Brother finally started his big boy job!!

My brother has been struggling along for several years as a semi-freelance writer, sports analyst, waiter, and editor. Well, today he started his dream job (yay!) for a company called faketeams.com (I think, honestly fantasy sports are not my thing. Real job, real pay, real benefits!! All the things that a young man aspires to.

Here is the rub. The job is in Cincinnati and he lives in Lexington so the commute is 1.5 hours each way on I-75 every day. What does the hive mind have for him? Any suggestions from the road warriors out there?

He listens to a lot of podcasts (sports), drives a 2007 Passat 4 cylinder turbo, and can't realistically relocate for the time being. Please share your ideas and I'll show him this thread tonight. TIA

Suggestion: a gun.
Shoot me dead if I had to deal with crossing the Cincinnati, Downtown Ohio River bridge at I-75 every day.

The current body Elantra which I think started in 2012 will get him 40 mpg on hyw travel while being big enough and not too small.

Well, I'd challenge the 'can't relocate right now' theory.

My recommendation is to have him calculate up the true cost of his commute: 200 miles per day x 250 days per year is 50k miles. At govt reimbursement rate that costs more than $25k. At more realistic cost of 25cents per mile, that is still $12.5k, after taxes, so it eats up 15-20k of salary. Also,the time added is NUTS. 3hrs/day and 250 days per year is 750 hours commuting. Or another third of a full time job. Idk his salary, but say they are paying him $80,000 for 2000 hours ($40/hour). With the commute he is only getting $65,000 for 2750 hours ($23.64/hour). The commute literally almost cuts his pay rate in half!

If that is still all worth it to him, I suggest a radar detector.

In reply to Robbie: I know. But he just got engaged and she can't realistically relocate either. They are looking for housing which would put her commute at 30 minutes and get his down to a less soul crushing 60 but it's still a chunk of time.

Lexington is a terrible town right next to my favorite race track in North America. I'd be conflicted by that choice for the track - not the town. He should probably move closer to work. Time is the only real commodity you can't make more of. Traffic is no place to spend something so valuable.

Other than that... books on tape?

i suggest either getting a closer job or moving closer... the farthest i will drive for a job is 30 miles, and that is country miles not city miles..

Here are a few options of what I would do.

If he can't move and if his budget is ZERO, do all maintenance on his Passat and roll with it. It's cheaper than changing things around even if the Passat isn't the best mileage.

If he can't move, I would look for a well maintained ALH VW TDI with a manual trans if his budget is 5-7k and doesn't want to keep the Passat.

If he can move, anything but a VW.

If he can't move and his budget affords a new car then maybe a Volt or Prius. Notice I didn't say a new CR TDI Passat. Yes they have great range but they are also of suspect quality have DPFs, and HPFP's to fail. (Yes I do have first hand experience with them and 3 years ago I would have said it was a no brainer until mine and lots of other peoples turned out to be huge disappointments)

These are boring options but 3 hour commute total a day is a boring proposition and if he can save enough money doing that until he either moves or stops doing it then it'll be worth it.

Expanding Robbie's logic of a $15,000 commute...

If the pay is $40,000 the take-home is only $25,000
If the pay is $30,000 the take-home is only $15,000

He refuses/can't drive a stick so auto only. Current Passat gets an honest 30 MPG so it's not terrible and a pretty nice place to spend time. At $2.50 a gallon that should be 12 cents per mile for gas. I'm thinking a membership to AAA would be a good idea.

If he can afford a car, he can afford to relocate. And not to be an ass about it, if you are in a pinch and making conditions like "I refuse to drive a stick." Then you aren't in a pinch, you are in a situation which makes you uncomfortable but not enough to make a real change.

That being said, I would scour the list of craigs to find the cheapest 4 cylinder Accord/Camry he is willing to accept.

Flight Service wrote: That being said, I would scour the list of craigs to find the cheapest 4 cylinder Accord/Camry he is willing to accept.

Why buy another 30 mpg 4cyl/automatic highway car when he already has one? Much cheaper to just do maintenance on what he has.

In reply to Huckleberry: What is your favorite track? NCM is a good two hour drive west of here....

Is there a track I'm missing somewhere?

Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
7721 Steam Corners Rd Lexington, OH 44904

In reply to Huckleberry:

Wrong Lexington. This is Kentucky not BFE pooptastic Ohio.

Huckleberry wrote: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course 7721 Steam Corners Rd Lexington, OH 44904

Pretty sure they're talking about commuting from Lexington Kentucky.

Edit: Ranger50 beat me to it.

Huckleberry wrote: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course 7721 Steam Corners Rd Lexington, OH 44904

2.5 hours from Cincinnati.

Stay with the Passat as long a possible.
Add in satellite radio.

It really doesn't sound practical for him to get a different car. He picked his Passat Turbo presumably because he liked it. If it was a genuine problem car, he should sell it regardless of the commute.

Here's the gist. He's going to drive around 160 miles a day, or 800 a workweek. A 30 mpg car will take 26.7 gallons a week (or $80 at 3 bucks/gallon). A 40 mpg car will take 20 gallons a week ($60). A 50 mpg car will take 16 gallons ($48). Note the diminishing returns.

Hypothetically, he could sell his 30 mpg car and buy a used Prius or a Dieselgate VW, both of which can get around 50 mpg highway (your mileage may vary, heh). Even if he makes the 30-to-50 mpg jump, he will only save $1600 over 50 workweeks. Unless he's a Craigslist savant, he'll probably lose that much in trade value (selling low, buying high). Even if he can do an even swap into a higher mpg car, it's now a car that he doesn't know the maintenance history or feel ownership with.

In summary, if he likes his current car, he should keep it. It's the devil he knows and if something goes wrong with it, c'est la vie. If he switches vehicles, he could resent it (after all, I'd hate something I got for the exclusive purpose of spending 3 hours a day in) and if it breaks, now it's your fault for forcing his hand.

For a 1.5hr each way commute, I would suggest getting a commuter room for 3 nights a week. For example, he could stay near work on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights and still be with his fiancée Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Cuts his weekly commute from 15hrs to 6hrs. That is the difference between insanity/depression and a normal life. Trust me, I've had that commute and I've done the commuter room thing.

JohnRW1621 wrote: Stay with the Passat as long a possible. Add in satellite radio.

This. Maybe a stereo with a headphone jack. Buy Bose noise-cancelling headphones. Check to make sure headphones are legal in your state.

In reply to Kylini:

www.airbnb.com might be a good place to find a room like that.
The dream arraignment would be to find someone who travels away from Cinci 3 days a week. On the days the owner is gone, your brother could be there and they would never really see each other.

We are assuming that this is a 40 hr/wk gig but who's every really only worked 40 hrs, especially as "the new guy"? Being the "un-local guy" could hurt the way his work is perceived or the impressions that people form about him.

JohnRW1621 wrote: Expanding Robbie's logic of a $15,000 commute... If the pay is $40,000 the take-home is only $25,000 If the pay is $30,000 the take-home is only $15,000

Getting a toe-hold in his dream industry and the connections it should bring is priceless. Buy a kick-ass stereo and music collection for the trip along with some satellite radio and get two years under his belt.

From a "What Car" perspective...Whatever you do, don't drive a stick for such a commute. This is where the distance keeping radar would be nice. Or a grappling arm to latch on to the Semi's back bumper during stop-and-go traffic.

My previous job was about the same hour and a half and I arranged to work 4 12 hour days with Fridays off. I rented a room locally. I tell ya, the significant other is always happier to "greet" you after work if you have been gone for a bit.

Finding a room to rent and/or working a 4 day work week both sound like brilliant ideas. As does trying to negotiate some telecommuting (depends on the nature of the work obviously).

If he could find a room and stay there Tuesday night and Thursday night (for example), that alone might help keep him sane.

I do 1.5-2hrs each way. As long as the Passat is in good shape I would run it into the ground. I've done it with three cars so far. Once you start putting on the Miles there's no resale value so you may as well squeeze every mile from it until it starts having problems. I have satellite radio and listen to a couple podcasts. Staying near work a few nights a week sounds like a good idea but my wife and I both hated it. I still do sometimes if I work a double shift but otherwise I come home. After doing it for 13 years if there was a way to get out of it I would but right now there's nothing I can affordably change.