling was also this:
Booked the Hertz adrenaline collection which guarantees a model so you won't be fobbed off with a non-SS one.
Nice car for the rental cost but my overriding feeling was also this:
Fiisch said:
I did this a few years ago in a Mustang Convertible. I was staggered how a car could have such a big engine and make such a good noise whilst delivering such little performance and economy!!
Certainly didn't feel like a 6.2L engine, it's not even close to an M3 or AMG but if you're driving a 320d normally then it will put a smile on your face!Fiisch said:
Roads are pretty dull - long endless straight roads, very few cars in sight - so get something with a good engine. Handling pretty much irrelevant! If I had my time again, definitely a Charger!
I wasn't in Nevada, but I must say there are some fantastic driving roads in Oregon. I had a bit of a Google before my trip for some tips. Some of the roads used to lead to factories/log yards etc. So there are devoid of traffic as they literally go nowhere.
So just populated with other Petrolheads. Great craic. I quite enjoyed the handling of the Camaro. I would agree with the above though, that for a 6.2L V8 it didn't feel that fast. Sounded glorious though.
Shaoxter said:
Certainly didn't feel like a 6.2L engine, it's not even close to an M3 or AMG but if you're driving a 320d normally then it will put a smile on your face!
I'm going to give the branch a call to ensure it is a V8 that I'll be getting, be very disappointed if I ended up with a 2.3l ecoboost Mustang. Yes, I think it will still be a lot of fun! I used to have a Z4 3.0si which was pretty rapid, think it was 5.6s to 60 if I recall, this looks even quicker - plus that noise!
As I type I’m in a hotel in Page, Arizona, half way through a big loop: Denver - Wichita - Amarillo - Albuquerque - Sedona - Page - Moab - Denver. Booked a Mustang convertible through BA and we have a very nice brand new dark turquoise number. Only a 2.5l but plenty quick enough - pretty much everyone sticks to limit plus 10%. Smooth and reasonably quiet on the interstate (and we’re doing a lot of that), but great for dropping the roof when on the country roads. Weather has not been crazy hot, but soon it will be, and that would make running topless for long periods more tricky. I’ve seen a few Camaros and they look nice but seem chunkier than a Mustang - I believe they also have less luggage space. On that note we have one case in the boot, the other needs to do in the back seat. And more questions, ask away whilst I’m here!
Shaoxter said:
Did the same thing except it was part of a West coast road trip.
Booked the Hertz adrenaline collection which guarantees a model so you won't be fobbed off with a non-SS one.
Nice car for the rental cost but my overriding feeling was also this:
Completely different cars, yes they're both muscle cars but BMW and Mercedes are finely tuned engines, the engine in a Camaro is a simple lazy pushrod engine, they're a lot different from early LS engines but still miles behind European engines in terms of refinement. Booked the Hertz adrenaline collection which guarantees a model so you won't be fobbed off with a non-SS one.
Nice car for the rental cost but my overriding feeling was also this:
Fiisch said:
I did this a few years ago in a Mustang Convertible. I was staggered how a car could have such a big engine and make such a good noise whilst delivering such little performance and economy!!
Certainly didn't feel like a 6.2L engine, it's not even close to an M3 or AMG but if you're driving a 320d normally then it will put a smile on your face!Fiisch said:
I did this a few years ago in a Mustang Convertible. I was staggered how a car could have such a big engine and make such a good noise whilst delivering such little performance and economy!!
As others have said, convertibles are pretty redundant - we had the roof up the whole time, except for a quick morning blast.
Coming down a large hill near the Hoover Dam, decided to open up the Mustang. Hit about 115mph and the roof flipped open (I hadn't realised I had to close some catches once up - d'oh!) - made for a very hairy moment with the roof acting like a giant airbrake.
Roads are pretty dull - long endless straight roads, very few cars in sight - so get something with a good engine. Handling pretty much irrelevant! If I had my time again, definitely a Charger!
Really, a 5ltr mustang has 430 bhp 60 in 4.5! Prefer the camaro ss convertible but in the UK had to go for the mustang as the steering is on the right side . As others have said, convertibles are pretty redundant - we had the roof up the whole time, except for a quick morning blast.
Coming down a large hill near the Hoover Dam, decided to open up the Mustang. Hit about 115mph and the roof flipped open (I hadn't realised I had to close some catches once up - d'oh!) - made for a very hairy moment with the roof acting like a giant airbrake.
Roads are pretty dull - long endless straight roads, very few cars in sight - so get something with a good engine. Handling pretty much irrelevant! If I had my time again, definitely a Charger!
Never found a boring road in the USA, done over 150,000 miles.
Back in three weeks , in a Mustang!
Last June my wife and I had our honeymoon which included driving from San Francisco down to LA then to Las Vegas via Palm Springs, Kingman and the Grand Canyon, then through Death Valley to Ridgecrest, Bridgeport, Yosemite, Sacramento, Calistoga, back to San Francisco.
We did this all in a soft-top Camaro RS (3.6 L V6). I'd wanted the V8 and in fact asked for it, despite the wife's protests, but somehow they gave us the V6 anyway and I decided not to go back to the desk as it felt like fate. I ride a Honda VTR1000 around all the time here so it wasn't my one opportunity to pilot something properly quick, so I wasn't fussed and the wife was placated.
Anyway, we did the majority of the driving (almost all on State Routes rather than Interstates) with the top down. We took the precaution of wearing a hat and (obviously) suncream and occasionally having an air-conditioned, roof-up 'break', but I wouldn't have done it any other way.
Being mostly a motorbiker and unable to afford a car anywhere close to being as exciting, this was my first time driving something vaguely performance-oriented. I found the brakes very impressive (useful during an emergency stop from 80 to 30 in Yosemite when the RV-trailer I was overtaking decided to start overtaking the car in front of it while I was alongside it), and really enjoyed the handling and the engine. Unlike others on here though I don't have much to compare it with.
I feel entirely sure that you'll enjoy doing this trip in a V8 soft-top Camaro (or other pony car).
We did this all in a soft-top Camaro RS (3.6 L V6). I'd wanted the V8 and in fact asked for it, despite the wife's protests, but somehow they gave us the V6 anyway and I decided not to go back to the desk as it felt like fate. I ride a Honda VTR1000 around all the time here so it wasn't my one opportunity to pilot something properly quick, so I wasn't fussed and the wife was placated.
Anyway, we did the majority of the driving (almost all on State Routes rather than Interstates) with the top down. We took the precaution of wearing a hat and (obviously) suncream and occasionally having an air-conditioned, roof-up 'break', but I wouldn't have done it any other way.
Being mostly a motorbiker and unable to afford a car anywhere close to being as exciting, this was my first time driving something vaguely performance-oriented. I found the brakes very impressive (useful during an emergency stop from 80 to 30 in Yosemite when the RV-trailer I was overtaking decided to start overtaking the car in front of it while I was alongside it), and really enjoyed the handling and the engine. Unlike others on here though I don't have much to compare it with.
I feel entirely sure that you'll enjoy doing this trip in a V8 soft-top Camaro (or other pony car).
illmonkey said:
Literally just home from a trip out there, we went to the GC by helicopter, far easier and managed to squeeze in the hoover dam too!
Sounds like you didn’t go to the real GC then ... I’m guessing it was the Indian reserve “west rim” with the SkyWalk rather than the national parks at either the South or North rim and managed to squeeze in the hoover dam too!Edited by illmonkey on Sunday 19th May 12:31
Having just completed 2000 interstate miles in the past couple of weeks I can’t recall seeing more than a handful of drivers going over 85. That seems to be the max cruise people use, and is really plenty given the number of smokies as well as the quite frequently poor road surface - crumbling concrete and potholes are common.
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