Any Prius Owners Here?

We're thinking of buying a Toyota Prius and any advice on where to buy or negotiating the purchase would be appreciated. The car is in fairly high demand so it's my understanding that dealers don't have much incentive to lower prices much - is this true?

We were going to wait until our other car was paid off but with gas prices over $3.50 a gallon we're thinking it might make more sense to pay off the other car early and get the Prius now.

We'll be either selling or trading in a 1999 Honda Accord (not the car we're still making payments on) with about 90,000 miles on it, so if anyone would like to buy it (high school grad present?) let me know. It has no major dents or defects, just the basic dings from other car doors. The interior is pretty clean, too. Comes from a non-smoking home.

Thanks for any advice about the Prius!

 

DH got his at Leesburg Toyota. I know he negotiated the price down some and was happy enough with the experience. This is a man that loves to negotiate.

He loves the car, BTW. (so do I, when I'm not driving my mamavan)

 

Yes, we thought it would be ideal to wait until the 2009s come out but it really shocked me to see gas at Costco (usually the lowest price) at $3.50 earlier this week and then $3.57 yesterday! It made me stop and think about the benefits of buying one now, which is why I posted here.

Even though the Accord gets pretty good mileage, we have an 8 hour car trip (16 round trip) coming up soon and that also made me think twice about getting the Prius sooner rather than later. The difference in the cost of gas for the trip between the hybrid and our CRV was huge.
http://www.fuelcostcalculator.com/TripGasprice.aspx

As far as the actual purchase goes, I'm looking into the car buying program with AAA - they negotiate the price for you - and with Costco - they have specific dealers and employees to help you negotiate a good price.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll let you know if we make a move now and how it goes!

 

we just bought out '08 Camry Hybrid from Leesburg Toyota- my husband was able to negotiate over $2500 off between what they gave him on pay off and upgrades and pricing!! He went between them and Pohanka (since his Acura came from them) and got a great deal!!!

 

Count me in - food for thought. For 10K less you can purchase the Corolla and fair just as well for fuel and emissions, unless you plan to keep it for more than four years. Toyota makes the best vehicle.

 

We LOVE our Prius. We bought it 2 years ago and have never looked back. It's our car we do everything in and my husband's SUV hasn't seen the light of day in weeks. I bought it at a good time two years ago in Annapolis. I would definitely NOT recommend Koons Annapolis. They're really awful.

Last year, we went back to Leesburg Toyota to buy a second Prius, but there wasn't much budging there. It was actually impossible to find the exact car that we wanted so we walked away. Just less than a year ago, I helped my brother-in-law purchase a car there and we had a really good experience with Bob Thompson. Please tell him I sent you.

You will not regret your Prius!!

P.S. I've heard the same rumors that the Prius will be getting some new improvements and possibly better gas mileage on their 2009. It's worth looking into.

 

In that latest Nova "Car of the Future" program, they say that after you consider the extra energy and money used to produce a hybrid, you'll still net ~30% savings.

I'm waiting for mainstream Li-Ion or better batteries....

 

Make sure that you consider the extra cost over a comparable gas only. This is especially true when most of your driving is on the highway, where Hybrid's are NOT their most efficient.

 

well the property tax difference on gas only and hybrid is HUGE- $4.20 per $100 value on my SUV, and $.01 per $100 value on the Hybrid...niiiiiice!

 

We just watched that last night!

Diesel is an interesting option but you still have the emissions/pollution issue, don't you?

 

The primary use of they hybrid would be for commuting to DC. Naturally, part of that is highway, but with crappy traffic it won't drive like it! :eww:

 

Diesels are getting to be super clean and new regulations require them to be as clean as gas.

BTW - the new Jetta diesel may get up to 60mpg...

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=125935

 

A few auto websites are reporting that Toyota is expecting to launch a Lexus version of the Prius in the 2010-2011 timeframe. It should start appearing on the auto show circuit in 2009.

The Lexus is likely to have quite a few goodies not available on the Toyota version (like lithium-ion batteries instead of nickel-metal hydride). Also, there are a few concept photos circulating on how the new Lexus version would look, and it is looking pretty sharp.

http://www.autospies.com/news/Carbon-Copy-Lexus-To-Spawn-Prius-Clone-26886/

http://www.leftlanenews.com/lexus-b...ly-use-lithium-ion-batteries-illustrated.html

http://www.motortrend.com/future/future_vehicles/112_0804_future_lexus_hybrid

 

I would not be surprised if you prove to be right on this one. If any company could pull off getting lithium ion batteries into a mass market car, it would be Toyota. Still, it may make some marketing sense to put lithium ion in the Lexus version first and then have the technology trickle down to the Toyota sibling, as Toyota could begin converting to lithium-ion technology during a ramp up while phasing out nickel-metal hydride.

 

It cost $30 to get half a tank of gas in our Honda CR-V this weekend. And that's a car that gets pretty good mileage, not an 18 MPG vehicle. I want my 45 MPG car, even if it's not quite 45. I'd love the latest and greatest but don't want to wait until 2010. We're driving to SC soon and I don't want the gas to cost more than it does to fly there!