Exactly, most early morning shows at my airline are around 5am, which means you're waking up at 1:30am to start your drive. A lot of my days are 10-13 hours long, if not longer. That means some days I'm on the go for nearly 20 hours. My airline loves to throw in a deadhead at the end of a long day. It's not too bad if you're on a multi-day trip but if you're getting a lot of day trips you can see why that would suck. Still, driving is better than a flying commute.

Expense wise, the mileage is what adds up. I've done a 1-2 hour commute in traffic (Seattle area). That's not too expensive because the miles are low. But a 350 mile round trip (3 hour) commute starts going through gas, tires, oil, etc. faster than you would expect. Before committing to it I would sit down and really crunch the numbers so you know what to expect.