"Will Drive For Rims": Part 2 Indianapolis

The drive from NY to Indy was scheduled to be 12 hours long. I was planning to start at 10am so I could arrive at the hotel in Indianapolis by 10pm, about an hour earlier than I regularly check in when I fly into town.

Problem was some last minute office duties prevented me from leaving until around 1pm, so I was going to have little sleep before work the next day. So I loaded up my iPod, bought some coffee and chips, and went on my way right after.

The drive to Indy was unexpectedly pleasant. The car's iPod interface was excellent, far better than the one I had on my roadster (which was nigh unusable!). The drive was very quiet with nary a hint of engine noise unless I was gunning it; and the suspension soaked up all the bumps. Maybe the suspension was even a bit too soft with the 17 inchers. After the 1st hour of driving, I no longer had 2nd thoughts about trading my rims for 18". With my favorite podcasts playing on an excellent 11-speaker stereo system, sitting comfortably on quality leather seats, and the beautiful view driving through the Poconos, it was almost equivalent to my lounging around on my sofa in the living room. The hours passed by pleasantly. Every now and then I would get a call, automatically routed through the car's bluetooth, and no more strugging with headsets, or lowering the stereo volume.

As it turned dark and it started to rain, I finally made my peace with the AWD and high seating position, things which I had always equated with a bad drive. The AWD kept me confident in the slick roads, and the high seating position also meant high headlight mounting, which makes for better visibility at night, far better than both the Accord and the Spyder. Plus the self-dimming mirrors and the parking sonar, it makes this a damn safe car.

One thing I realized I did not want though, was the sunroof. I kept on opening it, but always ended up closing the sunroof after a couple of minutes because of sound intrusion as well as glare. I had fixated on sunroofs for years because I never had a car with one. But as it turned out, if I wanted sun on my skin while driving, I would have taken out the roadster instead.

I arrived in Indy around 1am, with me exhausting the contents of the iPod and surfing between satellite radio stations. Except for a stiff arm from driving I felt relaxed, and not even tired. This was far different from my trip in the MR2, where I was physically exhausted, and with a terrible ringing in my ear from the sound of the engine right behind my back. The Infitini I realized, was built to eat up the miles.

Wish the mileage was better though. On purely highway driving I only managed a measly 25MPG. To compare, on the highway the Accord makes 30MPG, and the Spyder 34MPG.