Incredible Deals on the Toyota Mirai

If you're a California resident, here's a deal you may seriously need to consider, especially if you're looking for a low-cost, environmentally friendly vehicle (But please read the potential downside at end of article).

The Hydrogen powered 2019 and 2020 Toyota Mirai, which is only available to California residents, is not selling well and a newly redesigned model is coming out for 2021. Toyota needs to get rid of these so they are offering a whopping $32,000 rebate. Yes, you read that right. $32,000!

And that's not all. It also comes with $15,000 in hydrogen fuel credit, which should get you through 3 years of free driving (about 45,000 miles).

As if that's not enough, Toyota is also offering 0% financing for 72 months.

And the final cherry on top? California offers an additional $4,500 tax rebate as well.

The MSRP on the 2019 Mirai is $58,550. Let's assume you can get 5% off MSRP which brings it down to $55,650. (you should do better than this as a RealCarTips reader).

So let's look at the final figures:

$55,650 minus $32,000 rebate = $23,650

$23,650 minus $4,500 CA tax rebate = $19,150

Now, remember, you also get $15,000 in free fuel, so if you apply this value to the price, you're really only paying $4,150!

Your monthly payments would come to around $328 if you take advantage of the 0% financing ($265 per month if you take the CA rebate into account). But keep in mind you will have zero fuel costs for the first 3 years or so.

Now let's talk about the cons of doing this. You have to understand this is a hydrogen powered vehicle which means you can only fuel up at hydrogen stations. There are quite a few in California, including one that's in between San Francisco and LA. It takes about 5 minutes to fill up, and you can typically get about 300 miles on a full tank. You should be able to travel pretty much anywhere in California, but there are very few hydrogen stations outside of California.

My recommendation: If you have a hydrogen station close to you, and you only intend to drive the car within your region, then this is a deal you should seriously consider.

You can find out more info on the Mirai and hydrogen stations at www.toyota.com/mirai/fcv.html.

WARNING From Reader Regarding Hydrogen Vehicles

After publishing this article, I received the following note from a reader detailing his negative experience owning a Hydrogen powered vehicle. Please be aware of this before you consider this deal.