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Select LA/SF Dealers: 2021 Toyota Mirai Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car + $15k Fuel Card Expired

$23,100
$52,408.00
after Tax Credits & Incentives (Select Locations)
+296 Deal Score
452,976 Views
Select Eligible Toyota Dealers [Dealer Locator] located in Los Angeles / San Francisco, California are offering to Qualifying Customers: 2021 Toyota Mirai Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car + $15,000 in Complimentary Fuel for 2yrs with 0% APR for 72-Months for as low as $23,108 after Incentives and Tax Credits. Pricing and availability may vary depending on your location, consult your local eligible dealership for more information.
  • Note: Offer is valid at select participating Los Angeles / San Francisco, California locations only. Refer to the forum thread for additional deal details and discussion.
Thank to community member ExtremeOak for and reddit user XIIXOO for finding this deal.

Deal Details:
  1. Visit your local eligible Toyota Norcal Dealer [Dealer Locator]
  2. Shop for a eligible 2021 Toyota Mirai model that qualifies for the TFS Cash offer and Fuel Card offer mentioned on the page here
    • Note: Qualified buyers can finance a new 2021 Mirai at 0% APR for 72 Months.
  3. Apply for and purchase a qualifying model with prices starting from ~$50,408 (may vary by location)
  4. Toyota Cash Discount will deduct $20,000 from your total
  5. You will receive a $4,500 CA Tax Credit (more info)
  6. You will receive a $8,000 Federal Tax Credit (more info)
  7. You will also receive a Complimentary Fuel Card valid for up to 2 years or $15,000 of fuel (more info)
  8. Your total after incentives and tax credits will be as low as $23,108 and will vary depending on your location and model selection.
Additional Details:

Editor's Notes & Price Research

Written by
  • We put this up due to popularity and the great discussion from our members in the comments that really highlights the spirit of the community. As a deal editing team we recognize the limited availability of this offer however
  • About this Deal:
    • Offer include a no cost maintenance plan with the purchase or lease of every new Toyota for 3 years or 35,000 miles, whichever comes first. 24-hour roadside assistance is also included for 3 years and unlimited miles
    • Terms:
      • 0% APR for 72 monthly payments of $13.89 for every $1,000 financed. Terms available on approved credit For only very well qualified customers/lessees through participating Toyota dealers and Toyota Financial Services (TFS). Cash offer must be applied toward required down payment amount or percentage. No down payment required if qualified for advertised offer. If you do not qualify for the offer, the amount and percentage of any down payment vary with your credit qualifications. There is no cash back option. Dealer contribution may vary and could affect price. Individual dealer prices, other terms and offers may vary. Must take retail delivery from dealer's stock and terms subject to vehicle availability. Cannot be combined with TFS Lease Cash, Customer Cash, Lease, Lease Subvention Cash. See your participating Toyota dealer for details. Offer available in CA regardless of buyer's residency; void where prohibited. Expires 03-31-2021. Toyota Financial Services is a service mark used by Toyota Motor Credit Corporation.
      • Customers who lease a 2021 Mirai will receive complimentary fuel for three years or $15,000, whichever comes first. Customers who purchase or finance a 2021 Mirai through June 30, 2021 receive an additional three years to use the $15,000 of fuel. Complimentary fuel term begins as of card activation or 90 days after the Mirai lease or purchase commencement date, whichever is earlier. Fuel card is nontransferable. The Mirai is a hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicle that must be fueled at hydrogen stations conforming to the standards. See https://cafcp.org/stationmap for current hydrogen fueling station locations.
Good Deal?

Original Post

Written by
Edited March 20, 2021 at 12:06 AM by
Let me start by saying Hydrogen Fuel Cell vehicles are not for everybody. Being that H2 fueling stations are limited, it's really only feasible in the LA / SF area.

YMMV but see below for the breakdown and explanation transcribed from u/acetech09 on Reddit


I bought one of those dirt cheap Toyota Mirais - still waiting for the catch

I have a 70 mile round-trip commute, and have been casually e-shopping for an electric or hybrid commuter car. But I never found something that that was a) well-priced, b) a worthwhile quality-of-life improvement over my current daily, and 3) charging an EV where I live is possible, but annoying.

My current daily is a 2020 MB Metris cargo van. And while I love it as a hobby equipment hauler, it's just an okay daily. Somewhat noisy, and base model so zero creature comforts to speak of.

Enter this thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/com...after_tax/
I was intrigued enough to start doing the math and looked into the usability.
8 hours later, I had bought one.
Here's my review of the out-the-door numbers, and a lightweight review of the car from a performance-loving car nerd.
The math with real numbers from my sales agreement:
(edited, changed pricing from monthly to absolute to make it clearer)$50,408.00 (Sale price, $2k under sticker)
+ $5,200 (CA sales tax and registration)
- $20,000 (Cash discount from Toyota corporate)
= $35,608.00 (This is what I financed at 0% APR, 72 months, no fees at all)
- $4,500 (CA tax credit)
- $8,000 (Federal tax credit)
= $23,108.00 Effective post-tax vehicle price
The vehicle price comes out to $23,108. BUT, this goes further because of the complimentary $15,000 fuel card, which is good for about 50,000 miles or 6 years.
So, with that card, it makes sense to compare with other cars by including 50,000 miles of fuel.

Mirai: $23,108 base, free fuel 30mpg gas car: $23,108 base
- $7,500 fuel
= $15,608 out-the-door equivalent 3.4 mi/kwh elec: $23,108 base
- $4,000 fuel
= $19,000 out-the-door equivalent

If you compare it with $15-19k gas/EV equivalent, those vehicles are probably going to be used, with limited warranty remaining. So, there is additional unrealized operating savings with the Mirai as well.

Insurance and registration are about $100/mo for me. This is decently lower than other $50k luxury brands (per my policy at least), but I'm not including it since it's different for everyone.

After the fuel card runs out, the Mirai starts to get more expensive again due to the higher cost of H2 fuel over gas. However, I doubt I'm going to keep the car once the fuel card runs out. And, nobody knows what the depreciation will be like, so I'm keeping it out of this calculation.

That's $15k-$19k, acetech09. Not a 'free car' like some people were saying.

Yes, true. But here's the punchline. This car is really freaking nice.

It's not 'dirt-cheap' compared to a used commute econobox, but it's radically cheaper than any other Lexus-like, freeway-autonomous, tech-laden, fully featured and warrantied mid-size sedan.

For the price of this [craigslist.org], you get this [imgur.com].

Sure, it's cheap, but, how is it?
You might be a skeptic like me and think it's a $25k corolla with a $25k water-maker under the hood. But it's not. This is a proper, no-compromise luxury sedan. It almost directly compares with a top-spec, $40-45k Avalon, at least. Reportedly, this car was originally designed to be a Lexus, but brand politics happened.
  • Spacious, comfy, solid, quiet, cruises like a heavy full-size.
  • Radar cruise control, lane following, full autonomy/driver assist package with granular settings. Power everything. Sound isn't audiophile-tier but is about as good as a production car gets.
  • Bird's eye view/360 degree cameras, pretty excellent for checking your parking since the visibility is as poor as every other modern car.
  • Not exciting to drive, but it's still extremely confident and flat in corners. The 0-60 is 'slow', but it's totally sufficient, and the electric instant-torque makes it capable of cutting through whatever commute conditions you need it to even with lower HP numbers.
  • Huge dash screen with android auto/carplay.
  • A really handy wireless phone charging pad in the center console.
  • The digital instrument cluster display was easy enough to configure and interpret - i'm a big analog dial guy but this one took almost no time to get used to, and feels totally normal now.
  • It has a 'pee' button. Seriously. The car auto-dumps the water exhaust when driving, and during shutdown as well - which could dump a lot of water on your garage floor. So you can manually push a button and have the car pee in your driveway before you pull it into your garage.
Any negatives?
Not really. It's not a drivers car of course, but it's a solid premium Toyota and delivers exactly what you expect and want. Really, just minor nitpicks:
  • Wireless android auto would be nice, to synergize with the wireless charge pad.
  • There isn't multi-user seat memory. That's, bafflingly, part of the +$15k premium trim which is otherwise not really worth it.
  • No spare tire, just fix-a-flat and a compressor. Not a huge issue if you're commuting this in the urban areas it's mostly limited to.
  • No volume knob on the infotainment, you have to button spam.
The elephant in the room, Hydrogen stations:

Of course, the 'catch' is that you can only drive this car in the bay area and parts of LA. However, there are a lot of people in both those areas who only use their car for commutes and local city-errands. Within these markets, it's still pretty insane that you can get them that cheap - it's not like I'm the only guy who wants one.

Toyota does also give 21 complimentary gas-car rental days to the purchaser, like electric car sellers do, so people can take road trips if needed. 21 days isn't a *lot* but it's decent value.

At the pumps, it's almost exactly like filling up a normal gas car, sometimes there's a 1-2 car wait but they fill fast and it's not a big deal.

Conclusion:
I check all the boxes: lives and commutes near hydrogen stations, can take advantage of the tax credits, and has another vehicle for trips outside the hydrogen network.

Only time will tell if this thing gives me a bunch of mechanical problems, or hydrogen balloons in price, or some other unknown. But for now, I think it'll work out great.

Is hydrogen the future? Probably not. The only clear benefit of fuel cell vehicles over battery electrics is refuel time, at significant complexity and material costs. But I'm sure hydrogen stations will be around as long as this vehicle lasts. But if I ever replace it, it'll probably be electric.

Station map for your area (California only):
https://cafcp.org/stationmap

For Carpool Sticker information:
https://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/car...arpool.htm

California Clean Vehicle Rebate $4500 for Mirai
https://cleanvehiclerebate.org/en...e-vehicles
Note: Income cap does not apply for Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles! Source [cleanvehiclerebate.org]

Federal Tax credit $8,000 info
https://afdc.energy.gov/laws/350
Note: this is a tax credit, applied when filling out tax return for 2021)

Source:
https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/com...ta_mirais/
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Deal
Score
+296
452,976 Views
$23,100
$52,408.00

Community Wiki

Last Edited by jnads March 24, 2021 at 02:42 PM

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Featured Comments

I went to Hamer Toyota and they had balls to mark those up 3k plus 1k gps add-on. Came to $56.5k with no negotiation because stimulus money is here and dealers wants it all. Sad state
Hydrogen Fuel cell is exempt from CA rebate income limits.

"The income cap applies for all eligible vehicle types except fuel-cell electric vehicles."

Source: cleanvehiclerebate.org/eng/requirements/1470
Slow car, 0-60 is 9.3 sec

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wpc
03-18-2021 at 09:13 AM.

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03-18-2021 at 09:13 AM.
the catch is hydrogen is not catching on and you can't fill up anywhere. I was waiting and waiting for one of the "planned" hydrogen stations to open near me and eventually gave up this year and bought a plugin hybrid instead.
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NukinFuts
03-18-2021 at 09:18 AM.
03-18-2021 at 09:18 AM.
Holding-out for a car burning methane.
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supercoolman
03-18-2021 at 09:20 AM.
03-18-2021 at 09:20 AM.
you can buy Mirai instead of lease only?
thought some of the tax credits have income restriction and are first come first serve until depleted for the year as well?
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Original Poster
ExtremeOak
03-18-2021 at 09:26 AM.
03-18-2021 at 09:26 AM.
Quote from supercoolman :
you can buy Mirai instead of lease only?
thought some of the tax credits have income restriction and are first come first serve until depleted for the year as well?
California $4500 is a "rebate" first come first serve (with income restrictions $300k for married filing joint) and Federal $8,000 is a tax credit.
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Original Poster
ExtremeOak
03-18-2021 at 09:27 AM.
03-18-2021 at 09:27 AM.
Quote from wpc :
the catch is hydrogen is not catching on and you can't fill up anywhere. I was waiting and waiting for one of the "planned" hydrogen stations to open near me and eventually gave up this year and bought a plugin hybrid instead.
Yes, Hydrogen is only really feasible in LA or SF area only.
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euuser1139989
03-18-2021 at 09:34 AM.
03-18-2021 at 09:34 AM.
Can we call this Toyota Hindenburg.

Apart from joke, are there any stations to fill this up? Don't want to be a Guinea pig here
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wpc
03-18-2021 at 09:34 AM.
03-18-2021 at 09:34 AM.
Quote from ExtremeOak :
Yes, Hydrogen is only really feasible in LA or SF area only.
I'm in so cal and I still can't find a hydrogen that's a reasonable distance away. That's what's really killing the fuel cell market.
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sawman5
03-18-2021 at 09:41 AM.

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03-18-2021 at 09:41 AM.
Slow car, 0-60 is 9.3 sec
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nhhiep
03-18-2021 at 09:45 AM.

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03-18-2021 at 09:45 AM.
Quote from sawman5 :
Slow car, 0-60 is 9.3 sec
well, perfect for LA and Bay Area traffics. Heck, even 15sec is fine too
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slicknod
03-18-2021 at 09:49 AM.
03-18-2021 at 09:49 AM.
I own one. Definitely the wrong forum to post this in even though it is truly a slick deal.

The media/Tesla have unfortunately shaped the consensus that fuel cells are have no future and thus, infrastructure has been slow to expand, funding may dry up and go directly to BEV related componentry and of course, sales will continue to slow down.
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irrationalconsumer
03-18-2021 at 09:55 AM.
03-18-2021 at 09:55 AM.
The catch: in 10 years, you wont find hydrogen fuel station anywhere, no one can fix this except toyota if it has mechanical problem, the car will be worth 10% of price you pay tobecause dealerships dont know what to do with it. Or it becomes a collector item
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