Hello guys... This is my first post on this forum. Thanks to priuschat.com for all the valuable information it provides ! I placed my order on 12/26/05. I've been told a 3 month delay but to my surprise, the salesman called me this week end and told me the car I ordered should be here on 03/02/06. I'm excited ! Date Ordered: 12/26/05 Dealer Ordered From (Incl. City/State): Piercey Toyota - San Jose, CA Timeframe given for delivery: 3 months Color: Classic Silver Option Package: NW #8 Your # on Dealer's Waiting List: ?? Well here is my background, why did I end up ordering the Prius. I have an 97 Acura 3.5RL that has 150k + miles on it. It still run fine, but this car start to cost me a lot in maintenance plus me and my wife start to feel the need of a second car. Why the Prius and not another car ? Well here are my thoughts, in order but all these points to me are very close: Low MPG. As the fuel price IMO is not going to be any lower but to the contrary will most likely increase in the future. High technology. This car features one of the highest technology available today: the hybrid engine of course + all the other goodies such as Navigation System, Bluetooth etc. Carpool Privilege. As I'm going to drive more and more in the Bay Area, this is a *great* feature. 3k+ Federal Tax Deduction. Hey this is not to neglect. Advanced Technology Partial Zero Emission Vehicle (AT-PZEV). On top of that, this car is one of the cleaner car available on the market today. This is great ! Well, to me, this car presents only advantages. But why the Prius and why not other hybrid vehicles such as the Camry, Civic or Insight ? To me the Prius is to become a legendary vehicles, a breaking-point technology. Thus it as been designed from scratch to be an hybrid on the contrary to the Honda Civic Hybrid (that has a retrofit engine). The Prius is a mid-size vehicule, perfect for my use. Yet, it is a five seater with 5 doors (vs two seat / 3 doors for the Insight) The ratio MPG / Usability is IMO the best: Insight is great but 2 seater, Camry and others to big and thus, lower MPG. These are the points why I ended up showing up at the dealer by the end of 2005, to pre-order the Prius. Before I showed up to the dealer (in fact when I first start seriously considering to buy the Prius, mid 2005), I did a minimum of homework. To me the best resources of information are this forum, priuschat.com and also John's Page. I show up to the dealer, ended dealing with a very nice - not pushy- salesman. He showed us a 2006 Prius that was going to be delivered and then we filled up the pre-order sales form. I doubled check of course the prices and they matched we I found here or even on toyota.com: MSRP $ 22 305 ($21 725 + $580 delivery) Package # 8 $ 6890 Attached is the copy of my pre-order form. They asked a $ 500 deposit and made a copy of my driving licence. The salesman told us to wait 3 months (that's ok for me, I was not in a particular hurry anyway). So like I said this week end that same salesman told me the car should be here on 03/02/06 and that I could come pick it up. I'm excited, BUT: Hopefully they are not going to sc*w me at the closing Hopefully, the car will be fine that I won't get a "wrong number" and that it will be in accordance to what I filled in the pre-order form I'm planning to put about 60 % down, but hopefully I'll get a good interest rate (by the way, what do you think is a good rate?) So here it is, I thought I would share my experience in here. When I think about it, I almost bought a Subaru WRX in 2002, my tastes have changed badly. Hopefully, by beginning of March I'll drive my brand new 06 Prius back home. I'm exited, of course but also anxious ! Any advice for the delivery date is welcome ! I'll keep you posted. Regards
Ok, my dealer called me yesterday morning letting me know my Prius arrived. So I went to sign all the paperwork and pick it up on that same evening. (03/09/06) I'll post my dealer experience in the appropriate forum later on but I must say I was very pleased with the Piercey Toyota Dealer in San Jose CA, the sales rep that took car of me as well as the finance director that processed our paperwork: all very knowledgeable, very nice and not "pushy" at all. (yet efficient because it went flawlesly, I got the exact car I wanted at MSRP, in a little less than the timeframe I was given, 3 months) Well here it is, sitting in my garage: I LOVE IT ! I already sent my Fastrack application today, including the copy of my sales agreement.
Looks Great (also, looks familiar) Good luck; what a short wait! I can't get used to seeing my car with those (gulp!) wheet trim rings. Promise us you'll take one off to see the difference. Post your Prius year/package in your signature.
Vincent, I have a silver 06 as well, what does it look like without the wheel rings? I have never seen that. The only think I changes was tinted the windows out dark, really gave the car a different appearance. Do you have pic of the wheels? Thanks!
