Test Driving a Prime

What is and how far away is the nearest casino?

Bob Wilson

 

Bummer!! It's definitely going to be interesting in 2018!! I think I hear whispering, "Road Trip, Texas, Louisiana!!", but I think I'm getting too old for that, especially without my Sweetie, Janet, who would already have started packing!!

.

 

Yeah, demand for different vehicles vary from state to state and from region to region. A Prime may be $3,000 less in Boston and over sticker price in CA due to demand and weather and roads, etc. I travel the US for toyota and it's amazing to see the differences from city to city and state to state in terms of what vehicle is most popular.

 

About 80% of the cars i see on the road here are Toyota's, and about 90% of those are camry's.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

yup! That region is Camry Heaven, especially Alabama.

 

As of right now i drive a 06 Camry XLE with the 1mz-fe v6. Sometimes it makes decent power, others its just lazy. Sounds really good with a muffler delete though

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

If you havent seen or driven the 18 camrys you will be very impressed. best camrys to date

 

Theres one right outside the door. I am very impressed.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

After waiting for months, I finally got a test drive from a dealer near me in PA. But only in hybrid mode because the dealer had no charging station or didn't know how to charge it. Imagine that! A Toyota dealer not capable of charging your plug in vehicle. While I am on the subject, I have taken several road trips in my Prime and stayed at 4 and 5 star hotels. Do you think any of them had a charging station for their guests to plug in? The answer is none of them, and I really think that would be a super appropriate place to have a charging station.

 

Well, we can thank Tesla and Elon here. As thanks to him and the hype around Model 3 and similar, there will be more and more charging stations in places like hotels, etc over the next few years...

 

Well that may be true, but many of the motels have at least a 120 VAC outlet somewhere on the premises. When I did my cross country trip from Michigan to Washington state nearly every motel had a 120 VAC outlet available for me to plug in.

 

My late wife and I ran into the same problem when we were on our Bucket List trips. I would ask managers at hotel/motels if they had outdoor 110V outlets, accessible to my 2012 PIP; I was able charge my PIP a surprising number of times that way; ya just gotta ask!!

.

 

Are both Toyota of Lake City (north Seattle), and Magic (Edmonds), refusing you test drives?

Lake City has offered me a test drive twice, but I wasn't ready. Magic had a couple on the new car lot, and one demo unit on the used car lot, last time I went by. Just because they have a $4k markup (or $8K on one of them) doesn't seem like a good reason to refuse a test drive.

And I see a lot more local inventory now than when I was first checking around.

PS. I didn't test drive either of my Gen3s before ordering. I was sold after a two week rental of a Gen2 while on a vacation.

 

What's the longest "safe" extension cord you have used? 100 feet?

 

probably not maybe 25'. the thing is, you need larger wire gauge the longer the cord. 25' 12 ga. is safe. 50'? maybe have to go 10ga, that's a serious extension cord if you can find one.
and you need quality plug ends, so they don't melt.

 

I have been using a 25', 12 Gauge extension cord for over 5years, with no problems, even in light rain or 90° heat on both my 2012 PIP, and my Prime.

.

 

Brings back the memory of the purchase of my 2001 Acura Integra Type R: never even saw one in the flesh, let alone drove one before ordering it!
The car turned out to be sensational, but definitely not what I was expecting.
The salesman I bought it from was a certified Donkey Whole, who prided himself I'm not being an actual car salesman, but instead an airplane pilot!
The only thing positive about this transaction is that the jerk did not mark the car up over sticker like all the other dealers did. At the time, these cars were being sold at $5,000 over sticker by most dealers, it was the last year the model was offered. 3 months after I ordered, I saw it for the first time, drove it around the block, paid for it, drove away, and drove it back to dealer because there was something wrong with the transmission, or so I thought! My teenage son thought I just didn't know how to shift it. It turned out that the car was set up to run at 3500 to 4000 RPM at 60-65 miles an hour, and redlined at 8,500 RPM!! You can't believe how loud this thing was!! But it WAS bloody fast and a lot of fun, for the 100,000 miles I drove it. One Major problem: EVERYBODY was trying to steal it!!

.

 

If you ever go to a hotel with a Valet parking option. Ask if they will allow you to plug your car in (using your own charging cable.) Most of the nicer hotels will always say yes.

 

AARRRGGHHHH!!! Meaning absolutely NO disrespect, bisco... BUT:

Again I say AARRRGGHHHH!!! (*) I am getting SO tired of hearing about all these damned incentives / discounts / rebates / etc available here and there (in numerous states) and we here in the more-or-less midwest / southeast / south / north-central USofA can't even FIND any Primes (to just SEE or test-drive), and even if we do and decide to buy, we're likely to get hit with GINORMOUS "mark-ups"!!! And so YET again... I say AARRRGGHHHH!!! (*)

(*) Where's spell-check when you really, REALLY need it?!?

Yup........

MAYBE we'll get at least SOME sort of "deal" / discount when ours comes in... but I ain't countin' on it! (My best hope is that at least they will NOT slap a huge "mark-up" on it.) But I will be sharing info with my sales rep / the dealership about the YUGE discounts popping up all over the place in SEVERAL Toyota dealerships in up-state NY... within 75 miles of where my brother lives. So MAYBE I'll be able to say something like: "Hey... either give me $1500 more than you're offering me for my trade-in, or I'll go to NY, visit my brother for two or three weeks, and buy my Prime there!"

If it comes down to that, I might even let them KEEP my $500 "good faith" deposit... although they HAVE said they'll give the check back to me if I back out... they'll simply sell "my" car to someone else if I decide not to get it.

I once had a friend state that he NEEDED his "Land Barge / Lumber Wagon / Stupid Useless Vehicle" in order to tow his 24' (?) power boat... to which I replied: "But who ever said you needed that 24' powerboat?"