Im with you there..for the past 2 months, and until june 8th, I have been and will be putting 1000 miles a week on my z as well. before that it was 500 miles a week. And like you, a lot of it is spent on the I-5, only in southern cali. I wouldn't do the drive in any other car.

 

Absolutely no question- drive the car. This is what the 350z was made for, it is a GT car. I think the driver's seat in the 350z is horrifically uncomfortable, especially after it "breaks in" a bit, but you can easily do it by taking breaks every 3 hours. Shipped cars are prone to scratches, dents, and other issues, and this is just a near shot. Suppose you take two days, stay overnight in a hotel halfway, and stop for breaks often, you will be fine.

 

is your Z a garage queen? if so then yes i would understand being cautious and meticulous about driving it anywhere. if not, then drive it! take many sightseeing and rest breaks to make the trip enjoyable. live a little!

 

Just got home from a 300 mile drive, i drive the hell out of mine. Couple years ago i drove it from Vegas to Kenosha, then from Kenosha to San Diego, all in 2 weeks.

 

I personally don't find the 350Z's seat uncomfortable at all. But again, as I stated in post 1, I have developed back pain in the Z once w/a much shorter drive than Seattle to San Jose. It's unclear if it's due to "comfort", lack of support somewhere, the stiff, bouncy suspension or a combination.

My concern is possible back pain from my Prius drive (had it before, doing ~1000 miles in a trip), otherwise normally never happens coupled w/doing it right after in the Z, which again has caused me pain on a shorter drive.

As for damage to shipped cars, yes, I had some damage that DAS (who shipped it before) paid for. My last shipment w/Plycar was in an enclosed trailer and had 0 damage.

I have to stop at a hotel halfway anyway. I've done this drive before and it would be unsafe for me to do it solo in one shot.
No, it's not a garage queen. Don't care about the racking up miles on it. The funny part is that it my 04 Z has only ~1K miles more than my 06 Prius right now.

I'll look into sightseeing along the way (if there's anything I'd care about). I'm not an outdoorsy person and already did the sightseeing in and around Portland (city itself, Vista House, "Women's Forum", waterfalls, visited a friend there, etc.) on the drive up.

I've driven San Jose <-> Seattle area on 2 other round trips, in the distant past, but with help.

 

In July I'll be driving mine from Seattle to Vegas (staying for a week) then back to Seattle. I'm really looking forward to it and am still planning my route. I used to make annual trios to Le Mans (when I lived in London) and I really miss those long adventures.

 

Unless I am totally missing something, it is crystal clear to me that your back pain is the issue here. Is the prius really that much more comfortable? You mentioned earlier that you also don't find the Z to be an uncomfortable care to be in so that made me wonder, will your back still hurt if you drive the prius? I understand the bumpy-ness and loud cabin but hey when I drive my Z on the highway (racking up the miles : / ) I am not irritated by any of these factors and I have the Nismo suspension which is supposed to be a lot stiffer. I would say take the Z, you are on a 350Z forum after all. It may sounds funny but maybe some kind of additional padding can be used to help? Just throwing that out there.

 

Drove to Vegas last year from Portland and boy was the route boring! the quickest way is to take the easterly highways in the back country as opposed to I5.

Going to drive to Vegas again on the end of June.

Make sure you have an ipod adaptor

 

Back pain is by far the primary issue. I can tolerate the high road noise and lousy stereo for the sake of saving $ vs. getting the Z shipped. I don't care about the miles being added to it and the gas costs + hotel are still way less than getting it shipped.

It's tough for me to give a meaningful comfort comparison (besides ride and road noise) between the two cars, but I'd say the Z's seat is more comfortable. But, the Prius' by FAR has a smoother ride and far less bouncy suspension (nowhere as good as my former 02 Maxima though).

As I stated in post 19, the only time I have suffered back pain in my Prius was on the drive from the San Jose -> Seattle w/a bunch of sightseeing near Portland, racking up ~1000 miles in 3 days. I'd never had a problem w/back pain in the Prius on (shorter) long drives.

I've suffered back pain in my Z once in a much shorter drive than the above (see post 1). Z has intentionally never taken on long (300+ miles) road trips.

I will be driving the Prius down. Will I get back pain from driving it 860 miles? Maybe but probably not. Then, I'd fly back up to the Seattle area and drive the Z down, it's additive, in a short time span. The risk is increased vs. me driving only 1 car down.

Yeah, I'll look into some sort of extra padding... Thanks for the idea. Not sure if anything will help that much though.

Yep, have had an iPod adapter for years for the Z.

 

I hate to chime in so late, but I drove my 06 from Sea to the Bay Area w/ the stock suspension and on Tanabe GF210's. I got pretty sore. I'm doing it again next Friday. I'll only be young once. Plan on numerous rest stops an ddon't try sleeping in your driver seat. A butt pad will help for a while, but you'll know you were in a sports car for 12+ hours.

 

I'd drive the Z Only 20 years old here and already have back problems of a 60 year-old (no offense to you 60+'ers driving Z's ). I have to take stretch breaks on long trips in my 03, but it works out well. It's a non-smoking car, so when I've driven for awhile I typically will pull over every 2-3 hours to stretch, smoke, maybe grab a bite, whatever is convenient. I've made trips in boring old Ford pickups, and SUV's, and it's the most boring drive ever. I used to LOVE taking my old 95 Mustang on highway runs - I had a BLAST driving that thing, and the Z is 100x better on the highway. Enjoy the car, man, that's why we buy them.

 

I am in a similar dilemma. I live in Vancouver, but I'm constantly looking for a job in Cali. But at the same time, I want a 350Z to drive around in Vancouver, and if I do land a job in California, I thought about driving it down there, but it might be a rough trip.

Another option... have you tried asking your company to pay for relocation expenses to ship the car for you?

 

Unfortunately, that option isn't an option. I'm not working at the moment. I quit my job last year.

I plan to look for work in Cali once I get there, instead of doing it remotely.

I'm really leaning towards getting it shipped. The stress of me packing and cleaning my apartment (I have a ton of stuff), driving 860+ miles, then doing it again isn't too appealing now. If I actually get an injury from the drive down, that could be a lot worse than me biting the bullet for shipping.

 

i'll be leaving next saturday for L.A. let me get a uhaul trailer and haul your Z with my Z.

 

Thanks the offer but I'm going to decline.

I'm not too comfortable w/turning my car over to be hauled by someone I don't know. Also, you'd have to take a detour off your route to go San Jose (where the car needs to be) instead of continuing down I-5.

 

I say throw some painters tape on the front and drive it.

 

I just got back on Sunday from Driving a bit over 860 miles to Salt Lake City and then back. Great drive. I got my Z to drive and enjoy. I've put 30k miles on it in the three years I've owned it.

I just put two time-lapse videos of that drive in a thread

Check it out, then hit the road.

 

Just drive the Z. Long twisty roads at crusing speeds is what the Z was built for. I drive 500-1,000 miles a week in my Z and love every second of it.

 

On Wednesday drove from Oakland CA to Vancouver WA, took 9 1/2 hours and my 04' drove like a streamline butterfly the whole way
Drive it down to San Jose!!! The problem lies in your back, not what car you drive. You need to see a Chiropractor!

 

ill be leaving to vegas/L.A tomorrow

i was kidding about hauling your Z with mine. I love my baby too much to molest the thing.