Firstly I just want to say what a great forum. I get fantastic vibes from all the people here as Ive cruised the pages over the last month or so, and there is an amazing amount of frank, honest and upfront gouge here. The site is truly amazing.
Like all of us - I have a bit of a story to tell. 
Ive been absolutely hanging out to buy a Triton for the last year - impatiently waiting for my current novated lease to finish up which it does in 16 days time. Its been 12yrs too long since I last owned a 4WD, and after test driving all the new batch of modern dual cabs nearly a year ago - the time has come to own one again. I've had my heart set on a gunmetal grey VR with factory diff lock so I could get a Sahara bar and a canopy fitted without having all the left overs - no point in paying for something your going to rip off a week after delivery right? I figured that if I could save 2-3k compared to a GLX-R, then an extra grand or two would cover my costs there.
When the end of year run out sale - ($37,990 + ORC) for a manual turbo diesel GLX-R came on the box recently I couldn't wipe the grin off my face. With this deal, I certainly wouldnt expect much change out of $40k on a GLX-R with metallic paint drive away, so I then thought about getting the pre canopy prep which would offset the cost of the difflock and also just leave me with the nudge bar spare. Anyway, Ive been in the "Im ready to buy now, no trade, no finance required" mode for several weeks dealing with four seperate stealers, plus having a pit bull car broker on the prowl for me too. Game on - and this is where it gets interesting. You see - I was going to try for the "give me a VR for 2-3k less" approach on this run out deal which was advertised only for the GLX-R.
After the intial round of 'discounted drive away prices' were provided for the GLX-R, I started asking about VR pricing telling them about my need for a canopy and bullbar. Interestingly, all of them said that the VR would only be marginally cheaper as the big factory to dealer rebates were only for the GLX-R as this was the car that they had plenty of in stock and need to move. So I started inquiring about the 'pre canopy prep' with factory diff lock on a GLX-R. They all started checking their stock computers, and surprisingly, there were only two GLX-Rs in the whole country (interstate) with both these options and they were Silver in colour. Silver and platoon are the two colors I dont like - I had my heart set on gunmetal & now having seen a few black ones in the dealerships - black was also warming up to me real fast. I also never realised that the pre canopy prep was an option that had to be taken on the factory production line only- not just taken off by the dealer.
So now Im in a dilemma. Im being told the VR is only marginally cheaper ($500 or so less) than the GLX-R and Im going to end up with the 'extra bits' because none of the dealers wanted a sports bar or hard lid either. One did in the end offer to 'buy them off me' for $750 as he had a grey MY08 VR on the lot. Bugger it I thought, Im certainly getting more than $500 value for the 'claimed' difference in GLX-R vs VR price (17" wheels alone cost more), and who knows - maybe someone will give me a few hundred for those extra bits. I then asked to check to see if a grey GLX-R with diff lock was available - surely theres got to be a grey GLX-R with diff locker in the country somewhere !?!?!. He came back he said 'no - there are no grey GLX-R's with difflock anywherein the country.' He was surprised, and I was shocked. I asked about black - same deal - None with factory diff lock in the country. I asked about any other colour. Except for (you guessed it) platoon or silver, there were no manual GLX-R with diff lock in the country
Believe it or not - same for the VR. 
Its all you guys fault on this forum - you've snapped them all up and left the cupboard bare 
Initially I didn't believe the dealer - thinking that he was trying to steer my purchase to another colour or something, but after hearing it from 4 separate dealers over a few days - Im convinced that it is true. So then I thought - oh well - how long can it take to order one in? (remembering some of the horror stories Ive read here about guys waiting for ages). They all said the standard 2-3 months cause its gotta be built, shipped blah blah blah. But none of them would guarantee me that if I sign up now, that the current negotiated contract price will be fixed for my delivery. They all said that they expect a price rise sometime in the new year (due the aussie dollar), and more importantly - none of them knew if the big rebates would continue into the new year. You see - mitsu are only paying them the big rebates for contracts finalised up to the end of 2008. For that reason alone I wasnt prepared to risk it.
What happened next is even more freaky. At this point (Monday morning) they were all around just under $40k drive away for a manual GLX-R (no diff lock!!) in black or grey. I'd recently found a white MY09 GLX-R from a country dealer advertised on newcarsales.com for $36,990 driveaway internet special for ABN holders (must be delivered by 31 Dec 08). It was new with 50km on the clock. I printed this off and took it in to play hard ball. None of the dealers would match it intially, saying that 'he must have negotiated an extra rebate from the factory on it or something.' They all knew they had to close the deal with me quick to guarantee their rebate (its was 29 Dec), and they knew I was ready to sign (I'd shown them 10 x green colored drinking vouchers poking out the top of my wallet for a 1k cash deposit). But, being the stubborn bastards they are, they said go buy it then. So I got up shook hands and walked out the door. I only had to do this to two of them and they were crawling over themselves and calling me up 'what do we need to do to close the deal'.
After a lot more checking on stock computers and 'not so friendly negotiations' - I signed a contract yesterday for a MY 09 Black VR manual turbo Diesel for $34,000 driveaway
No diff lock Sorry for war and peace - but Im just a littleexcited about it all. Im looking forward to now spending all the extra cash on an ARB Sahara Bar and Rear step tow bar + Flexisports canopy with some new rubber too !! Will book it all in tommorrow. Am picking up the car next Tuesday !
Now all I got to do is decide on the 265/75 R16 tyres Im going to get................and whether to colour code the Sahara bar in black, or save the $220 colour code cost leaving it in millenium grey (matches flares) and put it towards a UHF radio......
Any gouge you guys have got about ute liners would be great. Maybe I'll start a new post (after doing a search !)
