Luxury or plain jane for long commuting

[M1Accord]

I have a 80-miles round trip commute in fairly nice road (when they don't repave the perfectly good road to waste tax money) and drive a Fit Sport, which give pretty good fuel economy of 37 mpg combined most of time. It is now 33.2 mpg combine for the last 1.3k miles since the last oil change with M1 0W20 Extended Performance (yellow cap) instead of the green cap I normally use. I see that an 4-cylinder Accord LX, which has more luxury feature than my Fit Sport, would have a same fuel economy. It will be more expesive to purchase and probably more to ensure but definitely more for properly tax each year. However, I always buy my vehicles new and keep them for as long as possible, then they go on the farm to be use as farm vehicles. I haven't had to do it so far as I still have my 2 vehicles purchased new. I am debating of whether to get an extra Fit (manual this time) or an Accord when my Accord gets way too old. I don't drive the Accord but it gets 100-mile round trip each day for 5 days a week for 6 months and 7 days for the other 6 months. My rationale is that if I spend that much that in a vehicle, I may as well make it enjoyable. Gas cost is about $5k a year for the Accord and $2.5k for the Fit. Vehicle wear and tear is about $4k for Accord and $3k for the Fit. Thanks.

 

[The Critic]

What can you afford? I would really hate life if I had to commute 80 mi round trip everyday in a Fit. I wouldn't even do it in my current Prius. An Accord would be the bare minimum. At the end of the day, only you will know how to best spend your money. We each have our own standards.

 

[Bandito440]

You could buy a diesel Passat and get 40+ MPG. It's mighty comfortable for long hauls. The Mazda 6 is nice too. I test drove those along with an Accord, and found them both to be much better (comfort, fuel economy, and interiors).

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: M1Accord

My rationale is that if I spend that much that in a vehicle, I may as well make it enjoyable.

That's how I look at it. Long commute is no fun. You might as well make it more bearable, even if it costs a little more in the long run.

 

[Klutch9]

Neither are 'luxury' cars. But I can definitely vouch that our plain old, run of the mill Fusion SE is absolutely awesome for long trips. Very quiet, comfortable seats, the base stereo is good, fuel mileage is good, etc. My wife and I both love it! A mid-size car will provide ample space, and likely be quieter than a compact/sub-compact, from my experience at least.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: The Critic

What can you afford? I would really hate life if I had to commute 80 mi round trip everyday in a Fit. I wouldn't even do it in my current Prius. An Accord would be the bare minimum. At the end of the day, only you will know how to best spend your money. We each have our own standards.

If I'm on 55mph roads, I find the little tin boxes I drive aren't too bad really, 30 miles isn't a hardship for me atleast and the savings is significant to me at the moment($2-3k/year compounded for 25 years adds up!). If your commute is at 75mph+ then, I'd get something with better noise insulation and a bit more weight, like an Accord/Camry.

 

[cjcride]

Corolla or Camry. Dependable and not to pricey.

 

[99Saturn]

Personally I'd rather have an econobox for cheaper and put the cash in my pocket then something luxury, but it's clearly a tradeoff. However the safety aspect with an accident/collision has moved me past the smallest vehicles when we buy new. Our commutes are 60 and 100 miles round trip daily.

 

[Phishin]

This is why I bought my 2010 Accord. I bought her with 34k miles. It is a base model. Paid $14k for it last year. I ONLY drive this car when I'm for at least a 30 minute drive one way. I have to drive a lot to pick up my son (who lives 200 miles away from me) on the weekends and holidays, when I drive to Detroit to go fishing (200 miles away) and for vacations and road trips. I put about 12-15k miles on it a year. I LOVE THIS CAR FOR LONG TRIPS. Comfy, great MPG's, sound system decent, big trunk, etc. etc. Get an Accord.

 

[Quest]

It's really up to you. Me? I grew up riding/driving smaller cars, like Suzuki swift(forsa), 323, etc. for long, long hours at a time. Some rides were harsher than others, but nevertheless, still somewhat pleasant. Nowadays, anything I can do within 1 day (8hrs, or around 500miles one-way), I'd do it in my fit. Fit's stock suspension can take NA highways nicely but the interior is a bit too small (I'm not heavy nor tall, just standard size and weight). For extended highway trips with family: I'd typically would take the family car (camry 4cyl)...ride is more firm with the Monroe OE Spec struts (compared to the OEM Sachs) but rides very nicely during highway runs. gas is a huge difference here...for I typically consumes about 1/2 of what my wifey does in her camry... maintenace-wise: almost the same in terms of parts. NA built camrys and corollas parts are pretty much priced to that of NA domestic brands like malibu, etc. fit is a world car and has been out there for quite some time (gen 1), so parts pricing would be very close to that of typically corolla (which is also a world car). Standard servicing apply. Q.

 

[Rand]

sounds like a cruze eco or diesel waiting to happen.

 

[supton]

Dumb thought: if this is a long long term investment: can you rent an Accord for a week and try it out? The $250 or whatever it costs pales in comparasion to the loss from picking the wrong car and later trading. A long commute in a tin can gets old fast. I always hated getting someplace and finding myself worn out from the ride. At my age it's not from the bumps but rather the noise--I get there and my ears are ringing or my hearing is otherwise impacted by the constant drone. Larger cars don't seem to take as huge of a hit on the highway at constant speed yet seem to be more comfortable and more quiet. But I have yet to decide if I prefer the comfort of my Camry to the nimbleness of my Jetta for my commute. A "fun" car can be more rewarding to snake through traffic--if that is your sort of thing, to have a car that responds to you. If you are going to putter in the slow lane then that doesn't matter. A cheapo econobox can be gone through to make it more quiet. If you have a spare vehicle you could buy a cheap car, rip the interior out and soundproof it.

 

[mikefxu]

Prius, have 11k on ours now (2013), 49.4mpg since new. Like driving it more than our 2012 Civic. Surprisingly the Prius Two has a good sound system (bass). Paid $21.6k (before legitimate fees) in January for a 2013 Prius Two. What ever you choose check fuelly.com for actual mpgs, many miss the mark. If you are trying to save money buy a 2010+ Prius of any mileage. A 2010 or 2011 with 50k on it go for about $13k.

 

[M1Accord]

OP here. I have both the Accord and Fit. My Accord is 12 years old and the Fit is only 3 years gold. The Fit fits me fine in most areas except the seat. It could you a little more cushion and a height adjustment. The new Accord is suppose to be awesome. I just found out my wife doesn't like driving the Fit because the seat head rest point forward too much. She can't get a great position from it. But again this was bought for her (I drive it exclusively though) and she never wanted to sit in it or anything else while we went shopping. But that's a mute point. She'll just drive whatever I am done driving as the result, which is us needing a new car in 2-3 years when the Accord hit pass 200k miles and will be needing new tires, time belt and water pump, complete brakes pads and rotors, and other maintenance items. This car had not needed any repairs other than maintenance but it has a lot of dings and scratches from her commutes. To my, luxury is a Accord-LX with 6 cylinder or 4-cylinder Accord Sport. Although I like a Civic, it is too small as a sedan; the Fit can swallow contents I need for work. I am also eyeing Forester and Outback for the AWD and reasonable fuel economy of 33 mpg. My Accord gets 26 mpg so it burns through 14 dollars of gas a day. The Fit, doing 80 instead of 100, only need about 8 dollars. I thought about sporty CRZ but it gets horrible fuel economy, expensive, and low power while being a hybrid. And it doesn't look that good. A Fit with Eco mode would a better choice.

 

[Nate1979]

Life is short. Enjoy it as much as you can afford.

 

[TomYoung]

Originally Posted By: M1Accord

I have a 80-miles round trip commute in fairly nice road (when they don't repave the perfectly good road to waste tax money) and drive a Fit Sport, which give pretty good fuel economy of 37 mpg combined most of time. It is now 33.2 mpg combine for the last 1.3k miles since the last oil change with M1 0W20 Extended Performance (yellow cap) instead of the green cap I normally use.

There is no way in the world that one type of M1 0W20 over another reduces your mileage by 3.8 MPG.

 

[supton]

My wife just bought a pillow to go under the headrest in her her car, for the same complaint about the headrest. I can ask her what it is.

 

[eljefino]

^ yes and think of how much time you spend in your car, you should like it. I prefer the form factor of a corolla sedan over a smart car, but beyond that any incrementally larger sedan would be icing on the cake. Personally I like the cheapest possible car both in purchase and fuel consumption I can possibly stand, so I can spontaneously jump in and go somewhere if I feel like it. Presently this means a 9 year old dodge neon. You get better suspensions under midsize sedans though, so if you care about handling, you'd like it. If you want soft ride, mushy, with gadgets, there are cars to fit that need too.

 

[surfstar]

I second the 2010+ Prius if you want to save thousand$ over the life of the car. 50mpg and more reliable and less maintenance than just about anything else. Although if you want a more comfy ride, a VW TDI would have much better seats and get nearly the same mpg (although diesel can cost more) - maintenance/reliability can be a carpshoot, though. Since these cars are going to depreciate very quickly with all the miles racking up on them, I can't see a reason to buy new. You have to simply weight the cost vs comfort. I find it funny that many would commute in no less than an Accord/Camry - do you not remember how bad cars used to be? A newer econobox is pretty nice, IMO

 

[ThirdeYe]

Originally Posted By: The Critic

What can you afford? I would really hate life if I had to commute 80 mi round trip everyday in a Fit. I wouldn't even do it in my current Prius. An Accord would be the bare minimum. At the end of the day, only you will know how to best spend your money. We each have our own standards.

I did a ~500 mile round trip in my mom's 2013 Fit Sport when she first got it. Talk about uncomfortable seats... yikes! My neck was killing me and so were my legs from how small the seats were and how it cut into my legs at the edges. I like the car otherwise.