Scion's biggest enemy is their own dealerships.

[juncali]

when I walked in to my dealership...the salesman's first word? lets take it for a spin... I even get to test drive it all the way to my house to show it to my wife...btw..its about10 miles from the dealership...got the car in half an hour..i guess it depends on a dealership...

[CountChoculitis]

I sell them. And I totally agree with this. The dealership I just left sold a whiteout A/T to some girl, for $31K+ and she didn't even drive it. I spoke with her briefly about the car and one thing she said in particular that made me nervous about her driving it after the purchase was that she 'can't wait to feel the power in it'... She ended up happy with it and getting a speeding ticket the next day, but... that's crazy to me, I can't buy before I try.

The dealership I'm at now understands... a little bit more... that the reality is that it's a $25k Scion. Not a Lambo.

[moniz]

Originally Posted by barney

Agreed - not all dealers are like that. My wife works for a Toyota/Lexus/Scion dealer as a manager. Earlier this month they got their initial allotment of three FR-S's. Two were pre-sold; the other was meant to be a demo from the outset. They realized that demand would exceed supply and most dealers would indeed sell out their allotments and that, more importantly, people would want to test drive the car prior to purchase. And for what its worth, my wife ensured both pre-orderers (that's not a word, right?) that they were expected to try the car before taking delivery and if they didn't like it, their deposits would be refunded no questions asked.

Where is your wife's dealership? In the GTA area seeing that you list you location Ontario(assuming Canada and not California)? Sounds like a place I would love to give my business to!

[DYOLF26]

The "MSRP" of not just the fr-s but all scions is a part of their pure price philosophy. They offer there whole line up with a monospec version so there are no "LE" "SE" or any other type of premium models. They do this so there is no haggling or as many headaches when purchasing one then the customer has the choice to add on accessories or TRD parts before it even leaves the lot. Toyota plans on making more of their money with accessories than the actual cars. Even as a technician at a Toyota/Scion dealership in Lawrence, KS I only got around $500 off that price when I ordered my Raven FR-S MT. When with say a Camry or Tacoma my employee pricing is only $500 above the actual cost the dealer paid the Factory. Also when buying Scion parts I don't get a discount at all. I think I do get some kind of discount on TRD parts because it's technically through Toyota not Scion.

Being an employee definitely made it easy for me to test drive one when we got our first one on May 29th. I just had a salesman see if the car was even affordable with trading in my Civic Si and then he handed me the keys. I drove our Asphalt MT FR-S around town and on the highway and put around 20 miles on it and absolutely loved it. Because it is our only FR-S at the moment we have to be able to use it for test drives but even after driving that one I personally want one that no one has actually "driven". When my ordered FR-S rolls in on the truck I will be the one to do the PDI checklist, take off all the covering plastics, and go fill it up with gas, and not to mention I am getting the exact color I want!!!

[barney]

Originally Posted by moniz

Where is your wife's dealership? In the GTA area seeing that you list you location Ontario(assuming Canada and not California)? Sounds like a place I would love to give my business to!

She works at Heffner's in Kitchener. Nick (the dealer principal's son) handles Scion. For what its worth, my only knock against them on my road test was 1) Nick wouldn't allow me to turn traction and stability control off (I understand that) and 2) his road test route does not play to the car's strengths, but rather highlighted its weaknesses. He couldn't tell me when the next allotment of cars would come (he's telling me the lines of communication between Subaru, and Toyota/Scion suck) - but at least they have a driver.

[moniz]

Originally Posted by barney

She works at Heffner's in Kitchener. Nick (the dealer principal's son) handles Scion. For what its worth, my only knock against them on my road test was 1) Nick wouldn't allow me to turn traction and stability control off (I understand that) and 2) his road test route does not play to the car's strengths, but rather highlighted its weaknesses. He couldn't tell me when the next allotment of cars would come (he's telling me the lines of communication between Subaru, and Toyota/Scion suck) - but at least they have a driver.

Thanks, good to know.

[ZmZMWagon]

Like some have said, just give it time. Right now all the "enthusiast" are in line trying to get their dream car. The same thing happens with every new car. Anyone paying above MSRP is just plain crazy.

[kidgogeta]

The subaru dealership i visited last week was horrible. The whole time she kept putting the FRS down and how it wasn't the same car at all and how subaru added more power and crap into the BRZ. I asked her the waitlist she said 70 people and probably not a chance of me getting one until next year. (I don't think this dealership is getting any at all).

They had a 5 door STI parked there (not a sport tech). Conversation went like this
Me: how much is this listed for?
Saleslady: $49995 ,
Me: you mean 39995?
Saleslady: no its 50 grand since its upgraded.
Me: its not a sport tech.
Saleslady: Oh we added some things to it
Me: $10,000 of upgrades? I'd love to see what you did to it
Saleslady: Just some things, its the only one we have
Me: (FACEPALM), well have a nice day

I drive around the back to see what other cars they have, they've got 6 STI in the lot lol

[NeedsmoreCowbell]

Originally Posted by thill

So do you buy a house without physically walking through it and just go off the pictures and the specs of the home?

Funny you mention that Because I custom built my house. So yes I did just go off the pictures.

[whtchocla7e]

I don't know when my local dealership got their car in but I checked it out in person for the first time last Sunday and today it's still sitting on the lot. I drove by today and saw people walking around it. It's a red AT. I wonder why no takers??

[peter_woodbridge_toyota]

You had a shity salesman some advice always go to a younger salesman and the car handels amazing so much fun

[Mr.Jay]

I to had a bad exp. Ordered this car more than a year ago was told they do orders based on the list and I would be taken care of. Time goes by and now the cars are coming so I mention I would be doing the recent grad rebate as well and would like to fill paperwork for anything that we might need as to have a smooth transaction but was told is fine let's just wait for the car to get here.

Now i'm no 2 on the list so I should get my car right away but instead they sell 3 others cars before I get mine one of them being the exact config I want as well to guys who are below me on the list. To make matters worst they told me I would get my car end of May...which turned into them promising me my car would come day after day for 8 days. When my car finally came they didn't do the pdi for 2 days yet found time to do the pdi for two other frs one being the same config and sell them. 8 days after the original day they told me to expect my car they are finally ready except now there are issues with the grad rebate and if I want the rebate I have to wait 3 more days as well as spend money to fix something they never told me about or give up the rebate if I want my car now even tho I called in and asked repeatedly what I needed as well as if we could do some of the paperwork early in case of issues.


Overall the worst buying experience I ever had. They are on my blacklist now and forever

[csbassplayer2003]

Lol. In case they werent bad enough, on the front of their new inventory section

"Our full line of Scion cars including the Scion tC, xB and xD are available for you to look at and test drive. Please contact us.
*
All*FR-S models have*been repriced to $27,030"
*
Wonder why...

[Night]

Scion doesn't do any deals? And they let me take the car on my own. I also drove it like it was my own, I don't abuse things and it makes me feel bad when I do. My taco with 5K km hasn't seen over 4k RPM. I'm waiting a while for the hype to die down because I won't have the car till mid august anyway and I would have to park it in a garage all winter anyway.

Has anyone dealer told them the FR-S is turboed? my local one did...