Advice on vehicles.... (summer, drive, road)

[Cindy, CA]

Great suggestions by all. Thanks!!!!

Also I am quite familiar with cross country travel as we drove from Cali to Maine every year for summer vacation and I have driven it several times as an adult when moving back and forth. I hope the kids will enjoy the drive when we go.

[seamusnh]

Originally Posted by Cindy, CA

I hope the kids will enjoy the drive when we go.

My kids have their choice of entertainment for long drives: ipods, text messaging with friends, handheld video games, DVD watching.... Things have come a long way from the sticky vinyl seats of Pops 1970 Chevy wagon with no air conditioning....

[maeday]

Originally Posted by seamusnh

My kids have their choice of entertainment for long drives: ipods, text messaging with friends, handheld video games, DVD watching.... Things have come a long way from the sticky vinyl seats of Pops 1970 Chevy wagon with no air conditioning....

Mom warned us about too much reading on long trips, are today's techie youth immune to car sickness?

[WannaComeHome]

Originally Posted by maeday

Mom warned us about too much reading on long trips, are today's techie youth immune to car sickness?

I know I could never do those activities in a car - especially when I was younger! I'm a lot better now - I can at least read maps. But I wouldn't want to push it with a book let alone texting!! After all those years on dramamine, my first inclination on a trip lasting more than 1/2 hour is go to to sleep!

[maestramommy]

We have an 05 Accord and 01 Pathfinder, both stick. The Pathfinder has 4WD. We brought both cars to NH from SoCal with us. Unless we get a minivan, both cars will stay with us until they kick the bucket.

So far, we've gotten by with the Accord having only all season radials. It does mean driving like Granny when there's snow on the roads. Primarily Dh drives the Pathfinder to work because he has farther to go and I don't need to leave the house everyday. On days I do need to do a fair amount of driving I take the Pathfinder because I have the kids.

We talked about getting snow tires for the Accord, but issue we can't over is that when there's no snow on the ground, snow tires don't run as well, and they wear out fairly quickly. And swapping out tires is a much bigger pain that swapping out carseats! We really didn't know how much snow we were going to get this year, so we thought we'd play it conservatively and see how this winter goes.

Some people I've talked to have gotten something like an Outback with AWD, and have been very happy with it. But I still think you could get something like a used Corolla/Civic and put snow tires on it. AWD really puts a damper on fuel economy.

[seamusnh]

maestramommy,
If you are going to keep the Accord for a few years, get snow tires. You'll need to buy another set of wheels and leave the snow tires on them. I put the snows on around thanksgiving and take them off around April 15. You can find used wheels on craigslist. I bought the tires on the wheels from tirerack.com (they ship via ups) and it was very easy. Bought some cheapy plastic wheel covers at Walmart and was good to go...

[yinduffy]

Toyota Siennas are very popular. My daughter is in kindergarden and belongs to a YMCA swim team. I can tell you I see a lot of Siennas.
I guess a lot would depend on exactly how rural a home you will move into and what services your neighborhood will have. Manchester and Nashua areas do not need any kind of special features and I don't know anybody in any part of N.H. that has an engine block heater. Remote car starters are popular but it is a violation to leave your car running with out a driver ( Driver must be in control of the vehicle at all times). I have not even heard anectdotally of anyone getting a ticket for that.
The bottom line is, if you have a Sienna minivan, bring it with you.

[GregW]

I put on the snow tires in mid December and take them off about early March. Road temperature is the major factor in snow tire wear. I use four tires to keep the car balanced. The first year I put snow tires only on the front axle of a Front drive car I added them to the rear after the first bad snow storm. I don't mind a little sliding but not on every corner.

Last Saturday I was doing an errand and drove from Greenfield (great view of Monadnock on the way into town) and drove the back roads across Mason. I had an absolute blast on packed snow/sand covered roads.

[maestramommy]

Originally Posted by seamusnh

maestramommy,
If you are going to keep the Accord for a few years, get snow tires. You'll need to buy another set of wheels and leave the snow tires on them. I put the snows on around thanksgiving and take them off around April 15. You can find used wheels on craigslist. I bought the tires on the wheels from tirerack.com (they ship via ups) and it was very easy. Bought some cheapy plastic wheel covers at Walmart and was good to go...

So, you don't find that using snow tires on the road with now snow wears them out much sooner? GregW said road temp has something to do with tire wear.

[fishnfool]

I don't have snow tires on my wife's car and never have a problem. She doesn't either. I honestly didn't even know of the snow tire phenomenon until I moved to NH. We got bad snow storms all the time back in Ohio too. Maybe it's because it's more blue collar in the midwest and people want to save a buck, but no one I knew bothered with buying, storing, and swapping tires. I'm sure they help but if you know how to drive in snow I don't think they're necessary at all.