New Prius help

I bought a Toyota from CarMax Toyota in Laurel, Md. Probably the best car buying experience since I bought a VW Jetta online 14 years ago. And I live 250 miles away! No pressure, very organized delivery, no surprises, etc. Dealt with sales guy online (no bidding) 3 emails worth until he met me at the train station nearby. I was on my way back home in 30 minutes.

I suspect all their dealerships are similarly organized around their way of treating customers.

 

Welcome aboard A! Sorry to hear about your problems with the Audi... probably going to take a bath on that one.

What is your typical commute like? With city driving, you will likely do well FE-wise with the Prius.

 

Well done, enjoy the ride!

 

The big differences between the 3 and 4 are the seats and the sound. The 4 has power, heated softex seats, and JBL amp/speakers. Make sure you sit in the seats of both the 3 and 4 before you decide. For some folks, the seats in the 2 and 3 are uncomfortable; Really not enough lumbar support. You can also get a higher end NAV system in the 4, if you get the sunroof package, but neither NAV system is anything to write home about...

 

I also bought a Camry from Carmax in Laurel back in '02 and loved dealing with them. I'm no longer really near there but I take printouts of cars I want from their website to my local dealers. I hate haggling and this usually works to get me close in price!

I was torn between the Three and Four and cheaped out at the last minute to get the Three. If you don't do aftermarket improvements and want the same luxury an Audi has, I'd recommend the Four, with the JBL sound and "Softex" leather. While the lower models aren't terrible, I do think that out of my 2 Corollas, a Camry, and a Sienna, my new car has the flattest and hardest seat by far.

Good luck with the new purchase!

 

I think the Four model with power driver's seat would be a safer way to go for you. Keep in mind it has power lumbar adjust, so set that well on test drive. Also, with power seats, you can fully adjust the seat bottom height and tilt. Tilt is important, because if you've got too much, can back it off, or increase for more thigh support. If tilt is not decent on a mechanical adjust seat like in Three, might be screwed, but need to try for yourself.

Softex / leather makes more sense cleaning wise to me. Just seems your out of luck if fabric seat get badly soiled.
Three will have base audio which is not so good, just 'ok'. Haven't heard JBL Greenedge, but my JBL goes off pretty well with a good quality CD. Nothing sounds good with a lousily mixed CD or poor FM reception or the like.

 

If your getting a prius, get a generation3, 2010-2013, if you can afford it. The gas mileage of the gen 3 is a lot higher than the gen 2, gen 3 is 65 city instead of "up to" 50 city for gen 2.

my highest city so far is 40mpg. some driver in front of me breaks & always kills my glide. I am sure with practice, i can learn to do better & summer weather should yield back 30 % more mpg

I just bought a 2008 generation 2 on jan17,13 & its getting 38.9 --39.4 combined. was not getting that high until I ran a bottle of fuel injector cleaner through the gas tank.
First time drive,30 miles home from toyota dealer, was 25 highway and 27 city and i didnt know how to glide, which contributed a lot to the bad gas mileage and i had not yet ran the fuel injector cleaner in the gas.

winter driving in 17deg can lower gas mileage by 30%. heater & fan on all the time at74 deg.

You will have to relearn how to drive a prius according to the high gas milage rules to get that kind of mileage, the car wont just do it by itself. see post by fusco-----------------
go to Orange County Prius Club -Toyota Prius Hybrid for how to drive prius for high gas mileage.
It might be on this web site ,but if it is , i could not find it.

 

I bought my Prius at CarMax in Laurel, MD (bought a Tundra also a year ago there). I think their new car price was great - but they really through the trade-in sales pitch to me (offered me about 5K less than what I expected for my trade-in). My wife reminded me CarMax is a "no-haggle" dealership - which equates to both what they want for the new car and what they will give you for a trade-in. Our salesman tried telling me because it was the holidays (Christmas) and the car I traded in was a $70K Cadillac CTS-V that it would be very difficult for them to sell. Hmmm, the Caddy was on their lot for 1 day - go figure. So be careful on your trade if you are doing that!

 

I've alway heard a lot of good about CARMAX. They are up front when they tell you they only pay wholesale for the cars they purchase. But it's fast cash when you agree. CTS-V is a great car, maybe they just got lucky with a quick sale.

 

I'm in Illinois and just bought my 2012 Prius downtown Chicago last month, my hubby sells BMWs (he couldn't sell me one lol) and knows a contact there, if you are still looking for a dealership feel free to send me a PM.