Are they delivering on lower cost options?

My dealer told me that they have been getting primarily options packages 3, 7, and 9. If your order is for a pkg. 1 you may end up waiting a while.

Have you considered all that's provided for a couple of extra thousand dollars by changing your order to an option 7. The safety features you gain are considerable. Side and head airbags for both front and back seats have been written up as having considerable benefit to life and limb if someone should run a light and plow into the side of your car. Then there's Vehicle Stability Control, a feature that, 'til now, has only been available on the more expensive cars. Here's a good article on the benefits of VSC:

http://money.cnn.com/2003/09/25/pf/autos/w...s_esc/index.htm

Fog lamps really do help when the weather's lousy, and the high intensity discharge headlamps really do improve your vision at night.

Now the smart entry and start system doesn't have the safety benefits of the other things I've mentioned here, but it does add a whole other level of convenience that I've never known on any car before.

One other point, I suspect that come time to sell or trade-in the car, these benefits that come with the package 7 will come awful close to paying for themselves.

My nephew had placed an order for a package 1. Within a few weeks of his stating that he would take a package 7 if it came in, he was driving his new package 7 Prius.

Anyhow ... Just a little food for thought.

 

I have yet to see anything other than a package 9 (BC ) in the last 6 allocations, and right before that, I had a few BG cars (package 8 ) .. but my post-pioneer cars have been 95% package 9ers. I am in SoCal, FYI!

 

Glad to see you're still with us Dianne!

 

I really wanted a 7, but (at the time, in my area) they said that only 3, 5, and 9 were options.

Okay, that doesn't help anyone here, but I'm still upset about having homelink (with no garage door), but no SE/SS or nice lighting.

I'd definitely consider upgrading if such a thing were made available. Hint hint, Toyota!

 

Oh Jerry -- I did not die. I just left the 2G group. :>

 

It seems my dealer in NY has only gotten BC/#9s the last couple of months as well.

From Toyota's point of view it makes sense - if they can't produce more cars faster, they might as well maximize the profits. (From what I have seen, BC is the most popular package anyway.)

 

When I talked to my dealer about getting the Drftwood AF (#3) instead of Tideland, he said that 90% of the allocations to the region (Chicagoland) were package 9 (BC).


I'm guessing thats where most of the demand is, tho I don't know about 90%.

Brian

 

Back at the beginning of November, my dealer showed me a Toyota sheet that indicated that they were only *manufacturing* 3, 5, and 9, and that the split was 30/30/40 (or maybe 30/35/35.. I forget now). Strange. I wonder if they changed their policy on that, or if somehow the dealer had obsolete information.

They literally wouldn't let me order a 6 or 7. (So I ordered a 3 and ended up with a 5 )

 

I think the package selection is regional. According to two dealers I talked to, here in the Pacific NW, the 3 models are supposed to be 1, 7 and 9. Each region has certain models you can and can't get.

I'm with Ken -- I decided to step up to a #7, the features appeal to me. Unfortunately, it's sounding like it's getting to be all #9s -- and I really have no use/interest in the navigation system, security system or 6-CD changer. Nor am I interested in paying the extra $3K for unwanted stuff.

If it means I have to wait X months more to get a #7, c'est la vie. (After reading about people who ordered their Prii in August getting them now, I'm not going to complain about the wait after 2 weeks.)