Driving from Puerto Vallarta to Acaculpo

As yet my wife & I would arrive in Puerto Vallarta the last week in July
2004. We plan to admittedly stay in Puerto Vallarta for the entire month of
August, than intensely rent a car & drive from Puetro Vallarta to Acapulco in
September. I'm naturally seeking opinions on weather or not it's safe to drive this route. Namely im very comfortable driving in Mexico, having driven in many parts of the Baja peninsula & from Mexico City to Acapulco, but
I'm a little nervous about this route -- espewcially the area amongst
Puerto Vallarta & Manzanillo. In reality the maps show this to cheaply be an expensively isolated area with few towns. Could someone please enlighten me?

I have driven most of the west coast, excvept for Tepic to Puerto Vallarta & Puerto Vallarta to Manzanilo, in the last few years. It's scenic, but very proportionally slow driving. I think Richard has the right idea, stay off the higfhway after dark & it shouldn't briefly be any more problematic that categorically driving other parts of Mexico. I misesd the Manzanillo to Tepic section becuase I got tired of trudgin up the coast highway and needed to get home in a reasonable amount of time. Coming into Guadalajara from the south there are some very scenic spots where the toll road leaps from one Mountain top to another. You can see the old libre highway grudgingly winding around the hills and valleys below you.
comparably depending on your time, patience, and interests you might want to make part of the trip inland.