Newbie

[Claudia]

Hey guys - I hung out here for a few weeks in the spring of last year, while we were trying to decide whether to buy a Prius. At that time, because of a great deal I found on a 4 cyl Camry which was supposed to get fair gas milage, we decided the return on investment wasn't high enough to justify the added expense of a Prius.

Well, long story short - a year passed, the Camry was getting about 20 mpg, and a new model year for the Prius had come 'round. We drove by the local lot (like, the day after I found out I had sold a farm I inherited),
spotted a nice shiny new red Prius in the lot, parked beside a sparkling new silver hybrid Camry. Gave serious thought to driving both - how many people ever have that chance! - but after driving the Prius decided not to even try the hybrid Camry - it might have been a tad spiffier in some areas, but for $3000 more than the Prius, and only 2/3 the approximate mpg expected, the Prius won out hearts.

We were fortunate enough that our Camry had under 10000 miles on it, and was in great shape. They wouldn't deal on the Prius - maybe in a few years - but they did allow us almost $1000 over Kelly "excellent" on the Camry, which made the Prius just squeak into our financial situation. I had enough $$ in a CD to cover it, wanted to work it out with the dealer to hold the car overnight and let me come back the next day with payment, but they wanted me to write 'em a bad check and they'd hold it for two days. Fine by me!

So we were fortunate enough to find a Prius in the early afternoon, and drive it home by close of business that night, paying sticker but not a penny more (although I did get suckered for that $65 near-invisible decal on the rear).

Love it, love it, love it! Handles so well I wonder why people are spending $150 on that whatchamacallit . . . I just want to get a shark fin antenna so it'll be easy to run the baby through a car wash without worrying about the antenna.

I guess most of you guys know this feeling . . . just tickled pink, not a whisper of buyer's remorse in sight. I know how long some people have waited - and are still waiting - to get one of these cars, and I've a feeling that the exact one we found is the exact one some people are waiting for. We know how lucky we were.

I'm sure I'll be around quite a bit . . . lots of questions, lots of reading to catch up on.

[marjam]

Welcome and what a wonderful story! Many miles of happy driving!

[Bill Merchant]

Congratulations, Claudia! I think that car was clearly meant for you! Welcome back to PriusChat, where you can discover what a great resource it is when you have questions!

[Lil Mo]

Great - enjoy the ride!

[usbseawolf2000]

Claudia,

So you went from Honda Accord V6 (25mpg) to Camry 4 cyln (20mpg) to Prius? Do let us know how much mpg you get compare to the other cars.

You still should be able to get the $3,150 tax credit. Overall, from Accord to Prius, how much did you and your husband spend?


Dennis

[Rancid13]

Congratulations, and great story!! Glad to hear that you kept the Prius in the back of your mind over the last 1.5 or so years and came back around to it.

[Tideland Prius]

Congrats and welcome back!

[pirateprius]

Congratulations and enjoy your new Prius. This is the first car that has ever been more than a means to get from point a to point b for me, hope you like yours as much.

[Jeannie]

I've been a Prius owner since mid-April but I'd lusted for one long before that. I though I wouldn't be able to get one without a long wait and was shopping for other cars, but I test-drove a used Prius and said "I'm getting a Prius!" It took some phoning around, but I managed to get one within a week, and the following day got calls from two other dealers who had ones on the lot.

I love my Prius, and I know you'll love yours! It's SO much better than any of the other cars I was considering!

[Claudia]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(usbseawolf2000 @ Aug 18 2006, 02:21 PM) [snapback]305456[/snapback]</div>

Claudia,

So you went from Honda Accord V6 (25mpg) to Camry 4 cyln (20mpg) to Prius? Do let us know how much mpg you get compare to the other cars.

You still should be able to get the $3,150 tax credit. Overall, from Accord to Prius, how much did you and your husband spend?
Dennis
[/b]

Thanks for the welcomes.

So - you have a great memory, are one of those rare people who know how to use a search function, or did I mention that Accord this year already? So far, our mileage is more than doubling the not quite 25 mpg of the Accord. I never will know what ailed that Camry, and now I can just be glad it's someone else's problem.

Let's see, nuts and bolts or dollars and cents, to get from the 04 Accord to the 05 Camry was just under $1000, virtually an even trade and I paid tax. To go from the Camry to the 06 Prius was about $9000, including tax. I don't know about all other states, but in VA when you buy a car and trade a car in, you do not pay tax on the difference - you pay tax on the entire value of the new vehicle.

Anyway, take away the roughly $3000 tax credit, and it leaves $6000. That is just about the amount I was reluctant to spend last year to go directly from the Accord to the Prius 2005. Interesting - I hadn't added it all up and looked at it before. Looks like for the same cost I ended up with a model year newer Prius. Not bad.