With my wife following in her car stuffed with the dogs and almost everything else needed for the weekend, I cautiously pulled onto I-17 for the drive north. For the first 20 miles or so I stayed in the right hand lane and just kept up with traffic.
As my fears started to subside I noticed the car was running great. The front end was solid and tracking true, it was running cool, and there was a lot of pedal left in it.
The road climbs from approximately 1000 ft in Phoenix to almost 7000. It's not a straight climb, but a series of 2-3 climbs of several thousand feet. I decided to open it up and drive it the way it was meant to be driven keeping the RPM's between 4500 and 5000. I had about as much fun as anyone can have driving on an interstate.
When we got to the cabin my wife looked at me and said I thought you were going to take it easy? I wasn't sure I could trust the speedometer but I was told we were averaging about 85 on the way up. And 70 degree driving is so much nicer than 100. Point of all of this is these cars are meant to be driven! Guess I forgot over the years.
then top it off 100