Florida Road Trip. Which car to use?

[disneywlf]

This July, I am planning to take a road trip with my parents from Westbury, NY to Highland Beach, FL (in between Boca Raton and Delray Beach) with a stop in Florence, SC. We would also have stopped at WDW, but due to my mom's mosquito allergies, we cannot go there. However, we have a dillema whether we should use my mom or dad's car. My mom drives a 2011 Mercedes-Benz C3004MATIC, which is fully loaded with a navigation system with traffic information and an iPod interface. While she would like to take the C300, she leases it and is worried about putting too many miles on it (12K mile allowance and has 1,500 miles already). An alternative would be to use my dad's 2004 Mercedes-Benz C2404MATIC, which is owned and has 30,000 miles (bought in 2011). His car is not quite as roomy and does not have a navigation system or iPod hookup. However, we could use a Garmin and a cassette iPod hookup and/or CDs. Should we take the C300 for the room, power, and useful features or the C240? Any other roadtrip advice would be appreciated as well. Thanks again!

 

[Alexander]

What?????????

 

[disneywlf]

Alexander, I don't know what you are referring to, but there are a lot of mosquitos in the Summer, which my mom allergic to. As much as she loves Disney, she realized the summer would not be doable for WDW .

 

[Orlando Vic]

This July, I am planning to take a road trip with my parents from Westbury, NY to Highland Beach, FL (in between Boca Raton and Delray Beach) with a stop in Florence, SC. We would also have stopped at WDW, but due to my mom's mosquito allergies, we cannot go there. However, we have a dillema whether we should use my mom or dad's car. My mom drives a 2011 Mercedes-Benz C3004MATIC, which is fully loaded with a navigation system with traffic information and an iPod interface. While she would like to take the C300, she leases it and is worried about putting too many miles on it (12K mile allowance and has 1,500 miles already). An alternative would be to use my dad's 2004 Mercedes-Benz C2404MATIC, which is owned and has 30,000 miles (bought in 2011). His car is not quite as roomy and does not have a navigation system or iPod hookup. However, we could use a Garmin and a cassette iPod hookup and/or CDs. Should we take the C300 for the room, power, and useful features or the C240? Any other roadtrip advice would be appreciated as well. Thanks again!

You're asking a bunch of strangers which car you should take???

Since your parents own the two cars in question, why don't you let them decide?

 

[Alexander]

You're asking a bunch of strangers which car you should take???

Since your parents own the two cars in question, why don't you let them decide?

Thank you. I couldn't find a nice way to say this!

 

[disneywlf]

Yes, but my parents wanted me to ask on here since maybe I could get some input from experienced road trippers. Anyway, we decided on which car to take. Thank you for your help anyway.

 

[prncess674]

This is why I hate leases. You own a car appropriate for a trip, but yet you are fearful of the "lease police." Next time just buy the car outright and sell it when you are done. There is very rarely an upside to leasing. If your mother could only afford the MB via leasing then she should have been looking at cheaper cars.

 

[cslittle999]

I would go with the larger car. That's a fairly long drive and you'll want the extra space. On the other hand the drive is close to 1300 miles one way so you'll have to decide if you can afford to add that many miles on the leased car.

 

[Paging Tom Morrow]

How long has she had the lease? At 12k per year, that's 1k miles per month. If she got the care on Jan 1, she's basically right on target. If she got it before that, she's under mileage at this point.

Without any other data, I would say that if she got the car on or before November 1, 2010, and her local driving patterns won't change, she'll have plenty of mileage available to "eat" the mileage associated with the long drive to/from Florida.

That being said, if I had the $$$ for two Mercedes, I'd fly.

 

[Paging Tom Morrow]

Two more thoughts:

On the lack of a navi system....

To get to Florida take 95 South about 1200 miles. Since your a fellow Nassau County resident, I assume you know how to get to the GWB and NJ Turnpike and therefore 95. I wouldn't put much stock in not having a navi.

On the mosquito allergies....

What does Highland Beach do to eliminate mosquitoes that isn't done at WDW? I've been at WDW every August since 2004 and have never noticed mosquitoes. They are usually very aggressive with their spraying.

 

[disneywlf]

Two more thoughts:

On the lack of a navi system....

To get to Florida take 95 South about 1200 miles. Since your a fellow Nassau County resident, I assume you know how to get to the GWB and NJ Turnpike and therefore 95. I wouldn't put much stock in not having a navi.

On the mosquito allergies....

What does Highland Beach do to eliminate mosquitoes that isn't done at WDW? I've been at WDW every August since 2004 and have never noticed mosquitoes. They are usually very aggressive with their spraying.

As far as getting there, we know the way with no problem (we could also go via the Verrazano and through Staten Island) but it is handy to have the navigation, but we would be OK without it. Regarding the mosquitos, Disney World was built on swamp, which is where Mosquitos thrive, making it an issue for us to go in the summer. Highland Beach is right on the Atlantic, so it is not as bad for her. Thanks again and nice to meet a fellow Long Islander on Disboards!

 

[disneywlf]

Thank you for the information on the mileage. We got it at the end of December 2010, so I think we'll be OK! The only long driving we do is to Bergen County, NJ once in a while to see my granparents. I priced flying and driving, and driving won! Thanks again!

 

[disneywlf]

I would go with the larger car. That's a fairly long drive and you'll want the extra space. On the other hand the drive is close to 1300 miles one way so you'll have to decide if you can afford to add that many miles on the leased car.

I agree with you on taking the C300, it is a little better in the rear, but either vehicle is OK! Paging Tom Morrow gave me some good information on the lease, so I think we will be OK! Thanks again for your help!

 

[disneywlf]

Oh, and about having an MB, my dad is a salesperson at a Mercedes-Benz dealer, so he is able to lease our car at a very good price! We could lease from a nonluxury brand like Honda or Toyota, but that would cost just as much or more for my dad as he would have to pay down payments as well. We have looked into that, but he gets a break on cars due to a lower down payment and employee discounts.

 

[Obadiah Stane]

I would rent a car of your choice and drive that down. Put the miles on their hoopty, not yours.

 

[disneywlf]

I would rent a car of your choice and drive that down. Put the miles on their hoopty, not yours.

I don't know Obadiah Stane, that could be an option. Thank you for your input!

 

[disneywlf]

Ultimately, we decided to take the 2011 Mercedes-Benz C3004MATIC, which is the car with the navigation system. We figured that we will have sufficient mileage with our lease, so we would not exceed our mileage . In addition, my parents feel it is an absolute pleasure to drive, making it even more worth it. Thank you to everyone for your help and all the best!!