Toyota Hawaii 50th Anniversary Limited Edition Prius

I was told that NAV was not an option also. Wouldn't want it anyway, it's not like you need it here.

 

Eventually Servco will get greedy enough to make it worth another dealer's attempt to crack the franchise. The SuperFerry has also started to slightly improve vehicle mobility between islands. I haven't bought a new car in over 25 years so I'm more concerned about independent mechanics than dealers.

Over the last 20 years the big box stores have made a huge difference in the Paradise Tax. The same could eventually happen with the car dealers. I don't know if the used-car dealers could compete with Craigslist.

Our learner's-permit teen gets about 45 mpg even without using the MFD (too busy looking where she should be looking) or cruise control (parentally forbidden until she's passed her road test). I get in the low 50s using both.

Or at least as much as I can use the cc. Oahu has a stretch of road, maybe as much as 10 miles, where the speed limit is 60 mph. The rest of the island is 55 mph or less. But on a 600 sq mi island we rarely spend more than an hour in the car. (Our kid didn't even understand the question "Are we there yet?", let alone "I have to go!") The vast majority of our trips are under 30 minutes.

Tradewind weather means we usually don't need A/C for cooling, but above 35 mpg with the front windows shut and the rear open there's a wicked Helmholtz effect. (Which is probably why the owner's manual comments on windows vs speed.) So we usually turn on the A/C when we get out of the neighborhood streets.

Never had to use "B" mode. We live at 450 feet altitude and rarely go much higher than 1000', but there are a few ridge neighborhoods with steep 1000'-2000' altitude commutes. Oahu's highest point is a 4000-foot "mountain". I don't see a need for it, but "B" mode might be a different issue for Kauai, Maui, & Big Island residents.

What satellite does the NAV system use for position info? GPS works pretty well around here but years ago the OnStar & XM/Sirius satellites were too low an azimuth to work well. I don't know if those latter issues have been fixed by more satellites or better antennae.

NAV is only an asset around here if you need a precise lat/long for the rescue crews to find your exact ravine...

 

I was going to say that it probably didn't have maps for but I went and checked:


There's no reason the GPS won't work there, so I don't see any reason why the NAV wouldn't work there.

 

What is this derisive "Paradise Tax"? Could you explain this some more? Thx.

 

"Paradise Tax", "The price you pay for paradise", "The cost of paradise" are just terms that describe the high cost of living here in Hawaii. Since almost everything has to be shipped in, we have to pay more for everything we use. With fuel prices going up, our prices increase even more. Even PC Shop charges us for the free shipping everyone else gets.

 

Understand. But what about the big box stores? Don't they too have to pay more for shipping their stuff to the islands?

And I still fail to understand why there still are monopolies such as Servco. That doesn't sound very American at all...

 

I would love to see the Prii in this color! I will keep checking back for pictures.

 

There's a bit of difference in the shipping costs between big-box stores (who could probably operate their own shipping lines) and a family store.

Hawaii's sales tax is actually a regressive excise tax. On Oahu, 4.5% excise tax is added to a product at every step of its creation. So a hamburger involves a 4.5% tax on the rancher's sale to the butcher, another 4.5% on the sale from the butcher to the processor, another 4.5% from the processor to the wholesaler, another 4.5% from the wholesaler to the retailer, and a 4.5% tax to me. (If you're still multiplying 4.5% five times, that's nearly 25%.) IIRC almost every food item is subject to excise tax. Even a McD's 99-cent menu item in a Mainland ad is likely to be $1.09 or $1.19 here.

Things also cost a bit more because of shipping & fuel, but they used to cost a lot more. Customer care & convenience are issues too. "Six to eight weeks from the Mainland, brah" and "Oh you know what Mr. Nords, we're waiting until we have enough orders for a full shipping container" and stereotypes like "Oh, all y'all are in Hawaya? We only ship to the Yew-knighted Stayates. But we had ourselves a great vacation out there a few years ago-- how's the weather in Wacky-Wacky?" are still all too commonly heard around here. (Yes, every Hawaii poster on this board has had the latter happen to them at least once.) It's extremely annoying when you've just spent a week targeting & winning an eBay auction with someone who doesn't know geography or civics.

I don't know what you guys pay for shipping from this website's store, but it cost me an extra $13.75 for the windshield screen and the rear bumper protector. (Frankly, that's one of the less larcenous shipping charges.) ShipToHawaii.com makes its money from operating a reshipping site in California just to send air/surface containers to Hawaii at half or even a quarter of the "typical" shipping charges.

Well, the volume of Prius sales in Hawaii (population about 1.3M) is probably a little smaller than a typical Mainland metropolitan dealership. Margins are tight and not every entrepreneur can survive long enough to cannibalize their market share from the leaders. It's Darwinian capitalism-- seems very American to me.

Eh, my apologies for the whining. I wouldn't live anywhere else even if this weather could be reproduced-- let alone the cultures and the surfing. But the Paradise Tax is an annoying side effect of living in the islands, and it's one more obstacle to the next generation trying to make their way here.

But if any of you from the Mainland check into shipping a Hawaii Prius, I'd love to hear the price quote...

 

Thanks for the explanation of the excise tax. Still puzzles me how a fresh coconut can cost $5 though, assuming that the guy selling it to me at the stand didn't get charged 25% tax by the trees...

 

so is anyone buying this limited edition prius? anyone know how much it's going for?

 

wow, i wonder if they'll show up on craigslist for sell or if they will drive it

 

That's not a bad price for Hawaii, all things considered.

BTW, I saw at least three Hummer H2's when I was in Kauai. While I was cringing to fill up my rental Saturn Vue with $4.69/gal gas, I couldn't help wondering what those H2 owners must be paying to feed their monstrous beasts.

 

Btw, anyone from the forums purchase one of these? I would love to see some pictures of them and see if they are worth all the hype.

 

Do you know if this will be a touring model or if it will only "look" like the touring model? I was able to put money down on one of them but the sales person could not tell me if it's a touring model or not? =P

 

When I was looking into shipping my other vehicle ('06 Chrysler Pacifica) from the mainland, I had a number of west coast shipping companies quoting me at $899 and a transport time of eight days. I ended up selling the wife's escape, buying the Prius in and having the military pay for shipping my Pacifica.

 

I was able to get in on July 2nd but i went throught big island totoya as servco didn't have any available. Actually, My friend's father and I bought one(total of 2) on the same day. We put $3k down for the cars and expect it in by the end of the month. this is what the sales person wrote me. From the product code, it looks to be a base model and not the touring one. =(

MODEL: 4-DR HYBRID Prius SEDAN

8C2001-70-0 {SE}

****Available late July/August

Anniversary Edition

- Exclusive Blizzard Pearl Paint

- 50th Anniversary Edition Badging

- 50th Anniversary Front Door Sills

- 16-Inch Alloy Wheels

- Leather Wrapped Steering Wheel

- Leather Trim Seat Surface (Dark Gray)

- HID Headlamps

- Front Foglamps

- Large Rear Deck Spoiler

- Smart Key System

- JBL AM/FM Stereo w/6-Disc Changer

- Bluetooth Wireless Connecting

- Rear Camera

- Alarm and Homelink Security

- Vehicle Stability Control

- EMV & Navigation System = N/A for Hawaii

ACCESSORIES:


PR-CFM Carpet Floor Mats

 

Hey,
Did you get this photo from the Prius NAV system? I was told that the NAV system in the Prius didn't work here in the Islands. I'm curious to know if it does! Thanks.

 

Must be for the tourist to buy.