Thanks for the replies all!
If we were to do the move it would be on the other side of the Shannon, not particularly close to any public transport but the commute would be almost all motorway. It's probably close to 250km each way. I'm under no illusions as to how radical this might seem and I doubt that many people ever do this sort of commute. There's lots of objective reasons why it makes no sense, but for a couple of reasons it might actually make sense for us if we could just figure out the commute.
It's interesting to hear the views on commuting in the M135i, which does seem to suggest it wouldn't be totally crazy to commute with something like an F80/F82 (I'm sure there are lots of these cars that spend a lot of time on the Autobahn), but nearly 500km a day is no small number..
I had been budgeting for a pre-LCI F80/F82, but I suppose one option I hadn't really considered was splitting my budget to get something like a diesel E60 or F10 for the commute and potentially an E46 or E92 M3 for the weekends..
Unfortunately wouldn't be near any public transport, but even if it was I'm not sure it would be a runner because the train would take a fair bit longer than the car. It's almost all motorway miles I believe!
Interesting thanks. The small tank is definitely something I'd need to factor in, given the length of this commute!
This would make sense but as above we wouldn't be near any public transport!
100% hear you. It wouldn't be my ideal scenario, but just considering it as a possibility that may work for us at this point in time. There is no real alternative to my job outside of the capital and I'm in it for the long haul. But I hear you, my commute into work now in Dublin doesn't exactly leave me feeling refreshed when I arrive in the office so I can imagine a much longer commute would be challenging. Before we make any decisions on this we are going to do a trial-run of the commute for a week to see how feasible it might be in reality.
Interesting. Aside from my old Mk4 GTI I don't know much about VWs. Looks like a nice machine. Although if I was resigned to getting myself a (relatively) economical diesel cruiser I'd be more excited by something like an Audi A7 or a RR Sport!
Very interesting, thanks for the input. As above I would be looking at mainly motorway miles so this is all very interesting. I hadn't considered a petrol 5 series - will look into it. I wonder how the fuel economy of the 540i would compare to the M135i, or even an F80/82?
Of course I've been the same with working from home the last 6 months save for a handful of trips to the office or client meetings. There's no doubt there is a sea change with WFH and it's entirely possible that I could end up working more days from home than not even beyond Covid, which is really the only reason we are even contemplating this sort of move. If we both expected to go back to the office full time after this I don't think we'd be entertaining it.
Yeah the E60 certainly seems like a logical option. I do love that car and the 535d seems to tick a lot of boxes.