I sell Toyotas. I bought a Prime.

It is even harder if they are not sold as just another car or truck with a feature that makes them more economical to drive. Toyota is making things harder than they need to be.

 

^ This x 1000



I mean seriously, they've put all their hybrid cars apart from all the others in every way possible. The hybrid camrys and highlanders don't appear next to their gasser cousins on the main corporate sales website- they are in a special category with the priuses.

And the evolution of culture surrounding them hasn't really helped. You tell someone you've got a hybrid and when you don't get a blank stare in response it's something like "oh, I thought you had a fur allergy" That break-room banter could have been "Hey, I got a Toyota Snazzy!" "Oh? I heard those were wicked good on gas" And there's the missed opportunity.

A car with a "gas saving feature" has very, very broad appeal.

In my own case, a car with this gas saving feature and super-smooth transmission sealed the deal.

When every car out there is seemingly loaded with automatic radar brakes, satellite radio, lane keeper beeper, power tassel disinfectors and a kung-fu grip, it should be relatively easy to explain an oversize battery.

 

I think we are vigorously asserting the same point of view. The operating costs of our efficient rides saves more than many understand.

Bob Wilson

 

the easiest comparison is when there are two versions like camry. here's the price difference, here's the fuel savings.
unfortunately, toyota does not make an exact same package of each, so there is still some interpretation.

 

Well, whatever works for you.

My wife and I were driving a Cadillac STS which was had a $70K sticker price when we acquired it. We looked at the Tesla S and liked it, but felt it was too expensive and too large for our needs. We test drove a Chevy Bolt but thought it was too small and hard to get into. We probably should have looked at the Chevy Volt, but the Chevy dealer never mentioned it and we did not know it existed.

So, we'd seen something about Toyota having a plug-in and thought it might be interesting to take a look. We were very skeptical because we didn't think of ourselves as Prius types -- i.e., either environmental crusaders or particularly concerned with fuel-economy. It's just after test-driving the Tesla, we really wanted to look for something with the feel of an EV.

We were very surprised at the look and feel of the Prime Advanced. It's easy to understand why it's been called "a poor man's Tesla." The big touch-screen display is just plain cool.

All that being said, it would have been nice to test drive the Prime in EV mode and not have to come back to the dealership because none of the three that they had were charged.

Ironically, as I noted in another PriusChat post, during chit-chat, the Toyota salesman recommended a little Mexican taco place where he liked to have lunch about a mile from the dealership. We later discovered that there are two free L2 charging stations in the free municipal parking lot across the street from the taco restaurant. Go figure.

(We also almost had the dealer install a $600 remote-start system to warm-up the car on winter mornings, but quickly said 'no' after a quick reading about 'pre-conditioning' the Prime and -- duh -- realizing that you don't have to warm-up an electric motor!)

It was not at all an impressive sales experience. A lot of people come up to me and ask about my Prime. I tell them about the car but never recommend the dealer.

 

There is an old adage: "The race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong." And, as you know, there are many examples of superior products being eclipsed by inferior products for completely exogenous reasons.

That being said, I draw your attention to two recent items which appeared in the press:

"For the fourth consecutive year, Tesla scored dead last in a nationwide car dealership survey, according to the Los Angeles Times. . . . mystery shoppers go to car dealerships across the U.S. to collect data for the Prospect Satisfaction Index. The index is designed to measure dealership sales staff’s ability to turn prospects into customers. . . sales staff for the highest-scoring car companies on the index 'work hard to be helpful, rather than just sitting back and answering customer questions. For example, they fact-find to determine why a customer is visiting, what’s important to the customer, and how the customer intends to use the vehicle'."​

Source: Digital Trends, July 28, 2018​

Tesla Model 3 Outselling Small And Midsize Luxury Cars In U.S. - In July. The ramp up in Model 3 production is enabling it to outsell small and midsize luxury car sales in the U.S., according to some number crunching by CleanTechnica's Zachary Shahan. His analysis claims that the Model 3 is crushing its "competitors" in that segment with total estimated sales for July amounting to 16,000 vehicles.



Source: Forbes, July 30, 2018
​

It's worth clicking on the links and seeing the two articles in their entirety.

I'm not really sure what conclusions you can draw from these two anecdotal references. However, it sure looks like there is at least one viable alternative to the traditional automobile sales process.

​

 

Tesla has no dealers and the powerful dealer racket wants them dead. No dealers to visit would put them last in any dealer satisfaction survey.

 

I use a spreadsheet to track fuel expenses for my PiP. It has a section that deals with exactly that. Here's a screen grab of part of it. Lifetime total or average is at the top.


I like @bwilson4web's idea, but the fly in the ointment is that most times, when I ask someone what they pay per kWh, they have no idea. Nor do they know how much they spend on gas.

 

Maybe they want you to share a data-free version of your 28 column spreadsheet (with formulas, of course)

 

Tesla had the advantage of people lining up (and putting down $) to purchase a Model 3 so the demand existed for them before the car even hit the market. Now that they have crossed the 200,000 threshold it will be interesting to see if they can keep up the sales pace long term.

 

I think I can do that. It's based on one that I got from someone here on PC, but I don't remember who.

 

When I called the nearest Toyota dealer to make an appointment to test drive PRIME, the sales rep almost tried to talk me out of Prime, by pointing out most of negatives (i.e. lack of EV range, lack of 5th seat, lack of spare tire, and lack of cargo space). I went in for a test drive anyway, but was not thinking of purchasing that day. I was set up with a different sales rep than the one on the phone, and ended up with purchasing Prime on a spot because of an offer too good to walk away. Every sales reps are different.

 

When I set up a test drive for a Prime, no one ever tried to talk me into something different, and I actually dealt with a sales rep who pretty much knew what she was selling. Maybe an outlier, but still.

 

Was it charged for your test drive?

 

Neat! I'm going to noodle around with this and see if I can tailor it to my household. None of our cars plug in, but the oddball situation is that we didn't trade in anything for the Toyota. So now i split my driving between the two old cars, and one is much more efficient than the other.

EDIT: well I scrapped it pretty quick, too many plug-related things in it but it did inspire me with a few ideas for tracking my own stuff... and the numbers look good.

Adding the Toyota to our household isn't enough to save "one payment a year" at current fuel prices, but when I consider the additional savings of putting half of my own miles onto our old economy car instead of the guzzler, it's very close.

 

I know the sales rep that sold my Prius was an outlier. He is a Gen 1 Prius owner.
We discussed Corolla,, Camry, & Prius before settling on the Prius. No high pressure, just advice, pricing, & other information when needed. Our discussions took place via email & phone, since he is 150 miles away.

I am a first-time Prius owner, but my oldest son is on his second Prius, a Prius v.

 

About 1/3 of the way, yes, and it was charging when I got there. That was enough for a test drive.

 

That's the nice thing about having an efficient car like Prius is that you are for the most part insulated from sudden unexpected rises in gas prices. You notice it but it doesn't create the horror and panic that you feel the first time you fill up a guzzler after prices have gone up.

In your case by having one efficient car you are in a good position also, if prices go up then you can shift most of your driving to the efficient one and ride out the storm. Meanwhile someone with a Prime and a relatively short commute may not even need to gas up at all during a several months long price spike!