Road trip starting in New York - First time

[khaurum]

Hi there.
My friend and i are planning to do a crosscountry roadtrip through the United States here in april.
It's our first roadtrip, but i've done quite a lot of research.
We have decided to start either on the west coast and end in New york (where i live) or start in New York and end on the west coast.
Our plan is to buy a car and if we start in New york we would probably sell it (or we would drive back again), and if we started on the west coast we would buy the car there and i would sell it in New York.
We can't lease a car because we both are 20 years old at the time.
I'm writing here to maybe get some tips on where, witch and how to buy a used here in the states - maybe some tips about what route to take (we talked about route 66), and at last the timeframe - how long should we expect to use to get back and though or just the one way, and how easy is it to find a decent car on the west coast.
I know its a lot of questions and not quite specific - and i hope that you'll bit in with whatever you have to say.

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

If you live in NY and have the time available I would purchase a car at home and drive 'there' and back. It will give you time to find a suitable car and make sure that it is serviced and checked over for reliability before leaving, and give you time to re sell it at it's proper value privately when you return. To sell it in California you would have to sell it at trade value, which will be a lot less than you paid for it and as I understand it go through a tough emissions test to make it worth anything.

If you don't have the time for a loop, I would simply plan on doing a shorter road trip and wait until you have the time and vehicle to do a complete trip to the West coast or in a position to rent.

[khaurum]

How long time should i expect to use to go from new york to the west coast and back again? if i expect to travel each day, but still have time to stop by and "enjoy"?
Thanks for the quick answer!

[Southwest Dave]

You will have to decide for what you want to stop for and for how long, but the driving part of your trip would really need a minimum of 11/12 days depending on your destination. That would be full days on the road with only time for short breaks for food and bathroom breaks, to fill with gas and stretch the legs. To start to make it enjoyable and see things along the way and perhaps drive from San Fran to LA, I would allow at least 3 weeks.

[khaurum]

We talked about traveling for 4-7 weeks. Going to san Francisco or LA or both would be nice - probably visiting grand canyon on the way too... Is that to expect too much? Witch route would be nice - were looking for nature, the rural america and then maybe visiting some big cities too - we ought to do it as cheap as possible.
I know i'm not very specific, but i really just want some ideas to work from - we are both openminded and looking forward for a great trip.

[Southwest Dave]

You should take a good look around the forums and other road trip planning pages in the tool bars above. The Map centre is a good place to look at routes and find attractions along the way. From New York to San Fran along the coast to LA and back to NY would be close to 2 weeks driving with no sight seeing. Taking a different route either way will let you see more variety and I would look into exploring some of the National parks of Colorado and Southern Utah and the likes of Yosemite in California and head back on a more Southerly route through Nevada, Arizona [Grand canyon] and New Mexico etc on the way home.

A big difference between 4-7 weeks and this and your budget will have to be considered in your planning. When you have some dots on the map and need help filling in the blanks just ask !

Camping is always a budget friendly option that can also be a lot of fun, if it's your 'thing' that is.