Midwest availability

I wish my dealer would have left the white bits and tape on mine when I got it. I'd keep that plastic on the seats as well!

I traded in a silver 2007 with ~143,000 miles. Luved the color, never really showed it was dirty. How many miles did your silver bullet have when you gave it up?

In early July, I lucked out and stumbled upon a dealer who had 4 Primes in stock. All the same color and I think they were all advanced.
I asked how they got 4 when no one within the midwest had any in stock. Evidently, they sold a number of them when they first came out and Toyota evidently feeds those that move product. I'm sure someone at the dealership knew what was going on about general availability, but from what I gathered the salespeople and those "serving" me, thought I was loonie for getting such a contraption. Why not get this Dinosauria that gets 18 mpg, on a good day!

 

@Son of Gloin, great look. Bet you have had fun getting use to everything. I felt bad for the Prius you left behind. It looked so sad with its lic plate taken off and placed on the Prime.

 

We are half-way home from our Prime purchasing trip to Westchester County, NY. We are taking 2 days to drive home to Indiana.

Here's what I did:

1. I had to take advantage of this 3 day weekend, partly to minimize my days off (to zero) as well as to take advantage of the $3,500 (in NY, for example) Toyota incentive (which expires on Sept 5, I believe).
2. We did not want to go too far, so that we can drive home (comfortably) in 2 days.
3. We preferred a non-stop flight from Indiana, to minimize any flight mishaps.

This resulted in us narrowing our search to dealerships close to one of the NYC area airports. We simultaneously found a fairly good flight (8:30 AM flight out of Indy, arriving at LaGuardia at 10:30 AM), and a dealership in Mamaroneck that has had experience selling to out of state buyers. It worked out pretty good, and we saved some money doing so, and we did not have to end up ordering the car from a local dealership with a high premium AND not knowing when we will actually see the car.

We had a great visit in Westchester County. We consider this to be sort of a "paid for" quick getaway, since we saved more money then what we spent to get there, lodging, and food.

However,there is one "downside" to this approach. We did not have the great leverage to get the absolute lowest price possible. Basically, we sort of have to agree on a decent price on the phone/email, and they are fairly sure we will not just "walk out" on them on our visit. Also, to get the factory incentive, we chose to pay cash, which basically forced us to bring a cashier's check written to one dealership, and they sort of assumed that what we did. So we could not do a "surprise negotiation" at the last minute to lower the price.

All in all, this has been a worthwhile trip so far. We saved some money and we managed to make a nice road trip out of it.

 

@posque, how do you like it so far on the drive back? Color?

 

The 800 mile drive back over two days was great, we managed about 49 mpg for the whole trip. We did not charge before the first day of driving because it was raining really hard and we did not want to get wet. In terms of the actual driving, we had no problems, except for the well known "Clean Parking Assist Sensor" error that happened simultaneously with ICS error after driving through heavy rain. We did not know that this was a common problem at the time, but when I did some internet "research," I found out this is a very common problem for new Primes with parking sensors. My sensors "came to their senses" after being parked in a hotel parking lot.
The color is Blizzard Pearl...the same color as my 2009 RAV4 Limited V6. I thought about other colors, and was seriously thinking about the blue, but thought the color is a little too "casual" for me.

 

Nope... ...but please feel VERY free to try again... ........

 

If you think IT looked "sad"... well... ...

...'cause as much as I'm loving our '17 Prime so far, I'm gonna' miss our '08 Prius, the original MITHRIL, in many ways and for a long time to come, I'm sure!

 

WOO Hoooo!

I just learned that my Prime Advanced is scheduled to arrive at the Houston VPC on September 12th.

My order was placed June 30th.

My dealer swears that they were told nothing about when it went into production, or a temp VIN, etc. I sent an email two days ago asking for an update and learned the Sept 12th date and just got a reply this morning. Having purchased 5 vehicles from this dealer in the past, I can't exactly say I'm feeling the love on this whole deal. I've been dealing with one of the managers and not a regular sales guy.

I wonder how long it takes them to get it out of the VPC and on the truck? We leave for New England on Sept 28th, so that's probably when it will get here.

Oh well, it's on the way.

 

Congrats! Is it dry enough in Houston?

 

Yes, from what they are showing. My concern was the massive backlog of ships waiting to get into the Houston ship channel but that should be cleared up by next week.

 

Awww crap.

Based on the minimal info my dealer gave me yesterday on the estimated arrival date at the Houston Vehicle Processing Center (VPC), I was able to determine which ship my new Prime is on. Right now, it's running full bore (16.2 knots/18.6 mph) right in front of Hurricane Irma off Key Largo, FL. It made the run from Japan to the Jacksonville, Florida VPC and then to the Houston VPC. GO BABY GO! It's the Athens Highway car carrier. Click that link to track.

Now I get to worry about my family riding it out in Fort Lauderdale, the Florida PriusChat members, and now the new car. Arggg!

 

When it rains, it pours.

 

The car is here! It arrived at my dealer TODAY. Woo Hoo, I'm waiting on the tint (70% Ceramic) and will pick it up around 4pm tomorrow.

LOL, I just sold my 2010 Prius II this morning. I was thinking it'd be next week on the new car and got home and the dealer emailed me that it's in. He also said it would be fully charged for delivery.

Timeline: Ordered June 30, Arrived @ Houston VPC Sept 10, arrived at dealer Sept 13th. Was told by Gulf States Toyota distribution analyst that production would be in September with delivery Oct/Nov. They obviously stepped up production. I hope this timeline helps someone else.

 

Congrats, Mark! Hope you enjoy the new family member.

 

Thanks! I'm glad the waiting part is over.

 

We expect a bonding report once you two merge.

 

Is text OK, or must we have video? TMI

Still waiting on them to finish the tint. I hear that back window is less than fun to do.

 

OK, I officially love this car. Seven years and 104,386 miles in my 2010 Prius III can immediately feel the difference in ride quality and how much more quiet it is than the 2010. I can feel the weight of the battery which is a good thing. This vehicle has substance and doesn't twang on every expansion joint. It's tight. I love it.

PS, the 70% Ceramic tint is great. It was in the 90's full sun and I could hardly feel any of it.

 

Congrats! Where are you heading to honeymoon?

 

Local lunch today, home football game in Norman tomorrow, Dad's house on Monday, then all day road trip lunch in Dallas on Tuesday.