I wrote this to a private request, so I thought I'd put it here also, in the event someone is ever looking for a day drive in the Phoenix area -- The Apache Trail is a beautiful choice.

AZ 88, aka the Apache Trail, is a spectacular drive. The route is about 50 miles one-way, not including your mileage to the starting point in Apache Junction. Depending upon where one is are staying in the greater Phoenix area, you'll probably add another 20ish miles to the start. I suggest allocating 5-7 hours total to do it justice. On the return, you can take state highways which are much faster than AZ 88, and still very beautiful country.

Any standard rental car will do fine, though personally I'd rent an SUV of some type. The road is mostly dirt, though frequented by cars & trucks pulling boats, as two very popular lakes are along the way.

Here is a good, concise website with a map and some general info.

Here's an article from the Arizona Republic that covers AZ 88 and the various sights along the way. They're all worth a stop, depending upon how much time you have.

Here is another article with some nice pictures. And here is part of an American Byways website devoted to it.