what would u do 4 long commute

P

pcpower

Member
just curious - I'm thinking about looking for a new employer. current commute is 10 miles one-way, so add in a few trips to the supermarket, and maybe I'm doing 25 miles a day. throw in a few road trips and I'm estimating 12K miles a year.

if I start looking for a new employer, say adios to the local commute. will probably be doing 30 miles one-way,,, maybe 27K miles per year.

in this scenario would u keep the MS3 as your one car to rule them all, or rather would you purchase a 2nd car. something cheap and fuel efficient to get to and from work, then ms3 as a project car / weekend car.

I'm pretty sure I can only afford my ms3 and no 2nd car, but I'm kicking this idea around, just in case. I gotta spend some time doing an actual calculation involving gas, mpg, fuel type, insurance, maintenance / frequency of oil changes, possibility the clunker 2nd car will crap out, annual excise tax / inspections / etc,,.

thankee :]
 
I don't know know how much the taxes and inspections are where you live but by my rough estimate, the extra 15000 miles a year would cost you roughly 1470 dollars each year just in gas. If you take into account oil changes as well, depending on the frequency and type of oil used, you're looking at 1600 total. There are plenty of beaters that can be purchased for around 1000 or less and even with tax, title, and registration it shouldn't cost you that much. If you were to get something that got around 35-40 mpg and ran on 87 octane, you would be looking at around 1000 for the gas for that 15000 miles. The oil changes would probably be standard dino oil and considering there's always a special in some auto parts store, and you do the change every 4k miles, it would run you around 60 bucks for the oil bringing the total to let's say 1100. That's a 500 dollars savings.

There are a lot of other factors involved but I would say get the beater if for no other reason than to prevent the MS3 from racking up 81000 miles in 3 years.
 
same issue i had, 11 mile each way commute to 63miles each way commute.
decided it wasn't worth the hassle of a 2nd car, insurance, maintenance etc...
just drive the ms3, and when it's time for a new car, it is lol
 
i have been driving my MS3 for a year and 4 months 26 miles one way everyday. i have over 42k on mine already and she still runs like a dream. do about 58-60mph and your about 30mpg or really close to it.
 
pcpower said:
just curious - I'm thinking about looking for a new employer. current commute is 10 miles one-way, so add in a few trips to the supermarket, and maybe I'm doing 25 miles a day. throw in a few road trips and I'm estimating 12K miles a year.

if I start looking for a new employer, say adios to the local commute. will probably be doing 30 miles one-way,,, maybe 27K miles per year.

in this scenario would u keep the MS3 as your one car to rule them all, or rather would you purchase a 2nd car. something cheap and fuel efficient to get to and from work, then ms3 as a project car / weekend car.

I'm pretty sure I can only afford my ms3 and no 2nd car, but I'm kicking this idea around, just in case. I gotta spend some time doing an actual calculation involving gas, mpg, fuel type, insurance, maintenance / frequency of oil changes, possibility the clunker 2nd car will crap out, annual excise tax / inspections / etc,,.

thankee :]
Click to expand...

I drive around 100 miles a day and in the next few months I am looking to get rid of the MS3. I was thinking the MS3 would have been a good DD driver because the gas mileage was not bad and it was sporty and fun to drive. I replaced the stock tires with-in the first 500 miles on the car for a all season tires with a good wear rating. At about 22K miles my tires were at the wear indicators on all 4 tires. If I did not travel 7 months last year I would have never got 1.5 years out of my first set of tires. When I got the tires replaced the guy told me that Mazda 3’s eat tires and I am going to have a hard time finding a set that will get 30K or more. When I heard that I knew it was time to get a different car because its hard to swallow 700-1000 dollars for tires every year.
 
Well... I wouldn't keep the MS3 for a project car, that's for sure... to pricey to mod and to own for a weekend only project car IMO. I would get something reliable that you wouldn't mind putting the miles on like a Honda Fit or something similar... then get a Miata/323GTX/MSP or other as a project car.
 
ptrautne said:
I drive around 100 miles a day and in the next few months I am looking to get rid of the MS3. I was thinking the MS3 would have been a good DD driver because the gas mileage was not bad and it was sporty and fun to drive. I replaced the stock tires with-in the first 500 miles on the car for a all season tires with a good wear rating. At about 22K miles my tires were at the wear indicators on all 4 tires. If I did not travel 7 months last year I would have never got 1.5 years out of my first set of tires. When I got the tires replaced the guy told me that Mazda 3s eat tires and I am going to have a hard time finding a set that will get 30K or more. When I heard that I knew it was time to get a different car because its hard to swallow 700-1000 dollars for tires every year.
Click to expand...

i have riken raptors and i have 35,000 miles on the tires and no tread markers yet.they are fairly good tires. and i paid 500 mounted and balanced.
 
^^^winnar

but seriously i did 100mi/day for a while in my ms3 when i first got it. promised myself i would do a 1 week on 1 week off between the ms3 and the tacoma but i just couldn't do it, loved the car too much.

that being said i have 23,000+ miles on an 08.5, which i can't stand
 
i bought ours knowing it would be our commuter. was so damn bored with the corolla. we do 50 or so miles a day, round trip, with a bit of lunch driving sometimes.

i still drive the tundra in every now and then, or when i have to work a different schedule than the mrs. for a day, or i'm going to the coast after work, but it is very hard to park that monster in town.

i think the MS3 is doing fine as our daily, though the ride and tire noise can sometimes be tiresome. rough concrete freeway..... but it sure is zippy, and if you need to go around someone, there is no chance for them to even think about cutting you off.....

honestly, if i'm getting around 25mpg, i'm happy with that. i can't see buying another car, just for the mileage. too big of a hit to take.
 
I carpool with my MS3, so I only drive once every 4 weeks. The weeks I drive it's 60 miles one way and it's not a problem at all. I averaged 25.5mpg last week with four people in the car.
 
I cant see MS3 as weekend car. So just either DD it or replace with smth more fuel efficient. I dd mine and dont mind bumper to bumper traffic despite clutch works like ON/OFF lol
 
Wait... 60 miles there and back would equate to much less than 20k per year... I'd say you might average that with thrown in shopping trips, road trips, random cruises, ect.
 
ptrautne said:
I drive around 100 miles a day and in the next few months I am looking to get rid of the MS3. I was thinking the MS3 would have been a good DD driver because the gas mileage was not bad and it was sporty and fun to drive. I replaced the stock tires with-in the first 500 miles on the car for a all season tires with a good wear rating. At about 22K miles my tires were at the wear indicators on all 4 tires. If I did not travel 7 months last year I would have never got 1.5 years out of my first set of tires. When I got the tires replaced the guy told me that Mazda 3’s eat tires and I am going to have a hard time finding a set that will get 30K or more. When I heard that I knew it was time to get a different car because its hard to swallow 700-1000 dollars for tires every year.
Click to expand...

I'm replacing tires every 6 months and couldn't be happier.
 
Last edited:
Saskatchewan17 said:
Well... I wouldn't keep the MS3 for a project car, that's for sure... to pricey to mod and to own for a weekend only project car IMO. I would get something reliable that you wouldn't mind putting the miles on like a Honda Fit or something similar... then get a Miata/323GTX/MSP or other as a project car.
Click to expand...

Thread winner. (yes)

MS3 is just not a weekend project car. It's a fun daily driver. If you don't want to put the miles on the MS3, go grab something small, cheap & efficient (Fit, Yaris, etc.) for DD, and put the remainder of the money into something older & easy to mod- whether that's a 4-banger go-kart like a Miata, an old muscle car, a bike, etc.- whatever works for you.

I commute a total of 60 miles a day round trip, plus most of my vacations are road trips, and I also do lots of weekend day trips around Florida. I've driven round trip from Tampa to Jacksonville for lunch with friends (200 miles each way) for kicks. And that all works out to about 20-24k miles per year on the MS3. (I'm 6 weeks shy of one year & just cracked 19k miles this week) It's my daily driver & will continue to be until it either proves to be FAR too unreliable, or I get bored out of my mind with it.
 
i put the current set of tires on my car at 9,257 miles. i currently have 42,458 miles and no tread bars. i am a very sprited driver. im the kind of person that likes to make the tire marks all the way across the intersection to say i did that in this car lol. the tires i have are not pricey either. i spent $500 on them after everything. here is a website you can get tires for cheap on www.tiresavings.com . if you dont mind going with off the wall name brands.
 
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