Prius Prime won't be available in FL ?

Just googled these 2 vendors, and here's what Wikipedia says:
Discount Tire Company is a tire and wheel retailer owned by The Reinalt-Thomas Corporation, headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. Discount Tire is known as America's Tire in California (except for San Diego County, where it is still known as "Discount Tire").

Number of locations: Over 900 Stores, in 29 States (Oct 2017)

Number of employees: 18,700

Revenue: $4.34 Billion

Headquarters: Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S

Discount Tire - Wikipedia
Hope that helps.

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^^^Interesting. I didn't dig that deeply. Just used the store finder on their web site. Thanks for the added info. The store in Torrence (or near there) was great. That was in '98 or '99.

 

From a conversation with a tech guy at a Toyota dealership in the southeast, Toyota doesn’t expect to sell a lot of primes in the region and so they aren’t being shipped to the S.E. If you order one they can get it at any dealer you’d just have to wait for it I assume. The prime is in many aspects similar to the plugin Prius so the shops shouldn’t have an issue maintaining the vehicle, but as you stated they, “The Prime” won’t be a regular at the shop and there is a lot to say about experience. I just recently went to MD to purchase mine and I have some cyclic noise coming from the front end. The shop I’m at is now contacting Toyota higher tier maintenance guys to find out what to do. The dealer maintenance guys have support from Toyota. Ergo it shouldn’t be a problem owning one in the S.E.

Details: I use the car primarily around town, 800 miles 8 gallons of gas... that includes a trip from MD to NC one way 400 miles. The prime really turns some people’s heads. My sister inlaw is a long time owner of a 2010 Prius and her husband said after riding in the prime, “I think we ought to look at getting another Prius!” The battery mileage learns your driving statistics to give you a better range capacity. I’m up to 30 miles on battery.

One quick note: Toyota suggests to leave the battery discharged. If you read the manual that comes with it the suggestion is in there to extend battery life. The car has a charge schedule page in the infotainment display which lets you choose to have it charged on a schedule. So the normal is to just plug it in and have schedule start the charge on its own.

So far I see a dead battery using approx 6.6kwh for a charge to full with approx 30 mile range. (Using $0.12/kWh or $2.30/54pmg on gashybrid)
It’s cheaper to charge and use EV than run on gas.

 

Welcome! And congrats.

I got similar info at my nearest dealer, but one service rep thinks they might start stocking them. I'll believe it when I see it.

Looks like you're acquainted pretty well with your new buggy. There is a staggering amount of info on the Prime on this forum.

 

congrats and welcome, great first post. all the best!

 

Isn't that up to the private distributor that all Toyota dealerships in the SE region are required to use, who at least up to now has shown no desire to deal with these new-fangled green EV type cars?

 

The reasoning was that the training required of the sales teams would have cost more to Toyota than they would have made back in estimated sales. The south east doesn’t sell many Prius so they expected same results with plugin Prius. They changed the training and now it is internet based so they through out the from Toyota plan to no support them in the south with the prime. No one knows why they aren’t in the south as of yet but I’d believe it’s because the sales are so good elsewhere. When I bout my prime they sold three in the same color and package that very same day Maryland. The dealers I saw in FL barely knew the Prius models features off hand.... the salesman in MD was extremely familiar... I guess they do sell a whole lot more not in the South East.

 

Believe me that knowledge issue is not region dependent. My local Toyota dealer insisted trim two only had black interior and would not deal on price. I drove 150 miles to a dealer salesman in the DC area who also owns a Gen 1 Prius. He spent over 30 minutes in the car demonstrating features before we even test drove it.
I avoid my local dealer except for recalls. They even messed up the paperwork on my 5K mile check

 

Not sure about your part of FL, but they are thick as fleas here in the Tampa area. I usually see from one to four others at every traffic light I stop at on multi-lane streets here.

And the problem is that the SE district won't let the dealers stock Primes. I know this from talking to my local dealer and from reading the experiences of others in the district that you'll find in the first few pages of this thread. Gulf coast district has the same problem. And it just so happens that those are the only two privately owned distributorships in the country. Toyota should have bought them out long ago and taken control.

 

Jim Moran Enterprises, in perpetuity, and that means forever.

 

I have family in Frederick MD and visited DarCars there. Matthew at DarCars Fred. MD is the man when it comes to Prius. The dealer was able to take cash, make the sale, complete all the paperwork, (I’m a Florida resident so a lot of extra work goes into it), and have sufficient time to show me all about the car including a test drive in one evening! I certainly would try their shop next time I’m up there and I will use DarCars of Frederick next time I purchase. Worth the 800 mile drive for me!

 

Sam Lee at Miller Toyota in Manassas VA is a top choice. He work well over email, etc. to have everything ready too.

 

That's the name! I couldn't remember it earlier.

 

Anything to help Jerry! Wife had a 2012 PIP and drove a lot of highway miles to Raleigh, at 70K averaged 74 mpge. You must have a lighter foot and charge more often. Bravo! Sold the PIP in 2 days on Craigslist and now a happy Prime driver. Net $7K delta after tax credit.

 

Work is 9 miles away and I can charge for free there. Most days, I don't need the engine except when it's really hot or cold (for Florida, that is. LOL!) I average a little over 50% EV. Working against me is that most of my driving is stop and go with 50-60 mph speed limits. I probably spend 25% of my time braking and 25% accelerating.

That's an awesome net on the upgrade!!

 

I just received a call today, March 12, 2018 from Whitney at Sarasota Springs Toyota dealer who said they'll be receiving in 1 month, 1 Prime Advanced in "Red", and "No I don't know what the interior color is", and "This is the only Prime we will be getting this year" !!! Wow! If you need their phone number it's: (941) 893-6739. Good luck!!

 

I'm sorry, but I think Jim Moran & Gulf States Toyota are cutting off their noses to spite their faces.

I think the Prime is "if they see it, they will buy", assuming at least a few salespeople can get interested enough to learn and be excited about selling them.

The Hyundai salesman's attitude towards the plug in Ioniq was, "well, this is Texas, and people really don't care much about hybrid cars, let alone BEVs or plug-ins. They really want big trucks that go fast." I sat there thinking "how the hell did you win all those salesperson of the month/salesperson of the year awards? Give them away?"



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It is really nice that the SE Toyota crooks will let us order a Prime, but many, or most of us still like to see and drive a car before buying it. The last I heard, the dealer near me will never have a Prime to check out.

SM-G950U ?

 

It's so much easier for dullard fools to remain in the same rut, than to look around and check out something new. The worst ones are those who criticize people with imagination. Like Car & Driver said many years ago, The Big Three are safe in Middle America! This followed their display of a Lamborghini Countach at a mall, somewhere in the South, where the majority who saw it, said yup, it's made by Chevy, or, it's definitely a Ford, or, you can see it looks just like something from Dodge. One young lady, when asked, replied, Oh that's a Lamborghini Countach!
When questioned further, turns out she was from California! Oh well, duh, duh, duh!! The salespeople in many of these places are just lazy, with distributors and management who have no clue. Perhaps there is hope with women coming into leadership positions, like Mary Barra at GM. I think you need to get rid of a lot of these entrenched Good 'Ol Boys, who ain't got no clue!!


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I used to see Lambos, Maseratis, and other exotic beasts in Chicago. Not so much around here, it's mostly Stupid Utility Vehicles and Monstrous Trucks. Once in a while, I'll see a Tesla, but those are pretty rare.

Where are the two PriusChat members with their two Primes? Haven't seen them yet. I saw Mr. Titanium Glow once. He said he's only seen one other Prime in Plano.

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