I can't find a Limited Prime in Minnesota

If you are not in a big hurry, here is a suggestion: Wait until the RAV4 Prime is available this Summer. It appears to be a great improvement on the Prius Prime in terms of EV mileage, power, room to carry things, and 4WD. It would allow you to replace your current SUV, so you would pay for insurance and license on two cars instead of three.

 

That is good advice, if Toyota actually makes them available in non-CARB states.

 

FWIW, it appears MN is in the process of becoming a CARB state.

 

That would be good news. But knowing our state, that will finally come through when all tax incentives expire.

 

Congratulations!!

 

We could not find one in Minnesota that would discount so we bought one in Portland with a $3500 discount. Flew there and had a nice vacation coming through Montana on the way back. Airplane tickets and motels were about $700 so saved about $2800. Basically got the advanced to the same price as the lower model. This was in 2017 and I needed the advanced to get the blind spot monitor. Got 62 mpg on the way back so gas was not a big factor.

 

It seems crazy that a legitimate MN customer needs to go through all that! Hopefully local dealers are taking note.
I hope you like yours as much as I like mine. I’ve driven 500 miles and estimate having used less than a gallon of gas. Heated seat and steering wheel is all I need to feel warm in the car this time of year in MN, so there is no fan on and the car is super quiet in EV mode.

 

I am trying to understand the reason that dealers in the Northeast U.S. will automatically knock $3500. off the price of a Prime and dealers in the rest of the country cannot or will not. Do they buy the cars at a different price? Also wondering if that discount might carry over to the RAV4 Prime.

 

The $3500 comes from Toyota, not the dealer. It's there in CARB states, which are states that have adopted the vehicle emission standards of the California Air Resources Board. Those require manufacturers to, essentially, achieve a higher average mpg across all of the vehicles of a given class that they sell in such a state. Thus in order to sell more non-hybrid vehicles Toyota needs to also sell more hybrids, especially PHEV. So they incentivize those sales with cash back.

All of the New England states (except New Hampshire, I think -- live free or die) have adopted the CARB standards, as have a few other states. So in the New England sales region, you get that incentive.

I would guess that the Rav4P will have a discount as well in CARB states for the same reason.

 

Thanks for the explanation. My state is also a CARB state. Maybe that is why they knocked $1000. off from mine when I bought it.

 

Interesting, Maryland is CARB (I think) but much lower incentive, same as in non-CARB VA.

 

Headed out to Buffalo to pick up a limited. Just worried about flying, traveling with the Coronavirus going exponential (for now).

 

I've had mine for six months now, and I'm very happy with it. I cannot imagine having bought another car.

Regarding the cargo area, simply fold the rear seats down and remove the telescopic tonneau-cover rod -- then the cargo space becomes six-foot-long and fairly tall.

 

Congrats! Was it the Flemington Toyota by any chance? When I was looking for mine, none of the other Toyota dealer came even close to how people work at that place. Most were rude and pushy, acting as if they were holding a winning lottery ticket and I needed to rush my butt there this instance and beg for it. I literally had a sales manager refusing to tell me price and telling me that I would have leverage on price only if I came in person. I responded that her ONLY leverage to get me to come in was to tell me the price, and if she didn't tell me, I'd never come in.