Did you order your first Prius Prime WITHOUT ever having seen one in person ?

I ordered my 2017 Prime without ever seeing one, and I still only have seen one other. (Coastal South Carolina) I knew it would be what I want but to tell the truth, my purchasing experience was less than stellar, I'm not so sure I'd order such a hard to get car in the future.

 

Yes, I ordered my prime without ever seeing it. They didn’t have any available in Utah when I was shopping. I learned about them here on the forum. So I ended up ordering one out of California, and had it shipped here to Salt Lake. Still loving my 2017 prime.

 

I went from a Gen3 to the Prime. I liked the Gen3 (but not all its recalls), and had enough confidence in the brand to order a Prime Advanced without a test drive.

What I did do was to sit in a Gen4 Prius at a somewhat local dealer and look over the fit and finish. I then found a Prime in Magnetic grey (same as I have now) and sat in that. Never test drove either. That first prime that I gawked at had a price adjustment of +$10,000 over list. Talk about stealerships!

 

...and they sold it in under a week, at that price.

 

I bought mine used 360 days ago. Or was it 361 since it's leap year?

Anyway, I think I still would have gotten one without a test drive. The where place I bought it specializes in used hybrids and BEVs, especially Prius. He also had a 2016 Prius 3 Touring, so I drove both to compare since the regular Prius had a significantly lower price tag. I thought the 2017 Prime was superior enough to justify the extra money and I have been completely satisfied with that decision.

Even though the Tampa area is pretty much inundated with Prii, Primes are exceedingly rare. It's been a couple months since I've seen one. That's due to the policies of the owners of the southeast Toyota distributorships. I don't think they like plug ins. Same with the Gulf states.

My only Prime complaints are pretty minor:

• Driver's door arm rest is about four inches below my elbow. (Fixed with home made device.)
• Ground clearance is about one inch too little.
• MPG indicator only goes to 199.9 mpg. A profoundly stupid and unnecessary limit that thankfully got removed for the following years.
• Slightly reduced cargo space and fewer places to stash small items. But it hasn't bothered me as much as I thought it would.
• Need to be creative if you want a spare tire.
  

Pluses compared to my 2013 PiP are more numerous and important:

• Safety features.
• Amazing economy.
• Comfort now that I fixed that arm rest.
• Handling.
• Cabin noise.
• I like the lightweight tonneau cover on the two lower trims better than the heavier roll up one on the Advanced and Limited.
• Looks (maybe not that important, but still ...).
• Available information on driving efficiency is almost overwhelming!

So, enjoy the new ride when if finally arrives. We'll all be looking forward to reading your impressions.

 

Yes, other than the delivery, which took 4 months. They had all kinds of contract problems which they never said what the problem was, I just had to sign everything 3 times, going back to the dealer each time. My credit rating is great, so it wasn't a credit problem!

Love the car, but probably wont buy from them in the future, and any other Toyota place is further than I want to drive.

 

Fixed your math. I thought electricians needed to be good in mathematics?

 

Looking at MSRP of $28209, that PRIME had to be 2017 PRIME Plus which got marked up $10K. About the same time as you sat in that Magnetic Grey PRIME, I bought my fist PRIME 2017 PRIME Premium in Magnetic Grey. The sales price after rebate and discount (before tax cred) was $24399 (MRSP: $30133). That's crazy!

BTW, I just traded in my 2017 PRIME Premium in Magnetic Grey to a brand new PRIME LE in Magnetic Grey. The final payment I had to make after trade-in value of 2017 PRIME was less than $6K. After tax credit, I will end up with little over $1K payment, but considering I can forgo buying a new set of tires and maintenance cost for next 2-3 years, I am just about even. And I have what I wanted, no more 11.6" display and no SofTex seats, two features I hated most on my previous PRIME Premium. Oh, and I gained brand new car without a crack on the grill, fifth seat, visor extender, easy to reach seat heater switches.

 

Apparently!

You'll love the car I'm sure. It can go almost twice as far on a fillup/daily charge as my Gen 3 Prius. (I drive at least 75 miles a day and can only charge at home.)

 

March 7, 2019 wasn't 365 or 366 days ago. LOL! And I didn't do math. It was just a quick estimate. Doing the math, March 7 last year was actually 361 days ago.

 

That's what I keep telling the sales critters at my local dealership.

I'm curious what they gave you for it. And congrats on the new ride!!

 

I signed the sales contract W/O test driving my 2020 Prime.
The salesman and I confirmed there was one in the dealer lot that I wanted (white XLE), and then we went straight to the negotiation and closed the deal. It was my first time ever buying a new car like that and my first new car purchase was 1980.
Prime is an excellent value for the money and it's a pure engineering marvel imo.

 

When I bought my 2017 Prius, I had seen but not driven one.
I drove 150 miles to drive one and bought it. The paperwork and PDI were completed that same Sunday. The Gen 1 Prius owner who was my salesman spent 30 minutes reviewing the car features before we even test drove it.