Worth the drive from York to Birmingham?

Is there a reason for going to Birmingham? It's more of a working city than a tourist one, a;though there are places to see. They do have a really good Christmas Market there, so perhaps that's your reason. Be aware that it will be VERY busy at the weekend, try to go in the week if possible.
Daylight hours in Late Nov/Early Dec will be very short. It will be dark around 4pm, which will make driving more challenging. The countryside will be quite drab too. Bare trees, mud, barely any colours apart from various shades of brown and grey.
Liverpool IMO is a better tourist option. A little out of your way but with rail links to York and London.

Birmingham is an unusual tourist choice but the Christmas market is good and the city centre has some interesting sights - the city museum/art gallery hosts an excellent Pre-Raphaelite collection and the Staffordshire Hoard, which is well worth seeing.

Birmingham is one of the cities I most hate driving in - and I speak as a person with 40 years’ experience driving in Britain. It’s huge and often baffling. The city centre is full of overpasses and underpasses and you really need to have your wits about you to get where you’re going. In the pre-GPS days I was driving a car through Birmingham with two colleagues giving me different directions about whether to go under or over and I had a nasty crash into a bollard. I’ve driven there many times since and I still get confused.

Parking can be difficult - I don’t know where you’re planning to stay but don’t assume your hotel will have parking.

There is some lovely countryside between York and Birmingham - you could detour through the Peak District, but that deserves proper time and thought.

The usual route that maps will give you is pretty much all motorways and main roads.

What Birmingham does have to offer is excellent train services. So - just to choose one example -you could catch a train to Stratford upon Avon (not quite Cotswolds but Cotswolds-adjacent) for a nice day out.

Skip Birmingham, but if you must go there, take the train. A car in a large UK city is terrible.

Rather than spending a day round the Cotswolds why not do a day round the North York Moors from York instead. There are a lot of pretty villages - Hutton in the Hole immediately springs to mind...

Thank you everyone for the responses and suggestions!

Yes, the Christmas market is drawing us to Birmingham. In addition, both couples have Hyatt points and status, and there's a Hyatt Regency centrally located in Birmingham that has a club, included breakfast, saves us on lodging by using points, within walking distance to central Birmingham and the Christmas market, etc.

The two wives targeted the Cotswolds without any primer from Rick Steve's (i.e. they found the area on their own), and it seemed like it would be much cheaper to split the cost of a rental car vs. take a bus tour for four.

I've read that York is also nuts on the weekends, especially with the Christmas market going, which is why we chose York during the week, followed by Birmingham on the weekend.

I'd welcome any other feedback and suggestions, but we'll definitely look into the Peak District, North York Moors, and the suggested stops between York and Birmingham. Thanks again!

I'd recommend Manchester and Liverpool over Birmingham, personally. Didn't enjoy our brief stay in Birmingham.

I lived Birmingham adjacent for 15 years and grew up in the Cotswolds; and I worked at (and through) Birmingham New Street for many years, so I have visited the Birmingham Frankfurt Christmas Market many times, but not recently since the prices became unaffordable for me. Fun and quite a few vendors, and most are from Frankfurt but not all. Too too dear for me now tho.

Driving in Brum is not the easiest thing to do, and from my experience Brummies are not the most patient drivers. They are usually in a bit of a hurry - places to go, work to do.

Weather in early December is often wet, and even if nothing is falling from the sky the roads never dry - the sun is far too low on the horizon and weak. So glare can easily become a problem if the sun is up - rarely - and if it is wet, often, you'll be looking through the wipers at the scenery.

If I were in your shoes I'd take the much faster trains - you're counting places as 2 days, 2 nights as 2 days.and not taking travel and relocation into account on either day. Usually we consider that 2 nights gives one full sightseeing day with arrival and departure on either end.

And I'd wait to rent (hire) a car until I saw the weather forecast the evening before. I'd get it at Birmingham airport - easy to reach in 15 minutes or less and very convenient to the M42 (watch out for variable speed limits and heavy traffic, and HS2 related roadworks) and the straight but slow (lots of cameras and some are speed averaging) A452 route to Stratford upon Avon.

Cotswold villages in clear winter weather can be attractive with illuminated (white lights) trees above the doors when it is dark enough but honestly they look much more inviting in the spring, summer, and early autumn. Wet thatch (less thatch than you may imagine) is not as attractive as sun bathed thatch.

Don't want to be a downer, but it often isn't the best time to visit what are the beautiful Cotswolds. (others above are right about the other beautiful areas too, but they aren't where I grew up and they are further north so the short days are even shorter.

I hope the 4 of you have a great time. The Hyatt is reasonably will situated, and close to Gas Street Basin.