[Dozer42]

It's been a bit of a search, but today I finally located a pretty much perfect CT200h, and I take delivery tomorrow.

I've had all the dealers in the area searching for the color combos I'm looking for, really all I wanted was a Caramel interior, nav, and I was pretty open on the exterior color.

Today I decided to widen my search, and not just sit on my arse waiting for a dealer to find one in allocation. The dealer I'm working with said they checked every dealer's inventory in California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, etc, and that no car meeting my specifications was either in stock or on the way that they could see in the system.

They lied.

I spent the day, literally, calling every Lexus dealer on the West Coast, from LA to Las Vegas, to Reno, etc, and finally, FINALLY stumbled onto the exact color combo I want, with navigation, about 100 miles away.

Tomorrow they're sending a driver to pick me up at home, take me to the dealer, to buy the car. They wouldn't take a deposit, but it doesn't sound like they'll sell the car out from under me.

Woot! I can't wait to get rid of my crappy 18mpg car and into a soft, plush lexus getting 40mpg+!!! (This is important, because it's a company car and we drive about 30,000 miles per year, this will save $300/month in gas ALONE).

I'm a happy Geek!!!!

 

[kalo925]

It's been a bit of a search, but today I finally located a pretty much perfect CT200h, and I take delivery tomorrow.

I've had all the dealers in the area searching for the color combos I'm looking for, really all I wanted was a Caramel interior, nav, and I was pretty open on the exterior color.

Today I decided to widen my search, and not just sit on my arse waiting for a dealer to find one in allocation. The dealer I'm working with said they checked every dealer's inventory in California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, etc, and that no car meeting my specifications was either in stock or on the way that they could see in the system.

They lied.

I spent the day, literally, calling every Lexus dealer on the West Coast, from LA to Las Vegas, to Reno, etc, and finally, FINALLY stumbled onto the exact color combo I want, with navigation, about 100 miles away.

Tomorrow they're sending a driver to pick me up at home, take me to the dealer, to buy the car. They wouldn't take a deposit, but it doesn't sound like they'll sell the car out from under me.

Woot! I can't wait to get rid of my crappy 18mpg car and into a soft, plush lexus getting 40mpg+!!! (This is important, because it's a company car and we drive about 30,000 miles per year, this will save $300/month in gas ALONE).

I'm a happy Geek!!!!

This is the situation where the CT really pays for itself almost.. Congrats on the new company ride... In style!

 

[11LFCH]

FINALLY stumbled onto the exact color combo I want, with navigation, about 100 miles away. I'm a happy Geek!!!!

Congrats.
Wow...100 miles for a CT200h.
Now that's a true die hard aficionado. Go, Go Dozer42!!!

 

[Dozer42]

Congrats.
Wow...100 miles for a CT200h.
Now that's a true die hard aficionado. Go, Go Dozer42!!!

Hah, 100 miles is nothing.

I bought one PT Cruiser in Sacramento, a good 1.5-2 hours from the San Francisco Bay Area. We took the train up, bought the car, and drove back. (Work vehicle).

I bought another PT Cruiser up in Seattle, Washington. Flew up, caught the 40th anniversary Star Trek convention at the space needle, bought the car and drove back. (Also a work vehicle).

Picked up a Triumph TT600 in LA, rode that one back. Also picked up a Lexus SC430 in LA and drove it back.

I think the furthest I've gotten a car was a 2002 Corvette Z06 from Virginia. I had a friend in the area, he checked the car out, sealed the deal, and got it loaded on a truck for transport out to California. That same Z06 later went on a trip to LA to get a custom bottom end, balanced and blueprinted, and tuning for the supercharger we added. End result: Over 700hp (607.1RWHP). The funny thing is it was too damned fast, couldn't use the power at all, wound up getting 25mpg on average with the very tall 6th gear, it did pass smog too! =]

So, 100 miles? Bah, that's nothing. I was literally calling all over the West Coast of the USA looking for one with a Caramel NuLux interior and Nav.

Mmmmm, about 5 hours till pick up. First stop is my Audio shop in Burlingame, they'll remove the rear seats and install a huge armored cargo box along with a Zapco 7-channel amp, CDT 3-way separates, and a JL audio 10w6 subwoofer.

Can't wait! =]

 

[Max12]

Congrats!! Post pics when the work is done.

 

[YOW]

Congrat!

At 30k+ stop and go miles per year, the CT was made for you.

 

[Matt_RN]

Yaaaaaay! I'm happy for you! You're gonna love this car!!!

 

[Andrewa]

I had to drive 40miles to get the exact car I wanted. Base model with silver exterior and black interior.

My only issue is that I feel weird taking it to my local dealer for warranty work, if needed. Do you think I might get grief from the local dealer for that?

Additionally since the first service is free at the dealer I purchased from, I have to drive 40 miles and wait there to get the service done.

 

[Dozer42]

I had to drive 40miles to get the exact car I wanted. Base model with silver exterior and black interior.

My only issue is that I feel weird taking it to my local dealer for warranty work, if needed. Do you think I might get grief from the local dealer for that?

Additionally since the first service is free at the dealer I purchased from, I have to drive 40 miles and wait there to get the service done.

Nah, the local dealer doesn't give a ****. We bought our CLK550 all the way out in Stockton (over 100 miles away), and get it serviced here in Belmont at the dealer. The service department isn't connected to the sales department it seems.

Same thing with Lexus. I bought my SC430 used in SoCal, brought it up to Stevens Creek Lexus and they treated us like royalty. One time after the 'B' service my wife noticed a ding on the roof, they fixed it immediately, no questions asked. She didn't realize of course that the tiny ding had been there all along. D'oh!

The end result is they took the best care of us, and yes, that did influence my buying decision today.

Well, the dealer up in Santa Rosa sent a driver a good 100 miles and 2 hours to pick me up today. Everything went exactly as planned, except there was another buyer there literally PAWING my vehicle. He owns about 20 local movie theaters, and has bought more than a couple Lexus from them before, but they didn't sell the car out from under me (even though he could offer $5k-$10k over sticker), and I drove it home this afternoon.

Needless to say, I am very, VERY impressed with the car. Bluetooth link with my iPhone, CHECK, took seconds, and it even copied all my contacts and let me set voice tags. Sat radio, CHECK, I was able to dial in Patriot Radio, etc, no problem.

One of the problems I had in the PT Cruiser is that the nav system is also the audio system, so, to listen to a CD I had to eject the Nav DVD and couldn't navigate. This is rather important when we visit 3 different clients each day. It supposedly has 'aux' input, but nobody seems to be able to figure out how to make that work.

So even though I have an absolutely EPIC soundsystem in the PT, I could rarely use it. Not so in the Lexus. The stock 'premium' audio sounds, meh, ok, but I'll transfer over the components from the Cruiser ASAP. 7-channel Zapco amplifier, 3-way separates up front, and a JL Audio 10w6 subwoofer.

Everything else on the vehicle is just insanely impressive. I know this will sound stupid, but I love it when the engine shuts off when stopped and the vehicle runs in EV mode. Like I didn't get to drive it enough on the 100 mile trip home, I decided to go have dinner with a friend down in Mountain View. (15-20 miles out of my way).

So I get there, stop outside his place, and the engine shuts off. (Love it!). He hops in, the engine is still off, with the AC blowing cool fresh air and the soundsystem going. I drive to Chili's half a mile away, and the engine never even kicks in. *WOW*, Dozer likes!!!

On the way home from Santa Rosa, traffic, as always, backs up before the golden gate bridge. Usually this is extremely annoying, I hate how stop-n-go traffic kills my mileage. I know every time I step on the brakes in the PT Cruiser it's money wasted (on gas). With the CT, not the case! The sucker went straight to EV mode, and I swear I went a good 3-5 miles on EV power alone (downhill slope mind you). And the MPG just went up, and UP and UP!!! NICE!

So, y'all have been asking for photos, and I'm sure my CT stories must bore you having already experienced the same, so, here goes!

 

[Dozer42]

And the vehicle(s) being replaced!!! (I have 3 of them!)

 

[xTITANx]

awesome! I think I had gotten a call about that car a few days ago, but I am looking for a base model. Thankfully one just came in. Glad to see you seem real happy with it!

Going to pick up my white with black interior tomorrow!

for another bay area ct200!

 

[Dozer42]

I'm pretty amazed with the mileage already!

I've put about 235 miles on it, it wasn't empty but I filled it up just for the heck of it today.

I literally broke out in laughter at Costco Gas when I saw it only drank 5.3 gallons! People were looking at me like I was crazy. Almost felt I had to apologize 'Sorry, first time filling it up'.

I did the math and came up with 44.1MPG, and this is including the miles it was test driven for where people wailed on it (it read 32.7mpg when I got it).

Drove home from Costco, it was showing an indicated 45mpg.

I really wasn't expecting this high mileage until I got it broken in or swapped out the wheels for lightweight ones.

Maybe the tint job improved the mileage, yeah, that's it, it's like putting more stickers on the ricer makes it faster!

Can't wait to start hitting over 50mpg, I know this thing can do it.

One guy's comment: 'Oh! So it's a Prius with a big 'L' on it. Nice!'

 

[Dozer42]

First real mod: Full tint job.

5% on the rears, 50% on the fronts.

Honestly I wish I hadn't gone so dark on the rears. It limits my visibility somewhat, and this messes up my 'mental radar' a good bit.

I'm used to 100% visibility and always keep a virtual radar map in my mind of where every vehicle around me is located, naturally always leaving an 'escape route' if someone does something stupid, etc.

Can't really do that now as well. Maybe I'll get used to it down the road, but I wish I'd gone a shade lighter.

But the intent of the super dark tint is to keep prying eyes away from seeing the computer gear we have inside the vehicle, and at least in that respect it's exactly what I wanted.

I've already scheduled to remove the rear seats to install an armored cargo box that can only be accessed via the aftermarket remote control.

Sure, a top notch thief could probably get past it, but for anyone else they'll need a chain-saw or blow-torch and a good amount of time to get at the computer equipment stored within. (We do on-site computer repairs, and carry a ton of parts).

Here's the latest picture!

 

[OVRBST]

Congrats. It's my twin !! I wanted black leather, but now that I own the Caramel, I'm happy as hell I got it.

 

[Dozer42]

Congratz on the Caramel! Black is absolutely boring IMHO.

There are literally HUNDREDS of CT200h's with black interior available for sale in California, but you won't find one single one with Caramel interior.

After owning this one with caramel interior, you will never buy another vehicle with all black interior ever again. =]