My wife's driving pattern is ideal for hybrids. Her daily commute is on city / suburban streets with many traffic lights, in heavy stop-and-go traffic. That is where hybrids really shine.

She has a 2011 Ford Escape Hybrid that she bought new. It has been delivering a solid 33 or 34 mpg, driving in those traffic conditions. A Prius might be a little better, but she prefers the intermediate / compact size SUV type vehicle.

She has decided that it's time to think about a new vehicle. Ford is no longer offering the Escape as a hybrid (yeah, there are rumors of "real soon," but as of now, that's vaporware) so the number one vehicle on her shopping list right now is a Toyota RAV4 hybrid.

I think that's a good choice for her needs, the RAV4 is a top seller in that size / style, and Toyota's hybrid technology is a proven thing, given the huge number of Prius's that they have built, along with hybrid Camry's, Avalons, Lexus, etc.

The vehicles are good. The dealers, at least those that I have contacted to date, are horrible. Scum. Sewer dwellers.

I have looked at the websites for about half the Toyota dealers in the Orlando area. They all have "chat" functions. I used chat to ask one simple, straightforward, question: "How many RAV-4 HYBRIDs do you have in stock, that we can look at today?" I asked this question because the website shows vehicles that are in transit as part of the dealer inventory, and it's not easy to look at a vehicle TODAY if that vehicle is on a car carrier out on the highway expected to arrive at the dealer in a few days.

My question requires a simple answer, probably a number from zero to maybe ten or twelve or so. Do you think I got a straight answer from ANY of the dealers? Hah! There would probably be a weather report from hell, indicating rapidly dropping temperatures, before that happened.

I got all kinds of evasive answers. I thought, "Well, this is Florida. Maybe English is not the "chat" person's primary language, so I tried "¿Cuántos híbridos RAV4 tienes en stock que puedo ver hoy?" Now I have the same friggin' runaround in two languages. I'm afraid to try it in Italian, German, or Russian.

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Does anybody know a Toyota dealer who is actually honest and straightforward, and who will give direct answers to questions? If so, that dealer would have an excellent shot at getting our business. Location east of the Rockies is preferred, and of course the closer to central Florida, the better, but the # 1 consideration is honest and direct answers to my questions. I would lock in the sale by email agreement. That's how my wife bought her Escape Hybrid, and also how I bought my GMC Jimmy. Easy-peasy, everything is done beforehand and the dealer visit was fast; just sign the already-prepared paperwork, hand over the check, and drive away.

Translation - "we have none, but want to pressure you into buying a car you don't want"

I've had good luck with this dealer:

Green's Toyota of Lexington


Address: 630 E New Circle Rd, Lexington, KY 40505
Hours:
Open ⋅ Closes 8PM
Auto body shop: Open ⋅ Closes 5PM · See more hours


Phone: (859) 254-5751

I won't say they're 100 percent, but I'd give them a 90. I've bought six or seven cars from there.

V-Tail, I've only had experience with Honda but, if you do happen to travel anywhere near down in my neck looking or browsing, maybe we could meet up for a hand-off Let me know?

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:

Translation - "we have none, but want to pressure you into buying a car you don't want"

Ed Zachary!

But, that ain't gonna happen. When it comes to picking the vehicle that she wants, my wife is "Terco coma mula*" and I think that's A Good Thing!

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*An expression I learned while I was working in Spain. "Stubborn, like a mule."

We also looked at the Rav4 in both gas and hybrid versions. We checked out the gas version in February while wintering in Destin. I couldn't believe all the people on the lot in Fort Walton climbing over the Rav4s. They had about 25 in stock and i'll bet 8 couples were checking them out.

The hybrid just came out recently and I suspect they'll be as popular as weed in Colorado. Our local dealer in Kalispell has a handful of them and is offering $1,500 off on a Limited.

We passed as they don't have enough room for out Montana to Florida annual pilgrimage.

Good luck with your search.
Mike

As stated in a previous thread, Southeast Toyota Distributor and their dealers sales tactics are a piece of work. My wife wanted a new RAV4 (her 2nd). We visited Dolan Toyota in Reno just to look at colors. Their salesmen are on salary: very polite, very accommodating of tire kickers. But all of their inventory is 4WD, which we don't need in FL. Bought from Pensacola Toyota (her 3rd from them). Used a contact with the regional sales manager who contacted the dealer sales manager and made a lease deal before we returned to FL. Still had to wait 2 hours for the F&I guy to do the closing, which took 10 minutes.

Dolan Reno

quote:

Originally posted by cne32507:

all of their inventory is 4WD, which we don't need in FL.

All RAV4 Hybrids are 4WD / AWD. That's the only way they're manufactured for the hybrid version. Not true for the straight internal combustion types, but my wife wants to stay with hybrid, as she has had a great experience with her the Ford Escape hybrid that she has had for eight years / 45,000 miles.

Nothing wrong with the vehicle, she loves it, but she's in the mood for a new car, and she deserves it!

Actually, she might get some use from 4WD / AWD. The kids and grandkids live in Ohio and she might make winter visits in addition to her normal summer visits.

I usually check for live photos to see if the vehicle is in stock.

The 2 dealers closest to me have a combined 18 Rav4 Hybrids listed, but all with stock web photos, assuming you are looking at new.

A quick Autotrader search using what I believe to be one of the zip codes for your area shows 2 with live photos.

Daytona Toyota - Silver XLE
Miracle Toyota - Gray XSE

Buy from out of state and I’ll drive it back for you. I love road trips

Maybe try Esperanto for a clear answer?

quote:

Originally posted by Leemur:
Maybe try Esperanto for a clear answer?

A simple question, that requires a one-word answer (like "three" or "none" or "seven" or whatever), they respond with their life story, and no answer to my question except "contact us." Waddaya mean "contact us?" Isn't that what I'm doing in the chat window?

Try this:
I go to the web site for whatever vehicle I may be interested in. They all have a "build and price" feature that lets you choose a model and options.
It can be kinda fun to play with. At the end of the process, there will be an option for a local dealer to contact you. In all the build and price deals I set up, I got a call from a dealer in 12 hours. I ask if the vehicle I built is on their lot. You will then get four possible answers:
1- Yes, I have it ready for a test drive.
2- No, but there is one at XXX and we will get it.
3- We have that is 90% of the options you selected, want to see it?
4- Blah, blah blah and BS.
In most cases, I will go forward with answers 1 and 3. At least this gets me in touch with a motivated sale dude. I bought my Silverado this way.

Looked on Toyota dot com at the Rav4 HiBrid,

It tells you whats been delivered and whats in transit or being built with expected availability dates and listed dealer name.

Only way to know for sure is to look at Available Inventory at the dealer web page.

When I found my F150 HD edition the innerweb sales guy said "we don't have one" to which I gave him the Stock number and data off their web page.



https://www.toyota.com/search-...rav4hybrid/sort/DESC

If she'd consider a Kia my SIL is in sales at Deland Kia, I can find out what Hybrids are coming in or are in stock...

https://www.kia.com/us/en/vehi...-plug-in-hybrid/2019

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:

Only way to know for sure is to look at Available Inventory at the dealer web page.

If she'd consider a Kia my SIL is in sales at Deland Kia, I can find out what Hybrids are coming in or are in stock.

I did look at the web page(s) for a few dealers. That's how I got to the chat window. Reason for the chat, I don't trust the web pages to be up to date, so I wanted to make sure, before we took the time and burned the fuel, trying to avoid wild goose chase.

Re the Kia, sounds interesting. You have mail.

Got your mail,

I talked to him, all Niros are Hybrids, I don't know much about them other than that, they have 10 in stock on the lot.

My personal experience has been that Toyota salesmen are ignorant and pushy, Honda salesmen reasonably knowledgeable about their product, and not pushy.
But I also shop seriously on the internet and get directed to an internet sales manager who will be straight about how much discount I get, etc.
The new Rav4 looks much better than the 2018's, and I think is larger as well.
Good luck!

Must be all Toyota dealers. The last time I was looking for a car I came across a low mileage Tacoma with a 6 speed manual with everything I wanted for a reasonable price. Called the dealer to confirm it is a manual. Assured that it was, I stopped on my way home from work. We needed to drive to their remote lot, I rode with the sales guy. MISTAKE. Get to the lot, find the truck, lo and behold, automatic. The sales guy asked if I wanted to drive it. I restated I wanted a manual, this is an automatic so no, not interested. He stood by the truck for a minute than said someone made a mistake. I agreed, I told him I made a mistake stopping to look at the truck. Quiet ride back to the dealership. I bought a Honda Pilot. Yeah, it's an automatic but the dealer doesn't suck anywhere near as bad as the Toyota dealer.

Florida is not car buying friendly. The dealers routinely add "Dealer conveyance fees" that are outrageous.
Port of Entry for Toyota in the Northeast is NY/NJ. Most of the dealers are volume based--if its on the lot and the demand is low-negotiation is possible. That being said-salesman are out for the most $$ they can get. Here in the Northeast , I can drive 45 minutes and have access to the largest volume dealers in 3 states.
Excess inventory, end of the month, new model year all factor into negotiation.
Walking out of the dealership without leaving a phone # or e mail usually helps in the negotiations.
I feel your pain.

This is a difficult care to find.
1 in stock at Balise Toyota in Rhode Island.
3 in stock at Boch Toyota South Attoboro Mass.