The point about London has always been that it's good in bits. As the good bits get ruined other bits briefly flourish and then get ruined.

I grew up there in the decades after the war. It seemed a lot better then than when I visit it these days, but that's largely because I'm a visitor.

OK for visiting, but not living in or driving. Actually I think that's probably the wrong way round, so far as "living in" is concerned. ("Driving", you'd need to be a sadomasochist..) Living in London you find ways of enjoying it, visiting, it's liable to just seem a mess, because you'll be spending time in the parts that have been ruined worst.

I'd never advise a tourist to waste much of their visit to England in London. And stay well clear of it for the Olympics, which will be a nightmare.