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Alright, I thought I would call upon the collective knowledge around here and hopefully come out with a good view of how to proceed.

I am wanting to purchase a Prius for my wife. I've got around $10k I can put down, and would like the resultant payment to fall below $300 / month if possible. I don't need the car tomorrow, next week, or even next month, so I have plenty of time to order a new one.

Used Prius pricing seems to be all over the map. The option packages on the Prius are honestly pretty worthless to me. I'd like cruise control, so that demands option package #1. I've spoken with dealerships who say #2 and up is all that is normally made, so a #1 will likely take 5-6 months to make. That's fine.

MSRP on a new package #1 is $23,595. I have spoken with one dealership who promises to sell ordered Prius' at MSRP. Used Prius in the 04-05 with 60k mi range still seem to be selling for $18k-$21k depending on options. To me, the strong resale of the car seems to make buying used not as attractive. New, 0 miles, full warranty for only $5k more seems worth it.

I've never bought a new car. What hidden costs and fees do you run into?

Anyone buy a Prius lately and remember all the garbage?

Hi Ben:

___Wait for the Prius-III. Trust me, you will be glad you did.

___If your dealer is promising MSRP, place a few $’s down today and wait for the third gen hopefully in March/ April. Unfortunately, since they are in short supply, you can bet you will not find them in base form. The best thing that could happen is gasoline goes back to $2.00 a gallon and you can pick them up for a few hundred over invoice until the next price spike a few months afterwards.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

I'd take the leap. I'd do it all through the internet using AutoTrader.com or some other like site. The Used Prius market is dicey. With the value on these cars so high, they are getting re-assembled from crash sites and sold as used. Look for a "salvage title" and look for the VIN on all the major body pieces to make sure it hasn't been frankenstiened.

I don't know what the market for New Prius is like right now, but with work and patience you should get what your after. Just do it online through the internet/fleet sales team. Ask for all quotes in writing (email) and avoid telephone quotes. If you buy new, I'd also suggest buying sight-unseen. Just pay the $300 for them to drive it from their showroom to your house. Last car I bought I did over the internet, delivered 350 miles from dealer to my home, and I never once met the sales guy. Just took the keys signed the paper and it was done.

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Wayne,

It's tempting to wait for a Prius-3, but my expectation is they will not be available until later next year. The dealers say if I order now I will probably get an 09 model, which is still a Prius-2. The Honda hybrid is also tempting (Honda nut!) but the car will mainly be a city-mobile, where the Prius will likely still crush it.

Dan, there is a dealership about an hour away that says they will sell for MSRP on arrival. $500 deposit when ordering. When you order, you go on the waiting list. If a Prius comes in and nobody else on the list wants it, you get first shot at it. Everything seems kosher to me.

I'm more interested in knowing how to negotiate out of fees and bogus stuff they may try to throw in.

I'm more interested in knowing how to negotiate out of fees and bogus stuff they may try to throw in.Unfortunately the only real negotiating chip you have is "I'll close today". I would put yourself on the list for "any" vehicle (color=any, options=any). Problem with those lists is that they don't build to order. They get the cars and then see if there is anyone on the list that happened to pick that square. I'd get on a list, but I'd also ask what days of the week they get inventory. Then just cold-call them on those days and say "You got a Prius I could buy over the phone this evening?". I'd position your down payment so you could move it quickly. If they have one coming off the truck that day, you could buy it on the spot before they went through the process of calling everyone on the list. If they have a buyer on the phone, it saves them a few hours of calling list members.

I'm pretty sure that most dealers will sell a car on the spot even if there is a wait on it. Just easier for them to move it today, then to pull a buyer in for tomorrow. This is effectively exactly how we got or MMH. We waited on a list for 4 months, then got feed up and spent 3 days calling dealers. On day 3 a guy in San Antonio closed the deal over the phone a few hours after we called. The drove the car the next day and the bank took care of the rest.

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A whole truckload of white Prii whizzed by me in the 40mph zone yesterday.

I'm more interested in knowing how to negotiate out of fees and bogus stuff they may try to throw in.
Tell them you want the bottom line price in writing with all fees and taxes. Then look it over carefully before committing.

You can expect a dealer prep or processing fee of some sort (maybe with some different name) and state-mandated tax and titling fees. Comparison shop ahead of time with several dealers to get a handle on what the prevailing fee amounts are in your area. It doesn't have to be a Toyota dealer; dealer fees are not make-specific.

Be on the lookout for overpriced dealer add-ons like undercoating, pinstriping, or fabric protection. They are mostly dealer profit.

At closing, the finance or business manager will likely try to push things like an extended warranty and prepaid maintenance (more dealer profit). The latter is totally unnecessary -- Prius maintenance is simple and much of it can be DIY jobs. The extended warranty, if you even want it, can be bought much cheaper and any time before expiration of the 3-year/36 month factory warranty. The dealer probably will have it priced near $2K, but there's a fellow named Troy who sells the Toyota (not some third party) extended warranty on PriusChat for less than $1K.

Try to have financing arranged ahead of time. I had been pre-approved for a credit union loan before going to the dealer. Turns out, the dealer offered a financing package through Wachovia for a quarter percent lower interest rate, but that won't always be the case. If the dealer knows you're credit-worthy from the start and that they can move the car now, as Dan suggests, you may get more concessions from them.

If you're thinking about trading in your old car, expect to get hosed on that; the dealer won't offer you something they can't make a profit on. You're better off selling it outright.

Good luck!

If you order, specify that you: DO NOT WANT ANY DEALER ADDED OPTIONS! Some will say, "I thought you needed the special coating, etc for ONLY $999!" You have 2 efficient autos and if I didn't have to have one, I would wait until March or April.

Baby is coming in March at the latest. We may be able to deal with getting a car seat in and out of an Echo, but my wife has a neck injury from an accident a couple years back that makes it difficult for her to load / unload the backseat by herself, so getting something a little more spacious and accessible before the baby comes may be necessary.

Waiting for a 2010 model is tempting, but they go into production in April. That probably means they will reach dealerships next summer, and who knows how long the waiting lists will become at that point.

Anyone have a Prius-II around Nashville that we can test drive? I promise I won't ruin your tank. ;)

I actually got to drive a Prius yesterday for the first time. Great experience! The car is so ridiculously easy to crank some FE out of in the city compared to the Insight. Just 1 mi after jumping in it I was already over 70 mpg avg.

We decided buying new isn't the best fit for our budget / needs, so we're looking used. This particular Prius is an '04 model, 66k mi, Seaside Blue. It's probably a pkg #2 by my estimation. The tires are toast too. They are asking $18,800 but I have a feeling that's at least $1k more than I want to pay. At least I can always walk, no hurry to buy.

Will be negotiating this afternoon, wish me luck!

Best of luck to you, Ben!

$18,000- a bit high, but not unexpected I guess.
If you could wait that would be best. If the price of gas comes down to maybe $3.50 then used Prius will be more reasonably priced and the new ones won't have that $4000 adjusted market value BS.

Of course, sometimes you just can't wait.

Luck,
Charlie

Anyone have a Prius-II around Nashville that we can test drive? I promise I won't ruin your tank. ;)

You can drive mine.

I actually got to test drive the one I'm looking at already, very excited about how easy it is in the city compared to the Insight. :)

Well, my new (to me!) 04 Prius is in the drive. Negotiations ended at $18.3k, down from $19.9k. Needs new tires and a little bit of cleaning, but nothing major. Car has 66k mi.

My first time out, I started with 1 bar SoC and the A/C on. Result was 44 mpg / 10 mi and a SoC of 6 bars coming out.

Trip home was much more downhill, at night, A/C off. 69 mpg / 10 mi. Round trip total of 56.5 mpg / 20 mi. EPA ownage on the first try. My wife absolutely loves it, and I gotta say it's very nice. The Insight still seems easier to wring crazy mpg from it, especially at speed, but everything's got a learning curve. I may have to trade her cars for a couple weeks and get the hang of it.

You'll be owning in that prius in no time. It took me 4 months before I really figured it out but i had never driven a hybrid before.

Now it just depends on how many mpg i want and my wife will tolerate.

Fantastic! That's a song! To actually get a Prius these days is amazing, to get it below bluebook is unheard of!

Retail KBB = 18.37k (your $70 below KBB).

Can't wait till you get some of the break-in going. I STRONGLY recommend that you get the factory EV switch or a radio-shack version and stay away from the coastal-tech version. The 3 second delay will kill you since the EV button serves as a type of hyper-miler emergency engine off while pulsing. If I get cut off on a pulse I reach for the EV button about at the same speed my foot reaches for the brakes.

Also get the block heater. It's just a totally different car with an instant EV button and block heater. Talk to Jud about grill blocks. He's got the cleanest one I've ever seen!

And also learn how to lock your car while it's running. That's a crucial Prius survival skill. Also go ahead and schedule a Mobil-1 0w-20 oil change. There is about an 80% chance that the Prius is running with too much oil (over the over-full line on the dipstick). If you change it your self, add 3 quarts, then check the level. Add the last quart a half pint at a time till your between the low and high hashes. For me it usually comes out to 3.25 quarts. It will hold 3.75 if they drain the oil for about a half hour, but that rarely happens.

Now for the new Prius owners quiz. Find all cup holders and storage compartments in your Prius and sum the totals. You should come up with 14

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Yeah, the dealer told me I got a good deal on it. I feel like it still could have been cheaper, but I'm comfortable with what I paid. I plan on picking up an OEM EV button from Sigma, as well as a couple other little baubles that I like, sidemarkers, door sills...

Oh, and it's Seaside Blue. Not my first choice in color, but it's growing on me.

Block heater will probably end up on it as soon as temps take a dive. The hybrid effects grill looks pretty slick once painted, might have to spring for that.

Lock while running? I didn't check, is there not a power lock switch?

A full fluid change is planned, and I do all of my own maintenance. It will get M1 and a transaxle fluid change, since I don't think it was performed with the 60k service. I may flush the coolant too if I'm really bored.

Going through the paperwork, looks like the last owner purchased the car as a Toyota Certified Used Car and got the 100k mi warranty / roadside agreement. The card says it is transferable, yay! Just need to call and verify.

Cupholders and storage compartments, eh? Without cheating...

1 - Upper Glove Box
1 - Lower Glove Box
2 - Cupholders in front of armrest
2 - Cupholders behind armrest
1 - Storage compartment in armrest
1 - Luggage box in back

Sheesh, I can only think of 8. LOL.

Off to work in the Insight.

Yeah, the dealer told me I got a good deal on it. I feel like it still could have been cheaper, but I'm comfortable with what I paid. I plan on picking up an OEM EV button from Sigma, as well as a couple other little baubles that I like, sidemarkers, door sills...Awesome. I can walk you through if it makes you nervous.Block heater will probably end up on it as soon as temps take a dive.NOOOO! EBH must be run all year round. Read up on the Prius stage transitions. For my weekly run to work I use 20 oz of gas over 13 miles yielding 85 MPG if I don't heat the block. The first 60 seconds of S1 burns about 2 oz of gas. So 10% of the gas I use for my 45 minute commute is burned up in the first 60 seconds. Now if I use a block heater, I can reduce those 2 oz burned to less than 1. That bumps my MPG up my 5% or more right off the bat.Lock while running? I didn't check, is there not a power lock switch?if the car is running the Prius will prevent you from locking your keys in the car. You hit the lock then it immediately unlocks. Without thinking about it, there isn't a way to lock the car while your out of it and it's on. The trick is to use the mechanical key and mechanically lock it.Cupholders and storage compartments, eh? Without cheating...

1 - Upper Glove Box
1 - Lower Glove Box
2 - Cupholders in front of armrest
2 - Cupholders behind armrest
1 - Storage compartment in armrest
1 - Luggage box in back

Sheesh, I can only think of 8.Yep you've missed two of the secret compartments as well as some fairly obvious ones. Got all the cup holders though ;). Keep checking... and CMPG'rs... Don't spill the beans. I'll post the answer if you cry Uncle :D

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Blah, I drove the Insight to work, my wife has the Prius. No way of looking for more storage spots. She reports that her trip to the physical therapist this morning was a 59.6 mpg / 30 mi trip... not bad for only her second drive! I'd assume she used the A/C as well, it's hot out there...

I've got no reservations about installing the EV button, wiring, any of that jazz. Way too much mechanical / electrical background at this point to be worried about something that small. ;)

Have you enquired about leasing? Minimum down and lease rates for 4 years shouldn't be much more than $350/m.

xcel suggested early in the thread to wait for the model change, but since overwhelmed by yeasayers. :)

I think that if the next model appeals to you, the current could be sold with little if any depreciation. Just show your prospects your mpg logs.

DAS

Cupholders and storage compartments, eh? Without cheating...

1 - Upper Glove Box
1 - Lower Glove Box
2 - Cupholders in front of armrest
2 - Cupholders behind armrest
1 - Storage compartment in armrest
1 - Luggage box in back

Sheesh, I can only think of 8. LOL.OK... there are 2 in the trunk. The small box and the big box.

There is also the little spot under the stereo, and the sunglass holder above the rear-view.

One big pocket in each door, and a super secreat drawer under the armrest (look for it).

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OK... there are 2 in the trunk. The small box and the big box.

There is also the little spot under the stereo, and the sunglass holder above the rear-view.

One big pocket in each door, and a super secreat drawer under the armrest (look for it).

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I have since found all of these ;)

My wife was shocked when I showed her the one under the armrest yesterday.

And our has the 6 disc changer, so there is no spot under the stereo.