How much would it cost to drive from NY to LA?

Question

I'm planning trip next year and we'll be driving cross country, NY to LA.

How much, in terms of dollar per mile would it cost me.

Yahoo maps has the distance down as 2808.4 miles, we'll be taking the Route 66 highway so it might work out a bit more than that.

I'm planning trip next year and we'll be driving cross country, NY to LA.

How much, in terms of dollar per mile would it cost me.

Yahoo maps has the distance down as 2808.4 miles, we'll be taking the Route 66 highway so it might work out a bit more than that.

(I live in the UK, prices for petrol here are on average £4 a gallon which is $7.60 so I dont need to hear moaning about "outrageously expensive" $3 a gallon prices)

Answer 1

first things first : European gas prices are not relevant in America. There is no where in europe that you can drive in one direction for 48 hrs at mean speed of 70 mph..
A significant amount of Rt 66 no longer exists, there are some short stretches of it in A Z & NM so if you actually want to follow Rt 66 you will have to do a lot of research. If you really need to do this ;drive NYC to downtowm Chicago If you Google Rt66 you will find more than enough infformation
regardless of what mapquest says i think the fastest and prettiest way from NYC to La is
Pick-up Interstate 80 on the other side of the George Washington Bridge in NYC
Stay on 80 for 1700 miles or so
west on I-76 at Julesberg nebraska
pick up I-70 in Denver up and over the Rockies
At the jct of I-15 go south to Las vegas and onto LA
I have done that trip in 56 hours- of course it took me 2+ days to recover from it
If you are actually going to follow rt 66 with all the highways and by ways it will take you 5-7 days
If you do the route that I described 3-3.5 days
above 60 mph[100kph] gas mileage decreases as speed increases figure 25 mpg
3000miles at 25mpg=120 gallons of gasX $ 3.50 per gallon =$ 420 USD
Plus 2 nights in hotels @ $50.00 night 100
If you are renting a car rent the biggest rear wheel drive vehicle that they offer with V8 and unlimited mileage- Mercury Grand Marquis are great
No i have not lost it . On long trips driver comfort is of paramount importance and the $30 you may save on gas is not worth it. i own a Lincoln Town Car at highway sppeds it gets 24-26 mpg on regular gas witha 4.6 liter V8

Answer 2

That distance will take about 5 days if you drive within the speed limit and have only 1 driver who follows the guidelines for truckers with respect to hours driven per day (or if you want to drive during daylight to see the scenery). Five days driving means 4 night of motels (average about $50/night for good but not fancy).
I'll exclude meals since you would be eating if not traveling. At 20mpg you will use about 140 gallons of gas - at $3/gal = $420. If you are driving a rental car, you need to add the daily cost of the rental. If driving own car need to add approximately the same cost for maintenance, depreciation, etc that you spend for gas. You will also have tolls in some places. So I'd estimate the cost of the trip at about $1100+ or almost $.40/mile

Answer 3

the answer is (for two people) $5.69 per mile

I traveled in a VW van form Palmdale, CA to Herkimer, NY.
If you get the average 30 miles a gallon you'll need to buy about 100 gallons of gas. And than plan on about $25 a day per person for food and experiences. And have about $20 a night for camp grounds for everyone or $40 per person a night for motels. And have $1000 extra on a bank card, or credit card. Have a credit card to rent a car if you break down.
And money to do stuff like $25 a day per person
Gas will be about $4.20 a gallon.
It will take about 50 total driving hours to get there.
If you drive 5 hours a day you'll get about 300 miles
If you take you time and take 2 day off that 12 days
So that's

Gas $4.20x100 = $400/30 miles-gallon = $0.14
Extra divided per mile $1015/2900 miles = $0.35

Food (per person) $25 - day x 12 days = $300
divided by 300 mile a day = $1
Camping $20 - day x 12 days = $240
divided by 300 mile a day = $0.80
Or
Motel (per person) $40 - day x 12 days = $480
divided by 300 mile a day = $1.60
Fun (per person) $20 - day x 12 days = $240
divided by 300 mile a day = $0.80

So for two people at camps that's
$0.14+$0.35+($1 x 2 people= $2)+($0.80 x 2 people= $1.60)+($0.80 x 2 people= $1.60)= $5.69 per mile

for two people at motels is $0.80 more per mile or = $6.69 per mile

Answer 4

You have to know your car's miles per gallon and the price of gas when you set out. Then you would divide the total miles by the number of miles per gallon you get. Multiply that by the price of gas per gallon to get fuel costs. Then you will need to figure out lodging, meals and other incidentals.

Answer 5

Haha! Yeah right! With gas prices as high as they are these days! Well... I'd estimate around $600 for gas.

Dollar per mile... hmm around 28 cents per mile.

Have a good time and drive safely.

Answer 6

How many miles per gallon does your car get, take that and divide it into 2900 and you get your answer as to how many gallons, take that times 3 cause thats the average price you'll pay

Answer 7

With the price of gas today? Probably a gazillion dollars. Multiply about 4 times just to play it safe since gas prices are different in different places.

Answer 8

3000 miles / 30 miles per gallon= 100 gallons of gas....320 dollars
3000 miles / 20 miles per gallon=150 gallons of gas.....480 dollars
3000 miles / 10 miles per gallon=300 gallons of gas...960 dollars

Answer 9

You won't find many toll roads after you get out of the New York, Jersey, and Pennsylvania area. So it just depend on what route you take out of the New York area. It is possible to drive the entire trip without any tolls at all.

Answer 10

Figuring gas at $3.00 per gallon, and your car getting 30 mpg, approx. $280 one way

2900 x 3.00 / 30 = $280.00


change the gas dollar amount and gas mileage as needed.

roundtrip, figure high, $600