I think it’s very important to factor in the potential savings in fuel with the outlander PHEV – it might be a bit of a sting on day one laying out that money but if it’ll save you as little as £48 a month, it’s going to pay for itself in fuel savings alone but that very much depends on how you’ll use it (lots of short drives starting or ending at home so max use of the 25-30 mile pure electric range) and if you have off-street parking to have a charge point etc.
Of course, if you’re in a position where you point-blank don’t have the £1700 it’s a non-starter and many of us would struggle to do that – I had to borrow against the good condition bonus to find the £2000+ for the Tiguan we got last week so I absolutely get that for some, the money just isn’t there no matter how much it’ll potentially save longer-term.
On the plus side, I had the same thing a few years ago, the whole year+ appeal fight and it was the back-payment that allowed us get a £2500 AP on our last car even after I repaid the family loans I’d had to take during the appeal process
"Man is born in freedom, but he soon becomes a slave, in cages of convention, from the cradle, to the grave."