Hey guys my girlfriend and I are planning on road tripping from our home in Madison, WI down to Sarasota, FL over winter break. We're trying to figure out which car to take

She has a 1999 Chevy Prizm with 188k miles. It runs fabulous but burns a ton of oil and is only a 3 speed which is a screamer on the highways.

My alltrac is the other option. Its an 89 with 172k miles. It burns zero oil and has a bunch of new parts but is pretty rusty and old. My main concern is that i dont know when the timing belt was done last.

I know neither one is ideal, but what are your opinions/choices for me?

Also how long have to travelled in your alltrac? This trip would be the record for mine by far. I have only gone 1 hour out of town with it so far.

A 3-speed?   I've heard of 4 speed manauls, but 3?  I couldn't cope!

I think the All-Trac has a maximum recommended speed.  I'll check in my owner's manual, which is where I think I read something about that.  Maybe you could rent a car for the trip?  Not sure how that would price out, though, compared to just taking your own vehicle.

Sarasota is about 1½ hours south of where I live.  If you take the All-Trac, you should stop by on the way down/up, we could have our first All-Trac Wagon forum meet

Her prizm is automatic, lol. Its tachless, but I'd imagine rpm doing 65 to be 3500-3800 ish so yeah not the greatest on the highway. That said, it does get right around 40 mpg on roadtrips although it used about 8 quarts of oil just to get from Madison to St Paul (5ish hours all interstate).

I'm pretty confident that my alltrac can make the trip. Mechanically its pretty darn solid (I know as I've gone through most of the car myself). I just have to get my gf to drive stick shift for the trip I am also very experienced the art of roadside repair thanks to some of my older cars

Renting a vehicle is not really an option as we are broke college kids although that would be sweet.

Also we considered flying but we both hate airports and would really rather road trip it.

Also as far as maximum speed, I'm pretty sure I've reached it. Pedal to the floor for about 2 full minutes got me to 99 mph with nothing left to give But at least i beat the jeep liberty i was racing against!

I live in Western Canada and have taken my auto all-trac on runs through mountain passes on highways 3 and 5 with the air conditioning blazing.  I love my all-trac, but find it somewhat gutless on those big hills.  I suppose if I floored it the whole way I could cruise at 90-100 KPH, but I don't think that is a good idea for a car with 270 KMs on it.  Driving the Canadian Rockies would also pose a workout for the wagon.  At least it screams coming down the passes

I throw mine up and down the Northern California coast between Arcata and SF all the time, going 55-65 the whole way. 600 miles round trip. I'm planning to drive it from Arcata to Seattle in a few weeks, then out to Western CO this summer. I never floor the poor thing (although I do wonder what a 4AFE engine would look like in my rear-view mirror! ), and I motor along in 4th mostly - my All-Trac has leaked out so many horsies out over its 22 years and 206,000 miles of life...

I say rock the All-Trac wagon on your journey south. It's like bringing a motel with you! Eight quarts of oil isn't burning, it's guzzling. Yikes.    

PS - next time you're out at the UW student union, sit in one of those cool chairs for me.

The question is witch car is in better condition. Any car in good condition car make that kind of trip... it is more a matter of comfort. I like my All-trac very much because it like a "old glove" to me... but I know there many car offer more comfort… and some other have better fuel economy. The 1.6L is already an almost old tech motor!

My car have 343 000km (213 000 miles) and I used it to travel everywhere in Québec... making several 1000km to 2000km (621 - 1242 miles) round trip with it for my job (some in winter storm). OK, it not the Canadian rockies, but we have good up and down road here. It’s not rare to travel in Provincial Park without service for almost 250 km

I'm not scare at all but I always bring with me my tool and I'm confident about the mechanic because I do all my repair by myself and I know where I can “push” my Corolla.

I other hands, if you ask me if I can make a trip from Montréal to Florida with my 343 000km All-trac…. Sure I will make it… even if it can be is last journey !

So… is you man. Chose the car your are more confident with.

I driven mine from Southern California to the Bay Area (where I went to college) and back twice, and to Phoenix area and back once, each time with no problem.  Each of these trips are about 400+ miles each way.  And the car had over 190K miles on it for each trip (the odometer is now about 207,000 miles).  I especially liked the Southern California to Phoenix trip; it was hot (120F (40+ C) in Phoenix), but the All-Trac drove better in really hot weather than colder weather.  It helps to have a good radiator, use synthetic motor oil, and make sure the differential fluid is to the correct level, and that the differential breather is working.

I just got back from a 240-mile round trip to San Diego (California) to visit some college friends of mine, and didn't have any problems.

The longest I do any regular trips is driving a once-a-month 150-miles round trip to a warehouse/aircraft hangar (the non-profit with which i work uses it to store our supplies for our medical missions).

Not to go too far off topic, but what weight of synthetic motor oil do you use Datsa?  Also what/where is the differential breather?

This topic helps me feel more confident in taking my wagon on extended trips, like the 3 hour drive to Jacksonville, FL to visit a friend of mine, from where I live in the Tampa Bay area.

Oil weights anything inside the manufacturer recommendation. Check your owner manual. It should be something like 10W30. I have used synthetic oil for several years but I stop using synthetic oil since a year and a half in my All-Trac.

The breath is a little nipple on the rear diff. I allow the diff to «breath» air when the oil volumes change by the temperature variation.



So, get back to the road trip.

Come on guys, Come on!

People here have All-trac with a very highs mileage. Feel worry for a 3h trip with a Corolla is, sorry, ridiculous.

Corolla (All-trac or not) are one of the BEST car ever built by a manufacturer…

If you make a correct and regular maintenance on your Corolla, you don’t have to worry about anything. You will probably be surprise how hard it is to kill a Corolla. Even people who don’t make the correct maintenance don’t see the end of there Corolla.

Guys, your car is talking to you. If you can drive more than 3h each week, you probably can drive 3h stretch with it.

Period.

Quoted from Rogue

Not to go too far off topic, but what weight of synthetic motor oil do you use Datsa?  Also what/where is the differential breather?

This topic helps me feel more confident in taking my wagon on extended trips, like the 3 hour drive to Jacksonville, FL to visit a friend of mine, from where I live in the Tampa Bay area.

I currently use 5W30 for cold weather driving and 10W40 for warm weather driving.  As far as brands, I have been using Valvoline Synthetic and Mobil-1.  I considered getting Amsoil, but the cost differential was substantial since I could get these other two at discount.  Of course, prior to switching to synthetics, I used plain old dinosaur oil 5W30 with no problem, typically Castrol or some store brand.  I just changed that oil more frequently than I do the synthetic brands now.  Assuming your engine is in good shape, I see no problem in a 3 hour trip.  Took a 2.5 hour  trip to San Diego the other day, and yesterday a 90 minute trip to Dana Point to pick up a spray gun: I'm going to repaint the All-Trac this winter break!

I drove my 89 several times between northern minnesota and southeastern michigan. 900 miles one-way.
I usually took the route through the Upper Peninsula, but did go through chicago...ONCE. I got caught in some bad traffic and was blasting the heater to help dissipate some of the heat the engine was building.
When that all-trac bent the clutch fork I drove the 900 miles without using the clutch, rough deal, but I made it. I got a new car in minnesota, and it's been sitting in a garage since. It has 212,000 miles on it, but if I ever get the time fix it, I'm confident it could go another 100,000 (however, it was granny owned until 171,000).

The past few weeks I've been putting 250+ miles per day for work-related errands.  I'm driving to Mexico at the end of this month, another 250-mile round trip as well.  Nos vemos.

hey guys just an update the all trac has been pretty much flawless on the trip. I made it down to florida no problem right now I'm somewhere in kentucky at a motel on the return trip. Only problem I have is a leaky tire but thats my fault anyway . Trip is just over 1500 miles each way. Car has burned exactly zero drops of oil and gotten a best of 32 mpg although it averages 30 exactly.

Quoted from Jcmcc

Car has burned exactly zero drops of oil and gotten a best of 32 mpg although it averages 30 exactly.

Great!  The best mpg I've got has been 31 mpg. There are 3 oil leaks (oil pan, distributor, and perhaps head gasket [!]), but mine probably does burn oil as well.  I'll get around to fixing those leaks soon enough, then I can see just how much oil it does burn.

Mine's an 89 model with 34000 on the clock. I don't treat it too kindly at all. I do my own servicing & drive it pretty hard almost always.

When it's snow season I do several weekend snowboarding day trips that are 550Km's in one day.

Toyota's never die

I've done several 1000km/day trips, with 9-10hrs of straight driving. Arrive, eat, do business, turn around drive home.

I've done one trip into the mountains that was 1400km but it was 700 in and 700 out, and I stayed for a couple days... I also drive my car much harder than I should, its often above 4,000 RPM on the highway for long periods while I do 130-140km/h.

I bought it 14 months ago and I've gone from 173,000km to 217,000km so 44,000km in a year! LOTS of that is city driving too, and I drive it like its a race car.

<3 Toyota

yeah toyota engineers did well to get the power range they did out of such a small engine (it can be improved tho!) the peak power/torque range of the 4afe is around 4750rpms so I'm not suprised you drive it above 4000. When you consider redline is at 6300 ...sounds like you were driving in the sweet spot. - The car would love it.

It's worth mentioning actually most engine wear /&damage is done on start up when the engine's cold & of course dumping the clutch!

When I say I drive hard I generally mean revs & cornering ( love that awd! ) I generally like to let each gear wind right out to what I estimate to be around 5200 to 5700 ( no tacho )
There's a certain resonance/vibration that shakes the whole car when rev'd too high, I generally take her right up next to this range without actually going into it - the accelerations begins to level out at that point anyway...  but I try not to push it on start up - ya gotta let 'em warm up & breathe right - then you can flog 'em  

It's been a few years, but Oregon to Anchorage AK was my longest...about 5,000 miles round trip- I added a couple more up there.  I'd do it again in my 1992 if I had the time and a motive.

Starting in the late 60's  I have bought and sold of hundreds of used cars.  I have owned many many cars that were 'on their last leg' and made them last not by pushing them to their limts but by babying them. When I see the earlier entries about driving cars hard I am thinking that these folks dont know much about metalurgy.  Every moving and non moving part for that matter has only a limited life. The clock is ticking on them all. Friction and heat are the enemy and anything you can do to eliminate or minimize or postpone this , this prolongs the useablity of a car. It takes only one very inexpensive part to break on your All Tracs to render them scrap value. The longer you baby a car the more reliable a car you have.  I am out in the mtn west and frankly I am tiring of doing a multiple hundred part ' condition inventory' of what is the number of  the crucial parts. Even a small road trip there is always a calculated risk that I will be stranded on some lonesome stretch of road with car load of passengers and their gear- trying to and find that one dollar part [not to mention the $1k part] that had failed. I assure you that when its 10 degrees and you are crawling under a car perched on ice and a teetering jack you will remember vividly everytime you drove your car 'hard'. The car gods do not like to be scorned.  gt,  boise, id

Quoted from ajmcafee

I throw mine up and down the Northern California coast between Arcata and SF all the time

I miss living in Northern California.  Lived there for 19 years, including school (Berkeley!).  In my west Berkeley street, there were 3 identical maroon/burgundy All-Tracs.

Quoted from ajmcafee

Eight quarts of oil isn't burning, it's guzzling. Yikes.    

  Sounds like a leak somewhere or bad valves or piston rings.  Time for some internal engine work!

The longest trip I did was from SoCal (where I live now) to Berkeley/Oakland, and back, about 1000 miles.
I also put close to that from LA to Phoenix, spent 3 months in Phoenix suburb, and drove back.  On that trip I was averaging close to 32 mpg highway.

My longest in this thing so far has been about 3000km round trip tour of the mountains west of here. This summer it will likely get a slightly longer trip, but through the flat prairies east of here, a little easier on the engine.

Its nicer on the highway than in the city, less noise when you turn the stereo up, and of course way better views.