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      02-06-2025, 07:56 AM   #15
zx10guy
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Drives: 2013 135i
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: DC

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Being someone that has done and is doing 27,000 miles (not kilometers) a year on my daily beater, I can provide some perspective. The car in question is a 2019 Toyota C-HR LE. It was bought brand new Jan of 2019 for just over $20k out the door. Car currently has over 162,000 miles. When you put on all those miles, cost of maintenance and repairs becomes a real significant factor as those things come up quick. Even though I do 10,000 mile oil change intervals, it seems I'm doing oil changes as frequently as those that do 5,000 mile change intervals because of how much I drive. With that said, I've done to the car are the following: 3 transmission flushes, an alignment, two sets of tires, front and rear brake pad replacement, oil changes, one set of wiper blades all around, one battery, two serpentine belts, coolant drain and refill, one set of spark plugs, and two engine air filters. All of the prior I did DIY except the trans flushes, alignment, and the tire replacements. You can make some educated guesses as to what the maintenance costs would be with your E90 M3 doing those kind of miles.

The mileage I put on my car is mainly due to my personal things. There is some work mileage in that total but it's maybe less than a 1/4 if that. With this new work situation requiring that many miles, I hope your employer is either paying you a higher salary to cover the personal expenses you're taking on or they're reimbursing you for the mileage. I'd say a company car would be in order but based on what you've said, it doesn't seem to be an option. I work from home and any mileage I put on my car that's tied to work is reimbursed along with any tolls and parking.

On the topic of enjoying the car you're driving for those miles, yes, you don't want to be physically miserable. But I think it's a little silly to get a nice car to run it into the ground due to work requirements. Because are you really enjoying the car when you driving it for work? I know mentally I have a different mindset when I'm driving for work versus when I'm driving for a personal reason. Also, that 27,000 mile annually doesn't take into account the time I waste sitting in the stupid DC area traffic when I do have to drive through it. The C-HR is an econobox but it's decently comfortable. Has been cheap to operate. Good on gas mileage. And has been reliable. Something else for you to think about is the more time on the road, the more risk of something happening to your car. My C-HR has been involved in three deer strike incidents; two of them actually damaging my car and one denting the crap out of the front wheel on a bike on a hitch mounted rack. So consider the chances of getting into some wreck to be higher whether it's your fault or someone else's.

I have my weekend toys too. My 1er was my daily until I got the C-HR. And my 1er was on it's way to racking up the same amount of miles. I don't drive it much now but I did take it out the other day to do an emission test. It was a treat to drive and a nice change over the C-HR. I also have three motorcycles that I take out periodically on rotation.

In my mind, the smart thing to do is to buy a used, recent model, low mileage Toyota/Mazda/Honda or buy a "lower" end model of those new to drive into the ground.
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