New Prius T3S

[Chris Dance]

I received a phone call from the local dealer today. He stated new Prius cars are in short supply but they have five new Prius T3s at special rates for sale. He realised I have a 2014 model Prius but said if I could recommend a customer and they purchased one of the T3s I would get £50. He stated that the Prius is a best seller. Has any other member had a similar phone call from their local dealer? The salesman seemed to suggest they were the only dealer making this special offer!

[FROSTYBALLS]

Don't think its a special offer as such. For years dealers have offered introduction fees to customers who refer a colleague, family member, etc and it results in a sale. Just another variation on a sales ploy - contact previous customers and ask whether they know someone who may be interested in a new car.

I remember 'earning' a similar fee back in 1988 ....

[PeteB]

Not that generous either - in about 1973 a British Leyland dealer offered me £50 if a colleague I introduced bought an Austin Maxi - he didn't buy one though.

[Chris Dance]

The dealer did tell me the T3s were a special low price. If as he told me the Prius is in short supply I doubt the cars will be around too long on the low price they are offered at. I notice more and more taxis in this area are Toyota Prius.

[Devon Aygo]

Prius is not in short supply however with a new model due early next year Toyota will start to reduce pre-orders on the cars meaning some cars may be a factory order now rather than be in transit or in stock therefore increasing order lead times also Toyota will be offering current stock models to dealers for a reduced cost if they take X amount of them. It sounds like your local dealer group have ordered a bulk batch of T3 Prius ( no such car as a T3S? ) which they are offering at a reduced cost

[Grumpy Cabbie]

I think it depends on a definition of short supply. I'm sure there are many thousands ready to be built. The trouble is that fewer and fewer UK customers are buying them new. Personally I'm not surprised considering they're £22k for a base t3 and I paid £17.5k only 5 years ago. That's one hell of an increase.

So demand is there for the car, just not at the prices Toyota are now asking. A couple years ago I was offered £4,700 trade in on my car with £60k miles on it. I have recently been offered £7,500 for it with 83k. That's with it being an ex taxi! Taxi drivers are converted to the car, just not the new price.

One wonders why Prius sales have plummeted? I think last year Toyota barely sold 2,500 - including the PIP. In 2010 they sold 10,300. People want the car, they really do, but they're also not stupid and aren't going to pay BMW money for a Toyota. You can buy the luxury branded Lexus CT200h base model for less than the Prius, so it's nothing to do with currency issues either.

Toyota UK don't want the Prius to sell - can't see any other reason and to confirm, you'd be hard pushed to see one in a show room these days.

Oh, and are the rumours on the US Priuschat forum true? Is the gen3 the last Prius to be sold in non plug in form in the UK? I've heard tell the gen4 won't be coming to Europe.

[johalareewi]

On 28 Feb I was at our Toyota dealer. The showroom and outdoor sales area were awash with 15 reg's ready to go on the 1 march.

Lots of hybrid yaris and auris. Even auris touring sports but no PIP and only 1 prius.

[cbcdesign]

Yeah, pricing is a big put off in my book. The competition are now offering very good alternatives for less money per month which more than makes up for the increased fuel consumption with some left over and some of the alternatives are a lot more fun to drive too. There is a point at which the price is just too high despite the economy and whilst I am prepared to relinquish raw performance in a comfortable well appointed car, I am not prepared to do so at just any price.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Just out of interest I've had a look at Toyota list prices from 2012 (still have a copy of the August 2012 Toyota price list) and compared them to current list prices (taken from Toyota GB website):

Prius T3 - 2012 £21600, 2015 £21995

Prius T4 - 2012 £23335, 2015 £23745

Prius T-Spirit - 2012 £24910, 2015 £25295

Auris

2012 T4 89g £20535 (first generation)

2015 Icon hybrid £20645

2012 T4 £20800 (first generation)

2015 Icon Plus hybrid £21545

2012 T-Spirit £22360 (first generation)

2015 Excel hybrid £22890

Also the first generation Auris hybrid went on sale from May 2010, so up til then the Prius was the only Toyota hybrid on sale within the UK and Europe - and lower prices may have reflected this.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

You've spent time finding these prices so why stop at 2012? Keep going back a year a two and see the massive leap from £17,500 for the base Prius in late 2009/early 2010.

The large increase just happened to coincide when the Auris hybrid was released. Maybe they couldn't make the Auris HSD cost effective so had to bump up the Prius price, despite the latter having import duties?

As others have said, other manufacturers now have reasonably economical vehicles for signficantly less than the hybrids with the benefit of cheaper parts too. At the other end, plug in hybrids from other manufacturers are around the same price as the t-spirit but with added tax and fuel economy benefits.

Toyota need to be careful.

[MEP's Yaris GS]

At the other end, plug in hybrids from other manufacturers are around the same price as the t-spirit but with added tax and fuel economy benefits.

Toyota need to be careful.

Care to expand on this, again when I last checked there is not another plug in that will beat the PiP fuel economy in HV mode that is either a direct or indirect competitor.

Outlander does around 30-35MPG at best in HV only Vs the PiP doing 60-65MPG in the winter and 75-80+MPG in the summer in HV on a good run.

The only benefit some of the other Plugins have is a slightly better EV range, but as an overall package for someone doing reasonable mileage the PiP will still floor them in over all petrol use (or lack there of), but running costs such as tyres etc.

[FROSTYBALLS]

You've spent time finding these prices so why stop at 2012? Keep going back a year a two and see the massive leap from £17,500 for the base Prius in late 2009/early 2010.

The large increase just happened to coincide when the Auris hybrid was released. Maybe they couldn't make the Auris HSD cost effective so had to bump up the Prius price, despite the latter having import duties?.

As I said I just happened to still have 2012 price list - actually from when I bought my current car. No interest in going back further.

As regards the Prius price increase in 2010, whether Toyota sold the Prius prior to the Auris hybrid at a low price to encourage take up, we shall not know. It would obviously be a nonsense for any manufacturer to sell a larger, almost D segment sized car ( the Prius has the same size wheelbase as the Avensis) for less than their C segment offering.

[PeteB]

I do agree the Prius price seems harder to justify these days, but to be fair, when the 2012 revision came out, they did add a few things to the T3 spec, which would almost certainly have increased the manufacturing costs. To name a few, and I may need a bit of correction here (relying on my ageing brain!):

• Multi-Function DIsplay in centre console (just had narrow LCD radio display on T3 before, like one for H&V)
• stiffer chassis, improved suspension (all models)
• Daytime Running Lights
• Reversing camera
• power-folding heated door mirrors
• "updated upholstery"

Not sure if I missed anything.

The Outlander would have appealed in my case (on paper at least - driving one might have changed my mind), but without the option of having usable boot space AND a spare tyre, it's an absolute no-no for me, and I didn't even go to look at one.

I did like the sound of the flappy paddles giving five (I think) user-selectable levels of regenerative braking, The EV range would mean that only about 2 days in an average month would I need to burn any petrol at all, even if the miles per volt (so to speak) is not as good as the Prius. This would more than offset the worse mpg on the odd longer run. Of course, other peoples usage pattern may shift the breakeven point significantly.

Too, the thought of nearly bullet proof drivability if we got a really harsh winter (especially on winter tyres) appeals a lot.

My problems (amongst other!) are:

1. I've got so used to digital displays I won't consider going back to pre WW2 technology (had an Auris Hybrid for a day last week while my car was in for MoT and having summer tyres put back on, and thought the tiny dials with hard to see 30/50 mph marks were ghastly!)
   
2. Also got used to a Heads Up Display, and now would hate to be without that too

I will await the Gen 4 Prius with interest, but if that doesn't tick enough boxes will be happy to stay with my Gen 3 for many years unless/until something else comes along that takes my fancy.

[Chris Dance]

Our 2014 Prius T Spirit has the improvements Pete has pointed out plus a few others on the T-Spirit. I think it is slightly better than our previous 2011 model. I will never buy any car without a spare wheel. and I agree the HUD is something once you have had you do not want to do without. The local dealer informs the Gen 4 will be here next year, I await with interest what the Gen 4 will be like. As I mentioned before the salesman stated to me that Toyoya new cars will not have a spare wheel!!!!! I will keep my gen 3 for at least 3 years and longer if the Gen4 to qoute Pete "does not tick the boxes".

Perhaps not relevant to this thread but thought I would mention it: My neighbours Chrysler (Vauxhall) has had 3 recalls in as many months. The latest one is for brake hoses. There has been no mention of these recalls in the media. If Toyota cars get recalls the media advertise it in every way possible!!

[cbcdesign]

You can but head up displays as aftermarket devices. The good ones for Hybrids use GPS for measuring speed. I bought one a while back when I was considering getting the Auris Touring Sport which didn't have an HUD option and have been testing it in my Prius ever since.

[kithmo]

You can but head up displays as aftermarket devices. The good ones for Hybrids use GPS for measuring speed. I bought one a while back when I was considering getting the Auris Touring Sport which didn't have an HUD option and have been testing it in my Prius ever since.

Or you can download a free app for your smartphone and stick the phone on the dash on one of those slip proof mats.

[cbcdesign]

Very true! I have an app too and its very good, really accurate with nice big numbers and very clear but a bit less convenient to use than a dedicated HUD.