When the 2004 Prius came out in Oct 2003, the dealers knew SQUAT. A year later they knew SQUAT.
Their problem (and I am quite confident the Leaf will be the same):
- The cars were sold before they got on the boat in Japan let alone to the local lot.
- People picked them up the same day they were delivered or early the next morning; they had been impatiently waiting months for their car (sound familiar??).
- The closest a dealer could get to driving one was moving it from the 'prep' area to the 'delivery' area. Demo car? Didn't exist.
Like this forum, PriusChat (kudos Danny) was the savior. The techie types bought the manuals, figured out how things worked and could answer a lot of questions. Those who got their cars earlier in the cycle put out as much info and answered as many questions as they could. The only dealers who knew anything either followed PriusChat or learned from the people who were picking up their car.
Enjoy the ride
