Tips On Ordering Gen 3 Prius

July 23, 2009

Ok, after a hell of day working out what's going on, I thought I'd pass on my info:

1. As described elsewhere, all dealers got an allocation of cars for July / August / September. Once those are sold they cannot get any more cars till the next allocation is made, probably October. Most cars are T-Spirits.

2. Some dealers are sold out, others still have cars left to sell. Ring around if you can't find a car.

3. If you order a car make sure you get an Order or Stock number. These numbers mean you have a car allocated to you.

4. Toyota GB initially estimated that leather interiors would take 4 weeks to apply and posted ETA dates accordingly. However they are taking on average just 1 week longer than a standard car. My leather equipped car ETA has reduced by 3 weeks.

5. Some dealers think the Toyota supplied leather interior is just the seats. This is not correct. A demo car at Longcross was configured this way but the demo car at MIRA and customer cars will have a full leather interior, with matching leather on the doors and drivers armrest.

6. The leather is applied in the UK for logistical reasons. If they didn't do this Toyota GB could only order cars with Leather in batches and so most people would have to wait along time for the next batch. Doing it this way means a cloth car can be converted to a leather car in approx 1 week, and is far more flexible. Toyota GB did this with the Gen 2 Prius as well.

7. Those that ordered non leather cars in June should have their cars this week or next. One dealer has already let 8 into the wild, with 3 more going out tomorrow.

8. Most popular colours seem to be pearl white, gray and silver in no order.

9. Finally, in the South of England at least, dealers are not giving discounts. They simply don't need too at the moment as they are selling their allocations without them.

July 23, 2009

Hi Wooski , we went for a test drive in the dealers pearl white T spirit demo today , our identical car arrives next wed or thur , we had ordered solar roof but this was gonna delay delivery until september and we couldn't wait till then so we went back to the standard pearl white T Spirit and get it in a few days.

Comments on the car after driving today, its simply stunning , I can see why the pearl white is so popular , it looks amazing and in my opinion the alcantara/suede interior looks great and feels great to sit on , the interior is very retro although i was surprised that the HUD can only be seen by the driver which is prob a good thing. Car drove brilliantly with great performance in power mode however when you go into eco mode the performance and responsiveness drop very noticably.

Leg room in the back is jaw dropping any adult of any size would be comfortable even with both front seats fully back. Handling is significantly improved from the previous model(my parents own a Prius 2) and the 17" alloys look great.

I would strongly recommend it to anyone thinking of buying and can't wait for ours to arrive , my wifes words after the test drive were 'can't we have this one' lol :D

July 24, 2009

Hi Wooski , we went for a test drive in the dealers pearl white T spirit demo today , our identical car arrives next wed or thur , we had ordered solar roof but this was gonna delay delivery until september and we couldn't wait till then so we went back to the standard pearl white T Spirit and get it in a few days.
Comments on the car after driving today, its simply stunning , I can see why the pearl white is so popular , it looks amazing and in my opinion the alcantara/suede interior looks great and feels great to sit on , the interior is very retro although i was surprised that the HUD can only be seen by the driver which is prob a good thing. Car drove brilliantly with great performance in power mode however when you go into eco mode the performance and responsiveness drop very noticably.
Leg room in the back is jaw dropping any adult of any size would be comfortable even with both front seats fully back. Handling is significantly improved from the previous model(my parents own a Prius 2) and the 17" alloys look great.
I would strongly recommend it to anyone thinking of buying and can't wait for ours to arrive , my wifes words after the test drive were 'can't we have this one' lol :D

So not tempted to wait until September for the "59" plate? I was going too but I know I couldn't wait it out knowing my car was at the dealer. I want my new toy!

July 24, 2009

We don't have quarterly plates in Northern Ireland the way you have in UK Mainland , cars here are just 08 or 09 etc. and the year is not shown in the plate (ours will start XKZ and then 4 numbers so it would make no difference for us to wait , the biggest problem for us is we sold the Rav about 6 weeks ago and my car is two door and with having two kids its a nightmare sharing my car , another two months would be all but impossible to cope with . Got a call today confirming car is on route to dealer so we will get it early next week , got reg number for it today . :)

July 24, 2009

We don't have quarterly plates in Northern Ireland the way you have in UK Mainland ,

Actually they only change twice a year, on 1st March and 1st September. We are currently on '09' plates, 1st September they change to '59'. 1st March next year '10' is due, then '60' on 1st September. The first two letters on the plate relate to the area where the vehicle was registered, the last three letters are just random.