Classic Silver, #8, 12/26/05, San Jose CA

Hello guys...

This is my first post on this forum. Thanks to priuschat.com for all the valuable information it provides !

I placed my order on 12/26/05. I've been told a 3 month delay but to my surprise, the salesman called me this week end and told me the car I ordered should be here on 03/02/06. I'm excited !

Date Ordered: 12/26/05
Dealer Ordered From (Incl. City/State): Piercey Toyota - San Jose, CA
Timeframe given for delivery: 3 months
Color: Classic Silver
Option Package: NW #8
Your # on Dealer's Waiting List: ??

Well here is my background, why did I end up ordering the Prius. I have an 97 Acura 3.5RL that has 150k + miles on it. It still run fine, but this car start to cost me a lot in maintenance plus me and my wife start to feel the need of a second car.

Why the Prius and not another car ? Well here are my thoughts, in order but all these points to me are very close:

• Low MPG. As the fuel price IMO is not going to be any lower but to the contrary will most likely increase in the future.
• High technology. This car features one of the highest technology available today: the hybrid engine of course + all the other goodies such as Navigation System, Bluetooth etc.
• Carpool Privilege. As I'm going to drive more and more in the Bay Area, this is a *great* feature.
• 3k+ Federal Tax Deduction. Hey this is not to neglect.
• Advanced Technology Partial Zero Emission Vehicle (AT-PZEV). On top of that, this car is one of the cleaner car available on the market today. This is great !

Well, to me, this car presents only advantages. But why the Prius and why not other hybrid vehicles such as the Camry, Civic or Insight ?

• To me the Prius is to become a legendary vehicles, a breaking-point technology. Thus it as been designed from scratch to be an hybrid on the contrary to the Honda Civic Hybrid (that has a retrofit engine).
• The Prius is a mid-size vehicule, perfect for my use. Yet, it is a five seater with 5 doors (vs two seat / 3 doors for the Insight)
• The ratio MPG / Usability is IMO the best: Insight is great but 2 seater, Camry and others to big and thus, lower MPG.

These are the points why I ended up showing up at the dealer by the end of 2005, to pre-order the Prius. Before I showed up to the dealer (in fact when I first start seriously considering to buy the Prius, mid 2005), I did a minimum of homework. To me the best resources of information are this forum, priuschat.com and also John's Page.

I show up to the dealer, ended dealing with a very nice - not pushy- salesman. He showed us a 2006 Prius that was going to be delivered and then we filled up the pre-order sales form. I doubled check of course the prices and they matched we I found here or even on toyota.com:

MSRP $ 22 305 ($21 725 + $580 delivery)
Package # 8 $ 6890

Attached is the copy of my pre-order form.

They asked a $ 500 deposit and made a copy of my driving licence. The salesman told us to wait 3 months (that's ok for me, I was not in a particular hurry anyway).

So like I said this week end that same salesman told me the car should be here on 03/02/06 and that I could come pick it up. I'm excited, BUT:

• Hopefully they are not going to sc*w me at the closing
• Hopefully, the car will be fine that I won't get a "wrong number" and that it will be in accordance to what I filled in the pre-order form
• I'm planning to put about 60 % down, but hopefully I'll get a good interest rate (by the way, what do you think is a good rate?)

So here it is, I thought I would share my experience in here. When I think about it, I almost bought a Subaru WRX in 2002, my tastes have changed badly.

Hopefully, by beginning of March I'll drive my brand new 06 Prius back home. I'm exited, of course but also anxious ! Any advice for the delivery date is welcome !

I'll keep you posted. Regards

 

Ok, my dealer called me yesterday morning letting me know my Prius arrived. So I went to sign all the paperwork and pick it up on that same evening. (03/09/06)

I'll post my dealer experience in the appropriate forum later on but I must say I was very pleased with the Piercey Toyota Dealer in San Jose CA, the sales rep that took car of me as well as the finance director that processed our paperwork: all very knowledgeable, very nice and not "pushy" at all. (yet efficient because it went flawlesly, I got the exact car I wanted at MSRP, in a little less than the timeframe I was given, 3 months)

Well here it is, sitting in my garage:



I LOVE IT !

I already sent my Fastrack application today, including the copy of my sales agreement.

 

Here you go

 

Yes it is actually dark gray: the colors on the pictures are misleading due to the lighting.