Flying to Mexico is a Vacation, Driving to Mexico is an Adventure.
Some short dash cam vids:
Unpaved "Road" to Coco's Corner
Ignoring stop signs in Ciudad Constitución
In August of Last year I picked up a non-running 1976 Lancia Beta coupe with 94,000 Miles on the clock. I chose to drive to Mexico as I’ve visited several times on vacation but my experience was limited to the resort city and surrounding area. Top Gear has taught me that travel by road is simply the best way to see a country.
Driving in Mexico
The scenery was absolutely spectacular at every turn. Even the endless straight flat sections had a certain beauty. The highways in Baja California are similar to US Pacific Highway 101 in that they are narrow, have little to no shoulder, and follow the contours of the land. In some ways I prefer the Baja highways over the 101 because traffic is so sparse and speed limits are better described as “speed suggestions”. The highway often aren’t fenced in which can result in animals appearing on the road including legit roadrunners and coyotes. The drivers in Mexico are also considerably better than the average North American too. No RV’s or trailers clogging the roads and slower vehicles will actually let you pass. I never hit a single traffic jam in all of Mexico, not even in rush hour because traffic flows so well. I found this surprising considering I can count the number of working traffic lights I encountered on one hand. La Paz, the Capital of Baja California Sur, has a population of 215,000 but has approximately 1 working traffic light. On the highways it is common practice for the car in front to indicate left when it is safe to pass, they usually aren’t indicating left because use of turn signals is pretty rare otherwise. Another practice is if the car in front of you spots a hazard, they turn on their Hazard lights and the car behind turns on their hazards and the message is passed backwards along the chain which is absolutely brilliant.
tl;dr: Great roads, Light traffic, amazing scenery, surprise road hazards.
The Military and Safety
Due to the ongoing struggle with the cartels there are several military checkpoints along the route down. They are looking for guns, drugs and people. If you aren’t smuggling any of those then you have nothing to worry about. They search your car, maybe ask you to open a bag or unwrap a souvenir snowglobe, ask you a few basic questions and let you go. At one military checkpoint the guard was the proud owner of a 1971 Ford Falcon; He told me my car was beautiful and let me go with a handshake. My interactions with the army were very positive. They were professional and had a visible presence throughout Baja which made me feel pretty safe. Recently there has been a spike in Cartel violence in La Paz, the Capital of Baja California Sur, but when I stopped at the Walmart I didn’t get the sense that the area was any more dangerous than the next except for more troops and bigger guns at the checkpoint.
When I broke down I wasn’t worried about people coming to rob me. In fact several people stopped to offer assistance before a roaming Nogales Verges (Roaming mechanic service equivalent to AAA) spotted me and called a tow truck. The people of Baja California are nice, incredibly friendly and helpful.
tl;dr: Its pretty safe, don't let the TV tell you how to think. Don't be an idiot and bad things won't happen. Nobody is out to rob you.
The Car
When things weren’t going wrong the car was absolute bliss. It sounds nice, rides nice, corners smooth. It is perfect for the narrow curvy highways of Mexico. People everywhere commented on my car or took pictures. It’s a pretty car and folks are friendly enough that they will come up and ask you about it.
As expected, many things went wrong with the car but nothing really left me stranded because whatever went wrong was usually a quick fix or wasn’t enough to warrant stopping. Most of my problems were either electrical or related to the pound of sand that found its way into my gas tank. The starter quit on me for a few hours after I drove through the deep water but started working again, better than ever, once it had dried out. On my way to Todos Santos for surfing my car started billowing smoke from the hood which turned out to be a cracked radiator; the car also didn’t start afterwards which turned out to be a blown head gasket. Luckily when the Head Gasket went I was only 40km from Cabo San Lucas so I got a tow back into a mechanic shop I had rented space from previously to do an oil change and flush a pound of sand out of my fuel tank. Since the motor is a popular Fiat plant, sourcing out a head gasket kit was relatively easy thanks to Rock Auto. While the head was in the machine shop I took the time to rewire my turn signals, brake lights, taillights, head lights, coil circuit. I replaced the dual points and condensers, spark plug wires, and plugs as well. It was an enormous relief when the car fired up after being torn apart and through so much. It was running better than ever but it was still overheating which turned out to be a faulty thermostat which I removed. On the return journey the only hiccup was crud plugging up the carburetor but a complete tear down and reassembly takes 5 minutes. Ultimately the trip in this car would have been impossible if I didn’t know how to fix cars.
My friends in the G35 and GTI had very few problems in comparison except for the unpaved sections. If you were to replicate this journey I would recommend you take something reliable yet not so pristine you won’t be devastated by a new ding or scratch. If you take the same route as I did I would recommend anything with a ground clearance of at least a family sedan. This is some of the damage my friends lowered G35 accumulated.
tl;dr: Car broke many times but was excellent when it wasn't broke. I would recommend something more reliable than a 76 Lancia if you aren't good at fixing cars.
Cost
Gas is about $1/L, $15/day for food, Hotels with AC start at around $25/night, $20 for a local simcard+ month of data, calling, text. Its pretty cheap.
Overall the trip was a great experience and would highly recommend Baja California as a road trip destination.
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