As the gas prices climb, I started weighing in fuel costs as part of my car payment. I was one of the lucky few to get in a 2010 Camry SE V6 lease with about $600. down at $270./month including tax (15k/year, 3 years~ thank you media recall!). I'm about a year away from the lease maturity, but as I see gas pricing climbing, it made me clench my wallet. I finally started counting how much I was spending in gas per month (about $300.), so with all the calculations I did, it made sense to get rid of this thing and get into a Camry Hybrid (loaded XLE ). I'll be purchasing the vehicle over a 72 month term so it'll counter-act the high gas prices 2012 XLE with 7-inch HDD Navi in Cosmic Gray Mica with the Lt. Gray Leather/Suede interior I was considering the 2012 Prius IV, but the Softex was the deal breaker for me (along with the HDD Navigation missing some voice commands the Camry has...). At the end of the day, I chose comfort over MPG. I'll keep a log for the MPG, but after reading most reviews coming in at the high 30s, I'm happy.
congrats! we have an '08 hycam and will be purchasing a '12 soon. getting 35-45 mpg's and hope to improve significantly on that. keep us posted on your experience, all the best!
Very smart move! You sound like know what you are doing. I wonder what's the rate for 72 month term? Care to share?
How long did they say the wait was? I want a TCH XLE with only the convenience (CQ) and leather (LA), no high-tech radio nor moonroof. Dealer said it was 8-12 weeks for order/delivery? Also, would you care to share the percentage off MSRP? Not looking for your price, just how many percent off before TTL etc.? I'm wanting to deal before they're selling for MSRP or worse bumped up. Thanks for your help!
So far so good. I'm at 18 miles (just drove it home last night) and averaged 34 MPG. This morning on the drive to work, I took a detour and drove a bit more 'normally' (I feathered the first drive home) and got 43 MPG. Looks like I can drive it normally hahaha. So far so good. I'll keep a log at each fill up. With the estimated range at 600+ miles, it'll be a few weeks (versus the V6 at 6-8 days) I ended up going through my credit union for this. TFS rates will vary by your area (LA area versus San Francisco area, for example, may differ by a point or two). I ended up locking in 2.49% APR (72 months) through Navy Federal Credit Union. Only put a $1,000. down It really depends on your area. I actually work at Longo Toyota. We only have about 5-7 Camry Hybrids coming per week (mixed LE/XLE w/ different packages, and we 800 cars in a slow month, so that's a rare car). Most are shipping in as basic LE and mostly XLE with Leather (6.1 Entune). The fulloy loaded XLE only shows up once about every 2-3 weeks. For smaller dealers that may not earn as many Camry Hybrids, the wait time sounds about right. To my knowledge, the powertrain/chassis is being shipped in from Japan with final assembly here. My car took about 2 weeks to get from KY to Los Angeles after its assembly date. They are moving quite quickly here @ MSRP or a $500. courtesy discount (for buyers that have purchased tons of Toyota/Lexus from us) off MSRP, but the purchase prices will definitely differ depending on the area you are in and the actual demand as well. There's only about $1800. from MSRP to Invoice on this one.
I've seen some posts on here and more over on townhall talk forums where people haggled over 3k off and as much as 4 k off. My target is at least 3500 off, aiming for 4k though. Invoice is not cost, and 1800 seems a bit low. I'd say more like 2500 to 2800, and cost is at least 1k under invoice, so about 3500 to 3800 between msrp and cost. Then if it arrives and sells quickly then the dealer keeps 3% holdback, so thats another grand they can profit with. I'm eyeing one that supposed to be coming to a dealer I know in a couple weeks. It shows as having some 700 dollar toyo guard elite on it. As far as I'm concerned they can wipe that right off and then start the haggling cause that has zero value to me and zero cost to the dealer.
