Yet another Prius newbie from the Portland area...

Very cool!

I guess production is starting to catch up to demand. I put my name on the list at Ron Tonkin back in January 2004 and picked my Prius at the end of June only after upping my "order" from a (then) package 1 (RW) to a package 7 (AM).

I was quite impressed at Tonkin's handling of my order back then with the feeding frenzy that was going on and was happy that they did NOT have their inventory online to avoid bidding competitions (unlike Thomason Toyota). Because of the honesty that they showed during the purchasing process, I plan to continue to returning for all of my servicing.

While I have not heard anything particularly bad about Beaverton Toyota, I also cannot say I've heard anything good either.

 

Congrats on the Salsa Red BC package, that is what I ordered and it has been great.

You will really love this fine automobile.

 

Congrats!! :mrgreen: I love that below MSRP shows that the supply is catching up with the demand. I am seeing more and more in the wild. More and more at work in the parking lot.

 

Congratulations! I'm glad that you didn't have a negative experience with Russ Toyota, and I'm also glad that you purchased your vehicle through Tonkin instead.

Way back when, I signed up for a 2004 through Toyota corporate as an Internet pre-sales customer. This was a special offer extended only to customers who ordered their 2002 (2003?) Prius through the prius.toyota.com configuration system. The corporate deal was that you would be the first kid on your block with a new 2004, and that you would pay MSRP.

Signed all the appropriate papers with Russ, then when the car came, they refused to sell it for less than $3000 above MSRP. Loooong story short, after involving Toyota corporate (the "Customer Experience!") and pleading my case to Tonkin (where I purchased my 2002), I finally ended up with my package 9 five months later than I should have had it.

My thanks go out to the nice folks at Tonkin who demonstrated integrity that was otherwise lacking in another corner of the Portland metro area.

Tonkin service is excellent too!

 

I'm also from Portland and just bought my '05 Black beauty with package #4 two days ago with 12 miles on it from McMinnville Toyota.

That's interesting to hear what you say about (Russ) Beaverton Toyota. My wife and I had a particularly poor experience with them in my search for a prius. The test drive went well, but the moment the sales guy got us in the building everything became shadier and shadier by the minute. Our goal was to order a prius and wait, since they did not have the package we wanted. He first tried to sell it to us for $2000 over MSRP, strike one. I bargained him down to MSRP but he had to "go chat with the manager" first who he said "must have been in a good mood to let you have MSRP", strike two. He then insisted we fill out a credit application prior to our deposit, I refused because I knew that other dealerships require no such application to place an order. He then initially said the deposit would be $500, but then quickly said 'I mean $1000", strike three. Then he went on to say that it was non-refundable. I don't think so. I had enough of this jokester and told him we were going elsewhere. He quickly got up and grabbed the manager... trying to do the double-teaming approach, how classic. The manager had the gall to use the wait list as leverage.. "if you don't buy it now you'll be waiting 6 months". Whatever. I found my prius at McMinnville Toyota, 30 miles from Portland. I experienced no wait, got the exact package that I wanted, and no salesman BS. The people were respectable, honest, and I got my prius at MSRP. I would recommend them to anyone in the pdx area.

I was also on the waiting list at Broadway Toyota, put $500 down for an order back in January. They gave me an estimate of 8 months. The experience there was ok, nothing bad, nothing particularly good either. At the time we made our order they didn't have an '05 available to test drive, which was a bummer. The salespeople were decent though, not too much pressure. I'll be getting my $500 refunded in the next couple of days.

It really seems that the prius availability in the metropolitan area of Portland is quite poor. However, after calling toyota dealerships at a 30 mile radius outside of Portland, I learned that the availability is much better and the wait is much shorter. Thank you PriusChat for helping me in this regard.

 

I'd do the Pretty Woman bit to those shady dealers.
You know, drive up to the dealer with your goods, asking if the salespeople work on commission, remind them that you were the one they pushed out the door, and that it was a huge mistake.

 

Well it looks like I stand corrected on my previous statement about not hearing "anything particularly bad about Beaverton Toyota". When I placed my order at Tonkin, I simply went there first because it was the closest dealer to my home. Since my car at the time was still in good running condition, and because I simply DETEST dealing with most car sales people, I decided to just stick with Tonkin and wait my time.

Out of curiosity, I did stop by Gresham Toyota after placing my order to see if the wait time claim was valid. After a rather unpleasant discussion with the snot-nosed sales kid, who was fully uninterested to even show me the Prius that he was leaning against when I pulled up, my decision to stick with Tonkin was solidified.

Though I probably could have gotten my Prius faster by running all over town, it sounds like I made the better decision.

 

Congrats on your Prius! I'm so excited to see so many Prii here in the Portland Metro area. I wonder how Portland ranks when it comes to the relative % of Prii being sold here.

I had a bad test drive experience at Beaverton Toyota, so I got my Tideland prius at Broadway Toyota instead at MSRP, with a 6 month wait (this was last year when supply was still limited). I do however go to Beaverton Toyota for service. They have a much bigger facility than Broadway Toyota for servicing. The first time I tried to schedule an oil change at B'way, they gave me a 3-week wait, but at Beaverton Toyota I could come in the next day. You can schedule your appt. online and they give you a free car wash with your oil change. I was very happy with their service.

 

For what it's worth, the Oregonian from 01/28/2005 reported that the Portland area is buying hybrids at 5 times the national average. I'd still venture a guess that California is way ahead of us, though.

If you are anywhere near Tonkin, you don't even need an appointment for oil changes. They are not quite as fast as a Jippy-lube, but there is no pressure to have any additional worthless services done. In their defense, both times I’ve changed my oil was on busy Saturday mornings.

 

I agree that it's nice to see some many fellow Portlanders here. I see quite a few Prii around these parts, especially where I live (Marquam Hill).

I appreciate eklabbers post on her experience with Prius servicing. Although it immediately invokes a visceral response upon even considering going back to Russ, it will remain a potential option from the servicing perspective. My wife and I were just wondering where a good place was to service our new baby, living in the portland area.. Anyone else from the area have any recommendations, or know of places to avoid for servicing? Much appreciated!

 

During my first two rounds of DVD replacements, the Tonkin service manager was great about following-through with corporate. Excellent service, especially considering that they probably weren't making much money from those disk swaps.

For what it's worth, I used to have good service experiences at Russ (Beaverton) Toyota, but that slowly went downhill following the change in ownership to Russ.

If you're on the west side, Russ is probably much more convenient, but I'd advise using Tonkin for anything other than oil changes.

 

So it sounds like, by consensus, Tonkin is the way to go so far. Although I live on the "west side", I care less about convenience than I do about finding an honest, professional service department that treats it's customers with respect.

Thanks for your replies! Any other Prius service experiences in the Portland area? Keep 'em coming.