To think I can drive 4 hours per day, 4 times a week as a newly qualified driver?

[Psych101B]

I am starting a university course in September and am unable to move closer to the university due to various reasons. The drive from my house is 2 hours each way. I passed my test in 2023 but haven’t driven much since (only short drives to local supermarkets etc) as I’ve been saving up to buy a car.

Am I being unrealistic in thinking that if I get a car in April and do intensive driving practice between then and September, that I will be confident and able to drive for 4 hours per day 4 times a week?

I did similar for years. pretty much from passing my test.
my suggestions is to make a mental note of where supermarkets are for wee stops! use waze to avoid annoying traffic hot spots and pick some decent pod casts or radio to listen to.

winters hardest, and summer feels a breeze in comparison

When you are costing it against the train, you also need to factor in the depreciation on your car that sticking so many miles on it will have (and the wear and tear on replacement parts).

I commuted an hour and a half by train when I did a post-grad. I got a lot of work done on the train.

Bus, tube, train, bus?! No way!

Honestly can you rethink the whole thing? I would not personally do the journey that many days, driving or public transport, with the study commitments and placements.

That sounds utterly exhausting on top of a stressful uni course. I would see if you can stay nearby once or twice a week, then it might be doable. I know you say you're needed at home and I don't know what for obviously but in all likelihood you'll be studying or asleep! Good luck

it should be fine but it might be costly. Is there a uni closer to your home? If not then practice the drive. Would you have somewhere for a 20min nap in the day? Perhaps in a library or on a friends sofa?

I don’t think being a new driver is the issue, but even for an experienced driver that is a lot of driving. I think you’re underestimating how exhausting driving can be

I commuted about 90 minutes each way my early 20s and I was knackered.
It was crappy northern trains and they were often late, freezing and full. No chance I could work, I often slept.

Your issue is you need to be home really for a few pointless awake hours. You’ll be going to bed soon after you come in anyway. That’s your real issue.

Often those reasons are money; they can’t afford to rent or flat share but didn’t consider lodging which is much cheaper. It’s always worth suggesting just in case. So many of my former students had this issue, and hadn’t consider becoming a lodger to make it affordable. They then did once being made aware of the option. You never know what’s been considered.

If the issue isn’t the cost then OP can ignore, can’t she.

Sounds like an amazing opportunity- congrats OP!

It is a fair amount of driving, but people do have this kind of commute and adapt to it. To get prepared I’d hire a car for a week and do the actual commute - will help you get used to it and see if the timings you’ve worked out are correct.

Also check with the university on actual contact times required in case you can leave earlier/start later some days, which will be a big help.

Is it educational psychology?
This driving is a really bad plan and not because you're a new driver. It's 4 precious hours of every day when you can't do anything but drive. You are going to have so much work to do - hours of study time down the drain sitting in the car. You'll get home, completely knackered, have to have something to eat, shower, get changed, whatever and then sit down to get on with some work which could potentially take hours and then you have to go to bed and get up again the next morning to do the same.
It really needs a rethink.
At least if you go on the train you can use that time to do some of your work.

Can you not find a place as a weekly lodger near the university? (ie. you only live there during the week?)
It sounds like you don't want to go into the reasons why you can't live near the university but are those obstacles really as big as you think they are? Is there a way round them?

A solution would be to lodge with someone for four days a week. Could the University help you find somewhere?

It’s not an uncommon arrangement, or used not to be. Better than wasting so many hours driving.

A PhD is going to take significantly more than 40h a week, and more difficult. I would not add 16h a week of driving to it.

On the other hand, do you have to be there in person 4 days a week?

How long is the course for OP? I did a two year degree at a uni ten miles away and my drive was 40-90 mins either way. I also used an app where I booked people’s driveways to park on. Look at that parking option too. It was annoying but public transport would have taken longer and was more expensive.

4 hours (if you get no traffic) is really long and I wouldn’t have had the energy to then work after. But if it’s not for a massive amount of time and you really do want it then you’ll make it work. You can stop off and get snacks, you can stay in the library to avoid peak traffic times and you could stay in a hotel if you needed to. It’s not an ideal situation but I don’t know if it would be enough to put me off the course.

I agree with all of this. My fuel only estimate cost came out around £500 too.

To give the opposite side of your view, I'd prefer to drive it!

I love listening to podcasts and audio books, so would listen to those along the way. I am, however, a confident driver with over 25 years of experience behind me.

Other things to consider. It's not just fuel costs - it's wear and tear on your car. 180 miles a day, 4 days a week for, say, 9 months is around 28,000 miles. Estimated tyre usage is between 20,000 and 40,000 miles (though I've recently gotten much more out of some of mine). How quickly your car goes through tyres depends on driving style and the car itself.

DH hasn't changed his driving style, but his old car's tyres were rubbish and he'd only get about 10,000 miles out of them. He bought his current car new and has done 30,000 miles out of them with a change only due to a puncture.

Look up how much tyres are and whether your car has a proper spare or a space saver. My car is a BMW and doesn't have a spare at all, so the run flat tyres I have are £160 each. DH's old car was over £200 a tyre.

As another idea, could you stay up there a couple of nights?

I like the coach idea too, though they'll probably be slower than the train, depending on the route.

A friend of mine had a flat in London that she had a Monday to Friday lodger. She used this site I think to advertise - https://www.mondaytofriday.com/

If you don’t have a car already and cope fine without one now, I’d stick to the train. That’s a very long drive to be doing after uni and especially once it gets dark again, you’re likely to be driving when tired which puts you at greater risk of being in an accident. I’d look at the train where you could get plenty of work done, and compared to the running costs of a car, will work out cheaper.

That’s what 30k miles a year just on commuting to uni? You’ll have to give your mileage when you take out insurance and that sort of number could well send it through the roof.

why can’t you move closer?

I'd look at cheap AirBnb/ travelodge options that are on the way or nearby rather than drive 2 hours at the of a Uni day, ro eat/ study / sleep at home and then drive 2 hours back the next day! At. least as an option for bad weather / feeling tired days!

The other thing to consider is the risk of breakdown driving a car such great distances. If you are adamant about getting a car I’d lean towards to newest car, most reliable brand you can afford with a full service history. You’ll also need breakdown membership and Id invest in a spare tyre as a lot of modern cars don’t have them. I had to buy one for my BMW and the peace of mind is worth it.

These are the types of queries that the mumsnet hive mind is great at coming to a solution / offering suggestions.

Are you able to share where you currently live and which uni campus you need to get to? - pretty sure none of that is going to be outing

It's really hard to get into a flow swapping transport that often. I travel bus-train-tube in two directions, and I only ever work about 60% of the 2h train.

Can you look at it the other way around - look for places that you can travel to directly from the end point in one go, then see how long to drive there? Local transport network maps are better for this than Google.

On the family support, is it predictable? Can you plan in advance? Do you need to be at home, or would being closer help (e.g. could you stay 1h closer to uni?).

I did this for my final year at uni. It was fine but I find driving quite relaxing. In your own space radio on..perfect chillax for me.

4 hours a day driving is too long and will exhaust you.

When I first passed my test I was doing roughly the same (100 mile motorway drive there and back, two times a week - approx 2 hours each way). It wasn't ideal (as someone else said, it was dead time and required a lot more mentally of me than being on a train) but I also encountered every single driving condition you could think of, saw a ton of crashes and scary things and traffic jams and all sorts, and it really meant I wasn't scared of anything on the road after that!

That sounds exhausting. Are there any bed and breakfasts that you can stay at? Think if the time you will save that can be spent studying.