Test driving 'flag ship' models

[Clio172NE]

Sorry if this has been mentioned before but..

Recently took a trip upto DTM cars in Newcastle and thought while i was there and in the surrounding area id like to test drive the new 200. Rang a few days prior to ask if i book a test drive to which they replied no sorry we have non in stock and have taken the liberty of ringing around to find one and there was nothng from Newcastle to Carlisle..at all! And no date of getting one in.

A month or two ago i enquired about the new Octavia vRS to which i had the same problem..non in stock and no word of when new ones are coming?!

Im a bit frustrated as i did genuinely want to drive the new Clio..if i was hell bent on buying on how on earth do you go around it :S

 

[DrR]

Probably no need, I ordered my FR, never even seen one, ordered my ST-3 and only ever seen others just driving about, never sat in one.

 

[Clio172NE]

True i bought my clio without driving one beforehand, i think it got lucky...I really want to see how bad this gearbox really is lol

 

[Daniel]

90%* of new car customers don't bother driving before ordering. I never even sat in a 200 before ordering mine! Although I used to have a 197 but meh.

(*very rough guess from when I used to sell new cars)

 

[luketheduck]

Crazy, I could never buy a car without test driving or at least seeing it in the 'flesh'... especially parting with that much cash!

 

[scott.p]

I test drove my ST-2 before I bought it, test drove every car I've bought in fact.

 

[Advikaz]

I wouldn't buy a car without test driving the model new or old.

Edit: In fact I didn't buy a meggy because the dealer wasn't interested in letting me test drive oneat the time.

 

[Daniel]

Crazy, I could never buy a car without test driving or at least seeing it in the 'flesh'... especially parting with that much cash!

So what will you if you ever want to buy a brand new car??

 

[Ethan1996]

So what will you if you ever want to buy a brand new car??

Haha I think he meant the model of car Just out of curiosity, at what age can you test drive a car?

 

[rdoxenham]

Agreed, I just don't think I could buy a car without driving it.

 

[Jeff456]

I've just ordered a Seat Ibiza Edition 1.4 TSI and I haven't test driven it as there were none available for me to try... hopefully it will turn out ok, although I enjoyed driving a poverty spec 1.2tsi hire car a few weeks ago in Tenerife so hoping I'll enjoy this more!

 

[Daniel]

Haha I think he meant the model of car Just out of curiosity, at what age can you test drive a car?

Depends on the garages insurance policy. At my garage anyone with a licence could drive as long as a member of staff was in the car.

When I worked at Renault, 18 was the minimum age.

 

[Ethan1996]

Depends on the garages insurance policy. At my garage anyone with a licence could drive as long as a member of staff was in the car.

When I worked at Renault, 18 was the minimum age.

Ah then it's obviously down to dealer discretion I guess as to if they let you? As i'm assuming no 18 year old could walk into Renault and test drive a 197 for example.

 

[Daniel]

Ah then it's obviously down to dealer discretion I guess as to if they let you? As i'm assuming no 18 year old could walk into Renault and test drive a 197 for example.

Down to the dealer entirely. I wouldn't let someone test drive one unless I was 100% sure they were genuinely interested in that actual car.

Used to get so pissed off with muppets thinking they could come and drive my cars and use my fuel like I was the national test drive centre. You soon learn how to weed them out!

 

[Ethan1996]

Down to the dealer entirely. I wouldn't let someone test drive one unless I was 100% sure they were genuinely interested in that actual car.

Used to get so pissed off with muppets thinking they could come and drive my cars and use my fuel like I was the national test drive centre. You soon learn how to weed them out!

Ah okay, I'm 17 currently with a 1.2 but will be finishing my apprenteship next year so my salary will go up a fair bit, seriously considering trying to look for a ph1 or even a 197 depending on job security etc, just wondered if it'd be hard to test drive one closer to the time.

 

[celicaturbolly]

Where I used to work they would always have the top spec car on show/as a demo to sit in or have a go in. Maybe hunt around for another local dealer who has one and buy it from them?

 

[chaski]

Not that I could afford to, but I'd never spend that much £££ without being able to drive an example of the model I'm buying! Seems absolutely crazy to me, could be a bag of s**t/horrible!