Oh, how life changes!

[addyguy]

As an update to this, the Pontiac just rolled 300,000km the other day on the way to work. Still running good, not burning a drop of oil, and AC still works. Getting rustier and creakier; but still going!
Still doing same job, it is stressful and challenging, but I think still worth it. New owner came in a year ago and really want to ramp up the garage, so getting more staff and more equipment, so things will get interesting in the next 6-8 months. Asking for a pay raise to go with this is next…

 

[Sumboodie]

The 100 mile drive gets old after a few months of 90+hr work weeks. Been there, done that!

 

[AutoMechanic]

Wow and I thought my 60 mile round trip to work and back was bad lol. Mostly a country highway well not really a highway it’s US460/US11 they run over top of each other. I live in one county and work in the neighboring county because the opportunity was better there. I just know one thing my V6 Escape sucks gas like a mad man it’s a 1/4 tank a day. One time I had to take the interstate because of a major wreck and it sucked a lot more gas probably cause I was hauling tail lol. My commute is about an hour because you waste so much time with the town traffic red lights.

 

[supton]

This fall I more or less went back to 5 days in, only now I drop my son off at college, so it's more than 500 miles a week. This time around... it's getting old. Hoping he'll get comfortable in the city traffic, and I can go back to 2-3 days in instead of 4-5.

 

[GR_CoB]

For some reason this thread reminded me of one of my college instructors. Since our classes were at the airport - he almost completely gave up driving. One-way drive to work with traffic was 2hrs for him. Then same going back home. So he took advantage of the airport situation and started flying in on his little Piper. That cut down his work commute to 40 mins one-way. And he got some free fuel from the deal, since he was using his Piper to teach students on how to taxi the aircraft around the airport. Win-win there.

Anyways, I love driving. Gone are the days of heavy traffic where it took 2hrs to drive 30 miles. Left the city and love it. Now I got beautiful country roads, never any traffic, fields and hills on either side. So every <25 mile commute to work is a relaxing cruise at 60MPH.

 

[fdcg27]

When I was younger and hungrier I considered opportunities that would have involved a much longer commute than the fifty miles round trip I do each day.
Decided against and am glad that I did.
Time with our then young sons was far more valuable than another ten or twenty grand a year would have been.

 

[GMBoy]

Congratulations! You will be back to enjoying the driving. Do you plan on going thru the G5 and getting it good and ready? Plugs, filters, fluids etc? what will be your OCI and what oil and filter will you be running?

 

[Kurtatron]

This is so contrary to my life priorities. I have never allowed myself to have a commute longer than 7 miles. If I get a new job far away, I move.

Spending so much time sitting in a car is just a huge waste of time imo. I know you guys won’t say it is, saying it’s therapeutic or whatever, but that’s definitely not how I feel about it.

 

[addyguy]

Sometimes it’s not that easy. With inflation and a housing crisis up here, moving often isn’t an option!
Still doing my commute in the G5, almost 337,000km on it. This will most likely be my last year with it; I can’t see it surviving more than 1 more winter.
Got a promotion and raise at the start of the year to the parts manager, and part of the ‘store management’ team. So this has been a good move for me that is still worth it!

 

[addyguy]

Well, it’s the end of the road for the G5 at 6 years of use and 391,700km…just getting way too rusty to fix anymore. The new sills we welded in 6 years ago have completely rusted off and the back suspension/control arm mounts are starting to crack. Plus the exhaust has rusted apart and can’t really be fixed.
I never, ever expected to get 6 years and almost 200,000km out of it (got it at 194,000km)…yeah, I’ve put a good amount of repairs into it, but worth it for a paid-for car. Motor and transmission are still almost perfect; no oil use whatsoever, and the air still blows ice cold!
It will be replaced by me taking over my wife’s 2016 Jeep Patriot with 134,000km on it that we inherited from her grandparents like 4 years ago. It will need repairs to keep going obviously, but again, paid-for vehicle.
I’m also aware it won’t get close to mileage I got from the G5; it’s not bad, but it is an AWD CUV with the aerodynamics of a block. I am going to be religious about collecting ‘points’ when filling up and having those rewards offset a bit of the costs.

 

[Owen Lucas]

OT but it's interesting to see the different user handles from 5 years ago. I don't see some of these guys regularly or ever.