Joined the ZVW50 family. (2016 JDM A E-Four)

Howdy Ya'll.

Am American, got on this forum back in 2016 helping my dad (in the US) buy a 2014 Prius. He still has it, still loves it. It's probably going to be his "forever car". As much as I consider myself a car guy and definitely don't want to drive "my dad's car" - I found myself today signing for a 2016.

So why did I? Basically same reason as all of you. I'm a techie and this car has a lot of tech. It was certainly way more affordable than a Tesla (or insert other tech car here). I'm new here, so I had to quickly buy a car I know to be reliable - got other things to do than to service my finicky car. And fuel is bloody expensive (~$7 USD/ US Gal). How do I possibly get anything else? I have nowhere to plug in (home or work) for a PHEV and public chargers aren't so good here.

With a bit of a twist (unless you read the title). I recently moved to NZ - hello JDM imports. Well - I was actually first looking at a Blue Crush NZ-new 2016 GX Touring - see here: https://www.toyota.co.nz/globalassets/documents/brochures/2016/prius-brochure-04-16.pdf - probably similar to a US "Three". That car had a couple issues and the dealer showed no effort to work with me so I walked away. Instead I picked up a JDM Blonde Metallic "A" (see here - it's the column in the middle "A" - https://toyota.jp/pages/contents/prius/004_p_007/4.0/pdf/spec/prius_equipment_compare_202106.pdf ). It has a couple modifications - aftermarket 17" alloys, and an aftermarket Domain brand head unit with Auto/Carplay integration. The most important bit of it for me is that the "A" is where blind spot and rear cross traffic is included - both features I most definitely wanted (the NZ GX Touring, does not have). One feature I wasn't particularly looking for but I guess I got is that it's an E-Four model, too. No snow here in Auckland, but I'll take any traction on a wet hill start I can get (lots of rain and lots of hills here).

I will agree that Blonde Metallic was NOT my first color choice. The one thing about the JDM market (and NZ by extension) is that 8/10 cars are either white, black, or silver/gray. So when I first set out on this quest, I strongly wanted "a color". When I found out about solar Lime Green - oh you bet that was my top choice. Unfortunately current availability limited it to lower spec "S" model. See my comment above re the blue. Perhaps I didn't care about the red as much. I guess Blonde Metallic is JUST off-silver enough that I don't hate it. I'm just glad it's not circa 2002 Lexus "Champagne" - although something circa 2007 Nissan Murano sunset copper (or whatever it was called - you know the one) would have actually been pretty neat. Basically - I just want to easily visually spot my car in a lot full of monochrome.

Anyway - I'm sure I'll be back with questions, and only partial half-answers because my car is a bit of a unicorn to the predominantly US-spec folks over here. But in the meantime - AMA!

 

Yes, it's a JDM import. Pretty sure NZ didn't get the awd until the ZVW51, like everyone else (outside of Japan). 50/51s are not super common here of any flavor but I'm hoping that the extra complexity of the efour won't bite me in the nice person later.

I've been asking myself the same question since MIQ.