Commuting question

Dean Fletcher

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Hi chaps,
I curious I have been offered a job which is 29 miles away from where I live. I currently work 10 miles away. My question is how far do you commute on a daily basis and how taxing is it on the car. I have a diesel so in theory it should be better for the car. Longer runs etc. Does any commute large distances daily and how does that effect your car?
Thanks
 

Wighty

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Hi chaps,
I curious I have been offered a job which is 29 miles away from where I live. I currently work 10 miles away. My question is how far do you commute on a daily basis and how taxing is it on the car. I have a diesel so in theory it should be better for the car. Longer runs etc. Does any commute large distances daily and how does that effect your car?
Thanks
I pretty much did that distance commute for 12 years , last 6 with my E320cdi . The engine will love it , it will get fully hot and then have another 20 miles on top of that :D
 

McDonald

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I commuted 30 miles each way for most of last year. The cars seemed to like it. The real question is how much congestion you face. MB make lovely comfy cars, but nose to tail traffic doesn't get your day off to a good start. The other issue is flexibility of working hours. It's that much harder to be on time, over greater distance. Fortunately, I don't work under supervision so nobody cares if I'm late, they just want the work done.
Today I'm commuting into London by South West Trains. I did a 70minute journey this morning, standing, crushed against other bodies. Expensive and exhausting.
At least by car you always get a seat.
 

Tony Dyson

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I don't think 60 Miles a day would be particularly distressing for any car, but travelling at peak times on Britain's roads may be challenging, dependent on your location, I would take a serious look at public transport as a serious option for the same repetitive daily journey.
 

Blobcat

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As per McDonald above it’s not the mileage it’s the time. I used to commute 13 miles to work (one way) it would take me 1 3/4 hours each way so 3 hours out of my day.

The longer distance will be better for the car as it will be all up to temp and running nicely
 

keefysher

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Cars and I love miles in my commuting experience. Only proviso, its not sitting in jams doing stop/start in which case take public transport.

My commuting examples over the years:
47 miles each way daily for 3 years in a petrol manual car before diseasel was available. A roads and M'way easy.
126 miles each way daily for a year in a petrol manual, M'way, easy
28 miles each way daily for 3 years mixed roads including B roads, petrol manual, pita
20 miles each way for 13 months A303 in a W211 E270 diseasel, easy.
110 miles each way weekly for 6 months M'way, A Roads in a W221 S350 diseasel, luxurious
350 miles each way weekly for 9 months M'way & A roads in W221 S350 diseasel, luxurious.
80 miles each way daily for 3 months M'way & A roads in W221 S350 diseasel, luxurious.

Ive done the stand in cattle car on a train too.

Weekly TransAtlantic commute in Business Class

I hate stop start traffic.

A lot of companies are limiting commuting times in case of fatigue leading to accident/injury claims. An hour each way appears the limit when driving.
 

EmilysDad

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about 25 miles each way but done in my Smart (it's cheaper all round than using the ML) but fortunately I don't travel at peak times
 

DSK

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I do a 1,000 miles a week.

Midlands at the weekend and then running between Berkshire > SW/London.

I have chosen a 2000 Volvo T5 after a fleet of these somehow managed to replace a couple of my other cars over years and the Volvo's don't skip a beat even at serious speeds and trackdays thrown in. One is now on 260,000 miles and is used by my mum to whizz around the midlands 3 times a week. That doesn't even use any oil or fluids between servicing!

I change the oil and filter every 5,000 miles.
10,000 miles is the same as above plus ALL filters and spark plugs.
30,000 adds a full gearbox oil change and coolant change.

What I find is, people trust garages and dealers to 'service' a car. Yet, simple things like fuel filters, air filters, in some cases oil filters are never changed (and now have stupidly long change intervals) and this impacts longevity. Just rip open a filter that hasn't been changed for a couple of services and see!

In my opinion, just stay on top of serviceable items, perform the good old fashioned 'weekly checks' under the hood, and you should be able avoid the cause of most silly problems and breakdowns resulting from owners ignorance.

The CLS is a diesel but, whilst I will barely manage 5,000 miles a year in that, it will get the oil and all filters etc done annually at the very least and gear oil done perhaps every other year.
 

LostKiwi

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I've done anything from 4 miles each way (current run to the train station) to 95 miles each way each day, all in petrol cars. I've always avoided traffic queues and have everything from B roads to motorways. The cars have never exhibited any issues on the longer runs. The current 4 mile runs it's not so keen on. That all being said 30 miles in traffic will be pretty unpleasant for the car.
As noted above its time rather than distance that determines how pleasant or otherwise a journey is. My 95 mile commute used to take 90 minutes as it was almost all motorway. That was very pleasant (using Volvo S60 T5 at first and latterly Audi A8 4.2 Quattro Sport).
A 50 mile run that followed was a mix of A road, B road and motorway. That was fairly pleasant too using a Land Cruiser Colorado V6.
Before the current job I used to commute 40 miles each on B roads, A roads and a couple of unclassified roads. That was great fun in the Smart, but a little tedious in the 210 as it was a bit bulky on some of the smaller roads.
The big thing about all my commutes has been routes devoid of traffic.
Now I work in the middle of Birmingham so taking the car isn't at all sensible. Fortunately I can always get a seat so it's not too unpleasant and I can watch a movie on my laptop.

Your proposed 29 mile runs should be relatively painless depending on traffic and the car won't won't mind a bit as long as it's not stop start.
 

Craiglxviii

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47 miles each way in a 5.0 litre V8. The car loves it and so do I.
 
OP
Dean Fletcher

Dean Fletcher

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Depends on how much their going to pay you Dean, 38 miles more isn’t a big deal.
It's roughly 8k more a year. So it will be worth it. I don't think congestion will be much of an issue half of it will be down the M6. Google says it will take 40 minutes to complete. I'm lucky in a way the company I COULD be going to I have known for a while its a small but popular family business.
 
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Dean Fletcher

Dean Fletcher

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Cars and I love miles in my commuting experience. Only proviso, its not sitting in jams doing stop/start in which case take public transport.

My commuting examples over the years:
47 miles each way daily for 3 years in a petrol manual car before diseasel was available. A roads and M'way easy.
126 miles each way daily for a year in a petrol manual, M'way, easy
28 miles each way daily for 3 years mixed roads including B roads, petrol manual, pita
20 miles each way for 13 months A303 in a W211 E270 diseasel, easy.
110 miles each way weekly for 6 months M'way, A Roads in a W221 S350 diseasel, luxurious
350 miles each way weekly for 9 months M'way & A roads in W221 S350 diseasel, luxurious.
80 miles each way daily for 3 months M'way & A roads in W221 S350 diseasel, luxurious.

Ive done the stand in cattle car on a train too.

Weekly TransAtlantic commute in Business Class

I hate stop start traffic.

A lot of companies are limiting commuting times in case of fatigue leading to accident/injury claims. An hour each way appears the limit when driving.
Thanks for the informative response.
 
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Dean Fletcher

Dean Fletcher

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I've done anything from 4 miles each way (current run to the train station) to 95 miles each way each day, all in petrol cars. I've always avoided traffic queues and have everything from B roads to motorways. The cars have never exhibited any issues on the longer runs. The current 4 mile runs it's not so keen on. That all being said 30 miles in traffic will be pretty unpleasant for the car.
As noted above its time rather than distance that determines how pleasant or otherwise a journey is. My 95 mile commute used to take 90 minutes as it was almost all motorway. That was very pleasant (using Volvo S60 T5 at first and latterly Audi A8 4.2 Quattro Sport).
A 50 mile run that followed was a mix of A road, B road and motorway. That was fairly pleasant too using a Land Cruiser Colorado V6.
Before the current job I used to commute 40 miles each on B roads, A roads and a couple of unclassified roads. That was great fun in the Smart, but a little tedious in the 210 as it was a bit bulky on some of the smaller roads.
The big thing about all my commutes has been routes devoid of traffic.
Now I work in the middle of Birmingham so taking the car isn't at all sensible. Fortunately I can always get a seat so it's not too unpleasant and I can watch a movie on my laptop.

Your proposed 29 mile runs should be relatively painless depending on traffic and the car won't won't mind a bit as long as it's not stop start.
Thanks again. Seems a 29 miler each way is pretty small considering. The route is M6 15 miles then 14 miles on A road. So not so bad.
 

Blobcat

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Junction 40 to about 36. No where near the big cities
Penrith to Kendal, not a bad run, Killington Lake services southbound and Tebay North. :)

Just watch out for the revenue vans parked on the bridges bun Shap
 
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