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Anybody else feel test drives are kinda pointless?

HeroOfPellinor

HeroOfPellinor

Lifer
Sure I see the point when buying a used car or when you're looking to spend 30K or more at which price range numerous cars would meet your price:feature point so something subjective like a test drive would be the coin flip to decide the winner.

But for most of us, we're looking for certain features and a certain price. Are you actually going to not buy a car because it didn't "feel" right? Are you actually going to give up features or pay more for a car that, for that 2 minute drive, "felt" better? The fact is, you adjust to different cars and there is no car that will be miserable to drive.

I bought my last car without ever test driving one like it. Been driving it for 10 years and I love it.
 
Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
Sure I see the point when buying a used car or when you're looking to spend 30K or more at which price range numerous cars would meet your price:feature point so something subjective like a test drive would be the coin flip to decide the winner.

But for most of us, we're looking for certain features and a certain price. Are you actually going to not buy a car because it didn't "feel" right? Are you actually going to give up features or pay more for a car that, for that 2 minute drive, "felt" better? The fact is, you adjust to different cars and there is no car that will be miserable to drive.

I bought my last car without ever test driving one like it. Been driving it for 10 years and I love it.
Click to expand...

I ended up buying a car that wasn't even on my list to consider after a test drive once. It was a Subaru Legacy and it was one of the most reliable cars I have ever owned
 
(1) Ride quality
(2) Acceleration/handling/steering feel
(3) Squeaks/rattles, etc, etc.

Somethings that NEED to be checked out before purchasing a car
 
I always test drive to see about blind spots, road noise, engine noise, ergonimcs of controls, and how easy it is to find a comfortable seating position.
 
I found the test drive I did to be very helpful. I drove a 4.7+auto Dakota and determined that waiting 8 weeks for a custom ordered manual was a damned good idea. Ohhh yeah.
 
Originally posted by: Linflas
Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
Sure I see the point when buying a used car or when you're looking to spend 30K or more at which price range numerous cars would meet your price:feature point so something subjective like a test drive would be the coin flip to decide the winner.

But for most of us, we're looking for certain features and a certain price. Are you actually going to not buy a car because it didn't "feel" right? Are you actually going to give up features or pay more for a car that, for that 2 minute drive, "felt" better? The fact is, you adjust to different cars and there is no car that will be miserable to drive.

I bought my last car without ever test driving one like it. Been driving it for 10 years and I love it.
Click to expand...

I ended up buying a car that wasn't even on my list to consider after a test drive once. It was a Subaru Legacy and it was one of the most reliable cars I have ever owned
Click to expand...

Precisely - same here. Sure you adjust but if you test drove 3 cars all in the same market/category/class, and one feels superior in every way, is that a waste of time? I wouldn't think so.
 
I was gonna buy mazda 6, but test drove a C class and bought it instead. So yeah, I'd say it's useful.
 
Sure, you could always buy a Nissam maxima without knowing it has enough torque steer to slam your car into the guardrail when you stomp on the gas 😛

Your point is all wrong. Sure you can adjust to a car, but I'd rather have one that has a semi-firm suspension than one the rides like it's a cloud (see Lexus ES). If I test drive a car and it has numb steering, floaty handling, and zero feedback for the driver - I'm sure as hell not going to buy it.
 
Originally posted by: vi_edit
I always test drive to see about blind spots, road noise, engine noise, ergonimcs of controls, and how easy it is to find a comfortable seating position.
Click to expand...

You wouldn't buy a car because there was too much road noise and the controls weren't ergonomic and you couldn't find a comfortable seat position after a solid 60 seconds of trying? You'd pay thousands more for those?
 
As far as comparing car A vs. Car B, yes if a car doesn't FEEL right, I'm not getting it. I spend way too much time behind the wheel to have a painful (Altima) seating position.
 
Last time I bought a car, I looked at all the stats and read tons of articles, and did lots of research. What was the result? I was stuck between 2 cars which were virtually identical in stats. A simple test drive and my wife fell in love with the car I also liked a bit better in the test drive (she didn't like the other at all).

Now if I just randomly bought one, I'd have just a 50% chance of getting the better of the two. The test drive is quite useful.

You are assuming there is just 1 car that meets your needs/wants. That is rarely the case. There are often 2 or 3 with the same price and same features. The test drive is thus the answer.
 
I test drove a Volvo T5, Audi A4, and Acura TSX this weekend. If you don't test drive them, you'd prob miss out on their torque curves and how they actually handle. The Volvo dealership let us go to a slummy neighborhood behind it and the salesguy let us hit 100 in the T5. I had hinted earlier that I wanted to drive it like I drive my current car 😉

The A4 looks nice, inside and out. The Acura did also. The Volvo stunk compared with the other 3. If I didn't go in for a test drive, I wouldn't know that the Volvo looked so bad inside, compared with the other 3.
 
Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
Originally posted by: vi_edit
I always test drive to see about blind spots, road noise, engine noise, ergonimcs of controls, and how easy it is to find a comfortable seating position.
Click to expand...

You wouldn't buy a car because there was too much road noise and the controls weren't ergonomic and you couldn't find a comfortable seat position after a solid 60 seconds of trying? You'd pay thousands more for those?
Click to expand...

Who says you have to pay thousands more? You're making too many assumptions
 
Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
Originally posted by: vi_edit
I always test drive to see about blind spots, road noise, engine noise, ergonimcs of controls, and how easy it is to find a comfortable seating position.
Click to expand...

You wouldn't buy a car because there was too much road noise and the controls weren't ergonomic and you couldn't find a comfortable seat position after a solid 60 seconds of trying? You'd pay thousands more for those?
Click to expand...

I treat cars like running shoes. If it doesn't feel good the very first time I slip it on, it's not going to get any better over time. And like NFS4 said, getting what I want in a car doesn't mean having to spend thousands more. I narrow my choices down on "paper" first by including costs, options, performance, room, looks, resale value, ect. When I have a handful of cars I want to look at it's time to hit the lots for test drives.
 
Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
Sure I see the point when buying a used car or when you're looking to spend 30K or more at which price range numerous cars would meet your price:feature point so something subjective like a test drive would be the coin flip to decide the winner.

But for most of us, we're looking for certain features and a certain price. Are you actually going to not buy a car because it didn't "feel" right? Are you actually going to give up features or pay more for a car that, for that 2 minute drive, "felt" better? The fact is, you adjust to different cars and there is no car that will be miserable to drive.

I bought my last car without ever test driving one like it. Been driving it for 10 years and I love it.
Click to expand...

You sound like someone who has gotten way too accustomed to Internet Shopping. I couldn't disagree with you more on this. Looking at a car's specs and actually driving it is night and day. Tons of cars look great on paper, then you see the cheap plastic they used on the dash, or you notice how unusable the cup holders are, or how horrible the speakers are, or how the car has a horrible transmission, etc.

Is it possible that you are just not using the testdrive to its fullest?
 
not to mention how you fit in the car and how the seats are.

my mom is pretty short, and she turned away a lot of cars when she was shopping for them a few ago becuase she couldn't find a comfotable seating position. really would have sucked if she had gotten one sight unseen, and been stuck in an uncomfortable car for years to follow.
 
However a lot of the things you guys are mentioning could be accomplished without testdriving a car. Sitting in a showroom or lot car let's you check ergonomics, interior quality, blind spot etc etc.

I would hazard a guess that 90% of all test drives are pointless because the items that could be determined by actually driving the car are not deal-breakers.
 
depends on if you are driving a new or used car. IF you buy a used car without test driving it you are a retard.

But with a new car it really does not matter as much. Though the only time i baught a new car i found that i wanted a manual over a auto.
 
Originally posted by: PricklyPete
Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
Sure I see the point when buying a used car or when you're looking to spend 30K or more at which price range numerous cars would meet your price:feature point so something subjective like a test drive would be the coin flip to decide the winner.

But for most of us, we're looking for certain features and a certain price. Are you actually going to not buy a car because it didn't "feel" right? Are you actually going to give up features or pay more for a car that, for that 2 minute drive, "felt" better? The fact is, you adjust to different cars and there is no car that will be miserable to drive.

I bought my last car without ever test driving one like it. Been driving it for 10 years and I love it.
Click to expand...

You sound like someone who has gotten way too accustomed to Internet Shopping. I couldn't disagree with you more on this. Looking at a car's specs and actually driving it is night and day. Tons of cars look great on paper, then you see the cheap plastic they used on the dash, or you notice how unusable the cup holders are, or how horrible the speakers are, or how the car has a horrible transmission, etc.

Is it possible that you are just not using the testdrive to its fullest?
Click to expand...

I think this is the issue. When I test drive cars I drive 'em hard. Most cars drive about the same if you drive like a grandma. I floor it when merging onto the freeway, I hit the brakes and try to lock 'em and the last time I even swung the back end around going around a corner. Based on my test drive I've pretty much decided what my next car will be.

Then again, most people buying cars will never drive their cars that hard so for them it doesn't make a huge difference.
 
Originally posted by: Haps
However a lot of the things you guys are mentioning could be accomplished without testdriving a car. Sitting in a showroom or lot car let's you check ergonomics, interior quality, blind spot etc etc.

I would hazard a guess that 90% of all test drives are pointless because the items that could be determined by actually driving the car are not deal-breakers.
Click to expand...

Acceleration, handling, ride quality, engine/road noise, wind noise at speed, NVH and braking performance are not deal-breakers?
 
Originally posted by: NFS4
Originally posted by: Haps
However a lot of the things you guys are mentioning could be accomplished without testdriving a car. Sitting in a showroom or lot car let's you check ergonomics, interior quality, blind spot etc etc.

I would hazard a guess that 90% of all test drives are pointless because the items that could be determined by actually driving the car are not deal-breakers.
Click to expand...

Acceleration, handling, ride quality, engine/road noise, wind noise at speed, NVH and braking performance are not deal-breakers?
Click to expand...

People buying 4 cylinder Camrys don't care about performance, any aspect of it aside from braking.
 
Originally posted by: NutBucket
Originally posted by: NFS4
Originally posted by: Haps
However a lot of the things you guys are mentioning could be accomplished without testdriving a car. Sitting in a showroom or lot car let's you check ergonomics, interior quality, blind spot etc etc.

I would hazard a guess that 90% of all test drives are pointless because the items that could be determined by actually driving the car are not deal-breakers.
Click to expand...

Acceleration, handling, ride quality, engine/road noise, wind noise at speed, NVH and braking performance are not deal-breakers?
Click to expand...

People buying 4 cylinder Camrys don't care about performance, any aspect of it aside from braking.
Click to expand...

If they are looking for a camery why would they test drive. they have it already decided.

so the comment doen't matter at all.

Now if they are looking at other 4 cyclinder cars then yes performance and breaking etc matter.
 
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