Standard Features on the 2011 Prius Four

Hi everyone:

Probably a newbie question but I do come armed with a certain amount of research that I tried to conduct on my own in order to find out about the features that come standard on a 2011 Prius Fourtrim.

Some places like yahoo autos, etc say that a 2011 Prius Fourcomes with leather seats and heated mirrors and auto dimming RV mirrors as standard. Others say that just the JBL 8 speaker audio system and bluetooth connectivity is standard above the Prius Two and Three! another website even so much as ventures to state that 2011 Prius Fourcomes standard with heated seats and backup camera. So by now reading about 5 different definitions of the phrase "standard features" my head is spinning!!!!!!

I am very concerned since I just purchased a pre-owned super low miles 2011 Prius Fourfrom a dealer. The Dealer stated in advertisement that it was a Prius Four, on test driving and looking at the JBL audio, alloy wheels and a couple other features I convinced myself that it was a Prius Four and grabbed it at that super low price. But now that I am re-researching the model and specs (don't ask why) I am finding all and more of the above conflicting information. So here is where I need your help to determine if this car is legit or if I have been royally cheated by the dealer and if this should lead to a legal situation.

1) I need to know the base difference between the 2011 Prius One Two Three Four and Five. What distinguishes one from the other? I need to know the absolute bare minimum but STANDARD features that distinguish the above trims from each other.

2) If this dealer sold me a "Prius Four" with just bluetooth, JBL 8-speakers, smartdoor but NO auto-dimming RVM, NO backup camera, NO leather seats, NO power seats, NO rear AC ducts, NO rear arm rest/ cup holder, then have I been screwed?

3) If you were to tell me that "yes a Prius Four can come configured just like your car above", then what really distinguishes it from the III? Why does then Toyota even bother coming up with such convoluted "trims"????

Please help because I am losing my mind and am not finding consistent information anywhere and have just about convinced myself that I need to yell at the dealer for lying to me and somehow return this car. Could it be that it was such a great deal because of all of the above lacking "standard" features?

Thank you for your time reading my long post. I really hope someone can outline for me clearly the answers to the questions above.

 

Thanks for your response. Then can you tell me this: 1) does a Prius IV come without leather seats and heated seats? If yes then that's what I got from the dealer. If yes then what differentiates this from the Prius III???? I'm smelling something fishy here. I did a VIN number check and that just brings up the car fax which doesn't give trim level information anyway. Just a general report.

Up until now I was thinking that I got a stellar deal for my IV but now it's started to seem like I've been handed over a Prius III with an inflated price or a Prius IV with missing "standard" features.

Where can I get an official brochure of trim levels and standard features for older models?

Thanks again

 

Thanks EVERYONE for your willingness to help me out. I called up a local Toyota dealership and gave them my VIN number and asked them to run it in their system and tell me what the model was. AND (drumroll please) it indeed is the 2011 Prius III model and NOT a IV as the dealer stated (along with all of the purchase related documents). So the dealer has misrepresented the facts and committed fraud. I am seeking the help of a consumer law/ fraud attorney and will be taking these mfs (yeah you know what that stands for) to court.

First step is going to be intimidation through a legal notice through the attorney and if that doesn't work then I will take them to courts.

This should serve as an example that no matter how established the dealer is, one CANNOT go by just what they state in their ADs and the sticker that they put up on the car. The problem gets compounded when Toyota releases these models in roman numeral increments where the distinguishing factors from one model to the next are minute and not very obvious. I thought I was someone who conducted a lot of research before getting into anything especially making a purchase as big as a car. Apparently my research wasn't good enough and the salesman talk got the better of me. What confused me was the fact that this car had bluetooth and had an 8 speaker system and amidst the confusion of it all and dealing with the salesman to strike a good deal I ignored some facts and did not bother to go on Toyota's website to doubly, triply make sure what the difference was between a III and a IV. I ended up convincing myself that the JBL 8speaker and bluetooth were part of the IV and not III.

So yeah, here I am feeling like crap, stressed out of my mind and feeling that there is no hope for humanity since such cheats and frauds exist on this planet.

I have my meeting with the attorney today and hoping to God I make the dealership give me a hefty discount on the car or I will see them in court.

If people are intersted and for the betterment of other members so no one gets duped like this, I will post updates of the next steps and how things got worked out. Once I make sure of all the legal elements I might even go ahead and post the name of the dealership here and put them on a red alert/ blacklist here so no one goes within a 5 mile radius of that nasty place.

 

Yup... as I mentioned, they gave me a THREE while advertising it and selling it as a FOUR and charging me for the same. I am proceeding with this through an attorney.

 

I may have got a fine and dandy deal and maybe I DID get a fine and dandy deal but that is not the point here. Point here is that an established dealership LIED to me, fraudulently convinced me into believing that we were striking a deal on a Prius IV whereas they gave me a III. This is ILLEGAL and that is all that there is to it. Heck he could've sold me this car for $10,000 but that doesn't take away the fact that in my mind (and now on the bill of sale, etc) the car is mentioned as a IV where as Toyota confirmed it is a III.

And for that, my friend, I wish to take them to task. God only knows how many other people they could've done this to.

 

JoeG I appreciate your concern. I really do.

And I see your probable disgust/ discontentment with the "suing" kinds who are constantly on the lookout for such a situation to make a killing out of it. I am sorry if I appear to be one of them (and maybe I am saying everything that convinces you into believing that I want to make a killing out of this too) but the fact is that they nickeled and dimed me for the deal, gave me crap for my trade in, and slapped last minute fees worth $1,500 (which was previously undisclosed) while I constantly asked them time and again to confirm if it was a III or a IV and with a straight face not one, not two, but three people at the dealership lied to me about it being a IV.

Point is that on one side are the suing kinds who are the society's vultures and who dirty the water for the entire law system and for all of humanity. But on the other side are corrupt car dealerships (and not to forget service stations) who CONSTANTLY commit such fraud but seldom come across individuals who TRULY make an effort to correct them. And they continue about their corrupt ways.

At the end of the day the damage is that I feel wronged, offended and cheated by the fact that they didn't sell me 2 eggs short of a dozen eggs, or a wrong flavored yogurt, but the fact that they sold me an entirely different C-A-R for crying out loud!!! And only I know the amount of stress I went through researching and slowly but painfully discovering that yes, I paid my hard earned money for a car that was not even the one I had gone in for. I don't know how to explain it to you but it was a truly offensive feeling. I don't have access to a lot of money all I had was some money to make a downpayment and nice little car that I traded in. I am not rich, I just wanted a pre-owned gas saving Prius. And I got screwed by this dealer.

Now I know the snake-like people that work at the dealership. And the only reason I am going to them through an attorney is because i know it that I and my wife don't stand ANY chance in trying to negotiate any sort of discount with them for this grave mistake. They will chew us alive and spit us out without entertaining any thought from us. Therefore it makes sense for me to hire an attorney and have him haggle with them and see what best arrangement they want to come forward with.

A damage doesn't necessarily have to be of physical or tangible kind. In my case it was monetary and moral damage. Fact is that if you continue to see injustice in the world and don't raise your voice against it, then you are PART of that very injustice. And I don't want to give this dealership anymore chances into cheating any more innocent people!

 

There is no doubt that you've really got me thinking about this for sure. I wouldn't say that I got a good deal on my Prius III. I thought it was a good deal since the perceived value was benchmarked against a IV. But now that its turned out to be a III, it is not a good deal by any means.

As of now I have agreed with the attorney to just send out a letter to the dealership and asking them how they propose to rectify the situation. This would involve drafting and finalizing a letter and then subsequent time (about an hour) spent on various phone based negotiations. At that point, the hope is that they should come back with an offer. If not, then I would need to decide on the next steps in terms of how to proceed.

Like I said, I just don't feel OK about approaching the dealership myself and want a professional to handle this situation.

BTW, I absolutely LOVE, LOVE my Prius. Especially when it has been giving me a gas mileage of around 47-52 mpg over few fill ups. This is such a world apart from the 18 mpg I used to get on my CLS 550. Wonderful car that, but I have moved on don't feel the need for such vehicular indulgence. Prius is the best thing I spent my money on.

 

Also, I feel that the difference ISN'T "esoteric". It is a ~$4,000 difference between the two models. Moreover this is a car dealership for crying out loud. Selling cars is their bread and butter. I don't see how they can make such a grave mistake on a basic thing as determining a car model. So there is a clear monetary damage involved in this situation as well. For me at least.

I went to the dealership to buy a Prius IV as they had advertised. I was duped and sold a III. I want a professional to handle them from this point onward. It is as simple as that. I don't mean to be cocky but I don't see how and why I should lose in this situation as I have copies of all sale documents, ads, etc pointing to the dealership posing this car to be a IV. Seems pretty clear to me that they cheated me and there should be some action taken against this.

It would be asinine and STUPID to just sit on this incident, just suck it up, not do anything about it and move on. That would be the most crazy thing to do. Moreover I don't know about your personality but I wouldn't be able to face myself each day knowing that i paid for something and instead got cheated and got a lesser model and didn't do anything about it.