Car & Driver Says Prime Ugly, Too Slow

i thought the hatch was too small, but i'm not crossing it off my list yet.

 

First off, toss out this notion of 'superior' as that can only be addressed if one knows the requirements. Rather I was intrigued by the concept that "Quantity has a quality all its own" - Joseph Stalin (or so I've been told.) Well there aren't many people who actually own:

• 2014 BMW i3-REx - currently one of the longest EV ranged, plug-in hybrids available
• 2017 Prius Prime Plus - currently the highest MPG ranged, plug-in hybrids available

Now I'm the new Prius Prime Plus owner who just finished driving over 1,000 miles in a single day of his plug-in hybrid. <GRINS> I haven't done that with the BMW i3-REx, yet, but I've done 700 miles in one day, twice, with hours to spare. Without the wife and dogs, piece of cake.

Now one of my plans is to increase the gas range of the BMW i3-REx to nominally 150-160 miles. Curiously, I can probably increase that to 250 miles but what fun is that? I'd rather work the harder problem, improving the gas, drivetrain efficiency and reducing aerodynamic drag . . . a much more interesting puzzle.

Bob Wilson

 

The salesman led me to believe there were a total of 100 Primes in the entire country and all of them had been snapped up and therefore I'd have to wait until the next years model run. From the comments I've read it sounds as if supply is constrained because it's a new model which makes a lot more sense to me. I think I'll stop by a different dealer.

 

Or any?

Bob Wilson

 

That was a total fabrication.

 

I follow cars.com once or twice a week. When cars start appearing in numbers of more than one at a time in the southwest/mountain region I'll know that my order is not too far behind.

So e.g., I checked now and found ~ 800 cars in transit or on lots, but the closest to me is California. Clearly the pipeline to the SW/mountain is not open yet.

 

It appears so. I wonder if he said it in order to try and convince me to purchase the non-Prime model. Since he consulted with the manager (those guys in the raised booth behind the glass) it doesn't appear as if they are a knowledgeable dealership.

 

Smile and say,'Thanks. I'll go check out the Ford and Chevy plug-ins.'

Bob Wilson

 

I doubt any dealership knows whether cars destined for another dealership are already pre-ordered, though he may have access to a database of Primes that dealers throughout the country are willing to swap.

The discussion however, does not matter to you unless you want your local dealer to grab a car from another dealer outside your region. They are happy to do it ... for a price.

 

That's a good plan.
I'm seeing almost 800 new Primes available in the US after a 2 minute search (cars.com.)
One poster that I know of paid significantly lass than 30 out the door before the dot.gov kickbacks.

Your dealer is lying to you.
I'd normally wait for the shock to subside before saying that this dealer might not be the only one....but time is limited.

Good Luck!

 

I've been talking with the inventory manager from the dealer where I have mine on order. She says the allocations are by region so she knows exactly how many are allocated to the 72 dealers in my region. She doesn't know which dealers are getting what, just her own, but she does know the total. She also knows the total for the region of what she called "sold cars" which are cars where someone has put down a deposit but, again, she doesn't know from which dealers those came other than her own.

 

dianne is running out. that never happens. something is afoot.

 

Right -- by region.

So people in the sw/mountain region currently have three choices:
1. Wait for the pipeline to the region to open. A pre-order will place a customer at the front of the pipeline
2. Travel out of region
3. Pay for a local dealer to find a car out of region and have it shipped

Running around to different dealers in the same region before the pipeline is opened is a waste of time.
You have been told that our region will open in April, and I've been told late February/Early March.

I'll hazard a guess that Toyota gives itself some flexibility when to open a pipeline, and if a region has a stack of pre-orders it might change the time-table. It's probably also worth pointing out that Toyota has a vested interest in selling cars in CARB states, so if supply is constrained the non-CARB states are going to wait.

 

Oh?

I'd like to unpack that if we may.
Toyota has a significant additional warranty liability in CARB states.
What are their advantages to being able to sell more units in those same states?

As far as availability, I'd look in states that are more rust colored than the traditional 'red' or 'blue.'
Back in 2012, I thought that my commute was about to increase significantly, and so I ran numbers on a Pip.
As it turns out, they were significantly less expensive in some states where demand was light (East Coast.)

Either cars.com is lying out their butt (possible) or there are dealerships on the left coast that are lying about Prime availability (MORE possible.)

 

they need to sell in cali for offsets of trucks and suvs. we're getting a couple per dealer, but dianne is running out. it's getting interesting.

 

I just set a search on Toyota's site for a 20201 (Baltimore) zip code and got 68 local models available,
BUT there's only 2 in 02108 (Bean town.)

Smart shoppers.....save.

 

that's incorrect. those searches don't actually know if a car is on the lot, for sale.

 

Not many dealers in that zip code. Boch, IRA, Wellesly lexington, acton,westboro and many more have prime instock within an hour of the city

 

would be interesting to know what balimore dealers actually have.