Why would anyone Own a Prius

Seat adjustment -

I have not adjusted my seat once in the Accord since buying it 1/7/11, not once. Moving the seat somewhere was a twice a week to daily routine in the 09 Prius.

Not that you do this, but I imagine many average height individuals tell themselves 'glad I'm not the 6'7" giant who can't fit in 3/4 of the cars out there'.

 

The question is what is more important, luxury or MPG. The Prius still the king in MPG.

Checking the last (interior) photo, I prefer the center console design of the Prius III.

 

Dealerships here are just amazing.

They harass you with emails and calls to try and get your business... But the funny thing is when you actually respond knowing whats up and start shooting numbers @ them they back off.

I had like 3 different dealerships sending me emails for months about going in to see them and setting up appointments and when i responded to each of them regarding prices they gave someone i know or someone on the forums or even AAA pricing or costco pricing the replies magically stop.

Trust me.. doesnt matter how much of a dick most dealerships are here they will get stupid clients who will pay MSRP and even more for the vehicles they want. When your county has a population of 11,000,000 + you dont really need to worry about going out of business. I HAVE Never seen one dealership in any of my nearby cities go out of business or close. Only one Honda dealership changed owners and one Nissan dealership moved locations. On many occasions when i go into dealerships to talk about pricing and what other dealerships offered and are offering now they basically tell me to go to that dealership. They are not hungry here and know someone will come in to buy it.

When i talked to a dealership 168 miles away from me in the same city i bought my Mitsubishi Lancer evolution 8 MR for MSRP when all local dealerships in a 100 mile radius were charging 10-15k markup they said MSRP cause they wanted the sale. I thought why not call the same city for a deal on a Prius and the guy was practically begging me to buy the car and wanted our business. he keeps sending me emails asking me if i sold my M5 yet and keeps me up to date with deals that are available and really wants my business. When i spoke to him on the phone and told him of my situation with local dealerships HE even said " well... We are hungrier out here compared to your local dealerships" and i said " bingo! ". All my local dealerships stopped responding to my emails on pricing because they would rather sell the car to Billy Bob down the street for MSRP.

It is a crying shame . When i am ready i will for sure rent a 3rd gen prius ( hopefully a V model ) and test drive it for a few days before i decide on it. I was so sure of my Evolution purchase that when i called the dealership they said come and get it knowing i was 168 miles away. They stayed open till 10pm just for me to get there and they gave me an offer on my 2003 honda civic over the phone which was 1300 under what i owed on it and i LOVED THEM! The mans name was Rudy and i will never forget him. He only asked for miles on the civic and that is pretty much it.
I didnt even test drive the car or sit inside it. we signed the papers and i test drove the car home. When i talk to local dealerships here they dont even want to talk about pricing or anything until they get you to their dealerships. Dianne whitmire for example wasnt willing to talk anything over emails and wanted me there. These dealerships now a days are making it very difficult to make car purchases simple. I think i will end up going to Santa Maria to buy my toyota from there.

Santa Maria = FTW

Los Angeles = FAIL

 

I like both cars even though I have not seen or driven a CT200h yet, I did drive the HS250h it's nice. I had planned on waiting for the CT to come out and get that, but when Lexus revealed the prices back in December I changed my mind and opted for the Prius. You are going to pay top dollar for the L on the front. See CT pricing and options,

Showroom | Lexus: Darker Side of Green

You can get the base model CT for 29,120 with cloth seats, but one equipped comparably to a Prius V/Five with the ATP will cost you $39,365. Before you can add any other options to the CT you have to get the moon roof and heated seats package at cost of $1,780.

A loaded Prius V/Five with the ATP will MSRP between $33,000 and $34,000 depending on exact options and locale.

Yes the Lexus is more luxurious but can't see spending $5,000 for a few more comforts, auto dimming side view mirrors, power adjustable tilt away steering wheel, power heated and ventilated seats, while getting lower MPG's. CT combined MPG 42 to the Prius 50.

 

I also went out of town for my purchase. Just two hours away,
and I got the numbers I wanted. 3k more than anybody in town
for my trade and a good price on the Prius.

 

basicallyevolve,

Try Longo Toyota. They do everything online and I even had them deliver the car to my house (free of charge within 100 miles). Never even step a foot in the dealership.

 

Ty for that 32kcolors! I will keep them in mind for sure. I am honestly looking for a Prius V without Nav or even if i have to buy nav i want one around invoice price. Another forums member told me he/she got his/her cars from Hooman toyota and they paid 1500 under invoice for each vehicle Due to it being a Costco partner dealership. So I really need to find dealerships that work with costco pricing .

But again thank you for that .. I will def give them a call when i am ready to buy my car!

 

You're going to have trouble with that. The V with ATP is exclusively (at least used to be) allocated to Southern California and a dealer looking for a V without ATP would have to acquire it at the port en route to other regions. In fact, Dianne Whitmire used to get as many Vs with no ATP as possible at the port as they were so rare. I think I saw some Vs with no ATP at Longo Toyota the last time I took my car in, so they're becoming more common. However, the V with no NAV is even rarer and probably non-existent in SoCal.

 

Yeah.. I hear yah... I would really like one without nav so i could put my own system in the car. I have a friend who owns a car audio shop and he would get me basically the best nav system/screen @ his cost and would charge me labor just to install it. I have never seen toyotas Nav system but i just feel for my use and ease of use with my Ipod that an aftermarket system might be better for me in the long run. I want a really nice navigation system that is not old technology . can anyone chime in who has the V with Nav? Does the Stock nav unit intertwine with the Toyota system in any way? Does it get involved with the prius to do certain things or show certain things? is it a must if you get the V? I only ask because i feel spending that much money vs me getting a Nav unit @ cost and paying labor would yield me better usability!

I will do everything i can to get the Prius V without Nav and wait if i have to. Just let me know your honest opinions on the stock nav vs aftermarket higher end stuff!

I would probably get something like this

Pioneer Flagship AVIC-Z120BT 7 Inch In Dash LCD Monitor with GPS Navigation AV Receiver, DVD Playback and Built In Bluetooth

Or whatever is the best on the market! ( FYI that is my buddies site )

 

I'm curious -- just why would you need to move the seat on a Prius? I haven't touched it ever since I first purchased the car, right before I drove it off the lot. I only have 7500 miles on it, but still...

 

You might try Toyota of Riverside. Gabriel is the Fleet Manager and was very straight with me regarding price. When I first contacted them they even asked me if I was an AAA member so they could apply the discount. Negotiating my trade was the most difficult experience I had with them. Gabriel suggested I make a stop at Carmax for a quote on purchasing my trade. I took his advice and they ended up matching it. They were originally 2K under that price.

I ended up not purchasing from them because I wanted the 0.9% financing on a 2010 and they didn’t have one in Silver/D.Gray. They had one at John Elway’s, Crown Toyota in Ontario but he said that they couldn’t dealer trade for a 2010. They said if I didn’t want the 2010 they had in stock that I could get the 2011 at AAA price w/2.9% financing. Not sure if they honor Costco pricing or not but may be worth a quick email to ask. He gave me the impression that they would give AAA pricing just for asking.

Crown Toyota wasn’t too bad either and I believe they did honor Costco pricing. I had discussed vehicles with them over the phone that I found in there inventory online. I asked about specific stock numbers and they emailed me a copy of the invoice on each one. My sales rep was Chet Dawson, 714-745-3694 (direct) if you are interested.

I had asked Gabriel about a base V 2010/11 model. He said they were hard to come by and would have to order it. I didn’t ask specifically but he made it sound like he would even order one for me at AAA price.

Gabriel Aldrete
[email protected]
Toyota/Scion of Riverside
(951)545-2080
7870 Indiana Avenue
Riverside,CA 92504

I ended up buying my vehicle form Crown Toyota.

 

This isn't realistically possible in the real world no matter what brand one chooses or how much they pay.

All you can do is try to lower the odds of any problems by addressing known issues which you're doing, and choosing a maker whose vehicles on average are better. Then keep your fingers crossed.

If you happen to drive out a car made by workers on Friday at 4:59 p.m. just before the office party and they're feeling sick from bad sushi at lunch while also hearing a rumor there were layoffs coming Monday morning. Well, .

(add that possibility to all the different suppliers of components also)

Luck of the draw most of the time.....

 

I think the CT is absolutely gorgeous, but I agree that it looks like a Mazda 3 (as others have said). If I were looking at a new high trim level Prius I would definitely shop it against this car.

It is nice to see that Lexus has gotten this one right. The HS is a car that I though looked good in pictures but in person looked so cruddy and cheep.

 

Prius V is flushing money, it's for people who hate their money IMO. I would get a Lexus over a Prius V. But I paid less than $23k for my Prius.

 

I dislike the NAV in the Prius, but not for the reason that you think. It has a crappy screen with only 256 colors, compared to 32,000 colors in the Lexus. However, I had no choice because I wanted the V and don't care for the NAV (stock or aftermarket) anyway. It also acts as a backup camera and interwines with other controls but you have buttons for these in the non-NAV trims. I'd just use the iPhone for navigation and if I had a choice, install an aftermarket rear view mirror with built-in backup camera screen.

However, if you're going to install an aftermarket NAV your best bet would be to get a lower tier without NAV and upgrade the rims. A V without NAV is just too difficult to obtain unless you're willing to travel across the country.

 

I paid $25K OTD for my Prius IV and I wouldn't feel good about paying more than that, even for a 'Lexus.' It helps that I don't happen to like the look of that Lexus hybrid. I prefer the look of the Gen3 Prius. I also want the best mpg I can get and that's also a Prius.

 

Well said and so very true.

 

Truer words were never spoken. Frankly, for me, its been nearly a dozen years ('99 Sable) since I spent less than the $23k that the Prius cost. And EVERYTHING has gone up very considerably in that time.
So I got what I expected, nothing more but certainly nothing less.

 

I really want the V with no Nav because i want the LED headlights honestly. It isnt about the rims as i would sell the rims and buy new ones honestly. I just heard the V comes with like different suspension settings and what not to accommodate the 17 inch rims. I would hate to get the IV with no nav and get a different feeling in the ride.

Can anyone chime on on this matter regarding the suspension and what not. But again,.. The reason i really want the V is the LED headlights as i do a lot of night time driving and really want great headlights!

Thanks!

 

Funny that you bring this up, because I too wanted to raise the LED headlight issue. I had the occasion of sitting at a light next to a V the other evening (I could tell from the tires) and his lights did not appear to illuminate the roadway any more than mine. I know this is probably as unscientific an experiment as one can get but it sort of highlighted (get it?) for me the lack of necessity to spend an additional $6k to go from my III to a V (yes, I KNOW there are several other differences but it's a question of adding 25% to the cost of the vehicle, do you know how many supermarket coupons I'd have to clip to save that??)