How much you need to earn per month to afford the new Toyota Prado in South Africa

South Africans wanting to buy the new Toyota Land Cruiser Prado VX-L will need to earn a salary of R162,170 per month to “afford” the SUV.

This is according to a calculation done by TopAuto, taking into account the price of the vehicle – R1,513,300 – and advice from financial experts.

The new Prado VX-L was revealed in South Africa in early November, and is the top-of-the-line model in the range.

It features a 2.8-litre turbocharged diesel engine that puts out 150kW and 500Nm, and runs a full-time four-wheel-drive system via an eight-speed automatic gearbox.

A rear limited-slip differential, Crawl Control, and Toyota’s Multi-Terrain Select function with settings for Rock, Dirt, Mud, and Sand are all included as standard – along with a towing capacity of 3,500kg.

Monthly salary

Financial experts recommend that you do not spend more than 20% of your gross monthly salary on vehicle payments.

This is to ensure you have enough money left over after deductions to cover all your household expenses.

When this is combined with the monthly repayments of a finance plan which covers the Prado’s R1,513,300 price tag, we can calculate the salary requirement.

A breakdown of this calculation is shown below:

• Car Price: R1,513,300
• Payment Term: 60 Months (5 Years)
• Interest Rate: 10.25%
• Deposit: 0%
• No Balloon / No Extras
• Monthly Payment: R32,434

Applying the “20% rule” on the monthly repayment figure gives us the salary requirement of R162,170 per month.

It must be noted that this figure does not take insurance, fuel, and maintenance into account – which must be factored into your budget.

Deposits

You can reduce the monthly repayment, and therefore the salary requirement, by putting down a deposit on your vehicle purchase.

A breakdown of the impact a deposit makes on lowering your monthly repayments is shown below.