Has anybody ever used this? It looks like a pretty sweet deal...

I did when I bought my Tundra. It's similar to Carsdirect.com. I got a very sweet deal and zero stress. You eliminate the haggling and normal dealership BS, deal directly with the non-floor sales dept. and guaranteed lowest price including all incentives. Only catch is the dealer needs to be a part of the program (most are).

I got my '09 Tundra for around $6K below MSRP last summer.

That is awesome! Partly because I want a Tundra too, but nevertheless. Did you have to wait a while before your truck showed up, or did the dealer happen to have what you wanted?

USAA didn't have any dealers in my area when I wanted to get my current car. So I took the printed quote from USAA to a closer dealer and they gave me the same price. It just added a few minutes of easy conversation with the salesmen.

Only had to wait a day or two because they shipped my truck from Denver. Got exactly what I wanted.

BTW... the incentives for Toyota's are crazy good in allot of regions this month. Some are even doing down payment matching up to $3k + 0% financing for 60mos! Depends on where you buy. This is the time to buy, Toyota is trying to boost sales after the recent bad publicity.

And they still haven't found the cause of the problem or the whole list of cars that might be affected, so your purchase may turn into an SGLI cash out for your family. But hey they matched an extra $3000's for you. /sarcasm

Seriously though I'm sure your good with the trucks, but personally I'm staying the hell away from a Prius right now. After this latest incident near San Diego this week I'm sure if they offered me a Prius again like I got when I was on my PTDY in San Antonio a couple weeks ago, I'd definitely refuse it this time.

Here we go with this crap again..... Couldn't resist could you?


WELL, that is kind of a DICK thing to say don't you think? Sacarsm disclaimer or not. And yes they did find the list of affected cars... it includes every car driven by people that don't know how to properly operate a motor vehicle!

Believe the media hype if you want I have not experienced this elleged problem in my Tundra and feel very safe driving my family in it.


Did you even watch the interview of that guy in SD? He was a total scammer. For allot of reasons actually not the least of which is the fact that the prius is NOT even effected by the pedal or mat problems in the first place. I smell another balloon boy scandle coming out of this.

Keep watching the news it will come out. The techs and engineers that examined that guy's car have already raised the BS flag. He is looking for a payout nothing more.

BTW what do you drive? I will be happy to look up the list of recalls and Service Bulletins associated with it. Every car from every manufacturer has recalls every year.

I am using the car buying service right now though I am waiting for a better deal on a sienna.

How did you get them to match the down payment of 3k? I would love to get a deal like that.

I didn't get that deal but some guys on my Tundra forum reported getting that this month. Might have been a local dealer thing though too. the Incentives all depend on what region and what vehicle you are purchasing. Have you looked at the Toyota website offers from your zip code? Even the dealer guys on the forum say they have never seen incentives like the owns being offered by Toyota this month.

I guess I should have put the eye rolls with the sarcasm. It was meant to sound dickish, in fact in line with something Lifeline would say. But I didn't mean it personally or in a way other than humorous jab at saving 3K would be worth your life if you believe the hype.

I'll admit I had no idea this SD guy was looking like a scammer. Living in the Southern California area I haven't heard anything like that. but I don't doubt what you're saying. This situation lends itself to be ripe for the picking from idiots like that.

I also seriously was not intending to ellude that the trucks are having problems. But I have been watching enough of this stuff to realize I don't want a car that has computer controlled acceleration. Why does it need to be? Unless of course your vehicle runs off of electricity as a means of forward momentum. I'm staying away from Hybrids in general for that reason alone.

For the record I don't believe the hype but with Toyota's current public image you should be getting huge deals from them in order to buy a new vehicle, mainly because their resale value and ability to hold value is going to drop through the floor.

----------EDIT-------------------------
I'm not finding any credible leads as to the San Diego Prius incident being a hoax. I've seen a lot of forum chit-chat but nothing from a reputible news source. In fact the Reuters article I just looked at had a correction done today saying that the 2008 Prius is in fact involved in the floor mat recall sweep which also includes models up to 2009.


http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN092 ... arketsNews

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-t ... ?track=rss

Also for the record you come off a bit dickish when you say it's solely the drivers inability to handle their vehicle. Considering that so many people have died in accidents relating to this flaw/problem. Especially considering it was just last year that a Police officer and his wife, daughter and brother in law all died in the Cajon Pass area due to this problem. If it was so simple to be able to deal with it I'm sure an experienced veteran of law enforcement would have been able to prevent his family's demise.

What did Edmunds.com say, or didn't you check that? No one pays MSRP unless it is for a Bentley or something like that. You might have gotten a good deal or maybe not. Unless you know the "factory" invoice (price dealership paid the factory) you don't know how well you did.

But I guess the real test is whether or not you are heppy with what you paid. And it sounds like you are, so that is what really matters.

My next vehicle will likely be a Toyota. I think the woman in NY is full of sh*t, just like the SD guy.

First off I apologize to the OP for us derailing your thread.

However..........


Again what car do you drive? What year?

Computer controlled acceleration is called "drive by wire" which means there is no direct mechanical connection between the accelerator pedal and the engine. It works instead by sensors in the pedal detecting the position of the pedal and sending that electrical signal to the ECU which also controls almost all driving functions of the car in including the engine braking and transmission. It is a very efficient system and MOST MODERN VEHICLES FROM ALL MANUFACTURERS USE ECUs AND SOME TYPE OF DBW. It is not a new technology. It is tried and true. In fact many auto manufacturers use the same parts from the same suppliers. Ford even recalled vehicles with pedals made by the same company (CTS indiana) that Toyota used when they recalled the pedals but nobody saw that because of all the new coverage of Toyota. Flavor of the week just like Ford was during the "Exploder" years. Even then it was not the vehicles but the OEM tires combined with driver error/mistakes that cause so many fatalities.

I think people get confused that all recalls are the same. It has never been proven that there is an electrical problem with any of these vehicle because the engineers have not been able to repeat it in a controlled environment. When they examine the cars that people claim had problems that cause crashes they do not find anything. That is why they were so quick to check out the SD guy's car.

3 separate problems that are in no way related to each other:
1. floor mats in some cars get stuck on accelerator (this has happened to every car I've ever own when the mats are not properly fastened to the floor like they are supposed to be. Fix: replace floor mats

2. stuck gas pedal. - Over time and wear some pedals manufactured for Toyota by CTS develop excess friction causing them to stick in position. Very very rare and not an electrical problem. fix: install friction shims to relieve possible excess friction.

3. Brakes in Prius - Don't know enough about this recall but I do know that it had nothing to do with accelerator problems such as the SD guy claimed.

Now I'm not trying to say there isn't a problem or couldn't be nor am I defending Toyota just trying to clear the facts because the media does a piss poor job of it. I will be the first to admit in some ways Toyota has declined in quality over the last few years bringing some vehicles DOWN to the level of the big 3 in quality and fit and finish. I think this whole incident was a wake up call for Toyota who made there name based on high quality and reliability. look for a return to excellence over the next few years.

Oh yeah and yes it may sound dickesh to say people do not know how to drive but then again it may just be the truth. I refuse to believe that a competent person operating any vehicle IF it did have an uncontrolled acceleration problem (short of sabotage) and could not get it to stop. It's just not realistic.

MY first reaction would be to
1. hit the brakes
2. shift into neutral
3. engage the emergency brake.
4. turn off the engine.

#1 should be enough to slow the vehicle due to the fact that when all 4 wheel brakes are engaged the braking systems do have the power to overcome the engine. Either way any one of the items above would cause the vehicle to slow down and eventually stop. If you do not know how to accomplish any of these procedures you do not belong behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. Just my opinion.

Now as it relates to the SD douche bag. He claims to have been traveling at 50 - 90+ mph for 20 min. He said he used both feet to depress the brake and it did not slow the car? Yeah right probably one on the gas and one on the brake! He also claims to have attempted to manually lift the accelerator pedal with his hand which didn't work either. Really? at 90mph your reaching down with your hand to move the accelerator pedal? come one. IDIOT! He claims the Emergency brake didn't work either. The emergency brake isn't even electrical!!!!! Its mechanical which is why its for emergencies! Though during the course of this high speed 20 mins he was able call 911? come one if there was a legitimate problem he could have turned off the vehicle or shifted to neutral ( he claims to have tried but I don't buy that)
There are just too many holes in his story.

It's cool Ripcord, I'll try to get this thread back on track....

So here's my situation. I'm currently deployed and I'm due to PCS a couple months after I get back. I would like to be able to get it worked so that I could buy this truck and have it waiting for me when I get to wherever I PCS to. Do you think the dealer would do something like that?

ENCS could but I don't think the sell Toyota's. You'd have to set up the USAA deal based on the zip of where you are headed. It would be tougher for you because you would still have to deal with the dealer over the phone. This kind of thing I like doing in person. Of course in my situation it only took like a few hours then the truck was there a few days later. If you can wait a few days after you PCS to get he car you should be OK. Also remember cash talks and BS walks. if you do deal over the phone you need to send some money to the dealer to have them hold the car. even then they may not hold it for long because someone else can buy it outright. they need to make months sales goals and will not hold onto a vehicle for months.

My plan was to contact the dealer about 1-2 weeks out. I figured if I at least gave them a down payment it would be fine.

You may be able to swing this. Just remember that the car business operates by month. this means many things. 1. you can sometimes get a better deal towards the end of the month if the dealership hasn;t sold enough cars. 2. the incentives are based on the month so in order to get the incentives for that month you need to take delivery by the end of the month.

Good luck! Hope you get the vehicle you are looking for. I will say it again. I am extremely happy with my Tundra and believe it is the best 1/2 ton pickup in the market right now. Especially with the 5.7L V8!

I also apologize for my major part in derailing. I was truly only trying to be funny, and I realize alot of the inflections and sarcasm are lost in forum posts from how they sound when I type them.

I do know my car has been involved in several recalls. I have kept all of the class action lawsuit paperwork and information on all of them from the shattering windshields to the bad catalytic converters.

If you really want to know I have an 04 Honda Element. Yes I know it's drive by wire, but from what I'm reading that drive by wire is different when you throw in the electric side of a hybrid. I'm truly not bashing Toyota in anyway, and until Honda starts making REAL trucks the only truck I would currently buy is a Toyota.

Seriously I meant nothing in a serious way as bashing the Toyota's.

I don't remember exactly what invoice was but it wasn't much over invoice.

Also believe it or not some people do pay MSRP on certain vehicles, particularily hard to get models. We bought my wife's 07' mazdaspeed3 for MSRP because there was only 1 available in a 300 mi radius. Very rare at the time. There was no haggling.

You're right...supply and demand. I shouldn't have used Bentley as an example.

Thank you for the information Ripcord and thank you for putting scurd nancy pants into his place. Will be looking for a vehicle in about 2 months and this sounds like a great deal. I also really hope to find good deals on Toyotas right now. Only an idiot would be afraid of the current issues the media is forcing down nancy pant's throat.

Now, I have had a floor mat in a Ford Focus I was renting keep my accelerator stuck into position, but it is second nature to throw that b*tch into neutral while hitting the break. I simply think our society is becoming absolutely retarded if they can't recover from a problem like that. Neutral and 2 breaking systems. What more do you need to not kill yourself?

lol...

I wasn't aware of this, so I'm glad yall brought it up on here.

I'm deploying next month and have been looking to get a new car for awhile, so i'll have plenty for a down payment (will also be reenlisting over there so nice tax free bonus)

I'm trying to decide between a new camaro/mustang and some others. Just depends what I can get my prices down to

so anyway @ this thread subplot. Here is a nice instructional for people who think their prius is somehow posessed.

heh heh

LANGUAGE WARNING: DO NOT WATCH THIS AT WORK OR AROUND SMALL CHILDREN! ;) ENJOY!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ4PtafRB9c

It's easy in hindsight to say people are too stupid to know what to do in a given situation. But without the hours and days to ponder what we would do given the same situation, it's simply not fair to say we might not be able to think as clearly since we're not dealing with a situation that is horribly frightening, especially given your child and wife are in the car with you.

Listen to this the final moments of these people lives and then say that they deserved to die because of their "stupidity" in an adrenaline induced situation.

CHP Officer and family die due to sudden acceleration in a LOANER vehicle

Are you so arogant to think you would know exactly what to do when you have never heard let alone dealt with this situation in a car you are unfamiliar with?

This was a family and real people that you are no better than!

We are trained to respond in stressing situations but seriously these people freaked out and did not know how to handle the situation. I do not think it means they are stupid but they did not know what to do and at this point if anyone has problems they should know there car has the possibility and they should at least understand how to correct the problem. If they are able to call 911 then they are able to take the steps to fix the problem. 911 should have been done after they tried to slow down the car. Plus I have never had to call 911 nor have I had to stop a out of control car. Yet I am sure if I needed to I could figure either one out.

I get they guy's point, but why does he have to be such a pussy and hide his face?