Long daily commute. Is the answer still the answer?

I DD'd a 5th or 6th gen civic for awhile. On the highway it would get 42 to 46 mpg on 87 octane. driving 135 miles per day the difference b/t that and the Buick would be $4.50/ day, or about 1000 a year based on a normal workweek. That's $8,000 in your pocket over the 8 year timeframe you mention, or $10,000 if you invest the money saved conservatively. You can pick up a decent 5th/ 6th gen Civic for 2 or 3k, do a timing belt/ headgasket as preventative maintenance, and still be good money ahead, especially if you sell the Buick.

A older 'Rolla should do nearly as well.

The Miata won't get any lower cost/ mile than the Buick.

Note that spending 15k on a new MPG commuter will put you money behind.

I did a 70 mile daily commute with a Miata from '97 until last Jan. Other than one on ramp a day, and the fact that I could take the top down, the Miata's general benefits were pointless on the drive. Other than the fact that I really like small cars.

I even considered doing a trans/rear ratio change AND a 1.6 swap so I could get 40mpg- as the actual on road performance capability wasn't used much.

I've updated to a Fiesta, but next time may get a Fusion as it's a super comfortable car to cruise in. As I age, I find it more important to be comfortable and fresh instead of pretending that the commute is some interesting drive that it isn't.

Maybe a great GT car would be nice in the expanse of Texas.

(in spite of all of that, the ~250k miles I've driven Miatas still put them as one the best cars I've owned)

I enjoy my Miata. When I drive it any significant distance, I enjoy it less. I'd keep the Buick.

My view is that driving isn't bad unless you are bored. Driving a Miata or a Buick on straight, flat roads sounds boring either way.

Get satellite radio or start listening to audio books only when you're in the car. Get into a good book, you might start looking forward to your commute just so you can hear the next part of the story.

You could also turn it into a Tarmac Rally and try to arrive within 1/10th of a second in total commute time every day.

I do 70 miles a day. I vote for Comfy. My LS400 gets 26MPG on the highway. Yeah, a (economy model) Rolla will get better mileage, but not feeling like you're beat to E36 M3 at the end of the drive every single day is worth the extra gas money.

80 miles a day. The switch from 20 year old honda to 10 year old heated leather couch improved my quality of life.

I'd recommend an @$$-ectomy. (That's is, if you have any to give.)

I would much rather make that drive in a Buick than a miata. I'm sure you already listen to audiobooks, podcasts, music, etc. It's much easier to hear all that stuff while riding in a Buick.

ive decided to keep the buick for kid hauling around town duties and bad weather commuting and make the miata nicer for my normal commuter car. Any suggestions on

1. Soundproofing materials.
2. Hard tops, I thought I'd search craigslist and easily come up with one somewhere in texas or close by, so far nothing. What's the best place to find these for sale?

I did a similar commute for several years. The answer then was the ubiquitous Ford Taurus. Not fun, but smooth, quiet, cheap to run, and comfy. I did about 40k a year at the time and I'd buy em used, put maybe 120k on em (about when the tranny would grenade itself), sell it and find another one. Having a weekend funmobile kept me sane.

Funny thing- the drive in the morning was never a bother. The drive home always seemed to take twice as long, though...

You can hear audiobooks just fine in a Miata, I live on those things when commuting. You know it's a good book when you're annoyed that you have to get out of the car.

Soundproofing: Bonded Logic. Put this under the carpet on the rear deck and rear bulkhead. It'll cut down on transmitted tire noise, makes a big difference.

Hardtops can be hard to find. Check with Spec Miata builders. If you see a Miata for sale (NA or NB) with a hardtop on it, give the seller an offer for just the top. This works particularly well at dealerships.

A Mooney M20 is the ideal commuter for that distance.

If you are ever up near Missouri, I know of a hardtop that is likely to be for sale.

I live on iTunes university classes. If you are geeky enough there are some awesome math and science courses available

Theres always a ton of hardtops out here in Socal

I did a foamectomy on mine and I seem to get lower back pain after I drive anywhere for over an hour or so. I have another seat to drop in and will have to see if that helps.

My other problem is that I seem to scrunch my shoulders up while driving and have to make a conscious effort to relax them.

icaneat50eggs wrote: ive decided to keep the buick for kid hauling around town duties and bad weather commuting and make the miata nicer for my normal commuter car.

Good decision. My wife bought a LeSabre new in 2000. For the first 10 years of ownership she had an 80 mile round trip commute, usually with 2 or 3 passengers. In 2013 she decided that she wanted a new car so the LeSabre was traded-in, but sometimes she still misses it.

I dont think the answer has EVER been the answer for a long commute. I would have voted buick and im glad to see you keeping it.

Having said that, i think some people are making long commutes out to be way worse than i've ever experienced. I've done 90-130 mile round trip commutes for about 3 years out of my life and even driving slow, very average-handling vehicles, i thought they were pretty ok. All my long commutes were primarily on 3-5 lane highways and back when i had those commutes I used to listen to a ton of music, hit 90+mph every day, see more cars in a day (which actually makes me happy) and play with / race a lot of fellow enthusiasts.

I even really enjoyed driving my 18-second non-turbo caravan in spite of its slowness. I enjoyed driving my Honda insight a lot as well even though i only won one actual race in all my years of ownership (i did lose to a semi on one occasion, too). Even though it's WAY better than a miata on space and noise level it's still pretty bad on most normal scales of space and noise level. Never bothered me! And it got 50mpg (which is low for a 1g insight doing 90% highway) so i didnt care about fuel expenses.

I just never actually disliked my long commutes while i was doing them. I just disliked the time they took out of my day, and disliked dividing my daily pay by the total number of hours i was actually away from home.

I'd vote C5 or C6 manual transmission. Great long distance cruiser. Find one with the magnetic ride option. Gets about 30 mpg at 80mph.

Other suggestion is E46 with ZHP package, 6 speed manual. Best seats I've ever spent time in, great highway cruiser, not quite the mileage as the C6 at 80mph.

I'd say: BMW 540 or 740. The V8 is a nice motor and it doesn't do bad on the highway for mileage and the chassis is nice and comfy while being responsive.

The versions from the 90's to the 00's are still DIY compatible and even broken tend to eat up miles.

My commute is only 25-30 minutes and I drive my 95 Miata with FM Stage 2.5 suspension, frame rails and butterfly brace. I just bought it last Fall with 61K miles on it. I usually try to take the long way to work which means less traffic and stress.

In the Spring and Fall, nothing beats having the top down (and sunblock applied). In the Winter, when it snows, it's even more fun with snow tires. I can kick out the back end whenever I want.

I did upgrade the door speakers with some second-hand Clearwaters. I also swapped the Borla exhaust with a factory set up. I run 195/55R14s on factory 14" rims. I keep the Lumina shocks on the softest setting. For the track, I have 205s on Enkei RPF1s and dial the Luminas in the other direction.

I want to get a hard top for Winters and would like a g-string top for Summer. But that'll come eventually.

I say add up all the money you will save over that 8 year period by either moving closer to work or getting a job closer to home. I bet you could go to Italy a few times over with the money saved.

Just my .02, but then again I live 2 miles from work so I don't have any personal long distance commuting experience to add.

Volvo S60. Those seats, oh those seats

p71 or similar Crown vic. Get one with 100k for cheep and it will go another 200k with regular oil changes. Synthetic oil is your friend I think. Big comfortable ok millage for what it is and a bonus for people being very nice to you as they assume you are an LEO.

Your Miata will quickly become a clapped out commuter car if you use it putting that many miles on it.

I agree with what a lot of people are saying.

The best long distance commuter-mobile I've ever had was a Lumina LTZ. Comfy seats, good engine and surprisingly good mpg. That thing absolutely devoured the cross country miles.