Traction & Stability control etc.....

This is sirrahn from PP...one of these days I really ought to register here;-)

Anyway, we're in the process of buying an '04 Sienna and finding that it's going to be difficult to get exactly what I want (8 passenger w/pkg. 7) in a timely fashion. We were really wanting to have it this summer and so far the latest figure we've been given is 90 days+ and we've already been waiting 3 weeks.

We have the opportunity to get one in 2 weeks, but it does not have the traction control, stability control, brake assist and rear discs. It does have the side airbags...that was non-negotiable.

I'm trying to decide if this should really be a deal breaker or not. I feel like the Sienna is a safe van anyway, but are those features really worth holding out for?

TIA

For me personally, I will probably insist on stability control if I buy another vehicle. I don't think it would be a dealbreaker on a sedan, wagon or good handling minivan if there were other special circumstances like a great deal or exceedingly long wait otherwise. It probably would be a dealbreaker on most SUVs.

I guess only you can decide if it is worth holding out If they are desperate to get you into one sooner, perhaps they will negotiate a bit more?

Thanks Darren

I'm still not totally decided although I think DH is really leaning towards us going ahead and getting it. They're supposed to call back any time now and we'll see what kind of deal they'll offer...we haven't even talked about price on this one yet although we had negotiated a good deal on our original order.

Hey, if you're still interested in eventually getting an CE w/pkg. 3, you might want to go ahead and order it ;-) Our dealer said he'd never had anyone even ask for the airbags and Toyota just doesn't build many. I've looked all over inventories myself and they're just not out there.

We're not in the market right now. If I order, it will be after the 2005 models start production. With 1.5 years to fine tune, I expect them to have made some tweaks on the first model year.

Good luck on yours!

Have you tried other dealers? I'd e-mail or fax every dealer within a reasonable drive (an hour or two) or even dealers that live near family to see if I could get something cheaper/sooner.

Check out the The Art of the Deal on Fool.com. They recommend faxing, but I've read stories from people doing the same thing via e-mail.

I agree with PP. I got my 04 Sienna more than a year ago. There were 3-6 months waitat that time-or so I was told. I contacted all the high volume dealers in New England online and had the Sienna I wanted with the package I wanted in under 3 weeks. WHile I don't try in the snow much, I do like the handling of the van with the traction+ stability control (pk 7)

Well, unfortunately

because I'm in TX and Toyotas don't come straight from Toyota here, calling other dealers really doesn't make any difference (already tried that;-) Everybody only gets allocations twice a month and they all basically have access to the same pool of vehicles so it's more a matter of what is allocated through the Gulf States distributorship and that is controlled elsewhere.

Our dealer is supposedly in the top 3 in the whole Gulf states region for Sienna sales and they're the highest volume Toyota dealer in the Metroplex so I feel like we've probably got our best bet with them. He did do a dealer trade to even get this one and it was the only avail. 8 seater that even had the side airbags. I can see what's available in different areas on the Toyota website and I didn't find any others either looking all the way to Mississippi...wasted most of a day. There are tons of them with pkg. 1 and a bunch of goofy "fluff" options though;-)

Anyway....

DH and I made a list of pros and cons last night and honestly, the only real pro I could come up with for waiting was a hypothetical "what if" scenario. Our weather here really doesn't call for the *need* for those items. We have trac. on the Passat and it's only kicked in once since we've owned it.


I also think I really needed to get a little perspective...I mean good grief, it's a brand new Sienna, we're lucky to be able to have one at all and I'm in some sense splitting hairs (and no, that actually wasn't DH talking;-). I like to think that while I'm certainly a bit of a safety freak, I'm not so totally obsessed that I can't make a rational decision.

So that's that. I'll be driving my new van within the next couple of weeks. The dealer gets in at 10 this morning and we'll be finalizing the paperwork. We still got about $2500 under MSRP which seems to be quite good for this area plus a very fair offer for the Saturn.

BTW Darren, the one thing I do wish is that we'd have started this process sooner even though we didn't actually want the van until now. Insisting on the 8 seater didn't help me much since they just don't build as many. I think we also hurt ourselves by waiting until this close to the end of the MY. We were told that we might well be getting an '05 if we waited(production starts 9/3). Supposedly the only changes are going to be some package combining (nothing that looked like it would help us), but hopefully the '05 Odyssey will help with demand a bit and your not being in the Gulf States Region simplifies things.

Thanks so muchnat

Well, the dealer didn't come in until 11 and by then DH was in a meeting at work so he asked him to just fax over the buyer's order and lo and behold the thing says it's an 8 seater with pkg. 7!

DH called and dealer confirmed...said there was some kind of miscommunication betw. him and his assistant, but DH is going down there to verify in person. Good grief... all that debating and stressing over making the right choice maybe for nothing!

I'm still holding my breath a bit, but it looks like this might turn out perfect after all.

Well, it's in my garage....

Traction control, stability control, disc brakes and all....

I really couldn't decide if I wanted to hug the salesman or hurt him (I did neither) At least it all turned out ok I guess. Now I've got to go figure out what all those buttons do.

Thanks for all your responses before!

Oh & I finally registered because I realized I couldn't edit my posts. We really got about $1500 off MSRP...I think that 2 I typed before was wishful ;-)

Congrats!

Enjoy the safe, new wheels!

2004 Sienna

I paid $250 over invoice for a 2004 Sienna Limited...good deals can be found...side curtain airbags, vehicle skid & traction control were musts for my family...when purchasing something as expensive as a car, my thought was get it exactly the way I wanted it with ALL safety features...because it is going to be around for a LONG time!
Good Luck!