You need to consider, in balance, how soon you want or need the car vs. what features you really want or need to have. Only you can make this determination. But a couple of points to keep in mind. 1] A three-month wait will put you very close to the expiration of the 100% $2,600 tax credit (9/31/06). Will you be eligible for this credit? Do you need the credit to justify the additional cost of a hybrid? 2]If you haven't driven a base TCH, you might want to test drive one when it comes available. Even the base model is feature-laden and if you are not already accustomed to a quiet, supple ride you might find yourself pleasantly surprised by how nice this car is, even without a few of the luxury features. My silver TCH has the sunroof package only. I plan to buy my own NAV system so I can also use it in my Subaru Forester. As for the leather, I wanted it, but was voted down by my wife and son. All three of us love this new car!

 

Jeffynboo, I bought the car you want almost five weeks ago, after being told that it would take months to get it. It worked so well that I have had 11 dealers in Southern California call me with availablity of the •exact• (loaded Mag Gray/Ash) car I wanted.

Basically, call the fleet managers of ALL dealers within a 100-mile radius, and tell them you have a deposit elsewhere, and you don't want to put down another deposit, but to give you a call if they get an available car with your color and equipment selections for MSRP. As you have seen by my example, you will get plenty of callbacks.

 

Hi Steven, I've started expanding the search (We live in the Long Beach area and have called Chula Vista for their invetory). I've asked dealers to give me a call if a fully loaded TCH becomes available for any reason. I do like the idea of telling them I have a deposit elsewhere (which I do) and not wanting to put down another deposit. I'll start using that angle!

By the way, we came pretty close to purchasing the Jasper Pearl TCH. Another customer got to the dealership on Saturday morning and purchased it. After seeing it in person, it didn't look bad, but my wife told me that it looked more like a "chick" color. It reminds us of the color of the Lime Green VW Beetle.

Going to the dealership wasn't a total loss. After seeing the regular Camrys in person, we have expanded our color choices to the Magnetic Gray, Blue Ribbon Metallic and Desert Sand. My wife would even go with Barcelona Red, although that would be the least favorite of the four.

The Magnetic Gray is more subtle and "grown up" and is still our 1st choice, but the Blue has become a very close 2nd choice. With us opening up to more choices, we hopefully won't be waiting too long.

 

Make sure you talk ONLY with fleet managers. I got to be so quick-and-friendly that I could give a fleet manager my color and equipment choices, plus name and phone number, in less than two minutes. In two hours, I notified every dealer in San Diego, LA, Orange, Riverside, and Imperial counties to be on the alert for my car.

 

Have you tried Portland? I had some luck there tracking one down. I would have taken it too, except they wanted to charge me an exorbitant amount for shipping and would not let me hire my own transporter. Portland Toyota. You guys are a lot closer though. I'm out here in Columbus.

 

I don't like the distributor installed "Liquicell" leather near as much as the factory leather in my 07 XLE Camry, which I sold back to Toyota because of transmission problems. It is not as well stitched, looks a bit loose and the leather quality is a step down. The Nav system should just plug in. I would never let them do a sunroof.

Easy things like mud flaps are ok, but don't let them do anything complicated...

 

I would think that the "resale" or "trade in" values would be less for base vehicles with a lot of installed options. Typically options don't hold a lot of their value anyway. But if I was a purchaser of a 3 year old used TCH I would be leary of purchasing a used one with an add on sunroof or a bunch of other electronic gizmo's.

Personally I really enjoy getting the $2600 tax break, but if I wanted a loaded on I would order it and wait and be satisfied with the $1300. I think in the long run it will pay off in satisfaction and possibly less problems to deal with.

 

I really wanted a loaded car, specifically the NAV, but every dealer quoted me 6-8 weeks minimum and likely longer than that since they all had so many down payments. I decided that was too close to the tax credit dropping so I opted to give up NAV, take port leather. I miss NAV, but am honestly thinking about a portable NAV since looking at several of them they tend to have more features than the built in NAVs do. Worst case I'll hold my TCH 14 months and trade for an 08 loaded.

 

I miss NAV, but am honestly thinking about a portable NAV since looking at several of them they tend to have more features than the built in NAVs do.

As far as navigational information there are probably better and cheaper options. The only thing you'll miss are the bonus features with the consumption and energy information in the OEM Nav system