Commuting by car, anyone else gone from a small to large one?

Iamzod

Iamzod

Iamzod

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I've posted this in Motors as I'm not interested in opinions based on commuting via any other method.

I have a couple of options coming up work wise & there is a massive commute difference between the two, the only option that is viable here is driving my 210k mile Mondeo to either due to where I live & where both sites are based.

One is a 20 mile round A & B road trip with little to no traffic & should take a maximum of 15 minutes there & 15 back. The other option is a 48 mile round trip on purely A & B Roads along with the M1 & M18, this will be 45 mins to an hour each way but the working day is 30 minutes shorter which will absorb some of it, the difference in pay will also more than absorb the fuel cost.

I'm coming from a 14 mile round trip in my previous role, anyone else made a similar change to a massively long journey? Did you regret it?
 
I changed job in October from a 9 mile each way commute (lift shared too) to a 40 mile each way commute.
Do I regret it? Nope....my last employer was a complete ****.

Either way you need to be prepared to splash out on a newer car as at 210k the Mondeo can't have long left.
 
My intention is to get a MK4 Titanium X-Sport at the back end of next year either way, my old MK3 is pampered & very reliable but the longer it lives the more likely it is to go bang I guess. Having said that a new engine & gearbox are not hard or expensive to find, just a massive pain to sort out.

This is the other thing, I wanted to go back to petrol but at this mileage any new car is going to be a diseasel again.
 
I used to live and work in Basingstoke so I had a commute of 8 miles (4 miles each way) which was lovely. Then our company got bought out and the office was relocated to Bracknell making it a 56 mile commute (28 miles each way). The M3 in the mornings is never much fun so I was never looking forward to it. To be honest after a week or two I never even thought anything of it. It took around 40-45 minutes each way, no big deal.

I then moved from Basingstoke to Portsmouth and I still work in Bracknell so now my daily commute is 120 miles (60 miles wach way). Most people move closer to work but I thought I'd be different :D To be honest it doesn't bother me too much. It takes me about 1 hour 10 minutes each way if I leave at the right times and weirdly, despite the fact it's more than double the distance of what it was from Basingstoke it's only 25 minutes longer so I didn't take too long to adjust to it. I've been doing it for over 2 years now.

With all that said, I have the advantage of being able to work from home and I'm also out and about on customer sites quite a bit so I don't have to be in the office every day which probably does help.

As for the Mondeo, maybe be prepared to buy another car but cars do like to be driven so with frequent long trips it's probably still got a decent bit of life left in it yet.
 
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The only thing I'd say about a longer commute (neither of yours I'd call long) is that it tends to get particularly grating in the winter when the traffic becomes horrible and its always dark. But I'm talking a 90-100mile round trip not a half hour drive each way!

Can't say I'd worry about the car, drive it till something falls off
 
I've gone from a 7 mile round trip to 50 mile round trip and currently still using my 1.8l mk3 petrol mondeo. It's not very economical now but I can't afford to buy a new or newly new diesel for commuting so it will just be used until it dies, hopefully in a long time. I'm sure the engine will out do the suspension after using the roads so far.
 
Mine is a TDCi, so will do over 50MPG on either commute, i'll actually finish work 30 mins earlier on the longer commute job so only get home probably 15-20 mins later it's just the morning where i'll have to be up much earlier.

It's potentially still an extra 7 and a half hours sat in the car though per week, which is basically another working day.
 
Went from a 15 minute train commute to a 150 mile daily round trip along the M62 into Hull every day. Was ok for a while, but the novelty of the extra cash from the promotion soon wore off and i hated having to be either up really early or home really late, dark nights, crashes meaning you are stuck for hours etc etc. Did it for 2 years then got a job closer to home so was a good stepping stone but wouldnt want to do it again any time soon.
 
I've done both short and long commutes over my 20-odd years working and neither bothered me, but funnily I enjoyed the changes, both from a short to long commute, and from a long to a short one. I enjoyed the "me time" I got on the long commutes, gave me time to just chill and listen the radio, get my head together for the work day, etc. and time to unwind on the way home. The short commutes obviously didn't have that, but I enjoyed the fact I could be in the office in 5 minutes and home in 5 minutes.
 
When I do go to the office now it's around 45 miles each way. It used to be 55 miles a few years ago, as I had to cross Aberdeen too, and that was a nightmare. Sitting in nose to tail traffic for the best part of an hour, then still have 40-odd miles to go.

If you know the area well, and know that traffic won't be a problem, then it's fine. Where I am now I miss most of the traffic as the office is on the right side of the city. Having to cross it wasn't much fun. I would aim to be in 40-50 minutes early to avoid the morning rush, but there was nothing could be done about the evening one, and simply added an hour on to that commute.

There is more to commuting than just miles. So make sure the traffic doesn't add on too much too.
 
I went from a 6 mile round trip to a 50 mile round trip to work which I hate but make it more enjoyable by doing it in a 25mpg ST220 that i drive like its stolen and hopefully soon a ST225 Focus. If I had to do it in a boring car I would cry. :(
 
maccapacca said:
Where's the massively long journey? 160 round trip for 18 months is my record, utter hell.
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I currently do 145 mile round trip for work, I have a second interview today that hopefully will result in a job that halves that commute.

I lose the company car because it's entirely office based, but it's A1 all the way, so I am just going to go and a cheap small French diesel for it.
 
Seems similar to a lot of people here I went from an 8 mile round trip to 100 miles.

Only been doing it for the last month so have never had to go through a winter which people suggest is going to be worse.

I'm in IT (NetSec) so just listen to podcasts which makes me forget about the journey and keeps me up to date with the job which is good. Probably wouldn't fine time for this otherwise.

TBH if it wasnt for the m25 being so stop start it would be fine, its just the traffic makes a 50 minute journey about an hour and 1/2 most days.

I bought a 320d touring which is nice enough but if I am still doing the commute in a couple of years I will probably go up a class to a 5 series or similar.
 
Not by choice, but I'm currently on placement at a customer's site which is an 80 mile/2.5-3 hour round trip. Doing it in a 2.3L petrol Mazda 6 sport, so not the cheapest, but I'm managing to get ~37mpg.

Can't say I'm particularly enamoured by it, as it adds an extra 2 hours onto my day (I live 3 miles from my normal office! :p), however the upside to this is that work are paying all my mileage, so I'm making ~£20/day in expenses. Would really not be happy doing it if this wasn't the case.

I used to do a 3 hour round trip on the train and it was exhausting, I wouldn't want to go back to more than ~45 mins each way, unless the job/pay were something very, very special!
 
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