Your worst test drive ever...

[moonloops]

I didn't even get a test drive at Johnsons Honda in Milton Keynes. I rocked up and said I wanted to buy a black Civic Type R and the salesman didn't believe me. I bought one from Bedford instead. Salesman was a duckhead at Johnsons.

 

[grober]

Looking into the dim and distant past my worst test drive was also my best when I had the opportunity to drive an early Alfa Romeo Guilia Sprint GT that was for sale second hand . I had driven fast Fords until then and wondered what all the fuss was about because on paper there wasn't much difference. What a revelation that was! - it did all the same things as other cars- but better- the twin webers- that slick gearchange- the handling- the steering- it was simply on a different level of driver interaction. I so wanted that car- but I was outbid by another buyer --- hence it became the worst test drive.
https://www.southwood.co.uk/media/1414800000/1417301364-8e8f1cc928195e709fa100d1dad6feed.pdf

 

[saff]

I didn't even get a test drive at Johnsons Honda in Milton Keynes. I rocked up and said I wanted to buy a black Civic Type R and the salesman didn't believe me. I bought one from Bedford instead. Salesman was a duckhead at Johnsons.

They have a branch at Southport selling Toyota. I have nothing nice to say about them.

 

[saff]

Not the worst I suppose but the most alarming was at a certain Jaguar centre in Warrington. Some years back I wanted an S-type so rolled up and looked over the stock. Some old geezer flash git salesman ushered me toward a car in the compound. He insisted on repeatedly calling me "My Friend". Started it up and it was obvious the hydraulic tappets were goosed as it clacked like a mk3 cortina pinto. "Give it a rev" he said, "they do that sometimes, it'll clear in a mo." It didn't.

Went to another car which sounded better and drove well and used the wipe/wash. The wipers gave a salute then fell rapidly down never to recover.

Back at the showroom I peeked under another car which had obviously been in receipt of panel replacement as an exposed rusty seam weld on view.

Needless to say.....

 

[saff]

The worst was looking for a cheap runabout as a stop-gap for my son. Private sale local to home, a £500 Proton. Old dear selling it as her son had persuaded her to buy his Rover. Looked it over, seemed ok, opened the bonnet checked dipstick etc. It hadn't seen a service for some time. Closed the bonnet and went for a drive, son in the back and said old dear in the passenger seat. It drove well until I got on a 60 limit road and at about 50 there was a loud bang and my view of the road vanished. The bonnet was wrapped around the screen/roof. Managed to stop safely. Old dear accused me of not shutting the bonnet correctly. Amusingly she was trying to re-attach the rear view mirror to the cracked screen. She then told me I'd be able to get a new screen fitted after I bought the car.

I looked under the remnants of the bonnet and both the bonnet catch and safety catch were seized solid so no surprises at what happened.

Managed to get us home and she was still insisting I was at fault for not dropping the bonnet closed from a greater height. Not wanting to argue with and distress her any further I asked could her son call me later to discuss matters.

I felt sorry for her even though she was trying to blame me and decided to make her a gift of £100, purely as a gesture. Her son was obnoxious, insisted I pay her the full amount for the car and demanded to see my insurance. He insisted the bonnet catches were fine. I decided not to offer the £100, agreed to exchange insurance details and told him to politely p155 off.

I never heard from them again.

 

[Haz750]

I had an awful experience when looking for a C350 saloon. Saw one advertised at a dealer in Kent, so I called the dealer and asked if I could come down and have a test drive of the car as I am coming down from NW London, the dealer said 'No problem sir, car will be ready sir, happy to sort the test drive sir.' Get down to the forecourt, said car is parked at the rear of the forecourt and when questioned about the conversation said salesperson then said it will be a faff to move all the cars (hence why I called beforehand to arrange the appointment) and that i would need to put down a non-refundable deposit of £500.

As you can imagine I walked away from the dealership muttering cupid stunt.

 

[MancMike]

My worst test drive experience was when I crashed the car I was test driving.

Yes, I had to go back to the dealership and say "Nah, I don't want it now".

It was a 2000 1.8 Focus. It was supposed to be my Mrs' first car. She'd only just passed her test and I'd been driving a year or so by then, so I test drove it. The dealer just handed me the keys and I took it out, on my own. I got some way up the road and found a nice quiet place to turn around and head back. The road was wet, leafy and curved to the left, downhill too. An old guy, a priest too, came around the corner in his Astra, but cutting the corner, he was straddling the white line. I panicked and hit the brakes, but with crap tyres, no ABS, wet autumn leaves, it locked up and slid straight into him. There was no time for thoughts about cadence braking, etc it all happened in about 2 seconds.

I got out and ran to see if he was ok, he was, but was mighty grumpy! No airbags deployed.

The damage was that the Focus needed a new front bumper and the Astra's driver's door wouldn't open. At least I punched the Astra back over to its side of the road!

I took the car back, the dealer wasn't amused, then got pretty forceful in demanding lots of money there and then. He wouldn't let us leave without taking a copy of my driver's licence, etc. I agreed to go get the money and come back, just to get out of there. Days later, I agreed to buy the car, at a reduced cost, and I fixed the damage myself. She had that car for a couple of years.

The priest's Astra was written off, he claimed against the dealership's insurance.

 

[Haz750]

Actually, on the flip-side I had great experience with MB Main Dealer in Colindale.

They let me have the keys, didn't pressure me and let me go off and decide on whether or not I wanted to by the car (FYI I did) and the aftercare was brilliant. I also had the car serviced by them and again nothing but pleasant and helpful. The salesman who dealt with me also makes time to have a chat and say hello when I pop into the dealership.

For me that is great customer service through and through.

And also I have noticed that the bad experiences we seem to having at dealerships are all through salesmen who lack well manners......and also being ducking fricks..but again just my observation.

 

[lfckeeper]

The Jaguar XE. Steering was over responsive. Test drive took me round a long sweeping bend on a slip road, I kept hitting the rumble strip. It was almost like you turned the wheel slightly and it added a bit more steering for you. Awful thing to drive.

 

[renault12ts]

Never had a bad test.

However I have had several cars for the week end, including a just new W210 E230 in March 1996. Also had an XJ6, a Disco, a 5 series, a 7 series, a Shogun etc...great fun going away for the week end in a new car.

 

[TheFoX]

Wow! What a cool Mum you’ve got.

Great idea for a thread.

Yep, she was in her early 60's when she spotted the Astra VXR demonstrator at Eden Vauxhall, and told the sales manager that should it come up for sale, she'd be interested.

The car was 4 months old and had done just 4,000 miles. It has been specked up with keyless entry and go, motorised door mirrors and every other option on the list. The service manager had also Bluefin'd it, so it was peeking at 280bhp when the 'Sports' button was pressed.

The sales manager said that they were selling it by the end of the month and if she had £18,000, the car was hers. She ummed and arhhed a bit, then they said they'd drop the price to £16,000 if she agreed there and then. She said, 'Yes'.

So she got a car worth £22,000 for £16,000, and enjoyed every minute of it. She sold it 18 months later when we needed the money to buy a van for my business, and the next owner wrote the car off within a matter of weeks of taking delivery.

My mother was probably one of the first lady owners, and one of the first pensioners, to own an Astra VXR.

 

[Deleted member 113659]

Yep, she was in her early 60's when she spotted the Astra VXR demonstrator at Eden Vauxhall, and told the sales manager that should it come up for sale, she'd be interested.

The car was 4 months old and had done just 4,000 miles. It has been specked up with keyless entry and go, motorised door mirrors and every other option on the list. The service manager had also Bluefin'd it, so it was peeking at 280bhp when the 'Sports' button was pressed.

The sales manager said that they were selling it by the end of the month and if she had £18,000, the car was hers. She ummed and arhhed a bit, then they said they'd drop the price to £16,000 if she agreed there and then. She said, 'Yes'.

So she got a car worth £22,000 for £16,000, and enjoyed every minute of it. She sold it 18 months later when we needed the money to buy a van for my business, and the next owner wrote the car off within a matter of weeks of taking delivery.

My mother was probably one of the first lady owners, and one of the first pensioners, to own an Astra VXR.

That’s fab.

My mum is 76 and drives a Nissan Note.

 

[ExW205and204]

In 2007 I was torn between a Mazda 3 MPS and Civic Type R and test drove them back to back.

The Mazda 3 MPS was in short supply, so to get a test drive you booked with the dealer and Mazda would send a car with a professional driver to the dealer.
So I drove the car out of the dealers on a pre-planned route. Then halfway around the 'professional driver' took over to show what the car was capable of.
Now, this guy was a great driver and I felt completely safe and comfortable in his hands, only pushing the car when it was safe and clear to do so.

However, we came to an open section of dual carriageway, where he pushed on a little! Only to be caught by a police car hidden round the corner well in excess of 3 figures.
He was sat in that police car for a long time, but didn't let us know what the verdict was.
I felt so gutted for him.

He continued to drive the car back to the dealership, only to see the next customers waiting for their test drive. I'm not sure he went so fast 2nd time round.

All that and I bought the Civic.

 

[AMGeed]

I had a test drive in a Vauxhall Cavalier SRi back in the late 90's from a car warehouse in Millbrook, Southampton. I didn't know the roads around there too well so the salesman accompanied me. The engine had a bit of poke, was in good condition and the price was right. I decided this was the car for me pretty quickly and made my way back to the car lot.
Sadly, on my 40min/30mile drive back home I realised the seats were the most uncomfortable I'd ever experienced. Made of concrete.

From then on, I always ensured I had a decent time in the car and made sure the seats were comfortable before decided whether to buy it or not.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Wow! What a cool Mum you’ve got.

Great idea for a thread.

I can see a thread called "My Mom/Mum/Nan/Gran drives a..." coming, complete with photos!

 

[Bahnstormerrr]

A few years back, I test drove a DC2 Integra Type R (not for myself, but for someone who didn't have the right insurance ). The test drive went well, the car drove fine, didn't make nasty noises and everything seemed to work (in fact, the car was immaculate). We were literally 50 feet from the guys driveway when some woman in a bloody great 4x4 pulled straight out of a side road and into the side of the car, pushing it in by what seemed to be about a foot. The passenger door was jammed shut so the owner had to climb across the car to get out. You'd think that would put a potential buyer off right?

Wrong - The guy I was testing it for went ahead and bought it. Even paid the full asking price!

 

[Ted]

Slightly OT, but back in the seventies I worked in a Mercedes garage.
Being a youngster in my twenties I was a fantastic driver and had a route with a number of roundabouts where I could kick the back end out and generally zip round like a true pro.
We took on a new test driver and I went out with him in a Jensen Interceptor. I noticed that his driving was very measured and he didn’t even cross his hands on the steering wheel like a true expert.
As we approached on large roundabout, he turned to me and said very softly “I hate these things - they handle like a tank”
He then took it round the roundabout at twice the speed I could, with absolutely no drama, and without kicking the back end out or crossing his hands.
Turned out he was Geoff Friswell (RIP) who was a well known driver in Formula Ford, and who became a good friend.