Yup.. coupe is now on classic car insurance policy max 7500miles a year. Bought a nice fully loaded estate for daily runs and eating all manner of speed-bumps

Had to take train to London recently (one off trip).. boy oh boy ..the people you come across, some nice, others professional, and yes you do find the occasional turd..

Rather pay triple costs to keep me in a car (any car)..

that or.....move to The Cov Nigel!
We're not a bad bunch anymore ...honest!

Oh man - that is the pits.... I used that route for a while whilst living with my folks and working in Bham and it was hideous, then moved to Lichfield and took that train which was like upgrading to the Orient Express

Some options for you

(i) get a netbook and watch downloaded tv or movies on the train,
(ii) get a netbook and a 3G card wireless sim for £10 per month (see O2 which has non-contract options) and either browse the net or get to work early thus shortening your day in the office
(iii) start reading books - my fiancee does this and it works for her.
(iv) for some sudoku seems to make the commute race by, although I can't say I've tried it or that it appeals to me.

You can always make friendships with fellow commuters, or maybe more? ..LOL

MrCooper - last time I had to use the train for a while (melted my forged pistons and needed a rebuild) I decided to read a book - I dug out a (signed) copy of Jackie Stewart's autobiography and read it cover to cover in a couple of weeks - the time just flew by and I thoroughly enjoyed learning lots more about a man I admire.

My phone has a decent screen (4.3") and 3G, so I can watch video or browse the net if I need to, although a decent netbook would be a lot better (perhaps I could use my phone as a 3G modem for the netbook?)

Soduku isn't an option - it does my head in

And as for "making friendships" - don't think so....

Oi! less of the Walsall bashing!

This is something I would do if I could, unfortunately my commute would be:

Drive to Walsall train station
Train to Birmingham Train station
Train to Redditch Train station
2.5 miles to work form Redditch train station

Just not feasible for me unfortunately. I look forward to the day we have cars that can drive themselves so I can just get into it, and let it take me to work. Of course these cars will be equipped with a manual override for those times you feel like driving.

Go on .. you never know what may come out of it

I know exactly what would come of it - a severe beating from the wife

nothing ventured..nothing gained

However interesting people seem to be when you first meet them in an environment where you 'have' to meet them each day, there will come a time where you wish they wouldn't come sit next to you every time.

were you taking the off road route?

I miss travelling to work on the train, just sit back and relax Get yourself a PSP and Gran Turismo and enjoy. They make great video players too.

Well - today was my first day of voluntary train use (as opposed to when I've been compelled to use it due to a broken Coupe)

Outward journey wasn't too bad - watched an episode of QI on the way into Birmingham, but then I had to stand from Birmingham to Coventry - only twenty minutes, but annoying all the same

Return journey wasn't so good - Virgin train into Birmingham was late and packed - was really lucky to get a seat. London Midland train back to Rugeley was even busier - I managed to get a seat, but there must have been fifty people standing in 'my' carriage alone. Wouldn't have been surprised to find the train was more like the ones in India, with a few dozen people on the roof

I think I'm going to have to learn how to 'zone-out' and just lose myself in a book, happy(ish) in the knowledge that I'm saving over £20 a day

Just to make myself feel a bit better, I've re-calculated my savings. Let's assume that I still do 5,000 private miles a year in the Coupe...

30,000 miles a year, of which 20,000 were commuting and 5,000 business miles

that's 1,000 gallons of fuel, @ £6 per gallon = £6,000
PLUS six Toyo T1-R pa @ £200 per pair = £600
PLUS two sets of Pagid Yellows @ £200 per set = £400
PLUS one set of front discs at £200 a pair = £200
PLUS three oil & filter changes @ £60 each = £180
PLUS three five-litre cans of oil to top up @ £48 each =£96
(uses about 1/2 litre per 1,000 miles)
PLUS insurance that covers me for 30,000 miles with Class1 business use - £650

Total cost, excluding tax, MOT, general servicing and repairs = £8,200

I reckon this will drop to an annual cost of around:

166 gallons of fuel @ £6/gallon = £1,000
1 pair of tyres every 2 years = £100
1 pair of pads every 2 years = £100
1 pair of discs every 3-4 years - £50
1 oil and filter change - £60
2.5 litres of oil for top-ups - £24
Reduced insurance £450

Total of around £1,780

Or more interestingly, a saving of about £6,500 a year, AND I won't knacker my pristine Coupe AND I won't break / wear out other stuff anywhere near as quickly

And all for £20 a week...

Its only when I do sums like these that I realise that the Coupe is hugely expensive. I reckon my total expenditure was in the region of £10,000 per annum, but of course this is from my after-tax pay - when I gross it up, it represents about £16,000 a year out of my gross pay

To be fair, its not just the Coupe - a two year old Mondeo on a bank loan would cost just as much AND I'd then have to factor in depreciation as well

Of course, the correct answer would be for me to get a job in my home town at £10,000 less than my current salary, and I'd be massively better off, both in terms of income and quality of life

Nigel

As a sad commuter rat of many years I can assure you that you do learn to zone the world out. Make sure you've got decent earplugs for whatever it is you're listening to - make sure that your entertainment NEVER runs out of batteries and make sure you have more than 20 pages left in your book and you'll be fine.

Until you come back from holiday and have to re-acclimatise!

It also helps to really believe that you can't change things if they're late/broken/packed etc. People spend too much energy getting wound up about commuter rubbish that they can't change.

Or b) as you say, get a job in your home town

Please don't work out the amount you'd have saved if you had been taking the train for the time you owned coops!

Nigel, buy a cheap shatmobile, did it years ago, I just bought a 55 plate AMG estate, but I still SWEAR by my R reg Scorpio shattyheap, as it's SOO cheap, costs about £500 per year to run, granted I do only 6k per year if lucky...

The coop is insured for the year, as is the Tax, but the MOT just ran out....

As usual it'll do about 800 miles this year

crazy, yes, but I just don't really like bruising about in it, as it'd get me banned etc... plus I just cannot justify filling it up at £80 per tank or whatever, then another £10 on fuel preserver...

Sorry - already worked out

If I'd used the train instead of the Coupe for the six years I've worked in Coventry - total saving of around £35,000

I must be mad....

Nigel - you've always struck me as a rather bright guy, and I find it somewhat surprising that you don't run your own business (not to imply that all employees are thick; but rather you just strike me as the sort that would do well on your own).

Perhaps this is the answer?

He does

Just noticed this, cancelled all holidays and would be reducing the staff but if you have met Deano you would know it's not possible.

It was only the other day that I did a few quick sums in my head on the cost of keeping a performance car.

In short if I'd have bought slow cars for the last 12 years and then saved up the rest, I could have saved around £40/50k. But then again I would probably just squandered it on something else

Born and dragged up in coventry myself so can't blame you for not wanting to live there :-)) Have gone the other way myself. Have just bought a Coupe to travel to work in. Will save me money in running costs. Just the repairs which I could have to do that might cost more

Now that's some proper man-logic right there - love it!

LOL @ Paul - Doesn't mean you can charge double on Saturday morning.....

deadlock - I've run my own business for the last ten years or so, but its only a part-time thing which pays a few grand a year - my main job is a full time employed position

well i don't think it'll last a year, wait until the fat bloke stinking of BO (not you porkypaul) sits next to you every couple of trips, the train is jammed and delayed/stopped in 75degree heat - you'll murder to get off there!!!

also, the coop IS expensive in comparison, but driving is your passion, your love, and nothing satisfies you more than humiliating some goon in a £50k "supercar"! long live the coop!!!

I caught the train when all the snow hit in December. I wasn't prepared, with just my iPhone to play on. People sniffing all the time put me right off, but I guess with ear-plugs you'd be okay.

This evening wasn't as bad - got a seat to myself on both trains and just zoned out - firstly with this month's EVO mag and later with iPlayer's latest episode of My Family and my earphones

The 90 minutes went past quite quickly and I got home semi-refreshed

Proccy - I know what you mean though - sooner or later, I'm going to be in a bad mood from work, there will be some screaming kids, a builder with BO, a chav mum with a white tracksuit, too-loud earphones and a kid that wont stop kicking the back of my seat AND it will be summer so I'll be all hot and bothered (have to wear a suit for work, so I won't even be able to dress appropriately)

I'm pretty sure I'll soon be longing for that feeling of 1.5 bar and 3rd gear

For now though, its only Tuesday and I'm about £40 up already this week. It'll be £100 by the weekend - just in time for my appointment at Motormech....

Judging by the hysteria in the media, which may or may not be correct I hasten to add, it looks like you've made a wise decision Nigel: £1.40 per litre imminent, £1.50 expected sooner rather than later!

At this rate I foresee more coupés coming off the daily driver runs and a rising demand for LPG conversions......!

Since I bought my coupe, 95 ron fuel prices have risen by roughly 56p a litre, - that's around 70%.

And diesel since Oct 2007 when I bought my Grande Punto by 39%

I remember I used to pay 24 belgian franks per litre when I first had my Coupe. Right now we're around the 1.5 euro mark, which is roughly 60 belgian franks. So Prices have risen over 100% since... well it was 11 years ago.

LPG at that time was 12 francs or thereabouts if I remember well.

Still, cheaper running on petrol than running on Coca Cola.