I live in Cumbernauld. It certainly wasn't my first choice but we wanted to leave Glasgow and the right house was available at the right price. We're still here 6 years later and very settled. I swore we'd only stay for 3 years!
It's very much a town of two halves. The biggest bulk of Cumbernauld is to the east of the motorway, with the very dire town centre and lots of the original new town.
West of the motorway, it's mostly newer housing estates. Housing isn't particularly cheap here, lots of commuters attracted by the train station and motorway access are keeping the prices up. We can drive to Edinburgh in 45 mins, Glasgow in 20 mins, Falkirk and Stirling are both very easy to get to.
There are rumblings of plans to knock down the town centre and start again, which would be great but knowing North Lanarkshire Council, it might not happen! Similarly, there's plans for cinema and leisure facilities that have been talked about for ages with little progress.
Where we are is great for families, there's sports facilities, classes and groups. Easy access to the countryside with a loch, canal walks, country parks/walks within 5-10 minutes (Palacerigg, Cumbernauld Glen, Colzium in Kilsyth). Plenty of choice for food shopping (supermarkets and independent butchers etc) and you can get basics in the town centre. Glasgow Fort is only about 20 minutes away.
We are happy with our chosen primary school but will be keeping an eye on how the high schools perform in the next few years.
I wouldn't want to live here without a car, public transport is available but a car is definitely easier - it's quite a spread out town.
If you are new to the town, I wouldn't say there's much of a community feel. You very much have to find your own village and it's taken me a while.
My biggest bugbear is how far we are from the coast!