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Hybrid Vehicles Toyota Prius Toyota Prius
7481 messages, Last post on Dec 01, 2009 at 7:44 AM
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Replying to: bobraxton (Mar 18, 2005 10:46 am) I've been looking to buy a Prius for the past week and have learned much about the Prius market, both new and used (in LA / Southern California). Here's what I've come up with: There's an interesting situation brewing the Prius market. As some of you may have noticed, the sale prices of 2004 model year Prius' is very close to the sale prices of the new 2005 model year Prius. This is particularly odd since most of the 2004 Prius' have over 20k miles on them -- a clear indication that they were rental cars. In fact, although I've long heard about the "wait" for a Prius, I was offered 6 2005 Prius' last week that met my specifications exactly -- ALL AT MSRP. So, on a 2005 Prius, with package #6, the total was $26,666 (not including tax, license, etc.). Yet, 2004 Prius' with package #9 (the equivalent) were all posted at or near $25k. The reason for the above, as far as I can tell, is as follows. Toyota is being squeezed on their 2005 models by the competition -- namely, the 2005 Honda Hybrid that is highly rated, has more power (but noticeably less gas mileage). As such, they've had to scale back their pricing demands. This issue has not caught up to the used 2004 Prius market yet, but I suspect it will in the coming months. If you can hold out, 2004 models will probably drop in price...but that might be further stalled by the fact that the Summer driving season will soon be upon us (and gas prices are expected to rise to $3 per gallon). Another small factor is that there's a Toyota Nationwide Spring Sales Event going on which puts further pressure on dealers to move new cars. Ultimately, if you're offered a 2004 Prius with over 20k miles on it, but can get a new one for nearly the same price, you should absolutely go with the new one. Especially when you consider that the interest rate to finance a used purchase is higher than that to finance a new purchase. Hope this is helpful to people out there...and remember, don't pay a single penny over MSRP now. The demand argument is over. They need to move these cars and they're under competitive pressure. If one dealer doesn't make you a good deal, there will be others that will.
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Replying to: od18 (Mar 29, 2005 3:14 pm)
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Replying to: backy (Mar 29, 2005 3:38 pm) After purchasing my Prius  list I let go of old ways of thinking like, "why didn't I get a better deal (like300-400 hundred off). Well if the car satisfies and your impressed with it in many ways ....let go and be content in your purchase. This coming from an ex car salesman. Railroadjames( oh! and I had to wait 3 months as was their quote on time) |
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Replying to: nija (Mar 24, 2005 4:35 pm) If I have to, I will just order from a dealer in another region. |
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It seems that the different parts of the country get different packages by default. If you go to the main toyota website and put your zipcode in you can find out what packages that toyota sends to your region. Where I live in the northeast we seem to get packages 3, 4 and 6. In GA it looks like they ship mostly 5 and 6. I was told by the dealers that they can get other packages but it takes time and they have to be connected enough to get a trade. I wanted a package 3 and was able to find one on the lot. Checked it out in the afternoon, took it home that night. At msrp, which is what the going rate is here in the Boston MA area. True to the main toyota website, the dealers in my area only had 3, 4, and 6's. I think that Toyota does send package 1's everywhere, but not many. I wouldn't be surprised if your dealer could get you a package 4 by trading some incoming vehicle. He'll probably trade a 5 to a region which doesn't get 5's. Good luck. |
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Replying to: debl (Mar 07, 2005 10:47 am) |
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Replying to: buckeyelarry (Mar 25, 2005 3:58 pm) Cher2005 
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Replying to: cher2005 (Apr 02, 2005 7:40 am) However, the finance manager was quite aggressive in pushing the extended warranty package which we did sign up for, in part because of the newer technology associated with the navigation system. And I'm spoiled rotten so we also opted to replace the fabric covering with full leather for an $1772. 
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Replying to: bobraxton (Mar 29, 2005 4:22 am) 
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