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kirstie_h
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BTW! When are 06 expected??
If lexus can get mid 30s from 07 8cyl LS 470H then mid 20s on 6Cyl H are preposterous imho
I want to wait until Jan. 1 for the tax credit and both said to call back in November just in case it takes 2 months to get one. Only 1 salesman out of 4 knew the difference between this year's tax deduction of $2000 and next year's tax credit (possibly as high as $3000 for the Prius). Someone at Toyota is not training their salesman.
In any case, no one had any more 2005 and they were all awaiting the 2006.
I recently enquired through their website about availability and pricing on the Prius.
On August 18 the internet sales manager wrote: Our price for a Prius with the Package 1 option that comes with: driver & passenger side and curtain airbags, and carpeted floor mats is $22,351 plus tax, license, and documentation fees.
On August 20 the internet sales manager wrote: Toyota has just rewarded us with an unexpected allocation of vehicles. As a result we have lowered our prices on many of our most popular models. Including the Prius 4-dr Gas/elec Hybrid Constant Variable Trans you inquired about. When you get this email, please call me back so I can provide you with our new lower price for the vehicle you requested. Thank you!
On August 24 I went to the dealer and spoke with the internet sales manager and he said they no longer had any Prius models. He wasn’t sure if they would be getting any more 05 models and wasn’t sure when the 06 models would arrive. He wasn’t knowledgeable on the 06 tax credit. I asked him if I could preorder a 06 for January 06 delivery and he didn’t know if/when they would do that. What happened to pushy salesmen? He didn’t seem to care one way or the other.
On August 25 the internet sales manager wrote: If you’re still in the market for this vehicle, here’s a little incentive: Call us back at within 24 hours of receiving this email, and you will receive an additional discount on the vehicle you selected.
I emailed him right back and informed him that I had spoken to him yesterday at the dealership and reminded him of our conversation. He wrote back apologizing for the “automatic email.”
Why would anyone want to take delivery of a 06 model in 05 with the tax credit in 06? I’m confused. Can you preorder? Will the tax credit really be a dealer advantage because they will simply jack up the price? Anyone have a crystal ball?
Thanks in Advance.
Don't feel bad, that is a politician for you - unreadable. However, there have been posts by people in the tax attorney business saying that the Prius will qualify for around $3000 of tax credits if purchased after Dec 31, 2005. The full credits go through the annual quarter after the quarter in which Toyota sells 60,000 hybrid vehicles. Then the credits continue, but diminshed, for one year.
www.john1701a.com
Numerous sources claim the Prius will enjoy a $3,150 tax credit. How's that for being nice and juicy. Now you can really close the gap on the supposed hybrid premium.
They are large UGLY mustard yellow decals, with black letters, that the CA DMV wants placed on both rear fenders, low, behind each rear wheel. These are 3 1/2 inches x 7 inches. There are also two smaller ones, 2 1/2 inches x 5 inches, that are to be placed on the right side when facing the car, of the vertical part of each bumper.
They make the car stick out like a sore thumb. I expected much smaller stickers and I expected them to be for the rear side windows as well as one for the lower hatch window and possibly another for the windshield. I don't like putting large stickers on the paint, especially if the glue is like the license plate stickers (very hard to remove without paint damage). Came with a certificate to be kept with the vehicle registration.
Also, has anyone had better luck buying through a credit union or AAA type service than directly through a dealer? We are in the Portland, OR area and wonder the best way to go. The cars have been extremely popular in Oregon with little leverage for bargaining but we gave it up several months ago and haven't checked since. Maybe it's changed.
He has a list of all the deductions for the hybrids. I'll post them later. In the meantime, his site is a very good resource for hybrid information. He is usually very accurate with his information. In the meantime, this is what he claims. If someone out there has better information, please post it.
$3,150 Prius
$2,600 Escape-Hybrid FWD
$2,200 Lexus RX-400h
$2,200 Highlander-Hybrid FWD
$1,950 Highlander-Hybrid 4WD
$1,950 Escape-Hybrid 4WD
$1,950 Mariner-Hybrid 4WD
$1,700 Civic-Hybrid (SULEV or cleaner)
$1,450 Insight (SULEV or cleaner)
$ 650 Accord-Hybrid
Bottom line is don't pay more than MSRP and think about insisting on delivery after Jan. 1 when you can get the big tax credit. On the other hand, with Katrina creaming the oil facilities in New Orleans as I write this, maybe you want to nail down a new Prius somewhere today.
My CU easily beat Toyota's rates, BUT as a Grad student, I managed to get a $400 credit through their educational program. My plan is to refinance in another month through my CU hopefully at a used car rate which is a full percent lower than Toyota's new car rate.
Railroadjames (Remember....Friends don't let Friends drive S.U.V.'s)
FE- 50 State Emissions, Included w/All Packages
GY #1- Driver and Passenger Side and Curtain Airbags (your basic TRAC car)
HE #2- Rear Camera, AM/FM CD 6 Speakers & MP3, Smart Key System
HF #3- RC, AM/FM etc., SKS, All the airbags
HG #4- Vehicle Stability Control, RC, AM/FM etc., SKS, All the airbags
HI #5- VSC, RC, JBL AM/FM, CD Changer, 9 Speakers, Bluetooth & MP3, SKS, Security Alarm & Homelink, All the airbags
HK #6- VSC, HID's, RC, JBL etc., SKS, Alarm & HL, All the airbags, Front Fog & Driving Lamps
NL #7- VSC, HID's, RC, JBL etc., SKS, Alarm & HL, All the airbags, Navi, Fog & Driving Lamps
NW #8- VSC, HID's, RC, JBL etc., Natural Leather Seating Material, SKS, Alarm & HL, All the airbags, Navi, Fog & Driving Lamps
Exterior/Interior Colors- Super White (040) G/B, Classic Silver Metallic (1F7) G/G, Magnetic Grey (1G3) available w/04/06 production G/G, Black (202) G/B, Barcelona Red Metallic (3R3) G/B, Driftwood Pearl (4S2) B/B, Silver Pine Mica (6U0) G/B, Seaside Pearl (8S2) G/B. The G or B indicate the interior colors (Gray or Beige) that will be available for either the cloth or leather. G/B means Grey or Beige is available for both, G/G is Grey only for both, B/B is Beige only for both.
We had a very snowy winter, our city has lots of very steep hills that get very little snow clearing.
Thanks.
good luck
Thanks
also anyone know what residuals / mf are for prius and which banks are doing good leases?
thanks
I was thinking about purchasing a 2006 model and waiting until Jan 1st, but California is only giving out 75,000 of those HOV lane stickers, and from what I heard from the DMV, they are running pretty low because they are also giving those stickers to previous owners of HCH and Prius. And the HOV sticker was the biggest reason of why I wanted to buy the Prius in the first place. So if you are in California and you want to drive on the HOV lanes by yourself, I suggest you buy one as soon as possible. I think the stickers will be gone by the end of the month. DMV would not give me an actual number, but they did mention that they have received a lot of applications for the stickers, and they are running low on it.
Good luck to everyone looking for a Prius in SoCal. There was a Toyota Dealership in Ontario, CA that was willing to give me a few hundreds discounts off the MSRP. Try to find someone in the Fleet department. They are willing to take deposits on the Priuses that are already allocated to them and when they have the VIN's. After that, your Prius will arrive in about 2 weeks. The one night I talked to the guy in the fleet department, they had one package 6 in a tideland pearl (green) available on their list, which was the color we also liked. (My wife is tired of having a black, white, and silver vehicle) We should have placed a deposit on it, but at the time we weren't sure if wanted one in a package 3 or 6. We decided to get the tideland pearl in package 6 the next morning, but as soon as I called them, it was already sold to someone else. We missed our chance. But if we did place the deposit on that Prius that night, I don't think we would have gotten the better deal with the seaside pearl Prius. So far I have driven about 600 miles on the car and only had to fill up the gas once. Many people complained about not getting the mileage as advertised, but it really depends on how you drive the car. If you keep revving up the engine, you'll waste a lot more gas that way. There is an article that I read before about a group of guys driving an unmodified Prius and getting over 110 mpg. Besides, isn't the reason you bought this vehicle in the first place is to save gas? Driving conservatively will allow you to get 600 miles per full tank. You can't really race these vehicles anyway.
Good luck to all looking for a Prius.