Which journey is better on a car??

korec · 06-04-2012 10:46AM #1

Just something I was thinking the other day. I use to live in the suburbs of Dublin and travel into the city center for work. My journey in distance was around 9 miles each way. It took me with traffic on average about 45 minutes to complete my commute one way. I have since moved house to down the country and also my job location has changed. I now need to travel 42 miles each way to my workplace. 38 miles of this journey is on the motorway. My commute time is there or thereabouts the same time as my previous commute from the suburbs of Dublin to the city center i.e 45mins

So my query is which journey is better and easier on a car? I'm talking purely on the mechanics of a car. Both journeys were within reason taking the same amount of time but obviously one is considerable more mileage than the other. On the other hand I would have engaged the clutch, gearbox, brakes etc more on the journey that is considerably less in mileage. Also because of the increase in distance for my latest commute, my service intervals will be a lot more frequent even though I spend roughly the same time in a car.

johnthemull · 06-04-2012 10:52AM

Your new commute would be easier on your car I would imagine.
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cjt156 · 06-04-2012 10:57AM

My commute is similar; 25 miles of motorway with 2 minutes of quiet street either end. 30 minutes.
Very easy on the car: brakes and clutch barely get touched, engine is fully warmed through every trip, take it easy on the revs for the first 10 minutes & then cruise at around 3.5-4 thousand revs. Surface is reasonable so the suspension isn't taking a pounding. Tyres wear of course but its all nice and even. Plus its much easier on the driver!

(I do tend to squeal through the last couple of roundabouts just to remind me what driving is supposed to feel like....but you never heard me admit that...)

CiniO · 06-04-2012 11:09AM

It will vary between different parts of the car.
You clutch and gearbox were suffering way more on your previous shorter commute.

Even though engine running time was similar (45 minutes) but on new commute is has to do much more work under heavier load, so time-wise your engine will wear way more than previously. However distance wise, it's hard to say, as your distance now is 4 times bigger. So one day commute now, was equivalent to 4 days commute previously. Considering engine was running, even under small load in traffic jam, but 4 times longer to do the same mileage, wear and tear might be similar.

Which journey is better on a car??

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