I've done PHL-EWR and vv many times, its super easy by train.
But if you MUST have a car once your actually in PHL, it really is not that big of a deal to drive from EWR.
I actually did a circle trip last year ORD-PHL spent 2 days working in PHL then ZFV-EWR-TPA for lie flats (well and that was the time they dumped the PHL-IAD service) so it was shorter trip for me to get to EWR instead of connecting thru ORD or IAH.
All the above being said... it is virtually impossible to predict the lie flat climate/scheduling for November... IMhO booking anything in the near term is speculative at best.