Anyone driven the R yet?
Discussion
I saw a dark blue one in a Honda forecourt last week - wasn't keen on it at all. I can't see Honda refusing to let you drive it without a deposit. Once the dealer has satisfied itself you're not a time waster then I'm sure they will facilitate a test drive before money has been exchanged.
My dealer has been chasing me to see if I want one. (I've been using them for servicing/maintaining both my Hondas for >6 years, so know them well...put enough money their way but they've been fair with me too.)
Anyway, finally got around to arranging something at the weekend, except their idea of a test-drive was "do all the figures and paperwork first, make sure it's the right car for you*, then a 15 minute ACCOMPANIED (her emphasis) test-drive."
Told the silly bint that I've never bought a car on the basis of a test-drive that short before and I'm not about to start with one costing £30k. Got told that those were the rules and that was all they could offer me. Pointed out that 10 years ago they chucked me the keys to a new EP3 CTR and told me to bring it back in an hour. She seemed briefly flustered by that then went back to "the rules". So I said contact me when the fuss has died down and you can relax the rules. At which point she lost interest and said she didn't know when that would be.
Seems to me like they really don't want to sell the car to anyone who wants to buy it for what it is, only to those who'll spunk up the cash for the image the car portrays (much like Audi/BMW). Sadly I don't think this is going to work out for them...mainly because Honda don't have the same brand/image strength, and nor does "Type R" anymore...they've been 10** years out of the performance game in the UK!
* i.e. I'm not a timewaster who can't afford the car!
** I don't count the FN2-R as that was clearly badge engineering using a completely carry-over powertrain and very little proper chassis development.
Anyway, finally got around to arranging something at the weekend, except their idea of a test-drive was "do all the figures and paperwork first, make sure it's the right car for you*, then a 15 minute ACCOMPANIED (her emphasis) test-drive."
Told the silly bint that I've never bought a car on the basis of a test-drive that short before and I'm not about to start with one costing £30k. Got told that those were the rules and that was all they could offer me. Pointed out that 10 years ago they chucked me the keys to a new EP3 CTR and told me to bring it back in an hour. She seemed briefly flustered by that then went back to "the rules". So I said contact me when the fuss has died down and you can relax the rules. At which point she lost interest and said she didn't know when that would be.
Seems to me like they really don't want to sell the car to anyone who wants to buy it for what it is, only to those who'll spunk up the cash for the image the car portrays (much like Audi/BMW). Sadly I don't think this is going to work out for them...mainly because Honda don't have the same brand/image strength, and nor does "Type R" anymore...they've been 10** years out of the performance game in the UK!
* i.e. I'm not a timewaster who can't afford the car!
** I don't count the FN2-R as that was clearly badge engineering using a completely carry-over powertrain and very little proper chassis development.
I popped in to a local dealer and organised a test drive for the following week.
They called me the day before to confirm things, informing me I'd need to pay a £500 deposit first.
I was frankly appalled by this and pointed out that the likes of VW, BMW, Audi and Subaru have all given me cars to drive on my own....an excellent sales aid that really works, for suitably qualified punters, rather than test pilots.
They relented and I had the test drive.
I was warned to be careful because it was such a powerful car!!
The sales manager and the salesman both came, adding unnecessary weight to blunt the performance.
I had a 15min drive, mostly stuck in traffic, hardly getting the chance to go through the gears or explore the chassis on a
good road.
I found the driving position to be a touch high and thought the engine sounded awful. Fab gearbox as usual.
The car did not feel particularly fast and would not be pleasant as a daily driver.
A Golf R is on a completely different level of quality and class....why would anyone buy a CTR when they could have an R?
They called me the day before to confirm things, informing me I'd need to pay a £500 deposit first.
I was frankly appalled by this and pointed out that the likes of VW, BMW, Audi and Subaru have all given me cars to drive on my own....an excellent sales aid that really works, for suitably qualified punters, rather than test pilots.
They relented and I had the test drive.
I was warned to be careful because it was such a powerful car!!
The sales manager and the salesman both came, adding unnecessary weight to blunt the performance.
I had a 15min drive, mostly stuck in traffic, hardly getting the chance to go through the gears or explore the chassis on a
good road.
I found the driving position to be a touch high and thought the engine sounded awful. Fab gearbox as usual.
The car did not feel particularly fast and would not be pleasant as a daily driver.
A Golf R is on a completely different level of quality and class....why would anyone buy a CTR when they could have an R?
I popped in to a local dealer and organised a test drive for the following week.
They called me the day before to confirm things, informing me I'd need to pay a £500 deposit first.
I was frankly appalled by this and pointed out that the likes of VW, BMW, Audi and Subaru have all given me cars to drive on my own....an excellent sales aid that really works, for suitably qualified punters, rather than test pilots.
They relented and I had the test drive.
I was warned to be careful because it was such a powerful car!!
The sales manager and the salesman both came, adding unnecessary weight to blunt the performance.
I had a 15min drive, mostly stuck in traffic, hardly getting the chance to go through the gears or explore the chassis on a
good road.
I found the driving position to be a touch high and thought the engine sounded awful. Fab gearbox as usual.
The car did not feel particularly fast and would not be pleasant as a daily driver.
A Golf R is on a completely different level of quality and class....why would anyone buy a CTR when they could have an R?
They called me the day before to confirm things, informing me I'd need to pay a £500 deposit first.
I was frankly appalled by this and pointed out that the likes of VW, BMW, Audi and Subaru have all given me cars to drive on my own....an excellent sales aid that really works, for suitably qualified punters, rather than test pilots.
They relented and I had the test drive.
I was warned to be careful because it was such a powerful car!!
The sales manager and the salesman both came, adding unnecessary weight to blunt the performance.
I had a 15min drive, mostly stuck in traffic, hardly getting the chance to go through the gears or explore the chassis on a
good road.
I found the driving position to be a touch high and thought the engine sounded awful. Fab gearbox as usual.
The car did not feel particularly fast and would not be pleasant as a daily driver.
A Golf R is on a completely different level of quality and class....why would anyone buy a CTR when they could have an R?
I just don't get why dealers try and make your life difficult...surely if you're the local dealership then you want to portray a good image as that is more likely to give your service dep't work even if the punter doesn't buy from you specifically...
(As a note to this, two doors up from Stratford Honda is Stratford VW, both Listers franchises. 9 months ago we went along to test-drive the (then pretty new) Golf-R for Becs. We were up-front and said we'd seen some great lease deals, wanted to have a drive of the car and see if they could do us a good lease deal if we liked the car. Sales team were very helpful, Becs went out for 20-30mins in the car without any pressure, then they came back 2 days later and said sorry but they couldn't get close to the deals we'd seen. Totally different approach to Honda...
)
(As a note to this, two doors up from Stratford Honda is Stratford VW, both Listers franchises. 9 months ago we went along to test-drive the (then pretty new) Golf-R for Becs. We were up-front and said we'd seen some great lease deals, wanted to have a drive of the car and see if they could do us a good lease deal if we liked the car. Sales team were very helpful, Becs went out for 20-30mins in the car without any pressure, then they came back 2 days later and said sorry but they couldn't get close to the deals we'd seen. Totally different approach to Honda...
)havoc said:
(As a note to this, two doors up from Stratford Honda is Stratford VW, both Listers franchises. 9 months ago we went along to test-drive the (then pretty new) Golf-R for Becs. We were up-front and said we'd seen some great lease deals, wanted to have a drive of the car and see if they could do us a good lease deal if we liked the car. Sales team were very helpful, Becs went out for 20-30mins in the car without any pressure, then they came back 2 days later and said sorry but they couldn't get close to the deals we'd seen. Totally different approach to Honda... )
Audi Stockport - went to test drive a brand new RS4, salesman just threw me the keys and said bring it back before we close, didn't even want to see my driving license and I was 22 at the time and had never bought a car from Audi )I bought an EP3 Type-R back in 2004 and was told by the dealer at the time to take as long as I needed and actually suggested a route where I could 'drive it properly'. He said a lot of people came back disappointed because the car was slower than they were expecting, but that was just because they hadn't driven it properly. True of course, but I wasn't expecting to be told that by the dealer.
When I take my current car back to the dealer for service, they lend me a brand new, £50k+ car for the time they have mine. The loan car is worth well in excess of what mine is and they know that they have no reasonable likelihood of getting any more money out of me than the cost of the service (already heavily discounted.)
I think Honda are getting caught up in their own hype here. It IS a fast car, but not more than any of the other competing brands are offering and I don't think people would be treated like this by VW/Audi etc.
How does the £500 'deposit' work in this case? Is it actually a deposit to buy the car or an insurance excess if you bring the test car back damaged. If it is the former, I can't understand why anyone would do it and if it is the latter it is scandalous if they are actually expecting you to buy the car.
Drove it at Lookers Honda on Saturday.
1 hour slot with Salesman warming it up for first 10.
Got to test it in +R and definitely excites as well as being easy to pootle in traffic.
Great Track toy / second car but not for you anyone who doesn't like "attention".
True to what you'll see if you watch the youtube vids of it out-pacing the M3, RS3 and Megane.
Will appeal to the Ford RS / Halfrauds mod boys - even had a diesel Zafira trying it on while on test drive :{}
1 hour slot with Salesman warming it up for first 10.
Got to test it in +R and definitely excites as well as being easy to pootle in traffic.
Great Track toy / second car but not for you anyone who doesn't like "attention".
True to what you'll see if you watch the youtube vids of it out-pacing the M3, RS3 and Megane.
Will appeal to the Ford RS / Halfrauds mod boys - even had a diesel Zafira trying it on while on test drive :{}
HayesDC2 said:
A friend of mine works at a Honda dealer, the £500 is not actually taken. It's just to make sure that if you crash you have the £500 excess or something along those lines.
It has been a while since I have been for a test drive. I suppose I have never really considered what happens in the event of an accident. Are you required to pay the dealers excess??I always sign a disclaimer stating I will pay the excess when I get a dealer courtesy car, but I am sure I have never done that for a test drive before.
kingston12 said:
It has been a while since I have been for a test drive. I suppose I have never really considered what happens in the event of an accident. Are you required to pay the dealers excess??
I always sign a disclaimer stating I will pay the excess when I get a dealer courtesy car, but I am sure I have never done that for a test drive before.
I'm not sure of the specifics but it's something along the lines of they check to see you have £x in your bank to pay the excess. Plus it's probably a handy way of filtering out the people that will never be able to afford the car and are just going to take up the slot of a genuine customer.I always sign a disclaimer stating I will pay the excess when I get a dealer courtesy car, but I am sure I have never done that for a test drive before.
I imagine something you sign beforehand will say that in thte event of an accident you need to pay an excess.
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