When we went for our test drive and when we signed the contract - The dealer gave us official toys. I say toys as the are the pull-back, let go, and they fly across the floor thing and not actually a model. We have two of them, one in Iceberg Silver (what we test drove) and the other in Aqua Blue (What we ordered.) We are keeping them both in their boxes because, well, they`re just cool! Plus, it doesn`t look like they`re all that common. Do they have any little perks like this outside Japan?
Ken (from Japan) gave me a toy Prius which looked like that but GenII. Funny as, when you pull it back and let it go it goes slow for half a second then rips across the floor in a flury of wheel spin and wheel standing. Looks just like me after the light goes green.
Wow. Those look great. I haven't heard of anything like those in the United States yet. Because they're rare, official Toyota toys, I think a lot of people would want them. That was the case with the Gen II Prius official Toyota toy, although that model was to scale.
There are scale models too, and also a little radio controlled one. But our dealer only had these at the time. I`ll have to ask if he has any of the others next time we talk to him. We also were given a towel and a box of tissues.
I love all those Toyota Prius promotional items. At the United States Prius Reveal shows, we got this especially beautiful Prius water bottle:
Hi Tamyu: It is amazing to me how you can go from one end of the spectrum to the other when it comes to purchasing, as is your case a vehicle. I have read on this site some 'interesting' stories on how the Toyota Salesperson has either been fantastic (case in point Dianne) to others that don't give a - I think you get the point. In all the years I have been purchasing vehicles I have never had to deal with a 'bad' dealer (thank goodness), but I have seen those that go the 'extra' mile, so to speak, to make you feel appreciated as obviously is the way the dealer has dealt with you. Too bad some of these dealers wouldn't take a lesson from the good ones. Come in 5 weeks I do hope that I can say the dealer I am getting my 2010 Toyota Prius has gone the extra mile! Edward Marystown, Newfoundland Canada
Back in 2001 when we ordered our first Prius, it took so long 7 months, Toyota kept sending us little gifts about every month. One nice thing the first month the sent us and owners manual so we could read up on the car before we got it. I remember we got a cooler, some seeds a folder a toy car a pen light. At least we knew they did forget us. At the time I thought if they put all the effort of making this crap in to making our car we would have it.
I think the huge difference is my location. I have never heard of a bad Toyota (or any car, for that matter) salesperson here. Treat a customer badly and they would seriously be out of business in no time. To be entirely honest, I can`t understand how the whole sales system works in other places, as what it sounds like on here would be completely and totally rejected in Japan! Every dealer we have ever gone to has given us piles of stuff, whether we were seriously interested or just taking a quick look. It`s just the style here.
I wonder who made that "squished" 2010 Prius toy with pull back motor? If you look at the bottom of the toy, it may have the manufacturer's name. "kinsmart" or "kinsfun" made a similar squished Gen II Prius toy with pull back motor. Here's a picture of the one I have:
These are made "For Toyota by TTC Enterprise". How big is the one you have? These are about 11 cm long out of the box. (4.5 inches?)
Ahh, your Gen III squished Prius is longer. My Gen II squished Prius is under 4 inches (about 3.875 inches) long. I like these die cast toy Priuses. I'm going to have to start checking eBay to see what's available for the Gen III.
I know an Aussie with one of them. Thankyou Prius Team and FireEngineer! I might make a video of my squahsed up pull-back Prius, awesome toy! Thanks Ken!
These are plastic, supposedly with the real paint on them to show the accurate colors... Although I highly doubt they actually painted them with it, most likely a matched cheap version. I don`t believe there are any regular toy versions of the Gen III out here yet - just the official ones. Our current car is a WiLL Cypha, and we collected quite a few little toy versions of it. The goods they handed out were extremely cute, so we gathered as much as we could.
My 'toy' pales in comparison, but my salesperson was kind enough to give me the pen she got in her training. It has a little pull down list of all the new Prius Gen III features. It's really nice - <and thank you for it, Stef!> - but that little light-up classic silver toy car is sweet!!
