YACT - Test Driving a car, Never done it. What to expect?

[The Dancing Peacock]

I'm going to be in the market for a car come the end of the year. I wanted to test drive a car or two now so I could start eliminating cars from my ever expanding list, which only grows as time passes. What am I going to expect at the dealer when I walk in there. Should I walk into the office first, or just walk around and check out the cars and wait for someone to come to me? What will the reaction be to me saying I won't be buying that day?


each one has been my "favorite" for a week or so. Need to narrow the list. This week its the RSX, last week it was the Civic Si. Here's most of them, I think:

Used: Honda Accord coupe from 99-01, Saab 9-3 from the same period, Honda Prelude as well, Toyota Solara 99-01. .
New: Civic Si, Acura RSX base, VW GTI or Golf, Hyundai Elantra GT, Sonata, Tiburon and XG350, Nissan Altima, Sentra SE-R ( I hate the Red in the upholstery in the Spec V))

 

[Heisenberg]

I think it depends on where you are. Dealerships in larger cities are going to be more picky about letting people test drive than one's in small towns - especially if they don't know you. I would just start looking at cars on the lot - a salesman will probably come up to you pretty fast.

 

[bUnMaNGo]

how old are you? be prepared to face some... how do I put this.... discriminating (?) salespeople. If you look like a kid and go to a Benz or BMW dealer I don't think you'd be taken seriously. If you're old then just disregard what I just said anyways what about the Subaru WRX How come that isn't on your list

 

[boyRacer]

My friend went to get himself a g35 last week... the salesman was seriously telling him to go do donuts with it.

 

[The Dancing Peacock]

The WRX is nice, but it's a little on the high side starting at ~24K, everything else on here, pretty much starts at less than 20K, and lots around 16K. I do look young, but most of the cars I'm looking at are targeting me. I do expect some, especially because I won't be buying that day. I wont go in shorts and a T-shirt. I'll probably go like I go to work. Dockers and a short sleeve shirt.

 

[The Dancing Peacock]

bump for Sunday morning people

 

[The Dancing Peacock]

c'mon, everyone talks about cars here, I know you all know more about it.

 

[Maverick]

I'm going through this same process. I test drove a 99 Acura 3.0 CL and I rode with the salesman when he drove the 99 Prelude SH (he drove since I can't drive stick). I've had a pretty good experience...one guy told me he'd teach me how to drive stick within a few hours if I was pretty serious about buying the Prelude. It was overpriced though...$19k for a car with 45k miles on it. I'm thinking of calling again next week to see if he'll drop the price.

 

[StageLeft]

get the nissan - you know you want it. You need it.

 

[iamwiz82]

i'm only 20 and the sales guy at the Chrysler dealership let me take a Jeep out for as long as we wanted. He said that he had to finish up witht his woman, and to come back in a few hours.

 

[vi edit]

The best thing you can do is it try and drive the different cars as back to back as possible. It's really the only way you can get a somewhat honest opinion. Also, boot the salesman out of the car, and tell them you are taking it out for a while. A five minute around the block jaunt with the salesman breathing down your neck IS NOT a test drive. If it's used, they may even let you take it overnight to try out. I've done that in the past. You just have to relay to them that you are buying a piece of merchandise valued at $XX,XXX dollars, and you'll be damned if you buy it without thouroughly looking it over.

If the car isn't a lexus or a mercedes or sports car of sorts, then they should have no reason NOT to let you take it out for 20 minutes or half an hour.

When you go out, turn off the radio. Listen to the car. Any rattles. Any squeeks. How bad is the wind noise? Does the engine sound rough? Try fiddling around with the controls. Easy to reach? Easy to operate? Check your blindspots? Any of them really bad? Can you deal with them on a daily basis if they are there? How does the seat and seating position feel? Comfortable? Bolstered too much/too little? Did you get sore driving for that short amount of time? This is just a short list of things you should look over before buying.

What I usually fail to do on my test drives is take them out long enough. I have a VERY picky backside and many cars are just flat out uncomfortable for me to drive for extended periods of time. I usually have problems with the bolstering around my thighs. It tends to cut into the meat of my thighs and almost makes them go numb. Not a pleasant sensation. It's not something that shows up in a quick spin around the block, but it is something important enough that it can ruin the pleasure of owning a new car if you dread driving it long distances.

 

[weezergirl]

Well I always go car shopping with my dad. I'm a 22 female who knows nothing about cars. Anyways, they usually take us very seriously. When we went to look at VW beetles the car salesman was begging us to test drive it but we didn't have time to. This was even after we told him we were just looking that day and werent planning to buy it. And every other time we go car shopping the salesman will almost always recommend us to test drive it. This was in Los Angeles but when we go car shopping in Oklahoma..it's the same way.

My suggestion is to just walk around the lot and within a few minutes a car salesman will come up to you. After you find a car that you are interested in start asking a lot of questions about it and most likely the guy will ask if you want to test drive it. If not just ask, we've never had a problem with it. I've heard people who get refused if it's a bunch of teenagers wanting to test drive a mercedes or something, but yeah. that's expected

I think as long as you look like you are seriously going to buy a car and not just getting your kicks out of driving a car you can never afford they dont' mind.

 

[Moonbeam]

If you test drive a car you should expect it to go forward in drive, backwards in reverse, and stop when the break is applied. You should also be able to steer it.

 

[ElFenix]

any good dealer should let you take the car for up to a day to test out and have a mechanic look over it. if its person to person bring him/her to your mechanic and both of you wait. if the sales guy is in there he'll try to take your mind off driving the car by playing with the radio and talking to you. you can try to ignore him, but its hard to hear things over the radio sometimes.

 

[andylawcc]

DO expect the Saleperson to bug w/ irrelevent points
DO expect the Saleperson to know NOTHing about the car, (like which model has the V6, how many horsepower, what's a LSD)

Don't Expect the saleperson to let you do all the things you want (no.... not things like turn the A/C to the max or use the windshield wiper at full speed, things like downshifting, pulling handbrake, drifting, 180 parking)

yeah, I know some saleperson don't give a fuxx what you do, but bare in mind that most do care and consider yourself lucky if yours don't.

 

[ElFenix]

actually the best test drive was the VW guy handing me the keys to a 1.8T jetta sport/lux and telling me to go take it for a few minutes. damn, that car was a blast. no radio, no sales guy, just me, the tiptronic, and the wind (and light 183 traffic). great little car (too bad its so little... no backseat almost)