"Careful sir, this is a very powerful car!"

[omgus]

I was reading another thread when i saw the comment below.

kambites said:

When we were looking for a car for the wife, we had a salesman try that one. "It's a sports car, it needs hugely powerful servo assistance because it's so fast"... it was a naturally aspirated Audi A3; we'd turned up at the garage in the Elise...

I have had similar, last time i was hunting for a main car i ended up getting a Focus ST170, also on the list of cars i looked at and test drove were:
Focus ST170
Mondeo ST155 (it was so cheap i should have bought it, i missed out badly and couldn't find another low mileage one)
BMW 330/120i/130/Z4 3.0
S2000.

Now for all of these test drives i turned up in my Impreza, no Impreza can really be called subtle but mine was stupidly (and antisocially) loud and obviously not standard. The only cars i was allowed to drive without a health warning were the S2k and 130i.

With everything else the warning would be along the same lines "careful son, this is a sports car, it take man testicles to drive this bad boy!".

When i bought the Scooby i arrived in an MR2, i could understand being told to be careful, when i bought my second MR2 i arrived in my first MR2, i still had someone tell me that i needed to be careful as it was "a bit twitchy and very fast" even though we had just discussed my MR2 he was standing next to.

My issue is not with sellers warning/asking us not to speed or drive like tts, that thread has been done to death. I want to know who has obviously been clocked turning up in something equally or much more rapid than the car in question only to be warned about the "sporty" nature of the car they are looking at.

Arriving in an Elise and getting warned about a boggo A3 is good start, having to explain to a salesman that yes the ST170 is a little sporty but that the car i've just got out of has about double the bhp so i should be ok to keep it on the road is also a good start, but surely someone must have been even more patronised.

[StottyEvo]

I recall reading a story on here or somebody who was trying for a test drive in a GTR. He was repeatedly told by different salesman that it was too fast to handle and I believe they declined a test drive.

He had turned up in an Aventador

[ORD]

Almost. I rocked up in my Cayman S to test drive a BMW 120 (or maybe 118, I cant remember). The chap only had a 116i available to test drive. I thought it might still be worth it just to see how it steers. Halfway through the test drive, after him having asked about my car, I said "I think I'll need to test drive the 120, to be honest, as this is a bit sluggish". His response? "No. This has got all the power you need in the real world".

[ikarl]

I was shmoozing around a 350z when they were still pretty new... the salesman said I had probably never driven anything as fast/powerful as it before.

Even though he acknowledged me when I got out my 300zx twin turbo.

I pointed to my car and explained my car was nearly 450hp and was considerably more powerful, to which he replied (something alond the lines of) "yeah, but this will probably be quite a bit quicker"... I shook my head and smiled.. then left.

[Pebbles167]

I dont know why it's annoying, but it is!

I know a guy who was asked to be careful as the MKV Golf Tdi was very quick. The friend in question turned up on an R1 and was greeted by the staff before he'd took his helmet off.

[otolith]

In the Elise/A3 situation I might be more minded to say "careful sir, this thing will understeer into the shrubbery if you drive it like your car".

[Type R Tom]

I had the opposite, at 21 went in my 1.0l VW polo to test drive a S13 200sx, granted a cheap car but the salesman through me the keys and said “go have some fun”. I still smile to myself now thinking about the first time I floored it.

I bought it!

[jimbobsimmonds]

Not quite Impreza-esque but the salesman noticed the burble on my T5 and a sticker still on the window from Castle Combe the weekend before. Had a little chat about what modifications I'd done etc.

Sat down to talk about test driving the Fabia VRS. "Now I want you to be careful; its probably a bit quicker than what you are used too and almost caught somebody out last week..."

So you wasn't listening to me at all when we were talking, were you?

[omgus]

Type R Tom said:

I had the opposite, at 21 went in my 1.0l VW polo to test drive a S13 200sx, granted a cheap car but the salesman through me the keys and said “go have some fun”. I still smile to myself now thinking about the first time I floored it.

I bought it!

I had that getting the the first MR2, turned up in my ZX 1.4i, walked into the dealer and said i'm interested in the MR2, he chucked the keys at me and told me "that it probably only has 20 miles of petrol in so get it back here before it runs out". Deposit taken approximately 18 miles later.

[Chainguy]

Is it something car salesmen are trained to do, maybe in an attempt to build desire for the product?

I only ask as I went once with my wife, well g/f at the time, to look at a BMW compact. We were both given the same warning. The fact it was the weekend, and we got out of my weekend toy, namely an immaculate but obviously very tuned Renault 5 GT Turbo (think piper 285 cam and an HE5B turbo level of tune) didn't seem to register much with him.

The BMW was dog slow anyways. About as sporty as a game of darts in the pub.

[james_gt3rs]

otolith said:

In the Elise/A3 situation I might be more minded to say "careful sir, this thing will understeer into the shrubbery if you drive it like your car".

Sports cars feel normal for me so jumping into a FWD hatchback would take a bit of adjustment!

[billy939]

I had the opposite when test driving my first Civic Type-R. It had been snowing a few days before and it was still pretty icy. When I had looked around the car for a while I asked to take it for a drive. The guy selling it said that he usually would insist on driving on the test drive for someone my age(18 at the time)however since I had turned up in a Mini Cooper S he said that I was probably used to the sort of performance and said I could drive as long as I was a bit steadier in the bends.

It drove perfectly and I bought it when we got back.

[simo1863]

I get a different car every week and while they aren't sold to me the handovers vary massively.

I've been told that the 'sport' mode in a Golf 2.0 GTD 'is really only for track use' (with an accompanying wink) but then I've been given a GTR for a week without a second glance. I asked if there was anything I should know and he just said 'if you put your foot down, it goes fast'.... cheeky bd

[V8RX7]

I did the opposite.

I was selling a std MX5 and had a caller ask "Is it quick"

"No, they are great fun though"

I then realised he sounded young, I asked him what he drove

"Corsa 1.0"

"Ah - yes it's quick"

[McSam]

It alternately cracks me up and makes me very sad, depending on the situation. I have an increasingly firm theory that the average person has no comprehension of what a fast car - what you or I would call a fast car - really is.

For every salesman peddling the "this diesel hatch is a rocket ship" crap, there are ten people in the pub being regaled by the eventual buyer about how much of a sports car their 2.0TDI is, and then twenty genuinely quite quick cars that don't even get considered when these people are looking for their next purchase because they'll see a big petrol engine and think "well, why do I need that when the diesel is a sports car itself".

So it propagates and all these silly sods going around in normal hatchbacks think they've got some ballistic missile that only their careful right foot (or a load of "traction control" and "dynamic stability") can keep under control. If they see or hear from the owner of a really serious car, they think they can relate and that it's not really going to be any quicker than what they drive now. "Not in the real world, not in this gear or that gear, so it's no better."

Apart from making it impossible to explain to these people why we buy, drive and love actual sports cars and things that have some real power, or to infect them with an enthusiasm for it by any means less direct than taking them for a drive to forcibly show them what's possible, what does this do to the performance car market?

[JVaughan]

I traded up from a 306 DTurbo to the TVR .. salesman didnt bat an eye lid when I first test drive the Lotus Omega and then sat in the 308 GTB... when I was in the TVR, all the salesman kept telling me was "change down and hold it in the gear longer" .. "go on .... rev it" ...

45 minutes later, signed the deal, insurance sorted and claimed 3 points off Hampshire police for speeding

[Captainawesome]

McSam said:

It alternately cracks me up and makes me very sad, depending on the situation. I have an increasingly firm theory that the average person has no comprehension of what a fast car - what you or I would call a fast car - really is.

For every salesman peddling the "this diesel hatch is a rocket ship" crap, there are ten people in the pub being regaled by the eventual buyer about how much of a sports car their 2.0TDI is, and then twenty genuinely quite quick cars that don't even get considered when these people are looking for their next purchase because they'll see a big petrol engine and think "well, why do I need that when the diesel is a sports car itself".

So it propagates and all these silly sods going around in normal hatchbacks think they've got some ballistic missile that only their careful right foot (or a load of "traction control" and "dynamic stability") can keep under control. If they see or hear from the owner of a really serious car, they think they can relate and that it's not really going to be any quicker than what they drive now. "Not in the real world, not in this gear or that gear, so it's no better."

Apart from making it impossible to explain to these people why we buy, drive and love actual sports cars and things that have some real power, or to infect them with an enthusiasm for it by any means less direct than taking them for a drive to forcibly show them what's possible, what does this do to the performance car market?

^^^^^ This, taking people who have never been a properly quick car is absolutely hilarious. I think we on PH sometimes take it for granted.

I love hearing the screams when all you are doing is accelerating in a straight line......then the silence and occasional squeak in the corners....and then the shaking when they get out.

It's all about your fast car 'level'.

Reminds of the guy I met a few weeks ago who was telling me his 1.2 polo was a 'proper little rocket'. No mate, no, it's not.

[SpeckledJim]

Chainguy said:

Is it something car salesmen are trained to do, maybe in an attempt to build desire for the product?

I think it's something that comes out naturally once you've sat next to a few dheads who desperately want to show you what a great (read 'incompetently reckless') driver they are.

This is the exact reason I don't sell hot hatches.

Whether or not they've managed to safely pilot a sports car in to see you says nothing about how badly they're about to drive to try to impress you.

[SpeckledJim]

Captainawesome said:

^^^^^ This, taking people who have never been a properly quick car is absolutely hilarious. I think we on PH sometimes take it for granted.

I love hearing the screams when all you are doing is accelerating in a straight line......then the silence and occasional squeak in the corners....and then the shaking when they get out.

It's all about your fast car 'level'.

Reminds of the guy I met a few weeks ago who was telling me his 1.2 polo was a 'proper little rocket'. No mate, no, it's not.

This is exactly what I mean.

Believe it or not, a salesman who doesn't know you from Adam isn't going to be impressed with this on a test drive. He'll probably be scared.

Since there's a small but real chance you're about to kill him, that's understandable.

[shake n bake]

SpeckledJim said:

I think it's something that comes out naturally once you've sat next to a few dheads who desperately want to show you what a great (read 'incompetently reckless') driver they are.

This is the exact reason I don't sell hot hatches.

Whether or not they've managed to safely pilot a sports car in to see you says nothing about how badly they're about to drive to try to impress you.

Yup, I agree with this. Also, for every actual buyer you may get for a reasonably fast car, you'll have 29 idiots who think the 2.0 golf is a rocket ship and they can demo it as hard as possible just so they can tell there mates.
It's not always fun Being the other side of the desk!
Fortunately my idiot alarm has sharpened over the years!