Next Car - New Prius

I drank the Kool-Ade and it looks like I'll be buying a new Prius to replace an 07 Subaru Outback as a 2nd daily driver. Gen III appears to be a good car and it makes economic sense. I figure driving a Prius instead of the Subaru and boosting my miles in that car to half of the 27K I drive annually, I'll save about $100 a month in gas alone. (Primary daily driver is an 05 LS430 with which I average 24.5 MPG - so I'm no hot rodder.)

Background: I'm a healthcare IT consultant in my mid-50s. My wife is disabled and doesn't drive. (Brain injury in 1996 caused by a horse accident. She also recently had a successful battle with breast cancer.) We're empty nesters and have a couple of wonderful caregivers that work with my wife during the week and will be occasionally driving the Prius to take her to appointments, go to lunch, etc.

The Subaru has to go because it is a) uncomfortable for me to drive long distances and b) has become difficult for the caregivers to transfer my wife from her wheelchair into the car. The older Outbacks have frameless windows so there's no place for her to grab when standing beside the car. I'll miss the Subaru AWD system in the winter, but I've driven RWD and FWD cars in Michigan winters for decades and am still around to tell about it.

The Prius turns out to be a good vehicle to transfer my wife in/out. Seat height is neither too low or high, the door opening is large, and there are no obstructions when swinging her legs and feet in/out. The underfloor storage compartment holds the wheelchair leg rests and her travel wheelchair fits well on the right side of the cargo area. Her duffle bag fits on the left side of the cargo area. The only drawback is the lack of tall storage when the rear seats are folded, but I will live with that. I don't want to opt for the Prius V as I want something smaller, faster, and with higher MPG.

Anyway, the Subie is up for sale and I'm ready to put a deposit down on an incoming unit at one of the local dealers. I'm targeting a Two as I don't want leather that is not cooled (hate the leather and vinyl in the Subaru) and I don't care about the radio features (or other available options) in the Three. Color preference is blizzard pearl, then barcelona red, then silver.

Oh, and my handle "car complusive"? This Prius will be the 13th new/used car I've owned/leased in the past 10 years. (I've had as many as 4 at once and I'm the only driver.) I should be getting Christmas hams from our state treasury office for all the sales tax I've paid and from the local Belle Tire store for tires and wheels. I should also have a standing order with Zaino. I don't have any other hobbies or vices, so...

 

Update:

I put a refundable deposit on an incoming Three, Barcelona Red with dark gray interior. It's supposed to arrive in late August / early September.

I'm surprised that Toyota doesn't enforce some sort of standard waiting list policy on these dealers. Here is what I understood from the 3 dealers I called:

- Here is the incoming list of cars and when we expect them. Pay $500 (refundable) to get on the waiting list. (There are 6 people currently on the list.) Cost of the car will be MSRP. When a car is about to arrive, we call the top person on the list and give them first right of refusal. Then we call the next person on the list, etc. The salesman said I'd probably have one of the cars I wanted when it arrived as most folks on the list wanted ones with more options.

- Pay $500 (refundable) to get on our waiting list. Cost of the car will be MSRP. When we receive a car, we call the top person on the list. If they refuse the car, they go to the bottom of the list and we call the next person. (At least that's what I understood her to say.) Estimated time to get a car is 2-4 months, but usually about 2. We sell lots of Prii and have a large allocation. She ignored my question about what cars were incoming, except that my flexibility of multiple colors and levels would help.

- Here is our list of incoming cars that are not yet sold. Pay $500 deposit (refundable) to reserve a specific car on the list (at MSRP) and we'll call you when the car is about to arrive. If you don't buy the car, we'll refund your deposit or you can pick a different incoming car. (This is how I've bought other cars and I thought the practice was standard in the industry.) When I went in to pay the deposit today, they presented all the numbers in writing so I saw the tax and fees. The business manager took a credit app which she will hold until the car is about to arrive and I tell them to apply vs. my own financing or cash purchase. I was out of there in 30 minutes. BTW, this was Spartan Toyota in Lansing, MI.

Now, does anyone want to buy a nice Subaru Outback?

 

We're about halfway between Detroit and Lansing. The Lake Michigan shoreline is one of the prettiest places in the state. Our land-locked area - not so much, except we don't get nearly as much lake effect snow as the west side of the state.

We're hoping to take delivery in time for a Labor Day visit to my wife's family in Ohio.

 

56 MPG would be goodness. Most of my vehicles over the past 20 years have averaged less than 20 MPG overall. Some under 15. I'm currently thrilled to get about 25 in my Lexus.