Trying to get on a list

No doubt there is some truth to what you said. I would say though that the larger majority of us buy Toyota because we hope that our vehicles will not have as many issues as other brands. Soon as Toyota vehicles begin to have a similar amount of mechanical issues as other brands and lose the reliability reputation they have, then a lot of people will go to other makes like Ford, Ram, and Chevy. We all know that we don't buy Toyota because of the comfort features and drivability, they are well behind other brands in that regard. Not saying there isn't that group though that will just buy Toyota no matter what the mothership puts out

 

Toyota makes the best vehicles.

 

Hate to break it to you, but that time has already happened

 

Boggles my mind that in 2023 cars from every maker don’t commonly go 200k with minimal repairs. It’s seems like every advancement has been directed at tech, marginal fuel savings and crash resilience. All important but how is it even possible for a company like Ford and Chevy, with all the engineering available to them to not produce components from motors to switches that are bulletproof. And Stellantis seems permanently lost.

 

Cars from nearly any maker today will go 200K+ miles with proper maintenance. I can't begin to tell you how many people I know with vehicles that have well past 200K+ miles, many of which are approaching 300K miles. Just a few examples from my immediate family:

• 2018 Colorado ZR2: 223,000 miles. Trans shudder (taken care of by dealer doing a fluid swap; and all is fine), routine maintenance, burns 1/2 qt oil every 5,000 miles. Daily driver, off road toy and vacation vehicle.
• 2016 Audi A6 3.0 supercharged: 198,000 miles. Routine maintenance, 100% zero issues.
• 2007 Ford Ranger: 280,000 miles. Trans was rebuilt at 275,000. Burns about 1 qt oil every 5,000 miles.
• 2000 Tacoma: 235,000 miles. Motor and trans are good. Burns about 1 qt oil every 3-5,000 miles. Body and frame look like swiss cheese from rust.
• 2004 Nissan Sentra: 261,000 miles. Routine maintenance. Trans issues at 239,000 issues; repaired and fine since then.
• 2014 Camry: 200,000 miles. Minor electrical gremlins. Routine maintenance.

It's not that my family is "extremely lucky" to get the miles out of vehicles that we do, it's just that we take care of them. I see so many used cars with a fraction of the above miles that look like they've never seen a car wash or had any maintenance done at all. Too many people are in the "It runs fine, why would I get the timing belt replaced?" camp, (just an example) and then wonder why their engine goes south when the timing belt breaks.

 

Gotta admit, you had me until Audi at 198k with zero issues.

 

It's a great car. My wife treats that car like it's her baby. I don't drive it often, but when I do, I love it. It's so damn fast and smooth.

 

My son sold his and bought a Tesla. I wanted to give him a good whipping.

 

I got on the list today for a ‘24 OR longbed at Cedar Park Toyota, who doesn’t do any add-on market adjustment fees.
$1000 deposit. It’s a no-risk deal for me because if I end up not liking the ‘24 I’ll just use that deposit toward a used late model Gen 3 on their lot instead. My youngest kid turns 16 early next year and is taking my old LX470 so I’ll need a new truck around that time no matter what.
The guy didn’t know exactly how many names are already on the list but
He said it’s in the vicinity of 50 last he looked.

 

I wonder how many people on the list are native Texans.

 

Knowing all the transplants over the last 30 years I would guess less than 30% are native Texans....but I know what you mean.

 

Born in Austin, raised in Austin. Just about had enough of Texas with its weather and various other reasons. I’m moving to the mountains as soon as my kids are out of the house and then I’ll be the transplant the locals are bitching about.

 

I'm on a list down here in FL for OR and Sport. Had to call 20 dealers, but the cheapest I could find was an $800 dealer fee and $900 required 'Toyoguard' junk package. Buying a Prius from them too.

 

Do you have it in writing that they aren't going to add in any mark up/dealer adjustment fees? Is it in writing that the price will not exceed MSRP? Is your deposit 100% refundable?

 

Cedar Park is well-known for this on this board and others. I don’t know if the deposit is refundable or not and it’s irrelevant to me because I’m buying a vehicle from them no matter what, be it a ‘24 Taco or something else.

https://www.toyotaofcedarpark.com/finance/car-buying-tips/no-dealer-markup/

 

It is 100% refundable. I'm buying that Prius next week so I guess I'll find out. I live three hours away, I was pretty clear with the guy I'll do the dealer fee and Toyoguard but anything else besides tax, tag and title and I'm out. They are a corporate store, if there is such a thing. So they are only interested in selling volume and getting allocations. I do need to do their financing and make payments for at least 5 months. Supposedly that gets them more allocations. I compared his claims with a Prius allocation spreadsheet I found online and they do get a ton of them compared to other dealers in the southeast.

He gave me a final invoice on the Prius, MSRP is $32k for my trim level, $1700 with dealer fee and Toyoguard tint/whatever, couple grand for tax tag and title and I'm OTD at $36k. I called stores up and down the eastern seaboard too, and this was the best deal I could find that would sell to me in FL.

 

I'm in SWNH shocked at what I saw at the dealership yesterday, not many vehicles, don't know how they stay in business.
trying to get on a list we'll see.
My choices will have to be changed, might not be able to find an Access Cab

 

I saw a lot of Tundras at the dealer last week. I went there twice in 2 days, looked like there were more on the 2nd day some of thosecmight have been Sequoias. They had some Tacomas but not that many. The local Ford lot had even more trucks than the day before. Nothing like years ago when every row was 3-5 trucks deep. The Ram dealer looked like they had Wranglers in the beds of the 1500s they had so many vehicles. I know deposits and mark ups, are the way to get the Toyota you want, and other manufacturers have the same BS. With the amount of inventory at some dealer brands today paying a deposit or ADM, does not make sense.

 

They are hiding vehicles offsite to keep profits up.

 

When I put a deposit down on my 2021 at the local Toyota dealership, we discussed any upcharges (none, straight MSRP).
Then the salesperson started sending me fact sheets on incoming inventory. I selected one.
They sent the window sticker, VIN, and final price mirroring the sticker along with the local tax and my deposit.
With the VIN number, you can go to Toyota.com and see where your chosen vehicle is in the mfg process.
It took just over 4 weeks, but I was impressed with the trouble free transaction.