4,000 miles round trip to Texas..

[94502]

My family and I are planning to go on a trip to Texas next week to check things out there and we are leaving from Oakland, CA. Anyways I have a big family so we were about to rent a 14-15 passanger van but it cost $1200 for a week and thats expensive. So now were planning to take my 05 4.4 X5 and my dad's new GL450 and we calculated that it would probally save us $600?? Mapquest says it would be around 27 hours of driving.. What do you guys think which route I should take?? the van or 2 cars?

Do you guys think that I should take my X for such a long drive?? Anyone tried to drive that long on their X before? Also I have around 12,000 miles on my car already and it would go past the 15,000 service by the time I get back home.. But I think it should be OK cause I just got an oil change 2,000 miles ago (change my oil every 5,000 miles with Mobil 0w40)

Also Texas is really hot and I was wondering will the Mobil 0w40 will be OK while driving down there? OK, Thanks everyone.. Sorry for the long post, Im just excited about the trip and driving my car down there..

[dkl]

Rent the van. The $600 dollar saving is really false as it will cost you A LOT more if you factor your "wear and tear" costs into the equation as well.

[Fr0zty]

Yeah id do the van and WELCOME TO TEXAS YALL

[94502]

Originally Posted by Fr0zty

Yeah id do the van and WELCOME TO TEXAS YALL

yeah, thanks, thats what I was thinking too.. Fr0zty what kind of engine oil you use?? We are going to go Houston too, use to live there when I was a kid..

[fln8tive]

How much to rent two smaller vans or Pacificas? I have rented a very nice Dodge/Chrysler minivan for about $350/wk.

This way you have transpo options both enroute and upon arrival, (Six Flags vs The Galleria) folks can mix and match between cars, and who cares what gets spilled on the carpet? Those big 14-passenger vans are veeery uncomfortable after a couple of hours--they are 3/4 ton pickup trucks with bench seats.

[asawadude]

Originally Posted by accella4.4

How much to rent two smaller vans or Pacificas? I have rented a very nice Dodge/Chrysler minivan for about $350/wk.

This way you have transpo options both enroute and upon arrival, (Six Flags vs The Galleria) folks can mix and match between cars, and who cares what gets spilled on the carpet? Those big 14-passenger vans are veeery uncomfortable after a couple of hours--they are 3/4 ton pickup trucks with bench seats.

accella4.4 is spot on. Those LWB 12 seater vans are extremely unconfortable. Who wants to ride 4000 miles in a shuttle van? It will be especially tough for children and seniors.

Get two comfortable plush riding vans, some of which come equipped with SAT radio, DVD players, and GPS.

[motordavid]

Duuno what you mean by "west TX",: big area, but 4K miles will
"cost" aprox "each car" about $2Gs worth of "stuff", at 50cts per
miles, (gas, oil, derpreciation, wear, etc.)...that half a buck/mile
may be low, too.

So, the van is a better deal if you can all stand to be packed into
one car for that long ride. I'd check out the van carefully: those
seating capacities are often for skinnyazz fannies and shoulder to
shoulder seating: ok for a 5 min ride from airport to remote parking
lot, not ok for a couple days packed like sardines. I also assume
that 1200 bucks for the van is sans gas or fuel...

either way, it's a pricey trip.

No prob on the X "making it" vis a vis your oil weight, "service interval", etc. Just a lot of hardazz miles and some serious ambient temps.

People still move to "west Texas"?!
GL,mD

[94502]

Yeah if we get the van then we will have no more than 10 people in it so it will be 2 people in each roll of seat..

[4.6is Ryder]

Take I-10...I've made the drive about 3 times from San Diego to Houston...It took me about 28 hours or so and I was by myself. You'll know when you hit Houston....4 of those hours will be sitting in the traffic ....Phil

[SuaveX5]

Originally Posted by dkl

Rent the van. The $600 dollar saving is really false as it will cost you A LOT more if you factor your "wear and tear" costs into the equation as well.