Inventory is getting tight

GOOD POINTS, even if a little off topic. The cost of health insurance will be the ruination of us all.

 

Then there a cash rebate
Last year Toyota Canada was offering $3000 on a Prius
Wish they had the V out last summer
with that rebate

 

news report on ABC on thurs states that car supplies are getting tight and used car prices are skyrocketing and this applies to all vehicles including gas guzzlers.

i sold my 2006 Prius a few months ago. i should have held onto it and sold it now. looks like i would have gotten an extra $2000 for it.

 

DaveinOly - pretty sure my 2009 pk5 kbb'd at right around 19k excellent Private sale end of Dec. '10 ...

the other day kbb said $23,740 for 09 pk5 @ 15kmi, exc cond.
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Prius inventory doesn't look quite as tight as May of 2008. There were 4 Prius today in Fremont and 13 in Milpitas, all new.

First of June of 2008, there might have been 2 at each location. Fremont had a 2008 Prius pk2 asking $40k with aftermarket leather and aftermarket sunroof. No lie.

Still pretty tight, but car sales I believe are slower than Summer 2008.

 

I need to find a supply like that in or near the Michigan area,

 

The last two cars I bought were over 1800mi from where I live. A $150 one way plane ticket and a couple hundred in gas on a good deal usually win over no deal locally.

 

That's truly the "total cost of ownership" way of thinking!
Yes when I searched for deals of some special cars, like Lexus SC430, I found the price in CA is much better than in Chicago, $2000 or more better, I mean.

 

Well so glad I made my purchase last year...just checked her KBB value and she is worth more than $3K over what I paid out the door for a III with leather seats. I see more of them on the road now than ever and people that have considered them ask all the time is it worth the price? You better believe it....I wish I had done it sooner. The car is worth more.....and I would do it again.

 

Think back it was funny, both my wife and I didn't want to buy the Prius a year ago.
We went to a Honda dealer and test drove a new Insight. We weren't that impressed so went to a Toyota dealer near by and jumped into a Prius. Man, we both loved it. Two weeks later purchased our IV with Navigation + Solar Roof. 30K

 

Well I was the originator of this thread and figured it was time to update and maybe even close it.
I finished up waiting just 5 weeks for my Prius 4 and its all I had hoped it would be. (I PAID JUST UNDER MSRP AND GOT PINSTRIPING AND TINTED WINDOWS THROWN IN)
Its roomier than I originally thought and drives quite nicely for a Midsize. It cant touch my Huyndai Azera for comfort, but I am keeping it as another vehicle. With delicate use of the throttle on the Azera, I can get over 29MPG on a 550 mile round trip
The Prius gas mileage is great I have averaged over 56 mpg the first week and on one round trip of about 100 miles I averaged 58.6 ( Instrument reading - actual fill up showed it to be more like 56). Thats still pretty darn good and I am very happy with the vehicle.
I think my goal now is to try to push my average over 60mpg, its fun trying to really squeeze the vehicle for every mile you can get.
As a closer, Just wanted to say I am glad I waited and DID NOT pay a premium to get the car and the Prius is living up to expectations.
Exbrit

 

I'm thinking about getting a III with no options. Dealer has one in-bound unit next week and thinks he can sell it for $200 under sticker.

 

The prices the dealers are charging are truly nutty right now. There just aren't any 2011's they can sell me in the Bay Area w/o some ridiculous markup. I took this opportunity to sell my 2006 with 140k miles and got $4k over blue book, then had a super low mileage 2010 shipped in from the east coast. I love cars.com! :rockon:

 

If Toyota was smart they would start building these cars in another country that is not so Vulnerable. If the Prius was made here too, they could go to three shifts until Toyota rebuilds their factory. We have plenty of people out of work here that are looking for jobs.

 

What you may not realize is all their fees to drive are in the price of gas there. Here we pay for gas then taxes, personal property (some places) sticker fees ect. I read an article once that said if you added everything we pay, and the price they pay at the pump, we still pay more; I was surprised. I was in France and saw how painful it was to pay for a Litre of gas. You must think food and clothes and just about everything delivered by trucks are too cheap too. Raise the gas prices and stand back and watch everything else.

 

It's interesting that this topic was started one month (and three days) after the tsunami.
I'm not sure how long it takes a G3 to go from Aichi to the left coast, but I am pretty sure that the inventory levels were already dropping before the quake, since gas was something like $3.85 then. Now...gas prices are dropping off. ($3.27 this morning)
We'll see.....
Gas prices clearly do affect G3 demand here in the US, and while the "tax on gas" crowd would gleefully accept a(nother) buck or two tacked onto the price of petrol, I personally think that it might not be that good an idea, however good it might be for all things Prius.
Things are a little more spread out here than they are over on the continent, and I don't like their unemployment numbers. Just sayin...

 

Toyota built a plant in Mississippi to build Prii. First the economy tanked. Then they found problems with the quality of their US suppliers. Then came the Ralph Nader war on Toyota (through surrogates, all connected to him, ie Consumer Reports and NTSA Administrator Strickland). Maybe one day Toyota will open another US plant. Maybe not.

 

Congrats! What color and options you get?
I agree Prius is very roomy inside. It turns out it is bigger than my A3.
Anyway, have "phun" with your new toy.

 

Gas prices clearly do affect G3 demand here in the US, and while the "tax on gas" crowd would gleefully accept a(nother) buck or two tacked onto the price of petrol, I personally think that it might not be that good an idea, however good it might be for all things Prius.
Things are a little more spread out here than they are over on the continent, and I don't like their unemployment numbers. Just sayin... [/QUOTE]

I cant believe that any one would advocate another tax or gleefully look forward to gas prices increasing. I spend a lot of time traveling around the world, including Europe and Gas prices are terrible there.
BUT there is a big difference between Europe and the USA. Europe has fantastic public transport at a reasonable cost. In the UK they even offer senior citizens travel passes that cost very little and the only constraint is you have to travel after 9AM after the rush hour.
Now compare that with the USA, except in the major cities there is no decent public transport service. In fact where I live there is NO public transport. If I want to go to the nearest city (16 miles) It’s either walk or drive! SO you cannot compare Europe with the USA. As far as other taxes go, the average Brit pays almost double what I do in annual road taxes, Pays 20% VAT on EVERYTHING they purchase so with no reserve I can say that NO they don’t have lower gas prices overall!
I have seen several Prius owners gloating and rubbing their hands as gas prices rise. How silly is that! Yes they get great mileage and it doesn’t impact their gas expenditure as much but it sure as heck will affect the cost of everything else they buy. The increased fuel costs for delivery to the stores gets passed on.
Anywayyyyyyyyy YES I love my Prius and its become another welcome addition to my fleet

Prius 4 2011
Hyundai Azera
Hyundai GL 350
Chrysler Town and Country

 

I got the PRius 4 which comes nicely equiped and the only other options i have are the Proper Toyota pinstriping ( which looks really great) and the tinted windows and then I had the scuff applique added to the rear bumper to stop scratching as I get stuff out of the trunk. I also got the custom carpets.
Update I am still averaging 57 mpg and I am driving moderately and not babying it around.
Overall , Toyota got it right with the G3 and its not a luxury car. Although the 4 is nicely done. Its still great transport and with the pinstripe and the tinted windows I get asked a lot "What is that"
Many find it very stylish and ultra modern and are stunned when thry are shown the MPG figures, the next comment is that "well it cant have any get up and go! Several neighbors have had quite a shock when I floored it and they got thrown back in their seats.It isnt a muscle car! but its no slouch either
Roger

 

They do. See Worldwide Operations | TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION GLOBAL WEBSITE. From http://pressroom.toyota.com/lexus/may+2011+sales+chart.download, you can see that ~70% of the Toyota/Lexus vehicles sold in the US were built in North America.

Even though they build cars outside Japan, production in those plants also faced problems because some parts came from Japan.

You might find http://priuschat.com/forums/other-c...unami-effect-automakers-suppliers-thread.html insightful.