40 mile commute. What type of car?
Discussion
Well my round trip commute is also 40 miles (exactly!) and i commute in my 2000 registered 728i. why?
it's comfortable, quiet, generally very nice and doesn't bore the pants off me
running costs aren't exactly what you'd call cheap but i could spend 15k on finance on a Seat ibiza and be no better off in reality and, well, not be driving a 7 series. Doesn't stop me wanting a V8 though 
oh - E46 330ds are cracking cars, my dad had a late face-lifted manual 6 speed one (rare as hens teeth, it seems) from new for 3 years and 80k miles, was so reliable, pretty quick and good on fuel. the reason it's more expensive on fuel than the other cars mentioned is because it's a more powerful 3.0 straight 6 instead of a rattly old 4 pot.
it's comfortable, quiet, generally very nice and doesn't bore the pants off me
running costs aren't exactly what you'd call cheap but i could spend 15k on finance on a Seat ibiza and be no better off in reality and, well, not be driving a 7 series. Doesn't stop me wanting a V8 though oh - E46 330ds are cracking cars, my dad had a late face-lifted manual 6 speed one (rare as hens teeth, it seems) from new for 3 years and 80k miles, was so reliable, pretty quick and good on fuel. the reason it's more expensive on fuel than the other cars mentioned is because it's a more powerful 3.0 straight 6 instead of a rattly old 4 pot.
Edited by E38Ross on Sunday 8th September 20:00
S798 said:
E38Ross said:
. the reason it's more expensive on fuel than the other cars mentioned is because it's a more powerful 3.0 straight 6 instead of a rattly old 4 pot.
Sure, appreciate that. The main concern would be reliability. I have a bit of an aversion to modern diesels as I'm worried I'd be scared of things going expensively wrong. The Passat and Ibiza have an old school Diesel engine which is much less likely to go wrong. I'm a bit of a born worrier so it would likely tarnish the ownership experience!a mate of mine ran a 1.2 seat ibiza (2003) for a fair while and to be honest, it was a pretty decent car. seemed reliable, interior was nice enough for a hatch back (none of them are exactly amazing are they), relatively quiet etc.....it was slow as f
k but was very good on fuel. that'd probably be my choice if i wanted something purely cheap to buy and cheap to run.all cars have issues, it's all about weighing up what's what.
S798 said:
300bhp/ton said:
I commute about 80 miles round trip to work and back. I use a smart Roadster. As comfy as most compact hatch backs but a heck of a lot more fun. It normally does 52-55mpg week in, week out.
Do you find the enjoyment season related? A long time ago, I did a 30 mile round commute in a MX5 which was wonderful on a sunny summer morning, but considerably less so on a cold dark November evening when the rain was lashing, even after the purchase of a hard top!i must admit it's a pretty good laugh to drive but the noise difference between it and my car is absolutely comical. doing, erm, about a ton on the motorway using a decibel app on my phone the mx5 worked out over 10x the ambient noise!!! (decibel scale isn't linear)
E38Ross said:
interesting you say that, mate of mine bought an MX5 around early april i think it was, just as the weather started picking up. lately he's been complaining about the lack of practicality etc.
i must admit it's a pretty good laugh to drive but the noise difference between it and my car is absolutely comical. doing, erm, about a ton on the motorway using a decibel app on my phone the mx5 worked out over 10x the ambient noise!!! (decibel scale isn't linear)
I just found the MX5 quite claustrophobic with the roof up. Also quite noisy and the engine /exhaust note sounds rubbish (with and without an aftermarket exhaust) unless the roof is down.i must admit it's a pretty good laugh to drive but the noise difference between it and my car is absolutely comical. doing, erm, about a ton on the motorway using a decibel app on my phone the mx5 worked out over 10x the ambient noise!!! (decibel scale isn't linear)
Out of interest,what does your 728 give you mpg wise? Can't imagine it'd be too dissimilar to the ST220? A friend has a '96 740 (4.4) and struggles to get 20mpg.
S798 said:
I just found the MX5 quite claustrophobic with the roof up. Also quite noisy and the engine /exhaust note sounds rubbish (with and without an aftermarket exhaust) unless the roof is down.
Out of interest,what does your 728 give you mpg wise? Can't imagine it'd be too dissimilar to the ST220? A friend has a '96 740 (4.4) and struggles to get 20mpg.
I do mostly motorway and get just shy of 30mpg, depending how I felt. Budget mid 20s and you won't be far wrong. I'd love a 740i but my 728i is a tidy example and doesn't want for anything at the moment and honestly, it'll still sit at 110-120 all day long. Max rpm is 6500 and 100mph comes at 3000rpm.Out of interest,what does your 728 give you mpg wise? Can't imagine it'd be too dissimilar to the ST220? A friend has a '96 740 (4.4) and struggles to get 20mpg.
I recently was in a similar position, going from a 10 mile round trip to 40ish. I haven't changed cars so still using my 3.0 z4, while the fuel economy is reasonable (avg 29) I'm finding the range sightly annoying, getting circa 280 miles/tank, I have to plan my fill ups as I'm not fortunate as OP to go off-peak so after an hour trudging home the last thing I want to do is add 15-20 mins extra time to get petrol.
Another thing I hadn't considered until I started commuting this distance is cruise control, my next car will certainly have it as sometimes my right ankle starts to ache if I get stuck in traffic
I'm not really looking to change just yet but my next car will need to have cruise control and at least 500 miles to a tank. Sadly before this I had an A3 tdi which did 6-700miles/tank which used to last several weeks with my 10 miles commute, I swapped it for the zed as mileage didn't matter then got a new job shortly after
Another thing I hadn't considered until I started commuting this distance is cruise control, my next car will certainly have it as sometimes my right ankle starts to ache if I get stuck in traffic
I'm not really looking to change just yet but my next car will need to have cruise control and at least 500 miles to a tank. Sadly before this I had an A3 tdi which did 6-700miles/tank which used to last several weeks with my 10 miles commute, I swapped it for the zed as mileage didn't matter then got a new job shortly after
Jesus, you fussy bugger! 
For 2 years, I did a 200-mile A DAY commute (admittedly only 4 times a week, and for night shifts - so leaving my house @ 19:30 and then leaving work at 06:30 so no traffic) from Norfolk into South London.
The important factors were: fuel economy and cheap running / servicing costs first by a million miles, and everything else a distant second!
I ended up with a Mark 4 Ford Fiesta, running an old-style 1.3 8-valve, pushrod operated crossflow engine
I had it converted to run on LPG, at a cost of £1500.
Yeah, it wasn't fast or amazing, but it would do a comfortable 85mph there and back, night after night after night - using fuel at a very wallet-friendly rate.
It was comfortable enough - but not terribly refined - but who cares? It even had keep-fit windows! But over the 2 years and 80,000 miles I did this commute - nothing at all ever went wrong. I didn't suffer a single breakdown - in fact I was even lucky enough to avoid a puncture!
I worked out that over the life of my ownership, I saved over 8 grand in fuel bills (after the installation cost) by running LPG too.
The only caveat and luxury that I insisted on that got me through the long commutes was a monsterous stereo installation, consisting of a load of uprated speakers and amps. It's amazing how much you can put up with a load of boring driving with high-quality music at your disposal!
For 2 years, I did a 200-mile A DAY commute (admittedly only 4 times a week, and for night shifts - so leaving my house @ 19:30 and then leaving work at 06:30 so no traffic) from Norfolk into South London.
The important factors were: fuel economy and cheap running / servicing costs first by a million miles, and everything else a distant second!
I ended up with a Mark 4 Ford Fiesta, running an old-style 1.3 8-valve, pushrod operated crossflow engine
I had it converted to run on LPG, at a cost of £1500.
Yeah, it wasn't fast or amazing, but it would do a comfortable 85mph there and back, night after night after night - using fuel at a very wallet-friendly rate.
It was comfortable enough - but not terribly refined - but who cares? It even had keep-fit windows! But over the 2 years and 80,000 miles I did this commute - nothing at all ever went wrong. I didn't suffer a single breakdown - in fact I was even lucky enough to avoid a puncture!
I worked out that over the life of my ownership, I saved over 8 grand in fuel bills (after the installation cost) by running LPG too.
The only caveat and luxury that I insisted on that got me through the long commutes was a monsterous stereo installation, consisting of a load of uprated speakers and amps. It's amazing how much you can put up with a load of boring driving with high-quality music at your disposal!
I have a similar commute to you, with a long-ish (100 mile) each way drive one or two weekends a month. When I next change the car I'll be hoping to get a Volvo S60. Cheap to buy, comfy, reasonably quick, and ideal for bleak winters nights when you just want to get home.
Not sure why you think you need a diesel though.
Not sure why you think you need a diesel though.
S798 said:
300bhp/ton said:
I commute about 80 miles round trip to work and back. I use a smart Roadster. As comfy as most compact hatch backs but a heck of a lot more fun. It normally does 52-55mpg week in, week out.
Do you find the enjoyment season related? A long time ago, I did a 30 mile round commute in a MX5 which was wonderful on a sunny summer morning, but considerably less so on a cold dark November evening when the rain was lashing, even after the purchase of a hard top!Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff