Hello Everyone, Just wanted to say thank you for all the great posts and knowledge I have gleaned prior to my Prius delivery. I picked up my '05 Silver, Pkg 06 Pri last night!!! I am in Dallas, Texas and waited about 2 weeks for it to arrive. The great thing is that, thanks to priuschat.com, I stepped into my Pri knowing fully how to operate this kick nice person ride And you guys were right. The questions have already started...a neighbor walked by as I was tinkering with the audio and bluetooth systems and a 'tour' of the vehicle ensued. Needless to say he was more than impressed. Oh...an interesting side note. I actually traded my '06 Escape Hybrid for the Prius...LONG story regarding Ford and its ridiculous product. Thanks again everyone.
Congrats, and welcome to the family! Okay, you got my curiosity up -- I wouldn't mind hearing the long story!
I'd be interested in hearing your impressions of the Prius compared to the Escape Hybrid. For kicks I test drove one myself last week. Care to share what just some of problems you had with the Escape?
Me have coffee, too. You throw us teaser, then probably go out and play with new toy! You want us take back all tips we gave you?
Thank you very much...and yeah...I feel really fortunate about the wait time. Ok...by request. The Ford story: I purchased the '06 Escape Hybrid on 6/29/05. As of the beginning of September, it had been in the shop 4 times and had been out of service for 19 days. The initial issues were a VERY loud squeak from the brakes both from pressing the brake pedal and releasing the brake pedal and when I would get in the truck it would sould like a squeaky old mattress. I'm not THAT big of a guy (6'2" and 225) to make that kind of noise. Anywho, they wound up replacing all 4 brake pads and rotors to no avail and could not figure out what the noise was that sounded like a squeaky mattress. They also replaced both front struts after they found a different noise coming from the suspension while test driving. The service department was simply ridiculous. Service advisors informing me that squeaky brakes are NORMAL for cars. When I asked if his brakes squeaked like mine, he replied..."Well..no." On picking up the vehicle after the 4th trip in, I noticed a bunch of pen marks on my leather seats. They sent one of the porters to try to clean it up but of course that didn't work. Now they have to re-upholster the leather to fix that issue. I'd had enough and decided to call the Better Business Bureau to start a Buy Back Process. After waiting for another 3 weeks, I met with the Field Service Tech to discuss the issues and test drive the vehicle. He gave the vehicle a raving thumbs up and offered me an extended warranty to cover my troubles. I informed him that I had lost complete faith in that particular vehicle and simply wanted a replacement. He declined my request and the Buy Back Process was closed. That's basically it in a nut shell. Needless to say the Satisfaction Survey Ford sent me had a less than stellar rating. Hind sight:....Should've gone with the Prius in the first place. <_<
let me ask you this, how much did you loose out in a long run? I mean, I don't think you got as much as you paid for it, right?
This is the cool thing. I owed 25 on the Escape and got 26 for the trade. I still had equity with it being so new. The sticker price on the Escape was actually higher than the Pri.
I would think Escape would be more expensive. But how much did you loose? If you've gotten a Prius on the first price you would have save some money, right?
Wayne is right. I was up 1k on the trade, and didnt really lose anything. But if one would consider the 1500 I put down on the Pri as a loss, then I guess that would count since I also put 1500 down on the Escape.
Congrats on getting rid of the Escape and getting you a Prius! Shame on Ford's service department for being so unhelpful and unprofessional. You chose wisely this time around! I think your experience with the Prius will be far greater than with the Escape...but that's just my opinion.
But the Escape didn't cost $25000, $25000 is still what you owed after having the car since June right? so that means you paid off some of the Escape?
Escape hybrids are a lot more expensive here. unlike the local Toyota dealer, our Ford dealer (who my sister works for) has no problems charging a hefty premium
Thank you Rancid13. That is my hope as well. And from what I have seen so far, the service at this Toyota dealership is on point. maggieddd...you are correct, the Escape did not cost 25k, sticker was a little over 30k, got some of that knocked off and had some equity in the trade in. 25k is what I owed since having it in June. I made a few payments on it so I wasn't upside down.
attenergy: so what I was saying that if you've gotten the Prius on the first place, you would have used the money you already used on paying off the Escape to pay off the Prius and your debt would be less than $25000. So, you didn't make $1000. Not trying to argue here, just wanted to say that getting a Prius on the first place would have been a better choice. In any case, CONGRATULATIONS and enjoy it. I still love mine the same as the day I picked it up, but it's been only 3 months. I've got 50 mile drive to work each way, can't wait to go to work
I'd imagine a sound that is produced consistently and easily should be quiet easy to pinpoint so I agree that that particular service department is utterly retarded. And getting ink marks on your seats? Wow. I don't see any particular problem with the car itself, as every manufacturer's cars sometimes have problems, even Priuses. It's just inconsistencies in the mass production of them, and squeaky brakes are not a big deal.