No. It's just like any other car but it gets better gas mileage would sum up the sage advice and counsel I recieved... In a sense that is a true statement as if you chose to ignore the technology it will operate anyway...

 

They are auto salespeople and know some basics of the hybrid. The saleslady did urge me to stay below 40 on a downhill stretch of road in the city. She wanted to demonstrate how quiet the car is in the EV mode. She seemed impressed that I knew how to get it into the EV mode on a level road. The battery was charged about 70% and that made it easy to do.

She did have me pull up to a rather steep 200 foot long drive entrance to a Imax theater. I turned the car around and she had me stop, then place in the lever to the Brake position. It was like gearing down in Low gear to me. She said doing it this way builds up the battery quicker.

I could not get over how easy the steering was. I had a quality air gauge in my car. I measured 42 psi as the Energy tires on the TCH were still warm from the test drive.

I do remember asking the lady how many readouts are they on the display. She said a few. The '06 Ford 500 I traded had about 4. I had driven the TCH enough to try punching the DSP button after she told me where it was. My wife rode in the front seat. I think I counted over 6 displays in all.

I occasionally see the sales lady and sometimes the sales manager in town. They usually ask, how I like my car or what kind of gas mileage am I getting.

 

Like with any other profession, half of the individuals are above average (in terms of knowledge about their product) and half are below average.

 

I did have a few questions about the new TCH. I called the sales manager both times. Once he had to ask the service dept. The other he forwarded me to the toyota tech.

I can understand the TCH being different it's harder to get all the details over a standard gas powered car.

 

My dealer knew nothing about the car. Well, they did know about the FOB's operation. I feel they should know more about the hybrids than they do. But since I did all of my own research and found this great forum a few months prior to purchase, I was fully versed.

 

The first dealer I went to told me that there is no black for TCH when I asked for one. So I left and bought a black TCH from another dealer.
It's sad to see that the salesperson just want to sell cars and don't even bother learning about what they're selling.

 

I had that same problem when I first went in to place an order in Jan 2007.

 

I can't imagine Sales reps like this can last very long these days. Most customers are well informed when they enter a dealership so they know when someone isn't as informed as they are.

 

Oh.. I forgot to mention: After he told me Toyota don't make black TCH, I asked for a PC with internet and showed him that I can build a black TCH on Toyota's website. Then, he went to ask his manager again and brought back the TCH brochure to show me that black is not available for TCH.
And asked me if I would like a mag gray one??

 

lol ... jeez. Mine at least checked and said, "yup, we can."