Threads like this make me laugh.
Dont know where people get the idea these cars are fragile useless pieces of rubbish that cant do a commute to work.
40 miles? Pah
Put some air in the tyres and some fuel in the tank.
If your car cant make it then you best sort it out.
Only things that will need checking are all the regular things you should be doing anyway.
Look in the front of your friendly haynes manual for daily, weekly, monthly blah blah checks.
Its all about getting to know your particular car...
For instance i know mine is perfect running order because i look after it and wouldnt think twice about jumping in and driving to scotland in it.
A mile is a mile, the car doesnt car if it does 1 or 40 or 100. It doesnt have a brain.