I commuted 112 miles round trip for 2 1/2 years. I bought a 1971 Mustang coupe, 250 cu in I6 C-4 A/T 64,000 miles very good condition. $1,200. Immediate oil/filter, transmission service. I put nearly 90,000 more miles on it! Tires at about 100,000 miles. Korean Dunhills 205/60/14s. They were cheap but excellent! The more it rained the better they seemed to grip. At about 80,000 miles into the “odyssey” the Mustang suddenly idled very rough but made it to work and back on the interstate. At that time I had my 1971 Mustang MACH 1 and drove that to work. On Saturday I checked compression on the 6 cylinder Mustang. 2 dead cylinders. I pulled the head and there were 2 well burned exhaust valves. I have no idea as to why ??? I took the head to a trusted machine shop. The owner just happened to have a completely rebuilt head (new valves/springs and rocker shafts/arms even push rods) that the owner had not come back for in more than a year. He only wanted what he had into it for parts which was about the same as it would cost for a valve job on my head! The machine shop was co-located with an automotive parts store so I was able to get the gasket set plus new spark plugs. The Mustang was running better than when I bought it by Sunday afternoon! I drove the Mustang for another 40,000 miles although 30,000 of those were not commuting! OP. If you can keep your long range commuter just do it and don’t worry to much about it.
Our son took a teachinf job that was 35 minutes away from his house. As well as his full time teaching job, he accepted a half time assistantship where he does 10 hours of research a week and takes 2 classes in addition to his full time teaching. He sold his house and his family of 3 move into a 2 bedroom apartment that is less than 5 minutes from his,job and from campus. He appreciates the extra hour as his time is extremely limited. My,wife and I,had a,house one mile from our jobs. We built a,new house 2 miles away. That extra,commuting mile wore me out. Fortunately, I had a,friend that lived at the half way point on my morning commute, so I would stop at his house for a cup of coffee in the morning and he would ride the rest of the way to campus with me. On the way home, I would stop at his house for a,couple of drinks so that I could make the rest of the trip.
One of the few cars I like because the seats are comfortable for me is the Ford Fusion. The institution where I worked had some Ford Fusions in its fleet and I found the Fusion quite comfortable when I made long distance drives to conventions. The car most uncomfortable for me was the Honda Civic Hybrid and there were several in the fleet. My wife did recruiting work and was on the road quite a bit and shared my opinion of the Civics. If you are going to commute, do the necessary servicing of your Fusion and put the savings in the bank for your next vehicle.
Nice Sgtrock21 you were served well in that example…all around really.
Uh oh…are we gonna start sharing our favorite high mile Long Distance Flogger stories now/again ? Y’all know you have a story…Be it you or your Pops…we all have a story
Blackbird