Pointless Test Drives

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Discussion

markwm

Original Poster:

144 posts

219 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
quotequote all
Is this the norm noawadays? Just had a test drive at Land Rover. They obviously had a designated route for accompanied test drives. Every single road I was told to turn on had either speed bumps or speed camera. Complete waste of time

Monkeylegend

26,226 posts

230 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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The last two cars I have bought from dealers I have been handed the keys and told to take as long as I like, both unaccompanied.

MonkeyBusiness

3,912 posts

186 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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Monkeylegend said:
The last two cars I have bought from dealers I have been handed the keys and told to take as long as I like, both unaccompanied.
I went to a dealer for a test drive. I was half a mile up the road before the salesman told me to spin the car around.

Went to another dealer the same day who handed me the keys, gave me a few mixed routes including motorways, and take as long as I want.

romeogolf

2,056 posts

118 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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Seems very hit-and-miss.

I've test-driven a MINI three times.

First time was the old model and as it was the roadster, my partner and I were allowed out for the afternoon. When the new model came out we tried it and it was a very brief supervised drive. We felt we wanted a longer test, so booked a 24-hour test drive and had the car from 10am Saturday until Sunday lunch-time.

When I test-drove an SLK, it was a supervised one but the salesperson didn't tell me where to go, just let me drive it with him for an hour. I've had a solo drive in an Audi A1 as well, but when we tried a VW Polo the salesperson came with us.


RushDom

230 posts

93 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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Not quite the same thing, but I had a saleswoman at a large Ford franchise dealership *cough*censored*cough* flatly refuse me a test drive in a 1.0 Zetec Fiesta because I wasn't interested in purchasing a car that day. For clarity, we were looking at leasing a car - not buying a specific used model or anything.

Needless to say, we went to our local independent Ford instead where the salesman handed us the keys and told me and my dad to take as long as we wanted.

ETA

  • cough*No Names*cough*
Edited by RushDom on Tuesday 17th January 13:37



Edited by Big Al. on Tuesday 17th January 19:46

Steve_F

860 posts

193 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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Suzuki Swift Sport, up a dual carriageway and back through a village with long, straight, 30mph roads. Not even a roundabout or slip road that could be taken aggressively!

Still felt like a seriously fun little car but completely missed the opportunity to sell it to me on the handling making it way too easy to walk out of the showroom and on to the next idea.

thelawnet1

1,539 posts

154 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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censored Toyota, Watford - a 1mile tour of an industrial estate with mini-roundabouts and speed bumps.

ETA

No names please.

Edited by Big Al. on Tuesday 17th January 20:27

JohnoVR6

690 posts

211 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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Test drove a Fiesta ST a couple of weekends ago, the salesman's chosen route was to drive down a busy-ish, largely uninteresting and straight A-road to a roundabout all of three miles from the garage, round and back in the opposite direction.

That said, six miles was enough to confirm it's really not for me....so maybe not all that pointless after all thinking about it.

Edited by JohnoVR6 on Tuesday 17th January 13:47

RobM77

35,349 posts

233 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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markwm said:
Is this the norm noawadays? Just had a test drive at Land Rover. They obviously had a designated route for accompanied test drives. Every single road I was told to turn on had either speed bumps or speed camera. Complete waste of time
I wouldn't be surprised if they chose routes that played to a car's strengths and avoided its weaknesses. In your case, Land Rover would try to keep the speed low, deal with lots of speed bumps, and avoid high speed handling - it sounds like they judged it perfectly to show the car's strengths and avoid its weaknesses. Likewise, most Lotus dealers would be doing the opposite: lots of twisty and bumpy roads, but avoiding speed cameras and speed bumps.

Edited by RobM77 on Tuesday 17th January 13:54

IanCress

4,409 posts

165 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
quotequote all
RushDom said:
Not quite the same thing, but I had a saleswoman at a large Ford franchise dealership *cough*censored*cough* flatly refuse me a test drive in a 1.0 Zetec Fiesta because I wasn't interested in purchasing a car that day. For clarity, we were looking at leasing a car - not buying a specific used model or anything.

Needless to say, we went to our local independent Ford instead where the salesman handed us the keys and told me and my dad to take as long as we wanted.



Edited by RushDom on Tuesday 17th January 13:37
And was this salesman rewarded with a sale / lease contract?

Alex_225

6,234 posts

200 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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Has varied for me. I've test driven new cars on a decent run, been able to open it up within reason etc. Others have just been a case of just wanting to get it over and done with ASAP.

I have had the attitude from some sales people that unless you want the car they're loathed to let you really drive it. Bit of a catch 22 with that situation really.

Last car I bought from a dealership was actually when helping my mum buy her latest car. She was in the market for a little hatch, nippy but not hot hatch as such. Test drove the Fiesta and Clio which were both sub 6 months old and an Audi A1 which was 3 years old. Apart from the A1 being here preferred car, the salesman was also the best of the three. The Renault salesman was dire, I mean really lifeless and well a bit whiney, A big contrast to the new sales chap who I bought from back in 2010!

I think it very much depends on who you get on the day even in the same dealers. I recall going for a test drive with a friend of a Clio 182. He'd never driven one before and I said to take a look at one and take one for a drive. The route the salesman took was barely enough to get the car above 3,500rpm!!

Corpulent Tosser

5,459 posts

244 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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Like most I have had mixed experiences, some supervised, some short drives and some where I was given the keys and told to enjoy the car.

Best was when I was looking for a TVR and test drove two from a dealer in a town called Hexham, the sales chappie gave me the keys to the first one and said he would get the other fuelled up while I was away, he also gave me a recommended route to take which included open road, twisty country road and back to the dealer through town.

The attitude of the salesman made me want to do business with them, and I did buy a car there.

So sales managers, my advice would be give your potential customers a real opportunity to test your cars and you stand a good chance of making them actual customers.

Edited by Corpulent Tosser on Tuesday 17th January 13:56

daddy cool

3,996 posts

228 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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Booked a GT86 test drive a week in advance at the Sandhurst Toyota dealership. On rocking up at the agreed time, he (the same salesman) had no record of it. Still, no problem - lets go!
He insisted on coming (all 6'5 tall and 6'5 wide of him) and seemed happy wedged in the tiny back seats.
He took us on a ~2 mile loop where we didnt exceed 30mph/3rd gear, which considering the GT86 really needs some revs to get going, didnt really show the car in a good light. Suddenly we were back at the dealership, and he seemed surprised that we didnt want to hand around and discuss it with him.

I should also add that the week previous, where we just wanted to arrange a test-drive, he insisted on a 20 minute discussion about how i wanted to pay for the car ("cash, thanks for asking") and made us go through a full-PCP calculation where he told me that if i did PCP, i could have a brand new GT86. He didnt care when i said i could still have a brand new GT86 if i wanted by paying cash, but i didnt want a brand new one.

Compare with how i bought my current Mazda:
- Oh hai, i can haz drive in this car?
- Sure, heres the keys, see you later
[Later}
- I'll take it!

Loyly

17,990 posts

158 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
quotequote all
markwm said:
Is this the norm noawadays? Just had a test drive at Land Rover. They obviously had a designated route for accompanied test drives. Every single road I was told to turn on had either speed bumps or speed camera. Complete waste of time
That's all a Land Rover is good for. They're not made for high speed, they're for Suburban mums to hump over speed bumps and chuff around town in. The salesman played you like a piano.

FWIW, when I've been on test drives before where I'm told we're on 'route B' or 'the long route' I've always gone off piste to better roads.

The best test drive I've had was my MX5, I was handed the keys and told to be back before closing.

R E S T E C P

660 posts

104 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
quotequote all
markwm said:
Just had a test drive at Land Rover.
My most comprehensive test drive was at Land Rover a couple of years ago. The salesman came along with me, but I think he was maybe bored and wanted to get out of the showroom. He kept telling me to go further and try more roads. When we eventually got back after more than an hour, before even going in the showroom he said "the manual version's really good too, want to try it?" - and out we went again for another hour.

OverSteery

3,586 posts

230 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
quotequote all
markwm said:
Is this the norm noawadays? Just had a test drive at Land Rover. They obviously had a designated route for accompanied test drives. Every single road I was told to turn on had either speed bumps or speed camera. Complete waste of time
You are the customer. Tell them what sort of test drive you want. If they refuse tell them you'll try another dealer.
If they still refuse the drive you want, then try another dealer.

Most people now can't tell one car from another and really don't care about test drives, other than to check they look good in the reflection from the showroom window.

My favour test driver was a Morgan aero 8 thing. I was at the dealer with a friend and explained to the salesman that I was in NO way interested in buying a Morgan, just looking at the one in the showroom as I was board. He was unfussed and asked if I wanted a go anyway. So I took it for a drive.
"Do you mind if I push it a bit and have some fun", I ask. He smiles and Nods. and I discovered how nicely the aero 8 drifts on a wet around about.
I didn't buy one and dealer later closed. Err so there's a moral somewhere I guess.

Edited by OverSteery on Tuesday 17th January 14:06

Hoofy

76,253 posts

281 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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Guess it varies. I once test drove a Griffith 500 and they just gave me the keys. biggrin

R E S T E C P

660 posts

104 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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OverSteery said:
Most people now can't tell one car from another and really don't care about test drives
I have had a couple of salesmen at big dealers give me a funny look when I asked for a test drive. One (at a large National dealer group) told me I could only test drive the car if I bought it... "That's called car ownership, not a test drive"

OverSteery

3,586 posts

230 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
quotequote all
Hoofy said:
Guess it varies. I once test drove a Griffith 500 and they just gave me the keys. biggrin
No car eh? Probably for the best. No moving parts in the key, so unlikely to break down. smile

ashleyman

6,963 posts

98 months

Tuesday 17th January 2017
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When trying to buy a hot hatch I had the worst time. There were a few cars I wanted to try out before making a decision.

Golf R -
One dealer wanted a £500 deposit before allowing me to test drive. That would be non-refundable unless you ordered a car in which case it counted towards deposit. They also lied about not having any used in stock.

Same car at a different dealer and we were gone for about an hour which was awesome! Went back with the wife later on in the day and she loved it and we bought it.

A45 AMG. No deposit and salesman was really nice. The route was a good one but a little shorter than I had expected especially for such an expensive car. Car was also cold and not run in so had to be careful. Wasn’t allowed to really push it either. Disappointing but rules are rules.

M135i. Waited 45 minutes past my allowed time for them to ‘find the keys’. Enjoyed the drive and got to go down some familiar roads.

S3 - wasn’t allowed. Got shown round an A3 and that was it.

Also tried a Fiesta ST and a Mini Cooper S. Mini was better but was a pre-arranged route local to me so could try the car harder than I'd usually drive. Fiesta ST was awful. 6 miles on the car - literally just off the truck and it was stiff as anything going round 20 mile an hour roads with humps. Guy wasn't impressed when I asked when the real test drive would be!

Edited by ashleyman on Tuesday 17th January 14:30