They don't have any other wagons in the line-up and the only hatch they have is the Fiat 500
There's also the little known Dodge Journey.
I test drove a PT Cruiser convertible, one of the few 4 seat drop tops with rear leg room, but it was just awful. Cheapest interior I think I've ever seen, and the structure creaked like a haunted house. The low-pressure turbo engine was coarse and it wasn't particularly quick.
Toyota goofed on the most recent Matrix redesign. Take a peek at the size of the window between the C- and D-pillars - it's basically a token piece of glass the size of a donut. Zero visibility.
I'm pretty sure it has less cargo space than the original Matrix as well.
I'd much rather see the Corolla Fielder station wagon produced instead. Much more practical shape, with real cargo space.
Toyota probably feels that a Corolla wagon would cost them RAV4 sales, which are far more profitable, so we may never see it here.
But if he bought a RX, maybe he just doesn't care.
You are not going to believe this. His wife wanted the RX to give their little dog a nice place to ride on the trip to Florida. They traded his PT and her older ES300 on the RX. They got ripped on both trade-ins. Both cars looked like new and were low mileage. Then they had just made a killing on their home here. Replaced it with a bigger home in Florida and half a million left over. I get emails from him a couple times a year. And they do not regret leaving CA at all. They love their retirement community.
I picked up my wife's LaCrosse at the body shop yesterday and was talking to the technician as he was putting the finishing touches on her car. The topic came up that parts may be hard to come by for Japanese cars due to the earthquake/tsunami/nuke plants. The guy said he had 3 Corollas in for repair and had no problem getting parts, but said it's now hard getting parts for 2 tier makes like Suzuki and Mitsubishi.
You would be 752.3 (*) times happier taking a long trip like that in the RX.
Absolutely. I would be even happier in my Sequoia driving cross country. I don't think they are unhappy with their RX at all. Just does not get much use in Florida. The real issue was how much he lost on that PT Cruiser. He paid top dollar and if memory serves they only gave him $11K in trade. Pretty big hit for a 3 year old gotta have it vehicle. I am trying to remember. I think he paid well over $20k for that PT.
He may have. I think she ended up with a large estate when her first husband died. We never talked much about it. She did wear some very expensive jewelry. And it was her home before they got married. I think they are about 73 now so that RX should last them the rest of their lives. May have to have a couple golf carts over the next few years.
The RX may be the only Lexus you can buy here shortly. Only one not built in Japan. I just cannot get around the egg shape. Too much wasted space. I prefer a box on wheels. With good ground clearance and 50 MPG. That leaves out Toyota and just about everything else.
AN Alert: General Motors will suspend production at its Shreveport, La., assembly plant starting Monday because of a parts shortage stemming from the earthquake in Japan. The plant makes the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon compact pickups
Although the vehicle has some positive attributes, IMO it is entirely about affluent stay at home women toddling around to gallery malls and aesthetic improvement centers, so some things will be left out.
AN Alert: General Motors will suspend production at its Shreveport, La., assembly plant starting Monday because of a parts shortage stemming from the earthquake in Japan. The plant makes the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon compact pickups
I guess we'll just have to buy Accords and Camrys - you know, the cars with the highest American content!
DETROIT (AP) -- The disaster in Japan could slow shipments of popular cars like Toyota's Prius to auto lots. And many dealers are already taking advantage of expected shortages to raise prices.
Buyers will now typically have to pay sticker prices, instead of enjoying discounts that had been the norm for small cars and hybrids imported from Japan. Besides the Prius, models that suddenly cost more include Honda's Insight, Fit and CR-V; Toyota's Yaris; and several Acuras and Infinitis.
Small cars such as the Yaris, with a $12,955 sticker price for a base model, and the Honda Insight, priced at $18,200, are losing their typical discounts of 5 percent to 10 percent.
Should make Ford and Hyundai look better to buyers.
With all the reports of elevated radiation levels, even if the Nuc plants are bought under control, are people going to shy away from Japanese exports due to worries about radioactive contamination?
2024 Ford F-150 STX, 2023 Ford Explorer ST, 91 Mustang GT vert
"Since the earthquake and tsunami hit, shutting down virtually everything in Japan including automobile assembly plants, speculation has run rampant that U.S. car buyers are or will be seeing price spikes on vehicles imported to the U.S. because of inventory shortages.
A few passengers arriving at O'Hare and Dallas have had detectable levels of radiation on them, so it's not a completely unfounded fear. (Chicago Sun Times)
Probably none, unless a car freighter was sitting offshore and downwind for days for some reason. With the non-stop media coverage (and much of it about the nuke plant instead of the tsunami destruction), you can see why people are asking the questions.
Not according to Edmund's inventory key. I only see 3 Prius in all of So CA. And the new Prius that all the Geeks are waiting for will not be here till this Summer. Of course all bets are off on that one. I would bet Toyota is wishing they had set up the Mississippi plant to already be open.
Here is a rumor on the subject. What will Toyota do if they do not have parts for building Prius? You know they won't be able to build the batteries here.
Toyota plans to begin pumping Prius hybrids out of its now-idle Mississippi plant as early as June 2011, the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper is reporting, along with Reuters. This could put the Mississippi plant online in time for the first new member of the Prius family
I found the problem. It comes up with Prius One as default. When you uncheck that there is a load of them. I show 2541 of them available. I would say that should last a year or more around here. I think people are waiting for the new model. This is old.
PS There is still 478 2010 Prius available in So CA. I would bet you could get them cheap with a little arm twisting.
Ah, and I was going into the New Car Inventory box under the New Cars tab, so it didn't sort by model of Prius. Maybe there's more near me than I think (I noticed two around town yesterday; have to wonder if they are parked for the 3 snow months).
Drove the van for an hour this evening and I keep hoping that it'll last forever.
>they'll walk to buy their iodine pills instead of driving
Just shows how much the media folks with their hidden agendas and in some cases low IQs have hyped up the problem. We have people getting toxicity from KI pills already from the self treatment. Also the timing for taking them needs to coincide with the potentially serious radioactive I isotope exposure.
The actual level of emission of radioactivity is low, just as it was in Three Mile Island, PA. I suspect radiation from airport scanners is more of a threat than the _current_ problem with Japan's 4 reactors.
I am more concerned about cars that are built here being stiffled because of parts shortages from the homeland. That will affect productivity and income here. I do care about the terrible suffering the Japanese people have from the earthquake damage, tsunami, and resultant deaths.
Great idea. Let me figure out where y'all can sent the "grant" money for this project. :shades:
The last time I bought new I had just discovered Edmunds (we're talking the fall of 1998). I read all the buying tips articles, got invoice prices and did the blast fax routine, and waited until the last week of the year to buy. I had gone home to get my checkbook to buy a new generation Odyssey and when they bait and switched me, so I walked out with the first salesperson running after me in the parking lot. Also shopped Toyota (even tried to crank a running Sienna on a test drive), and Dodge and Ford. Wound up liking the Quest after getting mad at Honda. Went wheeling and dealing on Christmas Eve and did the deal on New Year's Eve.
Turns out that the year for Nissan's bonus quotas didn't end until Jan 4 that year, so I still left money on the table. I also messed up by telling them it was a cash deal up front. I may read about buying cars every day, but those guys at the dealer sell them everyday. I'm not in their league at all.
I'm sure the Lexus CT will be da bomb. It most certainly will get glowing reviews from auto critics as the CT nukes the competition. Other makes will suffer a lot of fallout in the wake of the CT's debut.
I'm sure the Lexus CT will be da bomb. It most certainly will get glowing reviews from auto critics as the CT nukes the competition. Other makes will suffer a lot of fallout in the wake of the CT's debut.
I can't agree with you there. IMHO the Volt will bankrupt the competition. It's extended range bails it out of the past and into first place. It's two-mode versatility is a union of technologies and gift for us all. :shades:
A few passengers arriving at O'Hare and Dallas have had detectable levels of radiation on them, so it's not a completely unfounded fear. (Chicago Sun Times)
U.S. checks passengers, cargo from Japan on radiation (Reuters).
That was a "loaded" article. I saw it reported last night on NBC news, and the radiation found was from the cargo, which was indeed radioactive.... because it was manufactured to be radioactive in the first place. And, it was well within normal parameters.
Note that in the article that it never actually states that any passengers were found with radioactivity on them...
"We have seen no radiation, by the way, even on incoming cargo or passengers that comes close to reaching ... harmful levels," Napolitano said.
She said the screening occurred in a variety of different ways. "It depends on whether you're talking about passengers or cargo and where it's departing from," Napolitano said, adding that the Department of Homeland Security was working with other agencies to ensure the safety of Americans.
Comments
Would be nice to not have to drive, but living in Del Boca Vista might not be paradise :shades:
There's also the little known Dodge Journey.
I test drove a PT Cruiser convertible, one of the few 4 seat drop tops with rear leg room, but it was just awful. Cheapest interior I think I've ever seen, and the structure creaked like a haunted house. The low-pressure turbo engine was coarse and it wasn't particularly quick.
No sale.
I think their supply problems will be *MUCH* worse than they first thought, and also worse than they seem to be willing to admit.
Oh, good point. I just think big honking trucks anymore when I think Dodge. Forgot about the Caliber too.
I'm pretty sure it has less cargo space than the original Matrix as well.
I'd much rather see the Corolla Fielder station wagon produced instead. Much more practical shape, with real cargo space.
Toyota probably feels that a Corolla wagon would cost them RAV4 sales, which are far more profitable, so we may never see it here.
You are not going to believe this. His wife wanted the RX to give their little dog a nice place to ride on the trip to Florida. They traded his PT and her older ES300 on the RX. They got ripped on both trade-ins. Both cars looked like new and were low mileage. Then they had just made a killing on their home here. Replaced it with a bigger home in Florida and half a million left over. I get emails from him a couple times a year. And they do not regret leaving CA at all. They love their retirement community.
You would be 752.3 (*) times happier taking a long trip like that in the RX.
I was tired of the PT after 2 blocks.
Absolutely. I would be even happier in my Sequoia driving cross country. I don't think they are unhappy with their RX at all. Just does not get much use in Florida. The real issue was how much he lost on that PT Cruiser. He paid top dollar and if memory serves they only gave him $11K in trade. Pretty big hit for a 3 year old gotta have it vehicle. I am trying to remember. I think he paid well over $20k for that PT.
That should improve significantly given recent product offerings are a whole lot better.
You're likely right about that wagon. Heck, the old Camry wagon is actually cool compared to what they sell now.
http://jalopnik.com/#!5782691/how-the-detroit-news-sold-its-soul
Toyota-related part:
Regrettably, the 200 is still a dog. And I get mad as hell when anyone pumps out a car that forces me to recommend the Toyota Camry over it.
LOL
Look like a Chrysler dealer whined about it and the paper edited the review substantially. Good for him for quitting.
He may have. I think she ended up with a large estate when her first husband died. We never talked much about it. She did wear some very expensive jewelry. And it was her home before they got married. I think they are about 73 now so that RX should last them the rest of their lives. May have to have a couple golf carts over the next few years.
"Dang, I just backed into that yellow '67 Catalina getting around my '69 Bonneville!"
RX is the perfect car for them - easy egress/ingress, smooth and pampering, reliable.
Go figure...
I guess we'll just have to buy Accords and Camrys - you know, the cars with the highest American content!
That is funny.
Could it be the Isuzu content? I think they helped design it before they ceased to exist.
DETROIT (AP) -- The disaster in Japan could slow shipments of popular cars like Toyota's Prius to auto lots. And many dealers are already taking advantage of expected shortages to raise prices.
Buyers will now typically have to pay sticker prices, instead of enjoying discounts that had been the norm for small cars and hybrids imported from Japan. Besides the Prius, models that suddenly cost more include Honda's Insight, Fit and CR-V; Toyota's Yaris; and several Acuras and Infinitis.
Small cars such as the Yaris, with a $12,955 sticker price for a base model, and the Honda Insight, priced at $18,200, are losing their typical discounts of 5 percent to 10 percent.
Should make Ford and Hyundai look better to buyers.
Sounds like Toyota is trying to get ahead of the curve on this story:
Toyota Prius Inventory in U.S. Is "Adequate," Despite Japan Disaster (Inside Line)
"Since the earthquake and tsunami hit, shutting down virtually everything in Japan including automobile assembly plants, speculation has run rampant that U.S. car buyers are or will be seeing price spikes on vehicles imported to the U.S. because of inventory shortages.
Such has not been the case – yet.
No Price Hikes -- Yet (AutoObserver)
U.S. checks passengers, cargo from Japan on radiation (Reuters).
Here is a rumor on the subject. What will Toyota do if they do not have parts for building Prius? You know they won't be able to build the batteries here.
Toyota plans to begin pumping Prius hybrids out of its now-idle Mississippi plant as early as June 2011, the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper is reporting, along with Reuters. This could put the Mississippi plant online in time for the first new member of the Prius family
http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/manufacturing/toyota-announces-start-of-hirin- g-168319.aspx
I don't why you can't find any - there's 956 within 500 miles of me. I know that's a bit of a drive, but maybe there aren't any in Michigan. :shades:
I think you may be looking for 2010s instead of 2011s? I see 113 2011s within 50 miles of 92101.
PS
There is still 478 2010 Prius available in So CA. I would bet you could get them cheap with a little arm twisting.
Drove the van for an hour this evening and I keep hoping that it'll last forever.
It's stupid people going into a panic, maybe they'll walk to buy their iodine pills instead of driving their Japanese car :shades:
We need you to buy a new car and post your experiences on "Stories from the Sales Frontlines."
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Just shows how much the media folks with their hidden agendas and in some cases low IQs have hyped up the problem. We have people getting toxicity from KI pills already from the self treatment. Also the timing for taking them needs to coincide with the potentially serious radioactive I isotope exposure.
The actual level of emission of radioactivity is low, just as it was in Three Mile Island, PA. I suspect radiation from airport scanners is more of a threat than the _current_ problem with Japan's 4 reactors.
I am more concerned about cars that are built here being stiffled because of parts shortages from the homeland. That will affect productivity and income here. I do care about the terrible suffering the Japanese people have from the earthquake damage, tsunami, and resultant deaths.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
The last time I bought new I had just discovered Edmunds (we're talking the fall of 1998). I read all the buying tips articles, got invoice prices and did the blast fax routine, and waited until the last week of the year to buy. I had gone home to get my checkbook to buy a new generation Odyssey and when they bait and switched me, so I walked out with the first salesperson running after me in the parking lot. Also shopped Toyota (even tried to crank a running Sienna on a test drive), and Dodge and Ford. Wound up liking the Quest after getting mad at Honda. Went wheeling and dealing on Christmas Eve and did the deal on New Year's Eve.
Turns out that the year for Nissan's bonus quotas didn't end until Jan 4 that year, so I still left money on the table. I also messed up by telling them it was a cash deal up front. I may read about buying cars every day, but those guys at the dealer sell them everyday. I'm not in their league at all.
The next car I bought, I got used from a friend.
That's my kind of shopper.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Good one.
They actually scan for radiation routinely, as part of anti-terrorism procedures.
Though I saw Lexus' new Mountain Dew green color and for a minute I thought it WAS glowing in the dark!
It sure would take a while to get another factory established to assemble all the components, months if not years, I imagine.
I predict this will affect the Lexus CT even more, though, since they didn't exactly have a stock pile of those.
Lexus moved up to #2, and Toyota scored best among mainstream brands.
Lincoln took top honors, but no celebrating allowed because you all say JDP is biased, so it's an empty victory. LOL
I can't agree with you there. IMHO the Volt will bankrupt the competition. It's extended range bails it out of the past and into first place. It's two-mode versatility is a union of technologies and gift for us all. :shades:
U.S. checks passengers, cargo from Japan on radiation (Reuters).
That was a "loaded" article. I saw it reported last night on NBC news, and the radiation found was from the cargo, which was indeed radioactive.... because it was manufactured to be radioactive in the first place. And, it was well within normal parameters.
Note that in the article that it never actually states that any passengers were found with radioactivity on them...
"We have seen no radiation, by the way, even on incoming cargo or passengers that comes close to reaching ... harmful levels," Napolitano said.
She said the screening occurred in a variety of different ways. "It depends on whether you're talking about passengers or cargo and where it's departing from," Napolitano said, adding that the Department of Homeland Security was working with other agencies to ensure the safety of Americans.