Do you play with townies/premades?

I frequently use them to explore the new expansions and add to my family’s

I said sometimes because I do use most of the premades at some point. Some more than others. I have used a few townies that actually showed up in the town. I probably have about 15 townies favorited- I built families around a couple of them. To a male teen and his adult mother I added a young adult brother and added an elder father to the family. The brother and father are writers, the mother has tried a couple of different things. When university comes out I think I may make her a teacher. I also had A townie family with a little girl, teen age son, mother and father that I added. And I have several single townies that I liked and have used for girl friend, boy friend, soon to be husband/wife. I also have a townie father with a male child that I use. I also had an elder female that I made a granddaughter for. I have many non favorited townies that have been around for awhile because they are friends with some of my sims, or premades I play. I wish they would increase how many we can favorite.

Im frequently using Woldgang,Max,Luna and Morgan Fyres for nefarious means lol

I play with the premades more than anything else. I also have a bunch of random townies that have been made over clothes wise that I keep in my game for purposes of socializing, dating, marrying with my premades. I'm not really that into making my own sims although I do have a few that I made. I very much enjoy playing with the premade family setups that ship with the game and it's packs.

One of the first thing I do when I get a pack is remove all the premades.

I use the Vatores and Johnny Zest. The others haven't grabbed me as much (Morgyn aside, but I'm not playing them since I want them to stay as a Sage).

I only add them in if I want to. Lately I've been playing them at least a bit to get familiar and see if I can incorporate them.

I usually prefer playing with my own sims but I do like to check the pre-mades out and then see how they interact with other sims.

Premades are obviously the families provided with the game, but who are the Townies and how do you "use" them?

Not sure what OP's definition of "use" is.

I don't play as them, but in a way I only use them as 'townies' in my game.

You missed the option "I always use them" :P I suck at making my own sims, so I like premades <3 And in TS2 what is my main game, I count "user mades" as premades :) As those are made by someone else than me :) As in TS2 I love custom hoods.
And TS4 , I still suck when it comes to making a sim :D I can handle makeovers well, but not starting from the beginning, LOL.

If i make my own, THEY END UP LIKE IDENTICAL COPIES OF EACH OTHERS,so, better if someone else makes sims for me, LOL.