Short commute daily driver - Is this a good idea?
Discussion
I normally get the bus to the train station for my wonderful commute to London. However, I am now sick of the bus, it is so unreliable, turns up later and later on the way in and is a complete lottery if it turns up for the journey home.
So, I've pretty much decided to drive to the station instead, as parking isn't hugely unreasonable compared to the bus. Currently, I only have the Chimaera as I had no real need for a "normal" car, and don't have the space on the drive for one either. If I did buy a snotter (which I really can't decide on what I want), I would happily leave it on the road.
The drive to station would, be, tops 6 miles a day, which isn't much. I know there is a lot of advice saying it is best to use these daily, however is that kind of mileage too little? Especially in winter, I wouldn't have thought a couple of miles each way would be enough to warm her up adequately?
The paintwork is pretty much perfect, so getting parking dings would be somewhat aggravating. While I do need a new hood, I have temporarily patched it (re-stitched it, doesn't look perfect, but it will do for now) and did find out on Sunday that (inadvertently) it is water tight and the rest of the car is in excellent condition.
Basically, I am torn. It is there, and should be used, but is this too little use? Would I find it less special driving it every day? Would it even be enough mileage to keep the battery topped up?
One other thing, as it has a sleeved exhaust and a Clive F y pipe in, it is LOUD, loud enough that I have set the odd car alarm off (and I was barely moving, low revs and it still set it off). I suspect my neighbours may not appreciate it being used everyday (they haven't complained yet, but it is only used at the weekends, I don't leave it idling on the drive etc) so may need to put silencers on it if I was going to use it regularly.
I will probably just buy a snotter, but as I have zero interest in one, I am finding it very difficult to find something I want, and, more importantly, would be reliable. The Chim has, so far, never let me down.
So, I've pretty much decided to drive to the station instead, as parking isn't hugely unreasonable compared to the bus. Currently, I only have the Chimaera as I had no real need for a "normal" car, and don't have the space on the drive for one either. If I did buy a snotter (which I really can't decide on what I want), I would happily leave it on the road.
The drive to station would, be, tops 6 miles a day, which isn't much. I know there is a lot of advice saying it is best to use these daily, however is that kind of mileage too little? Especially in winter, I wouldn't have thought a couple of miles each way would be enough to warm her up adequately?
The paintwork is pretty much perfect, so getting parking dings would be somewhat aggravating. While I do need a new hood, I have temporarily patched it (re-stitched it, doesn't look perfect, but it will do for now) and did find out on Sunday that (inadvertently) it is water tight and the rest of the car is in excellent condition.
Basically, I am torn. It is there, and should be used, but is this too little use? Would I find it less special driving it every day? Would it even be enough mileage to keep the battery topped up?
One other thing, as it has a sleeved exhaust and a Clive F y pipe in, it is LOUD, loud enough that I have set the odd car alarm off (and I was barely moving, low revs and it still set it off). I suspect my neighbours may not appreciate it being used everyday (they haven't complained yet, but it is only used at the weekends, I don't leave it idling on the drive etc) so may need to put silencers on it if I was going to use it regularly.
I will probably just buy a snotter, but as I have zero interest in one, I am finding it very difficult to find something I want, and, more importantly, would be reliable. The Chim has, so far, never let me down.
To be honest, I'd buy a cheap n'cheerful snotter if I were you.
Whilst it's generally true that frequent use is good for a car, that isn't true if you're only talking about very short journeys. You will never be getting the oil anywhere near up to proper operating temperature, and hence you'll never be boiling off the moisture and other combustion by-products from it. The oil will get more and more contaminated and will not protect your engine as well as it should. Furthermore, with the engine always running in its rich warm-up cycle you'll get a lot more washing-away of the oil in the cylinder bores.
I think it would be better to save your car for the weekend and give it a proper, decent long run once a week.
If you really do want to use it every day for these very short journeys, you should definitely consider doing very frequent oil changes: perhaps every few months. Sure, you may only cover 500 miles or so between oil changes, but they'll have been fairly unkind miles.
Edited to add: You will definitely need to keep your battery on a conditioner (e.g. Accumate) because you might not be getting enough charge into it to replenish it after using the starter motor - especially in winter with lights on. This will also be true for any snotter you buy, otherwise the battery might keep letting you down.
Edited again: Alternatively, why not see what totally mad, convoluted route you can take to the station? A 2 mile drive can be done in as little as 20 or 30 miles with a little imagination!
Whilst it's generally true that frequent use is good for a car, that isn't true if you're only talking about very short journeys. You will never be getting the oil anywhere near up to proper operating temperature, and hence you'll never be boiling off the moisture and other combustion by-products from it. The oil will get more and more contaminated and will not protect your engine as well as it should. Furthermore, with the engine always running in its rich warm-up cycle you'll get a lot more washing-away of the oil in the cylinder bores.
I think it would be better to save your car for the weekend and give it a proper, decent long run once a week.
If you really do want to use it every day for these very short journeys, you should definitely consider doing very frequent oil changes: perhaps every few months. Sure, you may only cover 500 miles or so between oil changes, but they'll have been fairly unkind miles.
Edited to add: You will definitely need to keep your battery on a conditioner (e.g. Accumate) because you might not be getting enough charge into it to replenish it after using the starter motor - especially in winter with lights on. This will also be true for any snotter you buy, otherwise the battery might keep letting you down.
Edited again: Alternatively, why not see what totally mad, convoluted route you can take to the station? A 2 mile drive can be done in as little as 20 or 30 miles with a little imagination!
Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Monday 8th September 13:39
Personally I'd do the snotter route :-)
Whilst I don't have a daily commute, I do have a 'run-about' in the form of an old Golf VR6
It's not great on petrol, but certainly better than the Chim... I use it for shopping (don't get nightmares about people opening doors into it), runs to the tip (four door, rear seats fold down), and if the weather is really crap, good (ish) in the snow and ice if I have to go somewhere, and again no nightmares about anyone sliding into it or paranoia about salt getting into my precious chassis
paid £1700 for it about two years ago, and it's a little trooper.... very handy little motor car, and, whilst not particularly important, it covers miles pretty rapidly should you wish to...
Chilli
Whilst I don't have a daily commute, I do have a 'run-about' in the form of an old Golf VR6
It's not great on petrol, but certainly better than the Chim... I use it for shopping (don't get nightmares about people opening doors into it), runs to the tip (four door, rear seats fold down), and if the weather is really crap, good (ish) in the snow and ice if I have to go somewhere, and again no nightmares about anyone sliding into it or paranoia about salt getting into my precious chassis paid £1700 for it about two years ago, and it's a little trooper.... very handy little motor car, and, whilst not particularly important, it covers miles pretty rapidly should you wish to...
Chilli
I have considered a scooter, but well, weather. 
If I wasn't such a wuss and adverse to rain/cold, I'd definitely get one. I don't think a scooter will have a volcano heater like the Chimaera (which IMO, is surprisingly effective in the winter with the roof off).
Snotter it is then! I am looking forward to seeing the snotter thread. Currently leaning towards an MX-5, just because I'd get to take the roof down in the summer (and cheap).
If I wasn't such a wuss and adverse to rain/cold, I'd definitely get one. I don't think a scooter will have a volcano heater like the Chimaera (which IMO, is surprisingly effective in the winter with the roof off).Snotter it is then! I am looking forward to seeing the snotter thread. Currently leaning towards an MX-5, just because I'd get to take the roof down in the summer (and cheap).
I used my Chimaera for a while doing a commute of just over 2 miles (each way) when either I knew that I would need the car during the day or it was raining a lot (the rest of the time I cycled).
The car did fine with this, however I did have to top up the battery every month in the winter as the drive was not enough with the lights on to keep it completely charged. If I needed the blower or wipers on for a few days in a week then I would top it up every weekend.
The alternative if the weather was nice enough was to take it for a good blast at the weekend.
The car did fine with this, however I did have to top up the battery every month in the winter as the drive was not enough with the lights on to keep it completely charged. If I needed the blower or wipers on for a few days in a week then I would top it up every weekend.
The alternative if the weather was nice enough was to take it for a good blast at the weekend.
Gassing Station | Chimaera | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff