The 2018 Toyota CH-R From a Mother's Perspective

This post is sponsored by Toyota. In exchange for use of the 2018 Toyota CH-R I am providing my honest review of the vehicle.

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Lately my weekends are for volleyball, and this past weekend it was for a volleyball road trip in the all new 2018 Toyota CH-R.

This is my first year as a mom of a kid on a traveling sports team. And let me tell you…. it is expensive, time consuming, and work.

But I will also tell you it is a joy to see the investment we are making to help her get better at her sport.

As with the way we do everything, even this is on a budget. And I would be lying if I didn't say that this is stretching us financially. So we are always looking at ways to save and cut corners.

In addition to the financial obstacles, there's the fact that we have two other children who aren't particularly into volleyball (or their sister) enough to sit for hours on end watching match after match.

I mean they love her, but sitting for hours watching game after game is not what they would call fun.

So for the weekends where she is playing more than one day, the hubs and I have decided to tag team. This past weekend I tagged in and we took a girls road trip a little over two hours away from us to Charlotte.

You are probably wondering how we were able to save on this trip.

Glad you asked. Here's how….

2 Ways to Save When Traveling for Your Kids Traveling Sports Team

Accommodations

The place to lay your head and then the food will probably be the most expensive things. Particularly with a large family. We opted to crash with my brother in lieu of a hotel to save some coins. We drove up Saturday morning and back home Sunday so it was only one night on the couch. Which didn't kill us.

Vehicle

I drive an oversized SUV as my daily driver. A full tank of gas is gonna be roughly 70 bucks. AND it's gonna drink that and say, “give me more”.

So we opted on a smaller vehicle that is way more fuel efficient. The 2018 Toyota CH-R is all that and more!

A new crossover by Toyota, first introduced in the 2017 model year, is a win.

Y'all know I love a crossover. Having owned two of my own I have an extreme love for the look and efficiency of crossovers.

Giving you maximum space in a compact vehicle and with all the features you love.

The main thing I need in a vehicle is Bluetooth. For two reasons – to play my music and to be able to stay safe and answer calls hands free.

Next up, when it's not warm, are heated seats. Even though the CH-R has cloth interior it still had heated seats.

Say whaaaat???

Yup you read that right. HEATED CLOTH SEATS. Well more like a microfiber kind of material. But nonetheless, I can see the benefit in this in the summer months where the hot temps leave your butt on fire as a trade off to get the seat to heat up in the cooler months.

Good job Toyota! Good job!

Safety was also a factor in this thing. While I was not traveling with my little ones. I loved the fact that it has seat belt warnings for the rear seats just like most cars have for the front passenger seats.

So if my little one took his seat belt off prematurely, or didn't put it on before I started moving, the car let me know it!

And then there is trunk space. The trunk was good for my weekly grocery run AND all my athletes gear when we hit the road.

This thing had the flexibility to do the things you have to do and even what you wanna do. As I am sure I could have made a Home Depot run in this thing too. Y'all know that's my spot!

Lastly let's talk about the gas, I was on E when we were about to head back, and stopped at the gas station to fill this thing up. Thirty dollars.

I cannot tell you the last time I filled up anything for thirty bucks. I felt like I had hit the lottery.

And because it has ECO technology it was only down by less than half a tank by time we got home.

I say all this to say that if any of these features are important to you, this is a good vehicle for you to consider purchasing (if you don't have a large family like me) or at least entertaining for road trips. Yes!

And did I mention how cute it is?