So the Mrs. had a Prius on order from Lighthouse Toyota in St. Augustine, FL but they unexpectedly jacked-up the price by $900.00.

They refused to honor the out-the-door price quoted by a sales rep who left the company so we are getting our deposit back.

Well, I have caught her building MINIs on MINIUSA.com a couple of times and today we test-drove a used red '06 MCS Convertible.

I don't know if we will do it or not but it sure would be fun to have two of 'em in the driveway...

 

go for it!!!!! much better than a Prius and you won't be replacing the $3,000 worth of batteries in 4 years!!!!

 

I was looking at the Prius right when the prices went through the roof. I don't know what made me check out the MINI but one test drive and that was all she wrote. Hope to be motoring in my new MCCS in about a week.

Of course now the wife wants one too but I can't blame her...

 

And how about the looks of a Prius.... I mean its ok if you don't care what your car looks like. (face it, its butt ugly) My 17 year old daughter calls the Prius the "potato bug car". But the Mini ... well from any angle you got to love it!!!

 

Actually, I like the looks of the Priusand the mileage cannot be beat, especially for the kind of stop-and-go driving my wife does all day long.

The Prius would save us two or three hundred bucks a month in gas each month.

I just got off the phone with another liar...er, I mean salesman... at Lighthouse Toyota and he promised to refund our deposit to us tomorrow morning.

He also said that the price did not jump at all, even though it went from $26,050.00 to $26,963.00. The first of these prices was supposed to be the final out-the-door price.

Toyota could take a page out of MINI's book.

MINI has thousands of customers who are paying full MSRP but somehow they don't mind all that much.

I think it all comes down to service.

There were no games with my MA. The price did not change. The car came in exactly as I ordered it. Everything was perfect. He even threw in some extras!

I think we are in for a fight with (B)Lighthouse Toyota because the guy I talked to tonight started saying that the deposit was non-refundable etc. I told him OUR deposit is refundable one way or another.

I had to threaten to get my lawyer involved to get him to agree to refund our money.

Supposedly he will submit the request tomorrow morning but I am not holding my breath.

We still have a few weeks to dispute the charge with American Express but I would rather make Lighthouse Toyota do the work of refunding our money without getting Amex involved.

Sorry to vent but maybe this whole experience will lead to a second MINI in my driveway, which is what this thread was supposed ot be about in the first place.

 

I must say I hate buying cars. The deal, dealing with the sale person .... the whole process I just dread. But I can say I did enjoy the experience of purchasing my Mini. For the first time I actually enjoyed it.

I hope it all works out for you.

Down there in sunny Fla., this is not a consern for you, but a co-worker here sold his Prius after after one New York winter.... that little Prius engine couldn't generate enough heat to keep him warm on the way to work...... ( ok, I'll be good now and stop bashing the Prius)

I wish you the best.... regardless of which car you end up with.

 

No problem, The Prius (and Toyota in general) give us all plenty of ammunition to bash them with.

There really is no comparison with the MINI. I also dread the whole car sales experience. They are, in general, the most despicable, dishonets people you can deal with (only rivaled by copier salesmen).

My MINI buying experience was quite enjoyable.

Their version of pressure was offering me free tickets to see "The Italian Job" when it came out a few years ago.

Mark at Tom Bush was very attentive and spent as much time on the non-paying options (like which tires and headliner color) as he did on the cash-cows and packages.

Even when it came time to upsell me on the extended warranty and protection packages he was very low-key. He did a god job selling but he could also tell I wasn't going for it at all.

 

DiggyDog

Do you get your deposit back?


I just couldn't resist... Prius ranked 3rd ugliest car...
http://jalopnik.com/399115/the-ten-u...#poll_=YDMxUTM

 

 

Wow! Third ugliest!

Funny, I actually like the looks of five of the cars on that list. Then again, my first car was an AMC Pacer so it's all uphill from there.

I've also driven International Scouts and Nash Metropolitans.

And, yes, we got our deposit back. I had to channel Samuel L. Jackson in order to do it, though...

ME: "Mark, I am tired of playing games with you people. You need to refund our money tomorrow."

SALES-MONKEY: "Um, I can submit that in the morning...."

ME: "Fred and Britt have both told me they already submitted the refund request. How long does it take? What time will it happen? What kind of time-frame am I looking at?"

SALES-MONKEY: " Um...er...I'm not sure. "

ME: "I want you to submit the refund request before you do anything else in the morning. Don't get coffee. Don't take a pi$$. Don't talk to the girl at the front desk unless it is about my refund. I want my name to be on your lips all morning tomorrow until I get my money. You people have been promising to refund my money for five days now and I want it in my account tomorrow or I will get my attorney involved. Do you need anything else from me to make this happen? Do you have any questions? "

SALES-MONKEY: "Well... I...I'll call you in the morning..."

ME: "DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS?"

SALES-MONKEY: "No, no questions. I'll submit the refund first thing in the morning."

ME: "Thank you. Get it done in the morning and there wil be no problems. Have a good evening."

Boy, I hate being an a-hole like that. I am a nice guy, really, I am. I just despise getting the run-around from some smarmy guy in a bad golf shirt and a pinkie ring.

I must repeat my admonition for anybody out there. Do not deal with Lighthouse Toyota unles you want to be yanked around and lied to.

OK, the rant is over, back on topic. The Prius would be a great car for my wife. She works in advertising and does a lot of driving in the city all day.

Every time she drives my Clubman I can see it in her eyes. She wants one. She wants it bad.

We were in the front yard this evening and I remarked to her that we could fit at least four MINIs in the driveway.

Another interesting thing....BMW is making 500 all electric MINI's and leasing most of them to customers in California.

If they sold them here I would jump at the chance. My drive to work is short enough.

 

DiggyDog,

Glad you got your deposit back. Next time I need some heavy lifting I'm giving you a call LOL.

Thanks for sharing the story.