This is the worst time to buy a Prius Prime in terms of cost to buyer

Best option is to simply wait at least a year until there are used low mileage 2023s available.

 

And why would there be low mileage 2023s available?

There aren't any- okay, many- 2023's available NOW.

Anyone who's selling one in 2024 will mostly likely be selling it for more than they paid.

 

If you've got a trade-in, you can get a nice deal. If you've got a Prius trade-in, you will be even better insulated from the market dislocation. I am quite pleased with the deal I got. I paid MSRP + about a grand in bogus "options" + paint penalty, yet I got a trade-in value on my 2019 that matches my original purchase price...... My trade-in should have been worth about 7k less in normal market conditions. I was happy to pay MSRP and full retail on door edge and sill guards.

If you have no trade-in well... then what are you driving lol? If this is a first car or a totaled replacement, you have my prayers. Just go buy something nobody wants... like a Nissan.

 

Local dealer had ONE. It was already bought, but I was allowed to sit in it and look it over. The salesman said that with the current wait list, one would be wise to wait a year or two before buying the newest Prius when production was back to meeting demand.

 

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It's no better now. Nothing in stock. Absurd prices.

 

things are not improving. inflation is bad, shortages not getting better, worldwide issues are causing a lot of issues on top of covid.

 

Dealers are bluffing. I got my LE of a specific color only 4 months after reservation at a local dealer in NorCal. Initially they said I had to wait 12-18 months.

 

So it's been just over a year since this was posted.

Got any more predictions for us?

 

Congratulations! I wish that were the case in Minnesota. I've been waiting 9 months and I'm not any closer than I was last July to seeing the Prime I ordered. And now with the door recall, I'm anticipating another 3-4 months.

 

When did the jewel lose its luster for you? Always looking to buy another car, now a Camry. Nothing wrong with that, free country. I know, I get the car bug. Sometimes I think why didn’t I just buy the 4 cyl Tacoma, now I would be all done, no battery pack, just gas and go and tend to life. It’s always after a new car or new to me, this is it, all done, now I can tend to life.

 

you might want a hatch

 

Mrs b likes a sedan for trunk security and it’s a little bit quieter.
It’s nice to have one of each

 

^that right thar.^

We love having a proper sedan + a proper hatchback in the family garage.

Something in between the two was fine when we only needed/had space for one car.

 

Because 'somebody told' (*) the car companies that Americans don't want hatchbacks. Or station wagons. Or now, even sedans. They want just pickup trucks or SUVs or CUVs. So the American brands mostly dumped the former and shifted nearly all production to the later.

(*) ... or this was the cover story when they decided that those body styles weren't as profitable.

 

Again, this is down to the dealers now almost entirely owned by "auto group" corporations that are too big for their britches. State-level antitrust actions just don't exist, and this is where they're desperately needed.

They're the ones calling the shots for inventory: they order what they want to sell. They kind of don't care what that actually is, as long as everyone coming in the door == a >$60k loan origination. And to keep that number going up, they need to deliver bigger and bigger cartrucks.

 

^ I.e. forced up-selling, by simply not stocking the more cost-effective but less profitable models.

The same reason no local retailers carry replacement wiper blade inserts anymore. They get more profit from selling whole blades.