Toyota CH-R Confused

sarah_23

Hi All,

I have never purchased a car before and I am looking to buy a Toyota CH-R. I only have 5k of savings of which I really don't want to use but can use some if to get the deal I want.

I can afford £170-£200 a month, the current car I have (Which was given to me by my sister) does 17-19mpg and costs me around £110 a month on petrol, it's a old Honda and has around 190k miles on the clock.

I have looked at so many options but they all require such a large deposit, I was wondering if anybody could give me some advice. A friend of mine has a CH-R and she gets 500-520 miles on £45 and I pay 3 times that with my car. The reason why I want to get rid of my car is the engine light has come back on again and the repairs are becoming a monthly problem for me.

I have looked at other cars but the 3008 and CH-R are both cars I was hoping to get if possible.

Thanks.

bigisi

Why do you have to spend so much? Use £2k of your £5k savings, get a good reliable used car and not only save on the fuel but save by not paying out £170-£200 per month. Also not sure how you figure spending thousands is more economical than spending hundreds on your current car?

sarah_23

My current car is worth £300 but the repair costs this year alone have cost me £1000. The light now is showing that I have a knock sensor fault and that is costing me another £300 there are also four more errors with the warning light which is also going to cost me. All cars which say are reliable never are, you end up visiting the garage all the time. I don’t want the hassle.

Aylesbury_Duck

If you don't want the expense and hassle, can you manage without a car? Public transport options or are they not possible? The amount you are currently spending added to what you're proposing to spend will buy a lot of bus/rail/taxi fares.

No car, old or new, will provide guaranteed low-cost motoring. Whether it's a couple of new tyres, brake pads, a new windscreen, etc. something is likely to crop up. It's perfectly possible to get lucky and buy a £2k car that needs nothing beyond regular servicing and consumable parts for several years but equally you can spend £5k and still have regular expense. I'd follow bigisi's advice, spend £2k and keep your savings as a fund to afford any expenses that crop up.

AdrianC

If your current car is anything remotely sensible, and is only doing <20mpg, then either it's simply never getting warm on a diet of constant short journeys, it's broken, or both. We know it's broken because the engine management light is on.

There is a world of reliability difference between a <£300 200k mile shed and a £5k used car. There is a much smaller difference between that £5k car and a £22k+ new car.

"500 miles on £45" at £1.27/litre is 65mpg. She is quite simply not getting that in anything approaching the same usage patterns as you're getting <20mpg, unless your current Honda is barely running at all.


Also: £110 at 20mpg is <400 miles/month. That's low mileage, so would suggest short journeys.

bigisi

sarah_23 wrote: »

repair costs this year alone have cost me £1000.

I have a knock sensor fault and that is costing me another £300

So after seven or eight payments of your new Toyota you're then spending MORE than you are on the current car even with getting it fixed.

As above, you're clearly not comparing like for like with your friend's car so don't expect anywhere near the savings on fuel you think you are going to see.

wgl2014

At the end of the day you are looking at at least £15k for the car, this has to be paid for somehow. You can have a large deposit and lower monthly payments or vice versa.
You could also consider lease or PCP but need to remember you will potentially end up paying a monthly cost indefinitely as you are effectively just renting the car and paying to use it.
As others have said you don't need to spend more than few thousand to get a relatively new decent car with plenty of useable life left. From a purely financial view this would make sense but if you want a CHR the extra cost may be worth it to you.

loskie

Let's be honest here OP: You've fallen in love with a Toyota CH-R. You really want one and you are trying to justify it.

Using financials to justify it will never work. Just be honest.

Cetshwayo

As above just go and buy the C-HR you know you want to. Use your savings but be strict about putting the equivalent back in to your savings account each month.

AdrianC

loskie wrote: »

Let's be honest here OP: You've fallen in love with a Toyota CH-R. You really want one and you are trying to justify it.

Using financials to justify it will never work. Just be honest.

I'm surprised anybody could fall in love with a C-HR, unless their guide dog is the one that'll be driving.

First time I saw one on the road, I actually burst out laughing. It's the most ridiculous collation of random lines, shapes, angles and "styling features" ever to be thrown together by a committee that never met.

loskie

I would agree with that but folks have different views. Its good we dont all like the same things.