First I have to explain that I have been on the buyers list with a $1000 deposit for 3 years by choice. Three years ago in October, my son was home from school and for fun we went to Herb Chambers in Brighton to test drive some cars. We tested the Prius, loved it but didn't need a new car at the time. Since the wait at that time was over a year, I decided to put down a deposit and think about it. For about a year after there was no word from them. then they started calling every couple of months. I always gave them reasons to pass on the available Prius. For about a year they stopped calling at my request. Finally, this summer I decided to get one before the October 1st decline in tax credit. It took about three months to get what I wanted, package #4 HG (the lowest package with VSC vehicle stability control]) in Silver Pine Mica/Oak. I had limited room to bargain at this point because I wanted the car before October 1st. That said, they were selling for MSRP. I took possession yesterday and am happy with the car, its features, comfort but am overwhelmed with having a new car and worrying about scratches, dings and accidents. I always breathe a sigh of relief when the first small damage occurs. The dealership had been somewhat inattentive for several months after I called them in May and told them I seriously wanted a vechicle before October. About three weeks ago, they got two with HG package in silver and in magnetic grey. I asked if they could try and swap for the Silver Pine Mica and about two weeks later they called to say that they were getting another shipment with a car to my specifications. They were generally friendly helpful and negotiable on the additional options. I was easy as I didn't require financing and they took my personal checks. In retrospect, they didn't give me all the information I needed for the negotiation, namely I never saw the sticker until after the deal was concluded. There was a Z1 package included on the sticker for $264 which is definitely a rip. This is the preferred accessory package, carpet, floor mat and cargo mat, cargo net and first aid kit. If I knew I was paying for it, I would have tried to get them to include it or remove it. I also didn't realize that the spare was an undersized tire. I hate the concept and would have tried to get them to replace it with a full sized one. Any suggestions here? I opted for Toyota Care and the Extended Warranty which I will discuss below for which I was able to get them to match the internet price. If I didn't know they were available on-line, I wouldn't have been able to get as good a price on them. I didn't opt for tire and wheel protection ($395), Simoniz ($497), AntiTheft (995) or Venture Shield ($695) I decided not to get LoJack for reasons to be discussed below but they pushed me hard to buy it. As for the Toyota Care and Extended Warranty, prepaying for the routine service made sense to me because when I have a car on warranty, I always bring it to the dealer and have them do the required service anyway. Since it is never clear to me what is actually required to not void the warranty, I go by its letter. Second if any warranty work is discovered by them or requred, it gets done during the regular service visits. As for the extended warranty, I decided after much reading on this forum that the systems were new enough and expensive enough to service or replace that it made sense to have a longer warranty. This was combined with the fact that only Toyota is currently capable of servicing these cars and that I would be unlikely to find a garage outside of Toyota to do the work. Also I would like to either keep or pass along this car to my kids, so extended warranty makes sense. I decided to not get LoJack for the following reasons. First, it is only worth a $25 reduction in Insurance premium. Second, I checked out the rate of theft here. Surprisingly, Boston is now ranked 271 in auto theft. The cities with the ten highest rates of theft are in California and include Las Vegas at number 2. In terms of which models have the highest rates of theft, there are numerous Hondas, the Cadillac Escalade and surprisingly the Toyota Camry. Had I bought a Camry Hybrid, I would have probably opted for LoJack. So, I decided to take my chances on this one. They had offered two different LoJack packages, the more expensive one included notifications to telephone, email and a pager. The less expensive on which they initially offered at $595 and later dropped to $400 is the standard LoJack. I inquired at the dealer about swapping the tires. He claimed that the standard tires were the only ones they offer, and that if they are rotated regularly they perform well. I did't find them too noisy during my first trip yesterday. I drove the car from the dealership yesterday afternoon to my beach house a distance of 107 miles and averaged 48.6 mpg. I mostly drove between 60 and 65 mph except where conditions didn't allow and where the posted limit was 40 or 45 mph (about 12 miles). All systems are for the moment functioning well and it is roomy and comfortable for a car its size. I think I've said enough for now. Thanks too all who post here for the valuable information. Rich
