I bought a CT 200h this evening. It will arrive in port around friday, and might be home a week or so later. I'll report more after I have driven a few weeks, but I think the most immediate interesting story is the car I did not buy. I found a 200h in California that matched my preferences and was priced aggressively -- about 3k under MSRP for a used car with 4k miles on the tyres. CA dealers have a problem, though: they are required to collect sales tax, including from out of state buyers. Since my local tax is quite a bit less than CA this idea of buying in CA seemed stillborn, but the dealership had figured out a way to circumvent the issue: they drive the car to either AZ or Nevada and conclude the transaction through a local notary! In the end I decided to buy local to avoid the trip, since I was not enamored of the idea of paying for the car sight unseen, or traveling to the dealership first to check out the car. Still, I appreciated the creativeness, and given the stellar reputation of Lexus dealers the chance that the car was misrepresented would be really low.
Sage, how are you making these posts? I am wondering what causes the malformed image tags at the bottom of your posts? Tom
Hi Tom, I would like to know too I think the garbage link is introduced when I edit the post, but I have not pinned down the specific action yet. Even more odd, once the link is part of my post I am unable to delete it, although Daniel reported success. Does the code look like a hex representation of an image to you ? That would be a juicy hint if true and we could see what it is. Thanks for the interest !
You bring up an excellent point. When the government pulls stunts like this, trying to collect taxes from residents making purchases from out of state, it tends to have the opposite of the desired effect. Instead of increasing revenue, it's decreased revenue and hurt a California business. Congratz on your CT purchase though, you're gonna love it! =] Just a Prius with a big 'L' on it.
The Lexus dealer I went to in Sacramento referred to the different models as "The $32k package" and the "Nav Package". Which one did you get? I did find the Nav package interesting. Being able to use the voice activated features was pretty darn cool.
Heya Justin I have become a luddite in my old age, and realized my rather simple priorities were: A great seat and nice quiet ride The HSD drivetrain (for fuel economy, emissions, and reliability) Room to stretch out and nap in the back I was favoring the base (29k) model but my wife wanted a back-up camera, and I took a liking to the moonroof, so we ended up with the (I gather) relatively unpopular package that has moonroof, 'premium' audio, and backup camera seen in the rear-view mirror. I put premium in quotes because I gather it is the same system as the base, with another speaker or two added.
I'm there with you mate. The higher package was nice but I wouldn't want to spend the extra cash for those items. The moonroof is a must, however!
Congrats. You'll love it. To my experience, EPA rating does not give grace to CT200h (as opposed to Euro NEDC), expect same or better mileage compared to your 2004 Prius.
That would be sweet :rockon: I think most of the difference in the city EPA ratings between the CT and the G2 Prius can be explained by the tyre difference -- the CT has 215 mm width, while the Prius is 195. When the OEM tyres are done I'll think about a skinnier tyre. As for highway MPG, the CT has a bigger ICE allowing lower rpm, but suffers from a higher Cd. I am not sure about frontal area. Perhaps less than the case with city driving, but I still pin hopes on a more fuel economical tyre closing the gap.
I took my loaner CT out for a short spin on a warmed up ICE and averaged 68.3 mpg on the display. This was a ~ 7 mile round trip with elevation changes of about 400 feet down and then up at the end. If the CT has the same 6% over-estimation of mpg that G3 Prius drivers are reporting, actual was 64 mpg. Unfortunately, I did not think to check the traction battery SOC at the start. I'm gaining more confidence as I drive this car that I will be happy with it's fuel economy. The other aspects of the car are wonderful.
