[LeStarTech]

This is from my dealer who has always been straight up with me.

The first day of 2005 model year Prius production is 8/23/04, so we should start seeing 2005s on allocation in late September or early October, with Units arriving at the dealership for delivery mid to late October.

Just thought I would pass this along to any who were wondering when the 2005's start production/arrival.

 

[garySC]

Thanks for the information.

I orderered my Salsa Red w/Pkg 9 in early February. In June I turned down a Tideland Pearl because 1) it wasn't RED and 2) it was gray. I haven't heard a thing since. At this point, I would rather have an 05 even if I have to pay a few extra hundred.

 

[Pr1us]

Does anybody know whether the '05 is a US-only model and what the difference will be with with the '04 model?

 

[Daniel]

Does anybody know whether the '05 is a US-only model and what the difference will be with with the '04 model?

Reportedly, there will be no difference whatsoever between the '04 and the '05. With the enormous backlog of orders, Toyota does not want to stop production to re-tool. We can speculate on a price increase. I'd guess just enough to account for inflation and/or any changes in the yen:dollar exchange rate.

 

[singpilot]

2005's

What I got from my friend at Toyota US is that the variable speed rear wiper will become standard (not optional) and the price increase was on the order of $230.

As stated before, they didn't want (or couldn't stop long enough) to change the production line.

 

[Victor]

They may not need to stop production at all. A lot of the stuff that is standard in Europe is optional or not on the USA version, so by uping the USA spec to that of the EU could speed up production as there will be fewer variations.