I've been lurking here for many, many months and I finally picked up my new 2008 Silver pkg #2. Wow, this is great! I want to thank everyone here for helping make this a relatively easy decision; without the all the praise coming from such knowledgeable people I'm not sure I would have had the confidence to buy into this new technology. I first went to the dealer to look at the Matrix, because we knew that our family of four had to have a hatchback (no SUV's or minivans for us) after 15+ years of driving Camry sedans and having to borrow cars everytime we needed to move something large. Well, the Prius was right next to the Matrix and I was quite surprised to see that the price wasn't that much more and the cargo space wasn't that much less. The Matrix styling (a bit too spaceship like for us) and not-as-good crash test ratings made the Prius a serious contender. The hybrid coolness factor had the 12-year-old pushing hard for the Prius. Priuschat finally tipped the scale. Jay Li at Herb Chambers Toyota in Boston was great, no pressure and a great price. Even the finance manager was low pressure. thanks again everyone!
I just picked mine up last night, Seaside Pearl with Package 2 (maybe they rode over on the same ship)! I echo your comments on PriusChat. I've learned more here over the last 7 or so weeks of waiting for the car than I ever could by reading the manual (and yes, I am reading the manual!). Oddly enough, my 12 year old was not the one who wanted us to get the Prius, but now that she's ridden in it, it's sufficiently cool! B) Wishing you many years of safe and fun drives, Jim
Congrats to both of the new Prius owners on this thread. You'll both enjoy your cars - I have just a couple of days on you and I'm already in love. Enjoy and thanks for making the right decision for our Country, enviornment and future generations. Brent
