Tideland Pearl AM #4, 3/19/04, Seattle WA

Date Ordered: March 19th, 2004
Date Arrived: November 12th, 2004
Dealer Ordered From (Incl. City/State): Local Seattle Broker -- he ordered it through Capitol Toyota of Salem, OR
Timeframe given for delivery: "Probably waiting for a 2005 Prius"
Color: Tideland Pearl
Option Package: AM #4 (2004 #7)
Your # on Dealer's Waiting List: Got the call 10/29/04

Well, this is what happens when you attend a PriusChat dinner get-together, and see 3 '04 Priuses together (all different shades -- and one with throw-pillows in it.) Two days later, you place an order.

I've been researching the '04 Prius for several months. Never really liked the Prius Classic; the Honda Civic Hybrid is very nice, but the Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive is, IMO, superior to the system Honda uses.

And besides, I want a hatchback. I've been driving an '87 Civic DX Hatchback since, well, 1987. Just been waiting for the technology to catch up.

Got behind the wheel for a test drive on Tuesday, and avid interest turned to intense desire. And a day later, got a chance to meet 4 very knowledgable Prius enthusiasts, and peer at their respective babies... well, that was all she wrote.

I'd decided months ago that I can wait 9-12 months for the car, as long as I got the model I wanted, and didn't pay more than MSRP. And since I have a pretty narrow selection (specific color, and only 2 acceptable option packages (1 of which isn't supposed to be available in this area)), I realized that 9-12 months was probably the right ballpark. (Pessimists are pleasently surprised more often than optimists.)

There's an experienced local broker who several friends have recommended -- he's been very up-front about the difficulties and the wait. Said it's probable that I'll be getting a 2005. An order has been placed; should be getting specifics, including a (very general) E.T.A. soon. I'll update the thread when I do.

BTW, major thanks to Danny, Bob, Bob , and Mark for all your information and enthusiasm! You filled in a lot of the remaining blanks for me regarding what to get (special thanks to Bob Allen -- I'd been leary about the #7 package not being worth the $$; but talking with him, seeing his Seaside Pearl model, and reading some of his previous postings on PriusChat.com got me past the extra $1K.)

Well, see you back here in 9 months. :wink:

Jeff Meyer

 

Time for an update, I think.

Made some changes to my order:

• Decided to add Driftwood Pearl to the color choices. Tideland is still my first choice, but having seen RobertO's Driftwood in person, and several other Driftwoods "in the wild", I have to say that it's a very appealing color. Has the appeal that I thought Silver would initially have, but hasn't when I've seen one up close.
• Restricted the package to a #7. The comments of #7 package owners, many of whom had set their sights to cheaper packages, convinced me of the value that the side air bags, HID lights and the VSC system. Since #6 packages just aren't making it to the Pacific NW, this shouldn't affect my changes very much
  • 
    In retrospect, it might have been better to skip the broker last March and go straight to Moses Lake or Montana; I probably would have gotten a Prius much faster.
    
    However, with the demand as crazy as it is now (and probably getting crazier), getting a new Prius at MSRP (and not above) will be, I hope, a lot less of a hassle with the clout of a good broker. (Which is why I went through one in the first place.)
    
    Well... see you in a couple of months for the next update (unless Toyota announces a new color for the 2005 Prii that I like.) :sleeping:

 

"Jungle Drums"; or, "It's a 2005!"

My broker just called... movement in the brush! Sounds like something's up; he says that things are now moving with the dealership that's got my Prius order.

I had been about to call him up regarding the updates to the Options package numbers from 2004->2005, but he beat me to it. Had a slight heart attack -- for a minute, he thought I wanted the 2004 #6 package, not the 2004 #7/2005 #4 "AM"; but I explained that the 2-letter code was the key, and I wanted an AM.

I said, either a Tideland or a Driftwood, but he said, nope -- you'll be getting a Tideland "AM", my first choice; and it will be a 2005. Not sure how he knows that the chips will fall this way; but he's said "MSRP" all the way, and he still says it, and I'm more than willing to believe it.

Still doubt that I'll be seeing it before October, but these days, that seems right around the corner...

 

Turned down a Prius today

Well, last month (mid-September), my broker called and told me I was 26th in line at the dealer I've got an order in for. (Of course, I asked "how many they getting in a month?", but he wasn't sure.)

Today, a month later, I got "a call" (not "the call") from him, saying that there was a Driftwood Pearl AM package (#4) with me, if I was interested.

Thought about it, and then asked him if he could check first to find out where I was in line.

He called back a few minutes later. "7th".

So, I said no. If I've moved from 26th to 7th in 1 month, I feel fairly certain that I can get my first color choice, Tideland, in an AM package before the end of the year.

But it wasn't easy to say no...

 

GOT THE CALL!

[font=Comic Sans MS:362f38fa25]I Got The Call![/font:362f38fa25]

It arrives in 2.5 weeks; on the boat as we speak.

And in the "that's incredible" department: It has been an incredibly busy week (oh, the fun and technical challenges of switching to a new PDA :roll, and next week appears to be all set for a mass cluster-:cussing: at work.

So when my broker called me up and told me (my desk at home covered in manuals and PDA accessories), my first thought was "Not now! I don't have time for a new car!" :lol:

I'm over that phase, though. And I'm so glad that I rented the Prius for a weekend in September!! Feel very confident that I'll be familiar enough to take mine home and give it a good home.

 

Today is the Day.

 

You can just call me "Happy Amper", folks. It's here. (Coincidently, exactly 8 months from the day I joined PriusChat.)

As mentioned elsewhere, things are nuts (I have to head to Palo Alto tomorrow), but I wanted to jot down the main points of the experience:

• .)
  
• Car had 5 miles on it -- happily, they trucked it up from Salem. Picked it up at the used car lot where my broker has his office. The owner told me they'd had 4 people come up and ask if it was for sale in the 3 hours it was on the lot.
  
• I got it at exactly MSRP. No delivery, processing and handling fee. No add-ons. No leather seats. No quibbling.
  
  Wrote a check for the car (MSRP exactly), two checks to the Washington Department of Licensing (registration, plates), and one for the broker's fee. That was it. The broker and I drove the car two blocks to the Licensing Office, and went to the express counter for dealers -- in and out in 10 minutes.
  
  Saying it was the easiest car purchase of my life isn't saying much, since the last one was in 1987; but this couldn't have gone smoother.
  
  PS My broker said this was the longest wait he's ever had with a car. When I asked him if I might point several other prospective Prius buyers to him, he said go right ahead, but he wouldn't be able to get the deal he got for my Prius from Capitol Toyota (in Salem) -- they'd said from now on, it's at least $500 on top of MSRP (maybe that's the delivery & processing fee?) He deals with Capitol almost exclusively for Toyota deals, because they don't horse around with him.
  
• Very glad I rented a Prius for a weekend back in September. No fumbling around when I got into the car for the first time, and no hesitation in explaining to the people on the lot how the SmartKey system works, etc. (Particularly since this was not a Toyota dealership I was picking it up at.) Well worth the $$.
  
• In the final analysis -- how long do you wait vs. how much does it cost -- this was a perfect deal if cost was the primary or sole reason. As many folks have pointed out, I could have got it in sooner, by shopping around or hitting up Moses Lake or Montana. But I greatly doubt I could have gotten it cheaper, or with less hassle.
  • 
    My to-do list includes doing any number of searches on PriusChat for various things that pop into my tiny pea-like brain. I'm looking forward to when I have the time to write some stuff too -- I'm donating my wonderful old '87 Civic Hatchback to charity, and thought I could get a thread out of that.
    [hr:a331cb7d89]
    Sigh. I think we can close this thread, folks. Whoopeee!!!