No applause, please.

Our blizzard pearl IV w/sunroof was delivered Saturday. My mate (and principle driver) just completed her new owner survey, raving about our salesman as she'd been instructed to do - "if you say I was 'good' I flunk" - and, hopefully, being heard on the subject of Toyota's failure to provide either color samples or demo units, making both salespersons' and buyers' jobs tougher. So, I thought that now might be as good a time as any to weigh in on our actual buying experience.

First of all, please, no congratulations. I've long felt it a little weird that on such forums as this, whether the subject be cars or big screen TVs, people feel obligated to praise one another for their purchases. While I do understand that shopping has probably replaced baseball as the great American pastime, really, all we buyers - even those of us obsessive enough to haunt these threads - can claim credit for is basic research skills, sufficient capitol, and persistence (and more about the P word in a moment). I get even more of a creepy feeling when I encounter phrases like "pull the trigger;" which make me want to ask whether you're in the market for an automobile or a .45 (or a supply of Viagra).

We put down a $500 deposit on a Gen III Prius back in April. I have to admit to having been a little resistant, at first. We live in snow country and, having traded my '07 CRV for a VW diesel less than a year ago - and having read some negative press on the Gen II's sno go capabilities - I was a bit reluctant to lose our remaining high clearance, all-wheeler (a seven year-old Forester). Ultimately, though, my partner's determination to demonstrate our across-the-board commitment to green technology dragged me, not exactly kicking & screaming, through the door of our local Honda and Toyota dealers, where we drove a new Insight and an '09 Prius. Even against the '09, the Insight was clearly an also-ran.

Then came the great color debate. With no cars at the dealerships, none on the road to look at, not even a set of color samples (if we'd been interested in a cheapo Scion, we'd have had all of the above) we bounced back and forth from desert sand to blue ribbon to winter grey to - finally - blizzard pearl. I should add that the wife teaches painting and for her color is more than just theory.

Meanwhile, it soon became apparent that, if we wanted a car before Christmas, we not only had to be certain we (she) would be happy with an unseen color, but that we (she and I together and individually) would be content with a less than perfect set of options. Like so many others, I'd have opted for a IV with 17" wheels, fog lamps and LED headlamps and the sunroof. No can do, Toyota (arbitrarily, I believe) maintains. She couldn't have cared less. Sunroof? A gimmick. Nav? I'll never use it. Bigger wheels? Why? LEDs? Huh? Etc., etc.

We started out saying we'd take either a IV or V in two or three colors, but as time went on it became apparent that the dealership needed more direction than we were giving, and as real world photos began showing up here & elsewhere, first one color, than another got eliminated from contention. Just at the point that we thought we had it narrowed down (blizzard pearl IV w/roof) the dealership began talking six to eight months. A week or two later we both spot a grey at another dealership. We (especially she) are in love. Should we revise our request yet again? Before we can decide, out of the (dare I say) blue, our Pearl is reportedly headed for port.

Beaten down, the painter, whose mother is patiently awaiting the Forester, while a niece awaits Mom's car, caves: "Will I ever fall in love? No, it simply isn't me. Can I live with it? Yes. Sigh..."

So...last week, with the car supposedly due around Monday (read: Today. We're thinking, maybe Wednesday.) we leave for Moosehead Lake on a week's vacation. For some odd reason, even though we know we'll be in no tech turf, I throw the iphone in the car. Friday afternoon, Joe and I are lying about the campsite recouping from a long paddle when the phone rings. The car is here; can you pick it up tomorrow? Holy S%$! I hop in my kayak and paddle over to where the girls are sunbathing and announce the news.

Saturday afternoon, following what just has to be the summer's best week, we show up. Having been forced to cough up the first deposit I've put down (in many a car, how many months ago?) and having read the not entirely glowing descriptions here of the take-it-or-leave-it floor mats, I'm determined to ask for a concession. But the car is beautiful, the mats not as bad as anticipated. Besides, it's the first time I haven't been made to pay a "paperwork" fee since I can remember.

The business guy gracefully retreated when confronted with our lack of interest in an extended warranty. And the poor sales guy even refrained from wringing my neck when I walked through the door announcing, "Hey, I thought we ordered a red...

So... you might ask, why am I wasting my time on this overlong missive when I could be out driving (or otherwise playing with) the new toy? Well, first of all I am, as previously stated, only the backup driver, and even though I'd surely have been allowed a few minutess behind the wheel by now, I've left out a couple of small details.

First, we were so unprepared after a week in the wilderness, that upon returning to car country and driving away the Prius at around 1700 hrs on Saturday, it suddenly dawned on me that the white beauty was not insured. So after a short visit with our camping companions, Ms. P spent the remainder of the weekend in the garage, while I perused the (very good, by the way) manuals.

This morning, following a phone call to our agent and before heading into town, I took the mutts out for some much anticipated (their having spent the week in the Mutt Motel) frisbee time, whereupon I must have thrust my left foot in one direction while twisting it in another, and the next thing I know, I"m wearing an old set of crutches while being chauffeured around to various medical facilities in one very cool car on a very hot day.

Will this provide my significant other with the perfect excuse to keep me out from behind the wheel for the foreseeable future? I think not. If necessary, I intend to become such a miserable back seat driver that she'll have to either drive me to divorce court or admit that, lacking a clutch, the Prius may survive this gimp.

The car is, as many have already noted, even better than advertised, in more ways than you'll want to see enumerated here. For those of you still doing battle with the corporate numbers crunchers, hang in there, and when you prevail, you'll have earned all the satisfaction you require, without need of my...congratulations.

 

Thanks. Enjoyed yours, too.

I've been working at an airport for the past couple years, where my childhood fantasies about airplanes are daily entertained. Would be interested to hear about your Grumman, etc. PM if you like, at your leisure.

P.S. Though the ankle is healing, I've still yet to get behind the wheel - may need to, ahem, put my foot down...

 

Thanks. Yeah, they even fit in the front!