What if you rented it until Jan 2, 2006 and then bought it?

 

I thought about this. But the problem is that it may become a used car, which means that I lose out on the tax credit. I don't know how many miles need to be on a car to be classified as "used", but I am sure that it is less than the miles I'd put on in two weeks.

I think I just need to be patient...

 

My wife and I started shopping for an 06 HCH 3 days ago. 2 local dealers had 6 month waiting lists, 1 dealer had a 6 week waiting list, and misteriously an unclaimed silver HCH showed up from Japan at another local dealer yesterday, so we snapped it up at MSRP. I hate paying MSRP for any car, but given the waiting lists at the other dealers I didn't mind this time.

 

Way to go Nick!!
Some guys have all the luck!

 

Please post pictures of the silver hybrid if you can. As for me, I'll be taking probably a two-hour lunch break so I can both pick up my car and drive it around while it's still nice and sunny. I'll take pictures during that time and will upload them late tonight... there are definitely a shortage of photos of any of the cars, especially ones taken in sunlight.

 

The HCH replaced an Element which was totaled last week thanks to someone running a red light... our digital camera was also in the car so the collission center is searching the car for it..... no picks until then. Here is a good site for photos however:

http://www.vtec.net/articles/view-ar...icle_id=396474

 

Just received an email from my dealer:

The target production date is 12/13 of 2005 which means late Dec or Early Jan 2006.

I put down $1k to have the right to pay for it 1.2.06 if it's delivered before then.

How long does it take from production to get to the states?

 

It varies, but mine was built 10/24 and arrived at the dealer 11/15, earlier than expected. However I am in San Diego and the car probably came through a Los Angeles port, which means a short truck ride. You're in Michigan so the car will need to be transported by rail after leaving the ship, and if it comes from an eastern port then the boat will take longer to arrive than it would if using a western port.

In general, it takes 30 days. You definitely won't get your car before January so no problem there. It takes 10-20 days just for the ship to arrive from Japan.

 

Mine was built 10/10/05; arrived in Portland, OR 10/28/05; Shipped by rail to Mpls, MN, arrived 11/7/05; I picked it up 11/10/05, exactly one month after it was built.

We had our first snowfall last night, got about 1 inch of snow along with the icy roads. I have the stock wheels the car was shipped with and they work just fine under these conditions. I have no plans on getting snow tires.

Also, the temp this morning was <20 degrees and after the car warmed up, the auto-stop worked exactly as it did when it was warmer last week.

 

I put down a deposit yesterday. This is for an actual vehicle on the dealer's delivery list, not a spot on a waiting list as most other dealers do. The scheduled build date is 11/18 (two days from now). Dealer says he expects delivery in January, like I requested, but it seems like a stretch to me. From what I hear from others it may arrive in December. I'll keep checking with the dealer to make sure, and possibly push my order out to a later delivery.