Great News for Canadians!

[dzoutzidis]

The federal government just tabled a budget that includes a $2000 rebate for the purchase of fuel efficient vehicles and slapped levies as high as $4000 for gas guzzlers. Anybody buying a Prius in Canada will get a $2000 rebate from the federal government. Ontario residents will also get a $2000 rebate from the Ontario government! All of a sudden the Prius isn't just something you buy to be environmentally friendly. It can be something you buy because it's cheaper in the long run!

I currently own a 2006 Prius and my fiance and I are looking for a 2nd car. The Prius is looking more and more attractive right now as our 2nd car.

Has anybody had any issues with having 2 Priuses? Prii? whatever.... Any reason we should get something else?

[Tideland Prius]

Shouldn't be a problem lol. That's $4,000 off isn't it?

Or you could have the Camry Hybrid so one of each?

[joedornan]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dzoutzidis @ Mar 21 2007, 11:41 AM) [snapback]409538[/snapback]</div>

The federal government just tabled a budget that includes a $2000 rebate for the purchase of fuel efficient vehicles and slapped levies as high as $4000 for gas guzzlers. Anybody buying a Prius in Canada will get a $2000 rebate from the federal government. Ontario residents will also get a $2000 rebate from the Ontario government! All of a sudden the Prius isn't just something you buy to be environmentally friendly. It can be something you buy because it's cheaper in the long run!

I currently own a 2006 Prius and my fiance and I are looking for a 2nd car. The Prius is looking more and more attractive right now as our 2nd car.

Has anybody had any issues with having 2 Priuses? Prii? whatever.... Any reason we should get something else?
[/b]

Here is the relevant page for the federal rebate:
http://www.tc.gc.ca/programs/environment/e...AUTO-QandAs.htm

And here is the page for the Quebec provincial rebate (also $2000):
http://www.revenu.gouv.qc.ca/fr/particulie...ule_hybride.asp

It is worth noting that the Prius is sold in Canada for a premium over the prius in the US. If I chose to import a prius from the US, payed my taxes, duties, fees, and permits, etc. even after I take into account exchange rate conversions, the US prius is about $4000CAD cheaper than in Canada.

So in theory the double rebate gets us to the US price level.

-Joe

[dzoutzidis]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(joedornan @ Mar 21 2007, 03:27 PM) [snapback]409672[/snapback]</div>

Here is the relevant page for the federal rebate:
http://www.tc.gc.ca/programs/environment/e...AUTO-QandAs.htm

And here is the page for the Quebec provincial rebate (also $2000):
http://www.revenu.gouv.qc.ca/fr/particulie...ule_hybride.asp

It is worth noting that the Prius is sold in Canada for a premium over the prius in the US. If I chose to import a prius from the US, payed my taxes, duties, fees, and permits, etc. even after I take into account exchange rate conversions, the US prius is about $4000CAD cheaper than in Canada.

So in theory the double rebate gets us to the US price level.

-Joe
[/b]

That's SO TRUE! Man does that tick me off.... I remember the price difference 2 years ago was even bigger I think.. As I recall the US Prius was in the $20000 range and the Canadian one was $30,000ish! WAY past simple exchange rate difference there.... Never quite understood that one... I guess basically they sell it for what they can get, not what it's worth. Maybe they don't have as many relatively for Canadians so they up the price.

The Camry I think only qualifies for a $1000 federal rebate as it's more of a performance hybrid than a pure fuel efficiency hybrid I suppose. Plus it's kind of out of my price range. See... I'm a poor poor man.... Recent grad, recently engaged, soon to pay for a mortgage and wedding.... SOOOO poor..... The Camry looks awesome though.

[Tideland Prius]

The Camry qualifies for $1,500 and it's not a performance hybrid. It's a 4 cylinder engine with the HSD. The Accord Hybrid, HiHy, RX400h and GS450h can be considered as performance hybrids.


If the Camry is out of your range, then so is the Prius. The TCH is $31,900, the Prius is $31,6xx.

[MSantos]

Darn. <_<

I already got my two hybrids for the foreseable future. I missed the Manitoba $2000 when I got my 2007 Prius in November. Had I waited long enough for both cars, I would have gotten $8,000... then again, I could not wait.

Cheers;

MSantos

[dzoutzidis]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Mar 22 2007, 07:00 PM) [snapback]410455[/snapback]</div>

The Camry qualifies for $1,500 and it's not a performance hybrid. It's a 4 cylinder engine with the HSD. The Accord Hybrid, HiHy, RX400h and GS450h can be considered as performance hybrids.
If the Camry is out of your range, then so is the Prius. The TCH is $31,900, the Prius is $31,6xx.
[/b]

Hmmm... good point... It's $1500? Good deal. The Star says $1000 a few days ago but I think that was fairly preliminary. I think the Camry would qualify fo rthe full $2000 from the ontario govt too. Anybody ever checked out the Camry hybrid btw? The Prius is proven technology for me as I've had one for over a year now which in my mind gives it a slight edge on the Camry but I've always heard good things about the standard Camry so... opinions?

[Tideland Prius]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dzoutzidis @ Mar 23 2007, 03:51 PM) [snapback]411168[/snapback]</div>

Hmmm... good point... It's $1500? Good deal. The Star says $1000 a few days ago but I think that was fairly preliminary. I think the Camry would qualify fo rthe full $2000 from the ontario govt too. Anybody ever checked out the Camry hybrid btw? The Prius is proven technology for me as I've had one for over a year now which in my mind gives it a slight edge on the Camry but I've always heard good things about the standard Camry so... opinions?
[/b]

The Prius, HCH and smart qualify for the $2,000 credit. I believe the list is listed in one of the other threads talking about the federal tax credit.

I've test driven the TCH twice. It's using the same system as the Prius but with a higher max voltage (650V vs. 500V). The battery may be more powerful, I'm not sure.

It's definitely smoother and quieter. There's more sound insulation (given that it IS a Camry after all) so you don't hear the engine when the CVT revs it up. Also, the engine shut down is much smoother than the Prius'.

It's spacious and comfortable inside. 3 people can sit abreast in the rear comfortably with plenty of legroom. It doesn't come with the Energy Monitor or Consumption Screen (even with nav.. only the US has it) but the tiny screen in the instrumental panel has its own features like the ECO Drive Level and gives you feedback after each time you turn off the Camry (e.g. EXCELLENT if your drive was very fuel efficient). There are LED rings around the.... FE meter I think that glows blue in increasing brightness if you've exceeded some mpg number (might be 20, 30, 40mpg?)

There is an ECO mode for the A/C system but in my short test drive I couldn't tell the difference. The bluetooth.. I had some problems connecting my phone to the test car. The boot is of a decent size although a lot of people say it's small and some of the taxis here say they prefer the Prius or the regular Camry because the TCH can't fit all the luggage (and you know how people travel... they bring their entire house along).

Braking is average (I had 5 people on board however). Cruising at 130km/h is quiet and serene. My test model was the base model so it had the cloth interior and it was fairly comfortable and seemed durable. I did miss the rear sunshade from our 02 Camry that's not available on the Hybrid.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

[cyrus69]

I was wondering about the huge difference in price too. Is the NAV really worth it, it's over 3000 more. I know it comes with a back-up cam too, which I think is cool. It seems like a cash grab, when you can buy that stuff aftermarket for a fraction of the price (I know, it's all integrated, so I guess that's what you're paying for). I think I'm going to wait until the new model comes out, since I've just paid off my current car (2003 Subaru Impreza), and it's has less than 40,000 km on it. We don't drive a lot of kms, but we do almost all city driving, and the Impreza only gets about 14l per 100km in the city, it gets maybe 7.5l per 100km on the highway. Does anyone know if BC has a provincial rebate too? The base model with 4k off is almost as cheap as the Impreza. I know I'd miss the AWD in the snow, but we don't get much snow, and I don't get up to the mountains as much as I used to. Probably a good set of snows would be as good as the AWD with the all seasons. Hopefully they'll still have the rebates (or possibly better rebates) by the time the 2009's come out.

[Tideland Prius]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cyrus69 @ Apr 21 2007, 02:31 PM) [snapback]427434[/snapback]</div>

I was wondering about the huge difference in price too. Is the NAV really worth it, it's over 3000 more. I know it comes with a back-up cam too, which I think is cool. It seems like a cash grab, when you can buy that stuff aftermarket for a fraction of the price (I know, it's all integrated, so I guess that's what you're paying for). I think I'm going to wait until the new model comes out, since I've just paid off my current car (2003 Subaru Impreza), and it's has less than 40,000 km on it. We don't drive a lot of kms, but we do almost all city driving, and the Impreza only gets about 14l per 100km in the city, it gets maybe 7.5l per 100km on the highway. Does anyone know if BC has a provincial rebate too? The base model with 4k off is almost as cheap as the Impreza. I know I'd miss the AWD in the snow, but we don't get much snow, and I don't get up to the mountains as much as I used to. Probably a good set of snows would be as good as the AWD with the all seasons. Hopefully they'll still have the rebates (or possibly better rebates) by the time the 2009's come out.
[/b]

Don't bother with the nav. I got an aftermarket one which I could "modify" (cause it runs on Linux/Unix) to play movies and games haha.

Yes we get $2,000 for the Prius from the prov. which means you get a total of $4,000 off the total price of the car!! It's a pretty good deal if you ask me since when I bought mine in Sept 04, the BC gov't gave me $7xx. (don't remember the exact figure).

My summer best is 4.2L/100km and winter is usually 5L/100km but it's been below that ever since I blocked the grille so it definitely fits your all city driving. 90% of my total kilometrage is in the city. A few are trips down to the States or out east to Langley on Hwy 1.