Good idea to buy an ex-demo???
Good idea to buy an ex-demo???
Author
Discussion

chris_n

Original Poster:

1,232 posts

288 months

Tuesday 14th December 2004
quotequote all
Would you buy a main dealer's S2 Elise/Exige demonstrator off them? My initial reaction is ...

For - save money, good spec, new car niggles sorted out by the dealer
Against - it will have been thrashed good and proper (do they run them in carefully like a private owner would?)

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

Chris

PJLarge

480 posts

277 months

Tuesday 14th December 2004
quotequote all
I wouldn't buy a demo car. I saw the demo Exige of a certain dealer bouncing off the limiter past the showrooms... Enough said!

Phil.

Podie

46,649 posts

305 months

Tuesday 14th December 2004
quotequote all
Think it depends on the dealer to be honest. If you KNOW the car has been cared for and run in correctly (I do know of some dealers that do this) then I see know reason why not...

_topcat

1,938 posts

279 months

Tuesday 14th December 2004
quotequote all
mine is ex demo and im more than happy with it. Sure on the road test i gave it hell bu tthen i know the toyota engine is upto it and 'fails safe' eg rev limiter cuts in before anything should go wrong.
The dealers have to drive the cars them selves for a 1000 miles before letting the public loose in them. any problems i will go straight back to them and kick up a fuss. its a great car and you can haggle with them over pricing and servicing too.
good luck with what ever you decide.
TC

boggy

4,603 posts

265 months

Tuesday 14th December 2004
quotequote all
Hi Guy's

This is a hard one, I test drove at a different dealer from the dealer that I brought my car from, I wouldn't have brought the demo that I drove if my life depended on it. Both I and the sales manager thrashed the living daylight's out of this car, my brother also test drove the same car and when he went over there it had already been on 5 other test drive's the same day I've spoken to another Piston head who brought a Demo from a different dealer and he's had no problem's at all, not every Dealer allows quite the same thing's to happen during there test drives.

Don't want to put anyone off but it's not a road I'd want to go down.

Boggy

S1 Hunter

5,679 posts

266 months

Tuesday 14th December 2004
quotequote all
I've got an S2 which is an ex press car. I've got photo's of it in various magazines going around corners at various angles!

It also had it's 1,000 mile service 2 days after it was registered so as far as I'm concerned it's been thrashed within an inch of its life.

It came at the right money though so I'm not really too bothered.

You've got to rememeber that the mechanicals in an Elise are only shifting half the weight they're designed to and are therefore under little stress.

wezo

250 posts

314 months

Tuesday 14th December 2004
quotequote all
The demo model I drove had less than 500 miles on the clock and was hitting the rev limiter with the sales guy driving, so I certainly wouldn't have touched that car, fortunately that dealer no longer has a franchise. I would be very wary if I were you, these cars are driven hard by the owners, let alone tyre kickers.

Ruxpin

324 posts

275 months

Tuesday 14th December 2004
quotequote all
As said before its a tough one....

You can get some good money off a nearly new / year old one.

If buying second hand are you ever going to know if a private car has been driven any differently to the demo

Best bet is to still buy on condition.

And definitely still be weary - i saw a demo-exige at a body shop recently. All was intact when i saw it but why was it there??

I would hope the dealer would tell the truth when the question was asked.

jamal w

12 posts

268 months

Tuesday 14th December 2004
quotequote all
so what if its an ex demo you get it cheaper and its been run in hopefully well.

as for bouncing off the rev limiter I do that at track
days??? thats what my Exige was made for.

If its a good deal and a good dealer go for it and save
some money as well!

jfrf

406 posts

284 months

Tuesday 14th December 2004
quotequote all
even it the engine has been thrashed, at the end of the day it can probably take it.
its hardly likely to blow up soon

nightmare

5,279 posts

314 months

Wednesday 15th December 2004
quotequote all
personal opinion....wouldn't myself...and not cos of the engine. biggest issues for cars who are driven by LOTS of different drivers is actually the clutch. Everyone uses it slightly differently, and the car definitely gets used to driving styles and mechanical sympathy or not.... i've seen utter 'tards in demo cars....guess I'd rather not alway be wondering

chris_n

Original Poster:

1,232 posts

288 months

Wednesday 15th December 2004
quotequote all
Thanks for all the different points of view. On balance I am leaning towards the peace of mind of a new car but would not rule out an ex-demo completely if the car/deal was right.

Chris

theRossatron

1,032 posts

262 months

Saturday 18th December 2004
quotequote all
just thought I'd add my views on ex-demos. I was down at my local lotus dealer the other day, there was another customer in who had just bought a 111R and was milling around and asked the salesman if he could start up the Vanquish. He obliged and in the freezing Scotland cold, revved the nads off it from stone cold! ouch.

I think the problem with ex-demo cars is that nobody has treated it like their *own* car.

bogie

17,094 posts

302 months

Saturday 18th December 2004
quotequote all
I think it depends on the cost saving - if its like £5K off list then Id maybe be tempted...but there are some great 2nd hand cars out there. I doubt I would ever buy a new car of any type again due to depreciation...unless Id won the lottery Id stick with 2 year old models