Thank you to members and my Prius story

Dear Prius Chat members and fellow newbies,

Thank you:
I wanted to take a minute to say thanks to all of the veteran forum members for allowing me to lurk for the past few months in preparation for my decision and lead up to buy a 2011 Prius last night. Online forums have always been my go to resource to learn and educate myself with any consumer product and Prius Chat proved no different. Thanks for openly sharing all the good advice from mileage to car care and options down to decisions such as whether or not to pay for the extended warranty.

Background:
My personal reasons for buying the car are as follows. To me the Prius is the only socio-economic neutral car that exists. I work in the digital marketing/gaming/applications world and specialize in the automotive sector and good or bad, what you drive is a very big deal. I could certainly roll in a fabulous car with the ridiculous car payment to go with it but that is not mine nor my family's style.

With a Prius I can pick up the President of the United States, a prospective client or a friend and my income, social status and personal beliefs are not defined one way or another. I love that! There are a variety of factors that people have to consider first before placing judgement on me because of what I drive. Am I green and Eco-conscious? Do I like the latest technology? What about being penny-smart/dollar-wise with my money and rising gas prices? It could be all of those and even more not listed but for a sub $30K car I find it amazing that I can feel great and confident about pulling into meetings with any client and not have a $1000+ car payment for a daily driver.

My Story:
So I picked up a Blizzard Pearl white car last night from DCH Toyota of Simi Valley. We live in Orange County, CA and were lucky enough to find this car three weeks ago after contacting the internet sales department there by pure good luck. They were exceptionally helpful during the entire buying process. Very friendly, courteous and of course eager to get us into a new car. Hard working dealers are great when you can find them. I highly recommend getting in touch with DCH Toyota Simi Valley for any new car purchases, their staff was really great. I asked for them to include floor mats, and various accessories at no additional cost, which they did, and they sold us the car for the exact price they promised before the car even arrived from Japan. Which was sticker/MSRP on model II with zero markups. I feel very fortunate to get that deal considering current global economics and vehicle demand.

The main point of this story is that we were able to secure a car that was on a container still en route to the states from Japan. I did not want navigation added and in SoCal every Prius on a lot (if you can even find one) has been marked up at least $1000.00 and has $3500+ worth of navigation/accessories already installed for maximum sticker price. We secured the car immediately after learning that it was white and sans extra costly options. To anyone lurking and you have made it to this point of my lengthy post, do not hesitate if you are in the market for a Prius right now, that might even mean going with your second color choice. The supply issues in Japan right now from the earthquake will make it increasingly difficult to get a car, gas prices continue to rise, demand is up more than ever and the sticker prices are already skyrocketing. Our dealer was kind enough to hide it on the lot for the 8 hours it took us to get up there after it arrived and was prepped. The General Manager even let us know that we were the last fortunate buyer to be able to secure a car in advance of any future incoming stock because the supply is so tight.

What's Next:
I have spent my entire life in the automotive performance aftermarket and this is a whole new car experience for me. The Prius is certainly not the turbocharged hot rod type of car that I am used to but I am looking forward to customizing it in my own way and building it up with various performance and aesthetic parts. First thing will be wheels and suspension. I will definitely get a thread started on the build!

Anyways, post 1 is now in the bag and I look forward to being a Prius Chat member in the future. Kind regards.

Tyler

 

Thanks everyone. I have already put some miles on the car and I am very impressed. It is very well engineered and although I have only owned it for 24 hours, I think that it is pretty close to perfect as a commuter/daily drive vehicle. I am a believer in all the hype that owners normally gush on about this car. I should have come around and bought one a long time ago!