I picked up my Cactus Grey Lariat Lux EB AWD the day after Thanksgiving. 700 trouble-free miles so far. I have only seen a couple of vehicles at my dealer, all XL's, none in the wild. I have seen 4 Santa Cruz's out driving, too bad for those people!!! :D
I am guessing that his point is your vehicle was built a while back and placed in a parking lot, and many, many other trucks have also been placed in there, effectively blocking your truck. So, the trucks that they can get to first are shipped while yours sits.
Nice Review! I live in AZ, so I do not see an issue with water on the hood. The one thing i see about the hood 'lever' is that it was terribly hot when I opened the hood the first time. That may also be an AZ thing.