24 hour test drive, Mazda won't let me!

[ol]

Hi,

I'm currently looking to get a new (to me) car, and my first choice is the Mazda RX8.

My local Mazda dealer has a couple I am interested in, however when I went for the accompanied test drives he wouldn't let me rev them over 6,000 and we were only out for about 10 minutes.

For the past few years I've driven diesel BMW's, so this is a big step and a completely different car.

I have got the redies in the bank, and am serious about the car. The problem is that I don't want to buy one after such a short test drive. Ideally I would like to borrow one for 24 hours to experience the car properly and see how it would fit into our lives.

VW leant me the GT-TDI Golf for 24 hrs (the only other car I'm interested in) and it was so much better than sitting next to a salesman for 10 minutes on a test drive.

Anyway, I phoned the Mazda garage and they said they wouldn't lend me one as they didn't want any miles putting on their demonstrators!! So I phoned another garage a bit further away, and they said they couldn't do it as their demonstrators had no tax!

This is crazy, it's a very specialized car, and with sales right down and me being ready to buy, I would have thought they'd have jumped at the chance (as VW did).

I even phoned Mazda UK, and they said the dealerships were franchised so they couldn't help either.

So has anyone got any ideas how I could get one? I'm serious about buying, but want to try it a bit more first. If I can't get one, then I'll be buying a Golf.

Am I being unreasonable??

Any tips to persuade the dealer to let me?

[mjrc]

what happened to the auction idea?
did you find it odd buying a car without driving it? i know i would not do it!
i drove one a few days back and dont know what the fuss is about! it goes and handles properly but what is the point of the rotary engine? i had this concept that the rx8 was a lightweight but it is not. it is not lighter than my impreza and with no extra gizmos except traction control. other manufacturers have got the handling sorted without fitting a smaller engine under your dashboard! and i heard that here in ireland the tax on new ones is now 4x (2000 a year) what it was so they are not selling them anymore! plenty of alternatives around anyway.and i would not like to be seating on the back in the event of a bad accident either. imagine the front passengers are injured and you are stuck in the back sitting on a nice petrol tank waiting to blow? just a few toughts

[ol]

I'd thought about the Imprezza, but they're just not my cup of tea I'm afraid.

With the RX8 you get a well balanced sports car for much cheaper than other cars in it's class. I like doing track days, and I'd much rather do them in an RX8 than a Golf or Imprezza. (50:50 weight, LSD, RWD)

I went to the auction yesterday, but when I saw how the auction monkeys were starting and stopping the car I thought against it (could ahve easily flooded it). The cars were pretty shabby too, lots of dents and they ended up going for more than better specced cars on Autotrader!

I'm now looking to buy privately if I cant find the right deal at the local Mazda dealership. (Although since they wont let me test drive the car I don't think I'll be buying from them!)

[mjrc]

how about honda S2000? great handling and if you are gonna do track days it is less likely to break or go wrong. it will probably cost you the same to run and service and no rebuilds to worry about.
otherwise lotus are great track cars out of the box! or on the cheap side a mx-5 with a supercharger. it will definitly surprise a few big hp cars.

[System-G]

mjrc said:

what happened to the auction idea?
did you find it odd buying a car without driving it? i know i would not do it!
i drove one a few days back and dont know what the fuss is about! it goes and handles properly but what is the point of the rotary engine? i had this concept that the rx8 was a lightweight but it is not. it is not lighter than my impreza and with no extra gizmos except traction control. other manufacturers have got the handling sorted without fitting a smaller engine under your dashboard! and i heard that here in ireland the tax on new ones is now 4x (2000 a year) what it was so they are not selling them anymore! plenty of alternatives around anyway.and i would not like to be seating on the back in the event of a bad accident either. imagine the front passengers are injured and you are stuck in the back sitting on a nice petrol tank waiting to blow? just a few toughts

Extras? How many do you want?
My RX8 231 as heated leather (optional), LSD, TC & DSC (standard), factory shatnav (optional), 6 speaker bose audio (standard) and there are a few other options too like sunroof and on some models cruise control (which IMO has no place in a sports car) and many more

The engine is front mid mounted to help with 50/50 weight distribution. A good thing
Many manufactuers do this - although more do it rear mid mounted.

We paid £5k for our RX8 with 1 previous owner, full mazda history and 46k on the clock - and TBH, you will not find a better car for the money. We had been looking/spacking for 6 months about what to get due to what we do for work and pleasure.

Nothing wrong with the pterol tank location either. The only time they "go bang" is on telly and in movies. We had our previous car engulfed by flames which rose about 8ft in the air above the car. It was like that for over 20 minutes before the fire brigade arrived and put it out. Any bang? Nope.

There is not one recorded incident of the RX8's fuel tank being volotile or being a risk to any of the occupants. The location of the fuel tank also helps with the weight distribution. In fact it sits just in front of the rear axle. Try bend one to the point it would damage or rupture the tank

Tax here has been postponed for a while - so it shouldn't be a problem. Your Scooby should be quite high too when the new rates do come in. No?

I also suspect that coming from a driving a car that has an engine that sucks (literally - turbos do this ), you're not used to the ultra smooth power delivery?
Our car that went up in flames had an engine that blew (literally - superchargers do this ) had very similar power delivery because it was on boost from word go.

I think you need to get more time behind the wheel of an RX8 and start understanding the fundamentals of how the cars handle and perform before jumping to conclusions

Only thing I will agree with you on is about buying a car without driving it first

Not having a pop at you, just pointing out your post is flawed and unresearched is all

[mjrc]

for the slow one among us (u know who u r).nothing against the petrol tank position(in most cars that is where you sit including impreza). i do have an opinion about your health (or life) depending of some other passenger in the car. if the front passengers are hurt or unconsious it is not a good place to be. you cant get out! thats it. and you are right about power delivery. it is very limited without a turbo. and recently did a few miles in a m3 evo and was not "imprezed" either. when u expect a surge of boost, you get disapointed when its not there! peace

Edited by mjrc on Friday 9th January 19:47

[Pui]

mjrc said:

for the slow one among us (u know who u r).nothing against the petrol tank position(in most cars that is where you sit including impreza). i do have an opinion about your health (or life) depending of some other passenger in the car. if the front passengers are hurt or unconsious it is not a good place to be. you cant get out! thats it.

Anyone have a 2 or 3dr car on here? 2 or 3dr car anyone?

mjrc said:

and you are right about power delivery. it is very limited without a turbo. and recently did a few miles in a m3 evo and was not "imprezed" either. when u expect a surge of boost, you get disapointed when its not there! peace

Edited by mjrc on Friday 9th January 19:47

In my opinion, turbos aren't the be-all and end-all of performance cars or enjoyment of driving. I like N/A cars where you don't get sudden surges when boost kicks in. Just makes driving at less than 10/10ths a bit more relaxing and spirited driving smoother.

[nottyash]

If you do buy one, make sure you get it from someone else. No excuse for that salesmanship and why should they be in business?

[mjrc]

Pui said:

In my opinion, turbos aren't the be-all and end-all of performance cars.

agree, well put!

[sherman]

When i bought my Rx8 last june I was allowed the car on my own with trade plates from the main dealer in it and quarter a tank of petrol and told to go have some fun. I did for 1/2 an hour till the fuel almost ran out and I had decided I wanted to buy it so I took it back to the main dealer to get a deal. I am 24 now but when i bought it I was 23 so being allowed this sort of test drive was amazing.

[ol]

sherman said:

When i bought my Rx8 last june I was allowed the car on my own with trade plates from the main dealer in it and quarter a tank of petrol and told to go have some fun. I did for 1/2 an hour till the fuel almost ran out and I had decided I wanted to buy it so I took it back to the main dealer to get a deal. I am 24 now but when i bought it I was 23 so being allowed this sort of test drive was amazing.

That would have been fine for me, but they wouldn't entertain it. It's really annoying as I wanted an RX8, but since I can't get to try one before I buy, I am going to see a Golf tonight. VW leant me one no questions asked, and it made me appreciate that it is a very competent car. It's pretty boring compared to the RX8, but with a remap it will be nearly as fast with 50mpg.

I would have bought an RX8 on the spot if they had let me try it properly first. They missed out this time!

[MrFlibbles]

When i bought my S2000 (i was a very young looking 25) the guy basically threw me the keys and let me and my best mate take it out for however long we wanted!

[968CSReading]

Try another dealer or some specialists. I came from a MG ZTT CDTI and it did take some getting used to, especially if your not used to reving the nuts off a car. Its certainly worth getting a decent drive in one.

Theres so many of them about just take your time and shop about.

[ol]

Well thanks for the suggestions, but I bought a Golf the other day. It's not as sporty as the RX8, but when VW leant my it I was able to see if it fitted into our lives, which it did!

My heart was set on the RX8 but I's happy with the Golf. Next time I'm passing the Mazda garage I'm going to go in and let them know that I'm no longer in the market for a car, and that I would have bought the RX8 had they let me drive it for more than 10 minutes!!

[mjrc]

Its not easy to understand your decision between two cars that are worlds apart. but anyway good look with the golf

[ol]

mjrc said:

Its not easy to understand your decision between two cars that are worlds apart. but anyway good look with the golf

I've always had golfs, (my first car was a Golf!) so that was the 'safe' option. I used to do 50k miles per year, but that's dropped considerably now, so I decided I didn't need a diesel. This is when I found the RX8, really liked it, and had the test drive. I was split between the 2 though, the sensible Golf or the good time RX8.

I am aware the cars are completely different, but I'm having the Golf re-mapped at the weekend which should get it to +/- 180bhp, which should make it fun whilst still giving 50 mpg.

I'm very funny about cars and what I like and don't like, so don't try to understand or make sense of my choices, i would have been happy with either one.

It needs a wash...

Edited by ol on Thursday 15th January 17:15

Edited by ol on Thursday 15th January 17:17

["Torquemada"]

What do you want to establish on the test drive that you didn't in the 10 minute accompanied drive?

[ol]

Torquemada said:

What do you want to establish on the test drive that you didn't in the 10 minute accompanied drive?

- How comfy the seats are on longer journeys (I'm 6"4 and get backache)
- How it drives on the country roads around my house
- Real world mpg on both motorways and B roads
- If I could fit a suitcase in (My other half flys a lot and I'm the airport chauffeur)
- If I would actually like the rotary engine when the novelty has worn off
- If my friends (who are also tall) would fit into the back seats

I could go on.

Do you think that coming from driving a diesel BMW for the past few years, that I could make a decision about buying the car after 10 mins of driving it and not being aloud to rev it over 6k (with an engine designed to rev)...?

I wasn't being unreasonable.

Anyway, I'm happy with the Golf. I'll do some little mods to it and when it's been remapped it should be pretty nippy.

Edited by ol on Friday 16th January 11:01

[968CSReading]

[quote="Torquemada"]What do you want to establish on the test drive that you didn't in the 10 minute accompanied drive?
[/quote]

What a strange thing to say, you never ever feel relaxed with a sales rep alongside you. Its much better to spend time with the car, driving it how you want to. Its also nice to take a car on the roads you want to as well, instead of a pre planned route from the dealers.

Whats the point of taking any performance car out for a test drive and not being able to extend it properly. As already stated some people might not be happy with reving a RX8 to 9K all the time to extract the best from the car so unless you can do it on a test whats the point.

["Torquemada"]

No, not being facetious or anything - just curious as to the criteria of the buying decision.