Buyers embrace the Toyota Prius (News)

I went car shopping yesterday and came across the Prius - I was so
impressed I would have bought one but found out the waiting time.
Would like to know if anyone has had problems with the Prius as I
am willing to wait if I find out that it is as good as it appears. Thanks

 

Every bit as good....and then some. I have over 3000 mi. on mine so far and can't enjoy driving my wife's Corolla anymore - there is just no comparison. I've had no problems, not even a squeak or rattle yet, and the peaceful driving experience is a pure joy. I did not have to wait for mine but it would definitely be worth the wait, it's that good.

 

Yes, I'm waiting on mine (still must wait 2 or 3 more months)...and after having done tons of research. You might want to check an item that shows up on ebay occassioanlly. It's a 2004 Dealer Kit. I've obtained one and it really gives you a run down on the product. Best wishes!

 

There's one up for bid now......I mean right now as the auction expires in a few hours. I think I'm going to place a bid since the "kit" is only around 26 bucks and appears to contain a ton of information.

I wonder how this person comes by the "kit". Is he or she associated with Toyota or a dealer?

 

I'm the high bidder at $26.75. We'll see.....


yes, I\'m fully aware that I\'m talking to myself

 

I'd love to hear what's in the kit if you get it.
See, you weren't talking to yourself.

 

Dave wrote: I'd love to hear what's in the kit if you get it.

No problem.....I'll provide a full report if and when I receive it. But, in the meantime, I wonder if M_A_M could provide some additional details. I'm also wondering how much I should be paying for the kit.


See, you weren't talking to yourself.

Thank God! I was starting to worry......:lol:

 

Ah ha! Yes and Yes!

Both, however, I will have to borrow from my wife!

 

Outbid by a buck! Sheesh! No action for hours, I go out for the last 20 minutes and this.....

Oh well, there are a couple of more up for bid now.

 

Tag, ya gotta learn how to snipe an auction on Ebay. That's the only way these days to get what you want. I've gotten pretty good at it. Imagine waiting untill the last 24 seconds of an auction to place your maximum proxy bid on a dialup modem. I did that at my folks place last winter on my departed and missed Daewoo Lanos. Yes, I won the car.

 

Uhh, yeah. The story behind that car is a fun one. I had acutally bid on that car before and LOST!!

It then came back a couple of weeks later as the first winner was a deadbeat. I had put a bid on the car again a few hours before the auction was to end only to be outbid within an hour of the auction ending. That was when I waited untill 24 seconds from the auction end before slamming it with a high max. In the end, I bought a 2000 Daewoo Lanos SX (top of the line for that model) for $4350.89. It was shipped with every option available for that car except a sunroof, and only had 3152 documentable miles on its odometer. I had only two minor issues with the car during its tenure with me. First, the battery cable ends were built cheaply, and were deforming under the pressure of the bolts. Fix was to buy some marine cable ends and use them as Daewoo put bolt on ends to their battery cables. I spent $5 for that fix I chose to do that one out of pocket as I didn't want the same chessey ends as replacements. The other was a warranty item for a defective park/neutral starter cutoff switch in the shifter linkage. After that fix, the car never saw the light of the service bay up to the day that I traded it as one of the three for the Prius. I acutally miss that car the most of the three.

 

Wolfman, I know! It's just that I'm out of town with the family this week (in FL) and we're typically all over the place. It's tough to keep track of stuff like the time auctions expire. I'm lucky I'm even able to get on the net as I'm using my son's notebook and this lousy 28kbps dialup.

 

Hey, I'd also like to get some thoughts about what this dealer training kit might be worth (M_A_M??)......????

The one last night went off at around $28 but then there's a matter of $9 for shipping. So, the winner paid a total of $37. Whether that's too much or a bargain clearly depends on the quality (and quantity) of the materials.

 

Thanks....will do. I noticed the service manual was going for around $20 so I think I'll use that as a rough guide.

I strongly suspect paying close to 40 bucks is kind of a lot for this material unless one is collecting Prius memorabilia.

 

hehe, I figured that you were kidding. I still like to tell that story though. It was the sweet car purchase that I'll never get another such opportunity again.

You can make fun of the 59 Benz all you want. :wink: That car is rarer than hen's teeth. Before I took it out of service to start its total restoration, I used to draw crowds with that car. I'm not sure if you're up on your Mercedes nomenclature or not, but that car is a diesel powered car. No modern car can possibly hold a candle to the driving experince of that old beast!

You should have seen the inspector with that car. He did immediately recognize the column shift manual tranny. Out of sheer habit, he turned the key all the way over to what he assumed would have been the start position in any other car. Not this one. It has a lever that you pull partway out and hold in place while staring at a little silver "salt shaker" looking metal piece on the dashboard. Inside it, there is a coil that you wait for it to start to glow bright orange. This is an indicator for the glow plug circuit that it's heating up. You then count out to yourself a specific number of seconds according to how warm the engine is, and the pull the knob out all the way. This engages the starter. Once started, the knob is released. The inspector then wanted to push the knob back in after the car was started. I had to tell him not to. He then, before I had the chance to tell him the gear pattern, put the car in what he thought was first gear. He immediately stalled the car. At that point, he finally let me tell him that it was in fact a FOUR speed manual on the column, and not three. He learns the shift pattern, starts the car (needed reminding again to push the knob in), and finally gets it moving. He goes through the quick driving process, and pulls into the bay for the rest of the test. By this time, he simply told me to shut the car off, which is where he learns that pushing the start knob back in kills the car. I never had a harder time keeping from laughing as much as I did with that inspection.