Featured Toyota bZ4X Specifications Revealed

There are quite a few Ioniq 5 available at our local dealership and they are selling at MSRP. No markup. I'm scrambling around trying to figure out if I can manage to get one. Drove it and love it!

 

No joy in WI.

 

I like Kia EV6 styling better than Ioniq5, but Kia is not out yet. And I understand Kia will be more expensive compared to Ioniq 5 for the equivalent trim. Ioniq 5 starts at $43,650 MSRP (+$1,245 freight fee) for RWD SE trim. 300 miles EV range is nice, but for me, any BEV will be strictly for local commuter daily drive. Even with 300+ EV range, I am not likely to drive the car for a long trip that will require charging on the road. The closest DC fast-charge station is over 200 miles away. If I don't plan the trip very precisely, I will not get to the final destination. Even with full $7500 tax credit, Ioniq 5 SE RWD base trim is going to cost $36K... and one I want is the AWD SE model which brings the MSRP to ~$48K. That's twice as much as what I paid for a PP even with a $7500 tax credit.

I am hoping Toyota or Subaru will bring down the price to a low $40K, but I don't think that is going to happen. And with Toyota, I may not get a full $7500 tax credit by the time they are out. That will be a deal-breaker for sure.

 

Supposedly a new online only ordering system. Each dealer is responsible for their use of it. Not every local dealer is onboard just one or two. At first I thought it was one dealer only and their online ordering system until I saw a reference to it on Toyota's general site.

This is___SmartPath - Toyota USA Newsroom
SmartPath_How it Works - Toyota USA Newsroom

edited to show include link from Toyota Pressroom

 

I checked our local Toyota dealers, but none offers this Smart Path. But there are a few dealers that will do the at-home online purchase option. I can see if the car is sold at MSRP with no huggle, then the online purchase is fine. But when inventory is plenty (though that is not the current situation for any cars), buying a car at MSRP is usually not a good deal.

 

Ha ha totally agreed. We ordered our 2012 Plug-in Prius via Toyota's novel ordering system just for that car in November of 2011, but when the car came in April of 2012, the first words out of my CFO's mouth was, "I'm not paying that!" And proceeded to tell them what a good deal was to her. We got a pretty good deal on a pre-ordered car complete with trade-in. I would not expect a different result if I went through Subaru's ordering system for the Solterra or even Toyota's SmartPath.

 

I've watched quite a few video reviews of the Ioniq 5 and several of the EV6. The Kia seems to be a sportier ride and the Ioniq is considerable more comfortable. Kia is more traditional looking while Ioniq is anything but. I'd probably be happy with either.

You really seem to be in an EV-hostile environment. It looks like, if I wanted to drive the Ioniq to Ohio, it would be pretty straightforward, especially if I happened upon 350kW charging stations. But I'm not that sure how much I trust the charging stations to all be working from the war stories I've read. We'd probably take the Prius on that trip.

The bz4x does look intriguing. Sorry for the digression.

 

Going back to the discussion on bz4x, I am still waiting to find out the price on the line-up. The sibling Subaru Solterra comes in three trims but only with AWD. If the bz4x base trim without AWD is substantially less expensive and still makes the cut for the full $7500 tax credit, that would be my choice. Then again, if I am not getting an AWD, then Leaf or Kona EV or Niro EV would be just as good and much more affordable.

 

The demand in California is pretty high and I haven't heard of any dealers offering MSRP. Someone in a Hyundai forum said it might just be worth it to fly out east to buy the car, then drive it back 'for free' (since they pay for charging at Electrify America for 2 years).

 

Here's why that's not a perfect idea. Our state pays no sales tax. Why would i fly to, for example, New York or New Jersey to buy a car and then have to pay an extra 6 or 7%?
Plus - just going to another county to buy a car? That has resulted in finding out the stealership never had the car or that they just sold it even though they promised they wouldn't hold it - or it's void of features that they promised it had - or it gets marked up even though they said it wouldn't be marked up.
So now you have to buy a ticket to fly back home instead of drive back. Don't forget you are dealing with a large contingent of dishonest sales people.

 

You pay sales tax at the state you register the car. I have never heard people buying a car out of state being charged sales tax for the state where the car was purchased. I bought a car in NH where there is no sales tax, but I still had to pay sales tax to my state when I registered the car. If that was the opposite, I believe the NH resident would not have to pay sales tax to the state the car was purchased.

 

Over the past 20 years we purchased 2 cars from out of state when we lived in California. One came from Corpus Christi and the other from Lancaster Pennsylvania. It was made clear to us - both purchases - that if we picked it up in person, (it would have to be removed from their lot in short order) then the sales tax in that state would apply. If you have a trucking company put it immediately put on a car hauler - then you don't pay state tax in state of purchase .... rather you pay the tax of the state you are domiciled in. In Cali - if your state only for example charges you 4% sales tax oh, and you pay that 4% in that state, California, which charges 8% sales tax will still be able to collect the other 4% that you tried to avoid. We had to pay ~ $2,000 for shipping for each car too - so there is that.

 

Another option is to use a Car Buying Service. We used Edmunds New Car Buying Service when we bought our vehicles a few years ago.

We had no issues and were able to locate the vehicles within 150 miles of us.

We did receive an offer from a Dealer in Atlanta Georgia about 500 miles from us. We were provided the vehicle VIN number- a .pdf of the window sticker and a pictorial virtual tour of the vehicle from the website. They said they would be happy to ship to us, I would be responsible for the $650 shipping fee that would deliver the car to the driveway. I felt confident I knew exactly what I would be buying and receiving and if I remember right the Buying Service had safeguards to protect the consumer and Dealer from any tom foolery. The only reason we didn't buy that vehicle in Atlanta was a better offer from a closer dealer.

Car brokers will search the country for the vehicle you want at the best price for you - they do charge a fee but you don't have to negotiate or interact with Dealers etc. If you want they will handle the entire transaction and have the car bought to you. Of course, this service is not free. Sams Club and Costco had new car purchase programs at one time.

 

I did a little digging. It seems, in general, the sales tax is levied only once at the state where the car is registered. But this general rule may somewhat depend on the state you purchase a car and the state you live in. It is true that NH residents purchasing a car in MA will not pay a MA sales tax. But in order for an NH resident to buy a car in MA and drive it home, he will have to take the receipt of the car sale to home DVM in NH to get the car registered and plate issued. Then has to go back to MA to pick the car up and drive home.

For long-distance deals like CA and NY, if one can close the deal before flying to the place you bought the car and have the car registered and plate ready from your own state, then yes, there is no tax levied at the purchased state, the sales tax is paid at the home state when the car is registered. The same is true for any states that have reciprocity agreements. In most cases, if your home state sales tax rate is equal to or higher than the state where the car is purchased, then you are OK either having taxed at the purchasing state or not. You either show the proof of paid tax or if it is deficient then pay the difference when registering the car at home state.

The problem arises if your home state tax rate is lower than the state where the car is purchased and the sales tax was levied at the purchased state rate. I am sure there is a way to get the money back, but I think it will take much more effort to collect the paid sales tax back from the state revenue service in that case.

Yep, it is not always as straightforward. It is something to be aware of when doing a car purchase cross your state line.

Here is some good reading on this topic:
If I Buy A Car In Another State Where Do I Pay Sales Tax?

 

I bought 2 Toyota cars in MD ('12 and '19) and paid only the NC tax on the car.

 

When I bought a car in Indiana for a relative in Michigan, the key was to get a receipt showing the Indiana tax paid, and present that to the Michigan officials when titling the car there.

 

That’s not always so. See my previous postings:

• Purchased in California registered in Colorado | PriusChat
• 2018/2019 Prius or Prius Prime. Hardcore decisions! | PriusChat

 

Well, that would fall under my disclaimer "It seems, in general, the sales tax is levied only once at the state where the car is registered. But this general rule may somewhat depend on the state you purchase a car and the state you live in." CA may be the most consumer-unfriendly state. Not sure how it works in NY as my example you quoted, but it may work better than buying in CA. Certainly, there are many posters on the PP thread who traveled to East Coast states to buy a PP and drove it to the home state and paid no sales tax at the purchased state.