caddyowner

Marshall, thanks to your excellent reviews of both the Fit and the Prius, I have excellent information on these cars. I'm going with the Prius 2 (lowest trim level). Their leather seats in the Prius 4 and 5 are not cooled, so I want to "stick" with cloth. I don't see much added value in going to the Prius 3 for an extra $1K to get a CD changer (rapidly approaching cassette status), bluetooth (I already have a Motorola Roadster from the Subie), and homelink.

As for the other cars, price was a consideration. There's only so much money I want to tie up in depreciating assets - although the price of used Prii may argue that point. There are very few CTs around here (I saw my first on the road today) and the dealer said it is similar in size to the Matrix. I'm not crazy about the looks of the Prius V wagon (like the Prius is such a stunner) and it's supposed to be slower and get about 10 MPG less. I figured I'd go all in with the Prius like I did with the LS. Wow, this former GM-bigot will soon have two Toyota products. What flavor is that Toyota / Lexus Kool-Ade?

mmarshall

Glad it helped. That's why I do reviews.


I agree that, in some instances, cloth is preferable to leather. I usually prefer cloth myself, except in some unusual cases where the leather seats are more comfortable, like on the 2010-11 Outbacks (they use really cheap cloth). Leather is, of course, also sometimes easier to clean. But cloth seats stay relatively comfortable in hot and cold temperatures, before the seat-heaters and coolers kick in....and cloth seats don't crack. A good way to burn your skin, for example, is to carelessly get into a black-leather interior that has been sitting in the sun.

And some hands-off Bluetooth units are crap. I sometimes can't understand what my brother is saying when he calls me with the one in his car.

Lemon.



(Just Kidding......enjoy your new car)

caddyowner

Update:

I put a refundable deposit on an incoming Prius Three (cloth seats plus upgraded stereo w/ bluetooth), 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 - across the parking lot from my Lexus dealer.

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

RX_330

I've heard good things about Spartan, and their inventory and prices are usually much better than other dealers around the state. Not surprising since I believe they're the biggest Toyota dealer in Michigan?

Just curious what were the other two dealers you called?

caddyowner

Hmm, the first one was located in the same city as the Nissan R&D center. The second one was near the Toyota Technical Center. I remember walking into the second dealer 15+ years ago and expressing interest in some car. Their sales technique was to pull a copy of Consumer Reports out of the drawer and toss it in front of you, saying any other choice is foolish and no, they don't discount from sticker. I went elsewhere.

mmarshall

Are you sure you won't need it yourself next winter? A Prius is great for saving gas, but it won't get you through deep snowstorms.