Replacing petrol Outlander - worthwhile?
Discussion
We have a very nice FSH well maintained 2007 Outlander 2.5 petrol which my wife uses as her main car. She gets around 20mpg on her mostly A3 25 mile each way commute whereas I have just commuted to Heathrow in it this week and averaged 30mpg without really trying. Car has 87000 miles and is generally reliable and fully paid off.
Wife is fed up of putting fuel in it 1.5x a week and reckons it costing her close to £100 a week in fuel. Her new job no longer enables her to work from home a day or two a wek so that has caused us to look at the Outlander as a rather expensive commuter.
We sort of need a SUV/4x4 really as we have a large garden and are forever taking garden stuff to the tip and also do occasional camping trips with bicycles and tents etc. We also live in a vilage on the South Downs and have been snowed in 2-3 times in the past 10 years where only 4x4's can move around. I've been looking at more fuel efficient alternatives such as the RAV4 Diesel or hybrid and am even considering the really rather funky Toyota C-HR which would be a smaller option.
The issue I keep coming up against is that while all of these will perhaps give us 40-50mpg on a motorway commute thus halving the fuel bill, all of them will cost £300-£400 a month to lease or buy leaving us with a newer car (potentially more reliable) but with more cost per month.
My daily driver is a Toyota GT86 purchased 18 months ago for £15000 on a 7 yr bank loan and costs £200 a month in repayments. I love it and get 33mpg but my job involves nightstops away meaning I only commute 2-3x a week 42 miles each way.
I have suggested we just keep the Outlander and she should use a more efficient driving technique!
I'd welcome any suggestions though for how to proceed and what you would do?
For what it is worth we have had quite a bit of work done on the Outlander in the last 12 months and I'm questioning if this will continue - tyres, brake pads, discs, some exhaust work and I think CV joints etc. After being utterly reliable for 6 years it has probably cost us £1000-£1500 this year in garage bills and servicing.
Saxon
Wife is fed up of putting fuel in it 1.5x a week and reckons it costing her close to £100 a week in fuel. Her new job no longer enables her to work from home a day or two a wek so that has caused us to look at the Outlander as a rather expensive commuter.
We sort of need a SUV/4x4 really as we have a large garden and are forever taking garden stuff to the tip and also do occasional camping trips with bicycles and tents etc. We also live in a vilage on the South Downs and have been snowed in 2-3 times in the past 10 years where only 4x4's can move around. I've been looking at more fuel efficient alternatives such as the RAV4 Diesel or hybrid and am even considering the really rather funky Toyota C-HR which would be a smaller option.
The issue I keep coming up against is that while all of these will perhaps give us 40-50mpg on a motorway commute thus halving the fuel bill, all of them will cost £300-£400 a month to lease or buy leaving us with a newer car (potentially more reliable) but with more cost per month.
My daily driver is a Toyota GT86 purchased 18 months ago for £15000 on a 7 yr bank loan and costs £200 a month in repayments. I love it and get 33mpg but my job involves nightstops away meaning I only commute 2-3x a week 42 miles each way.
I have suggested we just keep the Outlander and she should use a more efficient driving technique!
I'd welcome any suggestions though for how to proceed and what you would do?
For what it is worth we have had quite a bit of work done on the Outlander in the last 12 months and I'm questioning if this will continue - tyres, brake pads, discs, some exhaust work and I think CV joints etc. After being utterly reliable for 6 years it has probably cost us £1000-£1500 this year in garage bills and servicing.
Saxon
Tyres and brakes are general wear and tear items, so forget about them. Outside of those bits, how much has it cost you? At that mileage, it should have plenty of life left in it really.
You've got to weigh up if purchasing the new car will end up costing more than you would have saved on fuel by changing. If it isn't throwing major bills on big ticket items, i'd be tempted to stick with it for now and see how it goes.
The flip side is, this is a good excuse for you to get something newer/nicer, so I wouldn't blame you at all for doing that if it fits in with what you want to be paying for the car + for fuel.
Good luck!
You've got to weigh up if purchasing the new car will end up costing more than you would have saved on fuel by changing. If it isn't throwing major bills on big ticket items, i'd be tempted to stick with it for now and see how it goes.
The flip side is, this is a good excuse for you to get something newer/nicer, so I wouldn't blame you at all for doing that if it fits in with what you want to be paying for the car + for fuel.
Good luck!
As above, it's worth considering how much you'd actually save in a year going to a new car. You're currently putting in £4800 (assuming 48 weeks of work) of fuel per year with a car that's paid off. Assuming you double your MPG, you're only then saving £2400 a year. Would it be worth you going for a third, super cheap car (Yaris etc) to use day to day, then break out the Outlander when the going gets tough or you need to move stuff? Something you could buy and use that would offer a decent saving including the cost of tax, insurance and MOT per year.
I don't think you've got much hope of getting something equally capable with more MPG without signing up to more monthly payments, costing more than you'd spend in fuel.
I don't think you've got much hope of getting something equally capable with more MPG without signing up to more monthly payments, costing more than you'd spend in fuel.
The 2014 onward 2.2D Outlander is worth a look you would easily get over 40mpg on a similar commute. Mid mileage ones are available circa 2104 GX3 spec for under £10k.
Similarly a 2.2D Honda CRV Gen 4 from 2011 on would be a bit cheaper than the Outlander and give slightly better mpg but they aren't quite so rugged.
Finally the RAV4 as you mention is always a good shout and pretty reliable and efficient in diesel form.
Similarly a 2.2D Honda CRV Gen 4 from 2011 on would be a bit cheaper than the Outlander and give slightly better mpg but they aren't quite so rugged.
Finally the RAV4 as you mention is always a good shout and pretty reliable and efficient in diesel form.
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