Would driving be cheaper in the long run?
- Thread starter Teledude
- Start date
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
ME19 to TW14 so mainly the M25 - I goto the office twice a week - train would take about 1:50 so about the same in traffic I'd say 
Car would be bought - probably a 5k focus or such but thats more than likely going to be bought anyway
Car would be bought - probably a 5k focus or such but thats more than likely going to be bought anyway
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ME19 to TW14 so mainly the M25 - I goto the office twice a week - train would take about 1:50 so about the same in traffic I'd say
Car would be brought - probably a 5k focus or such but thats more than likely going to be brought anyway
where are you bringing it from?
Ok, lets do this.
Asssuming West Malling to Feltham. 110 miles twice a week. Mostly M25, but at rush hour. Lets assume you'd get 40mpg from a 2 litre diesel on this sort of slog.
First, train.
West Malling to Feltham. £35 for an Anytime Return, route Any Permitted. So £70 a week.
Now, car.
220 miles @ 40mpg = £35 a week in just fuel.
But lets roughly work out the marginal cost of a Focus per mile.
Tyres. Rears every 40k. Fronts every 20k. Average then a full set every 30k. £300. So 1p a mile. Repairs. Lets assume that every 10k miles you'd spend £400 on misc repairs and maintenance and MOT related expenses. So 4p a mile.
Other costs are fixed, ie you'd pay them even if you left it parked on the drive. So for the purposes of this we'll assume you would buy, tax and insure a car anyway.
So, the marginal cost of doing your 220 miles a week in the Focus would be £46.
So, assuming its free to park the car would save you £24 a week, or £100 a month, over going by train.
If you are buying the car especially for this, its much tighter and probably isn't cheaper.
Asssuming West Malling to Feltham. 110 miles twice a week. Mostly M25, but at rush hour. Lets assume you'd get 40mpg from a 2 litre diesel on this sort of slog.
First, train.
West Malling to Feltham. £35 for an Anytime Return, route Any Permitted. So £70 a week.
Now, car.
220 miles @ 40mpg = £35 a week in just fuel.
But lets roughly work out the marginal cost of a Focus per mile.
Tyres. Rears every 40k. Fronts every 20k. Average then a full set every 30k. £300. So 1p a mile. Repairs. Lets assume that every 10k miles you'd spend £400 on misc repairs and maintenance and MOT related expenses. So 4p a mile.
Other costs are fixed, ie you'd pay them even if you left it parked on the drive. So for the purposes of this we'll assume you would buy, tax and insure a car anyway.
So, the marginal cost of doing your 220 miles a week in the Focus would be £46.
So, assuming its free to park the car would save you £24 a week, or £100 a month, over going by train.
If you are buying the car especially for this, its much tighter and probably isn't cheaper.
If this helps..
In 3.5 years, my car has cost me 46p per mile, including service parts/extra parts/labour/petrol/tax/mot/insurance*
Average mpg is 29, ~27000 miles total.
*plus the original cost of buying the car, moves up to 66p if I add the £5500 cost of the car.
In 3.5 years, my car has cost me 46p per mile, including service parts/extra parts/labour/petrol/tax/mot/insurance*
Average mpg is 29, ~27000 miles total.
*plus the original cost of buying the car, moves up to 66p if I add the £5500 cost of the car.
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