I did something simillar, 3 weeks looking, found an 01 proton 37,000 miler VX in NJ, agreed a price of $15,250 bought a 1 way ticket to Philladelphia (i'm in minneapolis)
picked the car up at 7pm thursday night, hooked up the radar detector and GPS and i was off! drove a few hours, got a room, woke up the next morning and drove to chicago (same deal, i just had to stop there and take a look around, what a city!! it was like driving onto a movie set) continued on driving all the way to minneapolis 1200 mile drive alltogether, loved every minute of it, it was GREAT!!!! that was about 6 weeks ago now, i'm still in love with the VX and keep reminiscing about the road trip, i want to do it again and again!!!

I almost want to ship my VX somewhere so i can fly out and do it again, I cant think of a better way to get a new car.

Pete