20 miles a day, 3 days a week...

[TheAngryDog]

Hi. I am soon to be driving 10 miles each way 3 days a week. I am trying to work out if I am better buying a cheap second car or just using my current M5?

The car isn't going to warm up properly in those 10 miles and will be left either in a car park at £6.50 a day, or on the street at less / free.

So, would you stick with the one car, or keep it for weekend use, and get something else for the commute?

[Krikkit]

Are you going to use it at other times? If so, don't worry about it.

[Fubar1977]

If you will be giving a good run otherwise on a regular basis it should be fine mechanically.

The big question is whether it`s the sort of street/carpark you`d be happy leaving an M5 in?

[thatdude]

For something like that, if I had the financial ability, I'd get a stter*. Especuially for running through the winter. And save the nice car for longer runs / nicer days / showing off

• purely comparative term here, not a stter in the usual sense but a tidy something or another that doesnt stand up to an M5

[ewenm]

Cycle it and treat it as daily exercise while commuting. Or just use the current car IMO. Not worth the expense of a second car and unlikely to do damage to the current one.

[J4CKO]

ewenm said:

Cycle it and treat it as daily exercise while commuting. Or just use the current car IMO. Not worth the expense of a second car and unlikely to do damage to the current one.

Yep, ten miles is a nice cycle commute distance, perhaps do 1 or two days on the bike and the rest in the car ?

[typer0612]

60 miles in a M5 should be around £15 a week.

£15 x 52 is £780 a year in fuel alone.

Parking, at £6.50 a day is £1014 a year.

Per year that is £1,794 to run the M5 there, not to mention consumables.

That is a rip off... sell me your M5 and i'll give you my 520D M Sport!

[Toaster Pilot]

I don't think it's worth the expense and hassle of buying a stter for that, just take the long way home now and again!

Having said that, if the area is st and you are likely to have the M5 vandalised wherever you are leaving it, buy a £300 st heap that runs and be done with it.

[roadman]

ewenm said:

Cycle it and treat it as daily exercise while commuting. Or just use the current car IMO. Not worth the expense of a second car and unlikely to do damage to the current one.

Agreed

[TheAngryDog]

Thanks guys. Can't cycle due to knees and another issue.

Also dont fancy biking up the a41 at 6am to catch the train to London.

The area id be leaving it in would be a decent one

[Fubar1977]

With regard to cycling, it sounds good on paper and I did seriously consider it (my commute is only 3.5 miles each way) but the hassle of getting changed at work due to getting soaked or filthy on the way in put me off.

The first time you look outside and it is totally pissing it down you WILL think fk it, I`m taking the car...unless you are a properly committed cyclist that is, in which case you`d be cycling anyway surely.

[ewenm]

Fubar1977 said:

With regard to cycling, it sounds good on paper and I did seriously consider it (my commute is only 3.5 miles each way) but the hassle of getting changed at work due to getting soaked or filthy on the way in put me off.

The first time you look outside and it is totally pissing it down you WILL think fk it, I`m taking the car...unless you are a properly committed cyclist that is, in which case you`d be cycling anyway surely.

For 3.5 miles I'd run it Having a shower at work replaces the shower I'd have at home before heading to work - no time lost.

Anyway, as the OP has said he can't cycle it, I'd just use the current car.

[JimmyConwayNW]

Seems really minor and hardly a large commute. You own a nice car I hate being stuck in a stter without the features I am used to as a commute is where those heated seats, nice stereo and such like come into their own.