tourvel

Tomorrow morning, I meet a friend who will write me a check for my old '94 Saturn SL2, and then drive me down the road the dealership where my new SCION will be ready for me!

xB Automatic Black Cherry Pearl
Cruise Control, 6 CD sound system
door-sill enhancements
exterior carbon fiber appliques
auto-dimming rear-view mirror with compass
cargo cover and net

I have already ordered and will soon self-install:
leather steering wheel cover in maroon
K&N Typhoon Cold Air Intake

I am considering getting the Euro taillight lenses, I think they look very cool.

This is the first car I have ever ordered from scratch, and it has been a blast. I had originally wanted (and put a $500 deposit on!) a Prius from a different dealership, but the salesguy was not straight with me about how long it would take to arrive. I ordered it back in mid-December, and the guy told me my car would arrive sometime in March. He led me to believe I was ordering it from the factory, and it would arrive exactly the way I ordered it.

My friend (who is expecting her first child) agreed to buy my old Saturn from me-- for considerably more than a dealer would offer, so I was happy about that. I promised her she could take delivery of the car no later than March 15, which is one week before her due date. I figured even if my Prius wasn't in by then, I could survive without a car for a couple of weeks.

As March neared, I started calling the dealership, and asking the guy if he could give me a more specific date of arrival. He hemmed and hawed, and said "it may be more like late March, early April." He sang this song all through January and February. When March rolled around, I called again, and this time I lucked out because it was Mr. Liar's day off, and I got to talk to his supervisor, who gave me some startling information.

Getting a Prius is like winning the lottery. Literally.

You order the color and options package you want-- in my case, a green #1. The dealership puts you on their list with a note of what you "ordered." Then-- because demand is outstripping supply in a BIG way-- the dealership sits back and waits to see what cars trickle in. They usually get 1 Prius every 3 to 4 weeks. They don't know what color/package they're going to get until it shows up.

When the Prius arrives-- say it's a silver #6-- the dealer goes down their list until they find the first person who ordered a silver #6. That person gets the car.

This means, theoretically, I could have been waiting forever for a green #1 that would never arrive. It's all a big gamble.

A lottery.

Well, I was pretty ____ed when I finally got the straight story. Had the salesman been upfront with me in December when I put down my deposit, I would never have promised my Saturn to my pregnant friend. Since babies wait for no car, I knew I had to deliver the Saturn when I said I would. That gave me and husband about two weeks to shop for, buy, and take delivery of another car.

My husband was so angry, he wanted nothing to do with anyone or anything at any Toyota dealership anywhere. But I talked him out of that, and, after 10 days of frantic researching and test-driving and comparing and mulling, we finally decided on the Scion xB.

Which, of course, means that this story has a very happy ending. I get more and more excited about my new Scion with every passing hour, and I doubt very much if I will be able to sleep tonight!

You know, I bet those Priuses make the chocolate taste terrible. :D

CBSIMONSEZ

Congrats on your new addition. Hopefully those of us waiting for our special orders will recieve them soon, so that we may have the one sleepless night, knowing the next day will bring us our Scions.

ahurdl01

the priuses are nice, but every place i went had a wait list 4-5 months long. The dealers arent selling many camrys cause the priuses are better in every way.

DibujoB

Say what? Dealers are selling maybe 4 or 5 prius a month, simply because that's all we're getting! They're not making them fast enough. If I had 100 Prius on my lot, I'd probably sell all 100 of them by the end of the day because of the demand, but the fact of the matter is there aren't any to sell.

Camry is the number 1 selling car in America, and we probably sell 50 Camry's for every Prius.

You're right though, the Prius is an awesome car. I just wish I had more of them in my inventory.

Scions are cooler than the Prius though

Congrats on your purchase!

DJ_X_Trodinaire

congrats to you!

MicroMachine04

I had this same problem but with a Scion xB. The dealership promised me one that they couldn't get. They kept saying "next week". Finally I went somewhere else and got one. It's the greatest car in the world. I love it. If the first dealership would have said they couldn't get it I would have picked a different one and they wouldn't have lost the sale. They couldn't be honest. Some salespeople have BIG problems with that. Anyway, congrats to you and your Scion. Happy driving!

NemoBronsky

That was the best quote I've seen in a while. Makes me feel all ***** wonkaly.

Guest

ditto! :D welcome to the club!

2fixA

good to see a happy ending to a not so happy story.. I ran into the same issue with my xA... led me to believe it was just waiting for me on the back lot... then I started looking over paper work and the Berkeley guy was like "Uh, it'll be at least 10 days until we can get it for you" B.S. I called Ron Goode Toyota in Alameda, he picked me up in Berkeley (my car was stolen, no transport other than my longboard) and helped me w/ the paperwork and then the next day delivered my car to me! that's service, he picked it up off the Vallejo? ports and drove it extra hard (I told him to, break in) and came to a hauling ___ stop in my parking lot at work.. some good, some bad, depends on what the dice bring you I suppose

tourvel

And I LOVE it!

I've already been stopped by three strangers on the street: "What IS that??"

After taking another look at the stock taillights, I think it's worth another $275 for the Euros. I really don't like the stock ones. And I think I'll add the rear-bumper applique while I'm at it.

I can just SEE all that money flying out the window, but the hell with it-- this is fun! I've never in my life tricked out a car before. The Prius could not possibly have been this much fun.

George

I want the best of both worlds! an xB body with the Prius drivetrain! Lots of room under the rear of an xB for the battery pack, and we already share the same basic engine!

George <-- Dreaming of 60MPG city in a box

TheScionicMan

It would only be the best of both worlds if it got 60 MPG and still cost the same as an xB. Do you know how many miles you're gonna have to drive to make up the purchase price difference for the hybrid? It doesn't add up for me, even at 2 bucks a gallon...