a commuting what car

[RealSquirrels]

apparently it's normal to say: sorry for posting a what car...

so... looking to commute from the centre of edinburgh to the centre of glasgow-ish. currently have no car (shame on me). trip is about 50 miles each way. a motorway commute with city centre driving at each end. train is expensive and a train (all in £420 ish a month). car might be cheaper.

was wondering about a fiat 500 for this commute. 40ish mpg in the real world hopefully should make car compete with train price wise. any other options? reasonably new because of relatively high mileage. budget... £200 a month, 10k ish?

i really have no clue about this so would appreciate the input.

[RealSquirrels]

The Crack Fox said:

Have you got free parking when you arrive? What is traffic like during rush hour? It's not very PH to admit this but I think I'd be taking the train for this kind of journey.

train is a walk to the station, a train, a tube, a walk so adds up to maybe 30 minutes more than the time in traffic, according to google using it's 'current conditions' thing, which i normally find pretty accurate.

parking is available for free/not much at the other end

motorbike is definitely a no-no, my cat wouldn't like it.

bigger cars... I am sure they are better but they are more expensive! I'd like to stick relatively new just to keep the costs more predictable.

[RealSquirrels]

I prefer small cars, why lug around a load of useless metal you don't need when a smaller car will be lighter and more nimble, etc.

[RealSquirrels]

Is that true? It doesn't look that bad on paper. 1 series is a good call and i like minis but partner has ruled them out for some reason...

[RealSquirrels]

I hadn't considered the aygo, I guess they are pretty reliable if a bit boring.

I don't get the comments on the drive being better than the train. the train takes longer. ok the drive is long (say... 75 minutes for about 50 miles?) and slow for the distance and being on a motorway, but if you just accept that you're not going to be going very fast, surely it's better than the train for flexibility and the shorter time?