oh what a feeling, 2 weeks from order to delivery..

[gilbo Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gilbo]

Hi all

First time post from a 'soon to be' D4D grande owner !

i had no idea lead times were so long for the D4D until i made made first enquiry to a dealer and then found these forums....(thank you to the writer that suggest Cessnock as a dealer to try)

but, the stars have aligned for me it seems.

From first trying to order one (last Friday) it'll be exactly 2 weeks before i take delivery of my new baby....and whilst the delivery is quick it was definately touch and go for a while there..

I'm getting the car through work via Custom Fleet and when i first spoke to them (thursday a week ago) and said what I was after (silver D4D grande) the guys said to expect to wait AT LEAST 8 weeks...

not good as i had sold my car aready....anyway i decided to phone some dealers myself, the 2nd call was to Terry shields Parramatta, and the guy said "your in luck, we have one coming in any day now" - great i thought and after some quick sorting out of paperwork I thought the car was mine..

then on Monday (this week) i got a call from Custom Fleet saying that terry Shields had 'lost' the car - it'd been reallocated by the stock controller somewhere else, and it was sold....! I couldn't believe it...

So, after a sleepless night thinking about how my baby had been snatch away from me so cruely, i decided to try some regional dealers....the first one i called was Cessnock, and I couldn't believe my ears when the guy said "your in luck, we have one coming in any day now" - naturally i was doubtful having just been burnt, but assured me that had a silver D4D coming in, then he said - "it's been reallocated to us, from terry shields in Parramatta..." - unbelievable, and it wasn't yet sold - my baby was still without a home !

Anyway, I managed to secure it (FINALLY) and he confirmed yesterday that i can pick it up next Friday...

so again, thanks to the guy that recommended calling regional dealers, it certainly worked for me.

cheers

[Fazza Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fazza]

Gildo,
Welcome , you have jumped the queue beautifully.
I know what you will be doing next weekend.
Enjoy
Fazza, 07 D4D GXL auto

[PeteS Member Find all posts View Profile Close PeteS]

Hi ya Gilbo

Well done mate, Woooooooooooo Hoooooooooooo.
A phone call to the Hunter Valley boys and...... wow you have a done deal.

The D4D is so quiet (inside anyway).

Betcha can't wait to wake up Friday morning and after all that anxiety?

Enjoy.

PeteS

[gilbo Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gilbo]

hi Pete

only 5 more sleeps !

The dealer has offered to drive it down to Sydney for me, which is great of him, but as its my first ever brand new car i'd like to drive it myself without any k's on it... then stockton here we come!

[PeteS Member Find all posts View Profile Close PeteS]

... then stockton here we come!

Did a one day of our 4WD course @ Stockton Bight about 4 weeks ago.
The D4D Auto ate it with 16psi in the tyres.

In case you don't know Stockton Bight is now under the control of the Nat Parks & Wildlife. Still check however no permits were required a month ago as Nat Parks had not got things organised yet.

Keep us informed (with pics).

Petes

[Pedro Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pedro]

Have they got an automatic white one there for me :cry:

Pedro

[Grandeman Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Grandeman]

Nice work there Gilbo

Welcome aboard, mate!!

[gilbo Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gilbo]

hi pedro,

not sure, but I'd phone as many dealers as you can and see whats around, you might get lucky too.

[Pedro Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pedro]

Gilbo,
Mine has been on order and hopefully is on the assembly line now.
From what I have read it will be worth the wait.

Pedro

[DarkHorse Member Find all posts View Profile Close DarkHorse]

Definately worth the wait Pedro. She is wonderful. Cant describe how happy I am with the new Prado. Coming from a purchased new Nissan X-Trail to this is truly enspiring. Everything about it is fantastic, then again it cost me $15,000 more than what I paid for the Nissan. :shock:

She is so comfortable, quiet and smooth. So far she has 300km on the clock and the fuel gauge hasn't even moved off the stop!

Went over it with a fine tooth comb on delivery, all great except the drivers window tinting has two medium size air bubbles, will probably get it re-tinted.....

Put a Rhino Heavy Duty Cross bar rack on today and the 100mm PVC pipe holder and pipe to store my fishing rods for next weeks trip to Fraser Island.

Getting the Rhino Alloy Tray soon.

Everything else is stock standard at this stage.

The wait is worth it trust me, just seems to take forever. I got mine in just over 6 weeks (another sale fell through ).










More pics to follow.

Regards,


Rob

[Chippy Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chippy]

Congrats Rob

Your new Prado looks real flash.

Enjoy the hell out of it !

BTW - It must be nice to have a high roof carport - I've only got 100mm over the standard roof height. Looks like I'll be parking on the lawn when I get the roof rack. :cry:

Cheers
Chippy

[Jacto Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jacto]

Oh what a feeling

Hi Gilbo, Tony here (JACTO) it was me that suggested Cessnock Toyota and you will be real happy with the service they offer (even the offer to drive it to Sydney is what they are about). Mine has clicked over 15,000 k's now and I am very happy with the vehicle and the after sales service provided by them. Enjoy!

[gilbo Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gilbo]

Thanks Tony - and thanks for the original tip - certainly saved me waiting 3 or 4 months!

I spoke with them yesterday and they confirmed I can have the car on friday, just working out logistics. They offered to drive it down (which I'll probably take them up on) but to be honest i wanted to see it with single digit k's on the clock..!

I need to get it back up there in a few weeks to get Sahara bar and winch fitted.

One thing they can't seem to help with is a DVD system. I found a Clarion system at Ryda for $1400 (10" screen) but as its a lease car I'm being pushed to do the whole thing through toyota - and the best they have some up with is a 9" screen for $2500 (+ luxury car tax!).

Mathew the sales guy there certainly seems to understand what customer service is!

cheers

[Jacto Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jacto]

Oh what a feeling

Hi Gilbo, yes Matthew does know what it is all about and he is the salesman that sold me mine. I did not go in with the intention of buying a Prado, I was after a cruiser but in the end could not justify the price. Matthew was persistent and basically did a delivery sell on me where he started at one end of the vehicle and explained everything about the vehicle before convincing me to take a test drive (three times he tried) after all I was getting over the Nissan vehicle that I had missed out on at the dealer next door when after paying a deposit and waiting for over a week to find out when I could expect a definite delivery, was told there were no vehicles in Oz. Best dose of bad customer service they ever made and I am now glad I did not purchase the Nissan. This is after owning two of them (wife still drives the 99 GU) and can't wait to change to a Prado. I am seeing Matthew on Thursday to pick up my free cap and insulated mug that was promised to me a while back.

[Pedro Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pedro]

My white GXL is on order with production 6/07.

Thought I would check to see if there were any dealers with cancellation of order and availability a lot closer to now.

Yes, found one close by with delivery to their yard tomorrow.
Beauty, until price which was much much more than my existing order.

Their reason, and I can't blame them, is that it is a vehicle in demand and they can deliver.

Still watching and waiting.

Pedro