My circumstances have changed recently and I will shortly be faced with a daily commute to work for at least 4 days per week. The total distance per month will be about 500 miles.
My question is, would it be viable to use the Defender I have or would such a journey justify buying a small city car?
Although the Defender will of course use more fuel, I have been wondering if the costs of buying and running another car will add up to a lot more, especially when depreciation is taken into account. I need the Defender for other things so can't sell that.
Has anyone run the numbers? Any thoughts would be welcome.

i use my 200tdi every day, about 26 miles round trip, 5 days a week with trips out at the weekend, b road driving and i reckon it costs me about £40 - £50 a week in fuel. not sure if this helps but i find the costs just about manageable

in my 110 500 miles would be about £100. In my nice economocal chav box it'd be about £50.

I'd be using the landy rather than paying to keep an extra vehicle on the road.

I bought my 1987 '90 in December. My monthly milage varies, currently doing a 50 mile round trip daily, but making my own Bio Diesel for 50p/litre so don't care if I only get 28mpg....ps Proper bio is NOT SVO in 3litre bottles straight out of Morrisons
4 cars on the drive/garage & I pick the landy 99% of the time

most important thing that perhaps has to be taken into consideration- would you enjoy your comute as much if you were driving a small car rather than your defender ?

if the answer is that despite the cost you'd prefer to drive the defender then go for it - you can always make more money at some point in your life but you can not recreate pleasant moments in life

FFS if you're worried about doing 500 miles a month your fender must be a particularly poor example. 500 miles a month is **** all. I only live a mile from work and I do way more than 500 miles in a month. At that kind of mileage any saving you might make from a cheaper to run car would be tiny.

Been doing a 66 mile round trip each day to and from work this summer 5 days a week and going through about half a tank in my 300Tdi 110 so works out about £60 per week in diesel. What the others mentioned about enjoying the drive - it's particularly useful being able to see over everyone while driving down the A3 since people are complete and utter half-wits on that road.

It also has other benefits - someone managed to shunt me into a BMW in-front. The Focus that hit me (and pretty damn hard) was a write-off. I actually sustained more "damage" at the front than the back. Total repair work (should eventually be happening this coming week) is a new front bumper and number-plate, rear fog-light lense (which I actually damaged using the Hi-Lift to separate the Focus [my tow hitch was inside the engine bay]) and mud-flap...

The Traffic Officers were pretty jovial about the whole thing and seemed to have great fun in pondering how to separate the two vehicles (110 and Focus) since I managed to pull the Focus off the road into a lay-by simply by driving forwards, applying the brakes in the Focus had no effect - I simply drove off with it still attached. In the end the Hi-Lift (luckily I carry it most places) was deployed to try and get purchase under the corner of the rear-cross member and managed to jack it high enough to get the Focus out from underneath.

I commute about 80 miles a day, from near Guildford to Winchester. So about 500 a week with weekends etc, so about 2000 a month. I wouldn't consider buying a run about, what's the point, I like driving my truck, it's good in bad weather etc. I get about 36mpg avaeage, so isn't that bad. It's a mix of down the A3 and back roads. I can't see it being any cheaper having a run about, and if it is it would be marginal. I would rather pay a bit more and have the enjoyment of my truck. I didn't but it to sit on the drive!

i was doing 120 mile a day the other week for 3 month just for work Blackpool to the wirral in the disco... most months i do a good 3000 miles poss even 4000 miles.. i was thinking of getting a car,, but,,, got a 90 instead:hysterically_laughi .

The only way it will be cheaper is to replace the defender with a 'citycar' Used to do 70 mile round trip for work, all in my 300tdi - wouldn't change it for the world

Never worth buying a city car for commutes, if you're that way inclined consider the train etc, but no point wasting money on tax, insurance, petrol, running costs of another vehicle for such small trips.

The only time i won't be using the Landy is for a trip to Newcastle as i got mostly motorways and the kids in the back isn't the best idea on the M5/M6, so will probably hire a car for the trip.

All good stuff, thanks for the replies. Despite using more fuel, I suppose the Defender will depreciate more slowly than a modern small car and it is also easier to repair. Far nicer to drive too, at least for me.
Replacing it with a small car would make other things difficult as I need the flexibility the Defender offers. Even if I didn't, I'm not sure if I'd like the idea of selling it or trading it in!