2006 Driftwood #8 - Grossinger, IL

Date Ordered: May 22, 2006
Dealer Ordered From (Incl. City/State): Grossinger Toyota - Chicago, IL
Timeframe given for delivery: Late June - Mid July
Color: Driftwood Pearl
Option Package: 8
Your # on Dealer's Waiting List: unsure

I'd originally placed my order through the Toyota dealer in Colorado Springs, CO earlier in May (around May 9th I believe). They'd originally stated a timeframe of 8-12 weeks, but started talking more like it would be 4 to 6 months, which was an awful long wait--considering we'd already traded in our other car, and I'm not interested in missing out on the tax credits.

Looked around and ultimately spoke with TJ Prayner at Grossinger Toyota in Chicago. He offered us a reasonable price and a reasonable timeframe for the package and color we want. It sounds like it should get here somewhere between the end of June and mid July. We've got our fingers crossed, hopefully it'll be sooner rather than later. I suppose we can be patient, as long as it gets here before we're in fear of losing the tax credit, but it's tough waiting.

We originally looked at a Prius back in 2003/2004 in Maryland and were quoted a wait time of 8-12 months, which would have been absolutely horrible. Being quoted 4-6 months with 4 months being if I were willing to be flexible on color AND package was bad enough.

Hopefully we'll hear some good news soon and be out on a plan to pick it up! Should be a fun bit of a roadtrip from Chicago back to Colorado in a new Prius

-Peter

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(stanlwyjohn @ May 24 2006, 06:34 PM) [snapback]260637[/snapback]</div>

That's what I've been hearing too. I've been told by a few people that they took one of the lines over to manufacture Camry hybrids.

I will hopefully have a more exact answer from Tj on Monday as to when it should come in, so I've got my fingers crossed for mid July. I actually still have one on order with Liberty Toyota here in Colorado Springs, but they have told me absolutely nothing about what sort of timeframe I'm looking at.

We'll see. I'm getting anxious, though!

 

Well, the phone rang today and Tj called to tell us that he had a Seaside Pearl that would be in by the end of the month. We had requested the Seaside Pearl, but had given him a few other colors that we would take. Seaside Pearl was our second choice... aside from the fact that plenty of people near us have a Seaside Pearl and we've only seen one Driftwood so far.

So, we should have a Seaside Pearl Pkg. 8 by the end of the month! :lol:

Tj has been great to work with, has given us a very fair price, and has been straightforward--which is much, much, much more than I can say for... well... pretty much any of the other dealers we've talked to yet. All of the dealers in our area (Southern Colorado) quoted MSRP + $300-400 dealer fees (or MSRP + fees + $1000 "protection package" markup) and quoted us a four to six month wait (our CO Springs dealer just called to tell us we were looking at March of '07!!!?!?!). We've also looked into several other dealers in FL, MD, VA, IL, OR, and CA.

We're looking forward to picking the car up! Would anyone recommend us trying our luck, instead, waiting another couple weeks in the hopes that we'll find a Driftwood Pearl? Tough decision...

We want to do a number of things to it when we finally have it: window tinting, mudflaps, clear bra, rear bumper protector, EV mode (CoastalTech probably), door bumpers and perhaps a pinstripe, reverse camera switch, and maybe the nav switch (although I'm hopeful that we'll see an elegant NAV fix sometime soon).

Any good suggestions on protecting the rear area from dog paws and hair? We have three dogs that will pile in and out on a regular basis