Chasm gets wider

I just read a post from a guy who is giving up the wait and buying an Infiniti. My heart goes out to him. Odd symbolism in the name, "Infiniti" as a second choice since he was already waiting for an "infinity" for his Prius.
My second choice would be a Jetta or Golf diesel, TDI. My partner has a Jetta wagon and it's a dynamite car, although more conventional than the Prius. A third choice would be the Focus with the new ZPEV engine that is the cleanest gas engine produced here. I'm not ready to quit, though, since I have no where near the waiting time some of you have.
I don't mean to sound sour and I hope you all will take this with a spirit of generosity, but it's not easy for me, nor I suppose for the many others waiting endlessely for the Prius that may never come, to be reading questions from owners about tuning the Nav system or changing discs in the 6CD player, etc. It's a bit like being one of the guys in the boiler room on a ship reading the first class dinner menu. The chat line seems to be dividing into these two groups and I find myself reading more and more from those who are waiting and less and less about from those who already have cars. The chat line is for all of us, though, and I'm not suggesting changes or that people not contribute. If, as Danny suggested, Toyota is monitoring these chatlines, they should be aware of the immense disatisfaction that is being generated. They make excellent cars, but, you know, I'm reluctant to buy one of their other models because I don't want to "reward" them for this screwup over the Prius. It bothers me that they continue advertising a car they seem unable to produce.
My dealer told me that he gets about 1 Prius a month; has 50 orders in his stack, and has been telling people the wait is three to four months. Go figure. I calculate about 4 years, but maybe my math is off. It's this kind of b.s. that makes me boil.
The car may be all everyone who has one is saying it is. At this point, I feel a good deal of sadness and anger that Toyota and it's dealership network have done a terrifically Soviet job of promising a banquet and delivering peanuts. What's really frustrating is that there is no one to whom to address questions or get intelligent answers. Toyota of America might as well be on Mars. Do they sell cars on Mars?
I'd be interested in hearing the stories from classic Prius owners who also had to endure long (8-9 mos) waits for their Prii.... How was that, folks? Was there the same level of uncertainty, gouging, anger, etc?. Now, of course, you can pick up a used classic Prius for a good price.
Bob

 

Hi Prii: Here's a copy of a letter I wrote to my first dealer; a letter I'm sure many of you could write. I apologize if I'm taking too much space or making the chat line into a rant. What I'm hoping is that someone at Toyota of America will be reading this stuff, or someone out there wil have an address of a real person to whom we can write. Thanks all of you for your patience. Just hope my Prius comes before I get to old to drive it. Hugs to all of you for your support.

Shane at Magic Toyota

Dear Shane:

First, thanks for contacting me regarding my letter to Lionel. After our conversation, however, I had some further thoughts. I am part of a national Prius chat line (priuschat.com), which I mentioned to you. I’m reading a growing (national) anger and frustration among the participants about the hype that is being given to us by the Toyota dealership network. A case in point: you told me that Magic Toyota is getting about 1 Prius a month (Lionel said as much some time ago) , yet your salespeople are telling us that the wait will be about 3-4 months, or, recently, 8-9 months. Maybe my math is off, but that would make the wait more like two to four years. How can dealers be telling customers this in good conscience? When we customers finally figure this out, as I have done, can you guys be surprised that we feel “had� We joked about that over the phone, but after I hung up, I began to wonder if I will ever see a Prius in my driveway....actually, I don’t have a driveway, but you get the idea.
Buying a new car is stressful enough; it should also be exciting. This marketing vs. production fiasco doesn’t make me feel good as a potential Toyota customer, and certainly takes a lot of the excitement out of the car. I don’t feel happy to know that regardless of when I placed my order, “my†car can be sold out from under me to the first person walking in off the street willing to pay a hefty surcharge. You said this was simple market economics and I agree, that’s how the system works. If so, what’s the point of taking orders if there is no precedence and no way of getting a requested color/option package in the first place?
I believe you also told me that it was pointless of me to call and inquire about “unclaimed†Prii. Where does that put me? I have no precedence on a waiting list and no way to inquire about when a Prius might be available.
I have agreed that I would pay the $995 second sticker price if that might help get me into one of these elusive things in less than a year. I’m told that being flexible in what I will accept will also help me. I’m curious how my paying a surcharge will make any difference if you are only getting 1 Prius a month and there are at least 50 of us on your list.

I’d certainly appreciate hearing from you if a car arrives.

The above questions aside, I appreciated your calling me, and the friendly treatment my partner and I received at Magic. You might be interested in knowing that your competition, Toyota of Seattle, seemed less than interested in selling me a Prius. I had to hunt down a salesperson to even inquire about the car. The salesman took a brochure, circled options #1, #7, #9 and wrote prices above them. He said those were the only options available in the Pacific Northwest and that I’d have to make an appointment to drive one. Then he walked away. By the way, the prices he wrote down were above MSRP. Perhaps Toyota of Seattle was being honest, if impolite, about the market/availability situation (i.e., there was not enough in it for them to deal with the uncertainty, etc.).

Sincerely,


Bob Allen
cc: Toyota of America