Current situation: driving 130 miles to work on Monday and the same home on Friday in an old car which although reasonable for its age and very reliable is noisy, uncomfortable, lacks safety features and is making the drive very tiring, and making me want to work on it. Staying in nice hotels on expenses, and bringing bike and kit with me to ride in the week.

Options:
1) Save/borrow a few grand for a less crap less old car
2) Mostly borrow 10-12 grand for the car I really want
3) Mostly borrow even more money and scrap the old car for a brand new one (on much better interest rates)
4) Get a serviced appartment instead of a hotel, leave my bike down here and get the train.

These are organised in ascending order of eco-friendliness, which is a factor given the large number of miles involved.

depends on what you can afford / justify TBH.

sorry.

Commute daily.
By bike!!!

Is 130 miles really a long distance to you?
I only ask as I regularly do that as an each way commute

You don't need a new car, just a new outlook…

I am asking what you would do, not what I should do 🙂 They are all options in that they can all be afforded/justified depending on my state of mind…

1 or 2

get a job closer to home.

I'd keep the old car and save up for when it breaks down irretrievably

to be honest, I would just keep doing what your doing.
seems like you're willing to get into debt because of a mildly uncomfortable >4 hour drive twice a week?

I take public transport is out of the question?

Its a tough call, but I would have though you could get a decent car for £4-5k to do that mileage and be reasonably economical and reliable.

I don't think I would be looking to spend £12k on a decent car at the moment, think I would rather have the money banked and see how things are looking in a year or two.

Just my humble opinion.

btw my Mrs does exactly the same, no public transport option for her drives once a week round trip of 240 miles to work in a £3k boring VW golf, not let her down yet.

5. Get a really good stereo. And a big amp.

What car/model is it, year and current mileage?
How much did you pay for it?

We can work something out with minimal outlay ontop for a change of car I bet.

What you driving at the moment?

I'd go either 1 or 4.

You should be able to get a safer car for a couple of grand.

If you get the train it will be more relaxing and you could explore all accomodation options then. You're looking at rent territory with hotel/serviced apartment prices.

4. For simplicity's sake.
Aren't you contracting? I wouldn't borrow money then, unless I was damned sure of my income.

My wife had a similar issue a year ago-she had a job up north, she was living in a hotel for a while, but in the end we rented a small house, and decamped the whole family, with the intention of going back home at weekends, which in the ned we couldn't be bothered doing. It was like being on holiday . All on expenses.

Buy an insane car and make the commute more fun. I find commutes boring in a slow, uninteresting frugal machine. Nothing better, IMO, than doing 200 miles in a deafening monster that's huge fun, even if that fun is only exploitable for 10% of the trip.

I used to look forward to the commute home in my car, even though it took an hour to do 20 miles 🙂

No.1

Yeah, I'd stick to the least risky option (sounds like 4) I think if I had recently been out of work and in sticky situations workwise.

look for a job closer to home and then option 1

if a job closer to home is not an option i would go for option 3 but borrow less and buy a new smaller car for around £8,500?

get a job closer to home.

Not a sensible option. Do you think I chose to work ont he other side of the country just for a laugh?

I take public transport is out of the question?

It's option 4!

What you driving at the moment?

15 year old Passat Estate diesel. No ABS, minimum of airbags, dodgy ride etc etc. My feeling is that for 2-3k I'd not improve on that much, and potentially be buying some problems. For all its minor faults I now know the Passat inside out and I know that it's going to be reliable.

seems like you're willing to get into debt because of a mildly uncomfortable >4 hour drive twice a week?

Considerably uncomfortable, not particularly safe, and yes I am willing to get (further) into debt for a new car. I like new cars 🙂 Although any new car would be kept for a v long time.

vinnyeh – yes, I am contracting, and you raise a good point. That's why I haven't just gone out and bought a car 🙂 There are issues with renting flats – thinking that serviced appt might be best. I would need some place to leave my bike + kit if I wasn't driving.

EDIT: Hora – what do you mean?

Is 130 miles really a long distance to you?

It is in my bloody car! Takes me 2.5-3 hours and is pretty busy.

You don't need a new car, just a new outlook…

Go on then.. what should I be thinking?

I tink Hora is suggesting that we (and I'm sure I could) could get you a significantly "better" car for around £1k plus your passat but as you mention you do run the risk of buying unknown problems that way.

Yeah? I'm interested. I'm crap at shopping.

I needed to know more about your car first.

Problem is- keep driving it and it might last another 1-2yrs. If you sold it now you'd get upto 1k max? However if you keep running it, in a weeks time it could throw say a conrod or other big end failure and you'd get scrap value only.

Circa 200mile commute a week is NOTHING though. Which worries me- if you think its tired now on just 200kmiles a week I think you should get rid of sooner rather than later.

I'd look at a newer Passat estate – spend an additional 4k or so to get a 54reg and run that for a year and take it from there. Buy new- lose lots though.

Problem sub 2k is almost always banger-territory unless you know a very good mechanic and do alot of homework. Bangernomics can work though.

4.

Problem sub 2k is almost always banger-territory unless you know a very good mechanic and do alot of homework. Bangernomics can work though

Yeah. I've done loads of work myself on this one and I'm a bit sick of it. Thing is I know it'll do loads more miles but the driving is just hard work. I bet all you folk who say 230 miles is nothing are driving better cars.

I was of the opinion that it could be fixed up into a decent driver, but I've learned a few things.. For example I had the shocks done at the local garage, and they just fitted any old shocks got for a good price, but really they are crap. The car just isn't that stable which makes it nerve-wracking; the seats are also old and saggy which coupled with the ride means my back and torso are working all the time I am driving.

Jeesus, sounds like even a Toyota Aygo would be better!

Better the devil you know than the devil you dont IMO.

Better the devil you know than the devil you dont IMO.

Also true. From the sounds of your car though I'd look to sell it now. Tcut- full valet and stick it on autotrader asap.

E get a new job closer to home.

If you regularly commute 130 miles, you need to examine the impact you are making on the world. Why do you need to travel so far?

Twice a week though nbt- not daily.

Considerably uncomfortable, not particularly safe

It's the driver that's the the safety part, not the car. 🙂

Problem is- keep driving it and it might last another 1-2yrs. If you sold it now you'd get upto 1k max? However if you keep running it, in a weeks time it could throw say a conrod or other big end failure and you'd get scrap value only.

If it lasts 2 years and he gets _nothing_ for it, it's cost £41.66 a month. You won't beat that on any new(er) car.
Get a new car because you WANT one, but there's nothing wrong with buying an old car every so often, IMO.

From what you've written , I think you relaise it's more sensible to keep the old one, possibly until it dies. 🙂

I have an S Reg Mazda 626 105k and drive 100miles to Lakes or wherever and its fine. I think your cars just sh1te, get a cheap Jap one.

Something like this:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/200937341364673/sort/priceasc/search-target/usedcars/make/skoda/model/octavia/maximum-mileage/up_to_80000_miles/price-to/6000/fuel-type/diesel/radius/1501/postcode/m32df/page/7/keywords/tdi?previous=%2Fsearch%2Fresults%2Fusedcars%2Fpostcode%2Fm32df%2Fradius%2F1501%2Fmake%2Fskoda%2Fmodel%2Foctavia%2Fkeywords%2Ftdi%2Fmaximum-mileage%2Fup_to_80000_miles%2Fprice-to%2F6000%2Ffuel-type%2Fdiesel%2Fsort%2Fpriceasc%2Fpage%2F7&anchor=advert200937341364673&logcode=p

Or this at the lower price:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/200938341790986/sort/priceasc/search-target/usedcars/make/ford/model/focus/maximum-age/up_to_5_years_old/maximum-mileage/up_to_80000_miles/fuel-type/diesel/postcode/m32df/page/1/radius/1501?previous=%2Fsearch%2Fresults%2Fusedcars%2Fpostcode%2Fm32df%2Fradius%2F1501%2Fmake%2Fford%2Fmodel%2Ffocus%2Fmaximum-age%2Fup_to_5_years_old%2Fmaximum-mileage%2Fup_to_80000_miles%2Ffuel-type%2Fdiesel%2Fpage%2F1%2Fsort%2Fpriceasc&anchor=advert200938341790986&logcode=p

Obviously you have to verfy the mileages.

If you regularly commute 130 miles, you need to examine the impact you are making on the world. Why do you need to travel so far?

Oookay. I work in IT as a developer, right. So us geeky folk have two options – either permanent jobs, or short-term contracts. I've been a contractor for what, five ish years, and that's mainly because I hate work. I really really hate it. So the idea is to work shorter contracts, stash the money and then take time off in between. Now – I live in Cardiff, and there are bugger all contracts there. So either I become a permie and basically resign myself to hating 90% of my life and wishing it away for a few short weeks trying to cram in the things I've been desperately dreaming of the rest of the time; or I take a bit more control over things and try and sort my life out closer to the way I want it.

I could move to the South-East to work but frankly I hate how busy it is down here and everyone seems to be travelling all over the place anyway except that for them it's not far enough to stay away so they are doing like 2 hours a day every day. Plus as above, moving isn't an option in the near future.

So I travel to work. I am concerned about my impact on the planet which is why I am leaning towards option 4. But this shrieking screaming monster is sinking its claws into my brain making me look at the wonderful shiny cars……

hora – Member

Twice a week though nbt- not daily.

Maybe, I wouldn't want to stay away from home all week either though. I was more referring to this post

uplink – Member

Is 130 miles really a long distance to you?
I only ask as I regularly do that as an each way commute

So I travel to work. I am concerned about my impact on the planet

Why? If even 50% in the UK stopped driving- really, what environment impact would it have? Negligible I bet. China is growing phenomenally so a few thousand Brits collective consciences means squat. Im saying this as we now have FOUR big plastic wheely bins per house where we only had one before. Some nutcase environmental idea where you create more work/plastic use first and silly ill-thought schemes to recycle…..or it ends up in poor countries for 'sorting' huh?

Sorry, sod- it you drive as many miles as you want. The world is already on its way to global warming with or without the UK!

😀

It's the driver that's the the safety part, not the car.

Don't be a dick. I clearly do my best to avoid an accident, but given such tools as ABS, VSC and whatnot, that could be easier. And if there is an accident then a more modern car will protect me more.

The world is already on its way to global warming with or without the UK.

Do you want bad global warming or even worse global warming?

PS In the UK we are something like third or fourth worst polluters per person in the world.
PPS lots of plastic is now recycled here.
PPPS don't just keep trotting out over-used excuses; sit down and have a long think about your moral obligations, which is what I am currently doing.