From: tquinn@heartland.bradley.edu (Terry Quinn)
Newsgroups: rec.autos
Subject: Re: LH test-drive results (by a buyer)
Date: 1 Jan 1993 12:58:26 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
Reply-To: tquinn@heartland.bradley.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu



Joe Karolchik writes . . . 
 
> 
> aq456@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Terry  Quinn) writes:
> > 
> > up to about 20 mph.  I then took it on up to 110 mph with no 
> > problem, and it was eager for more, but given that the roads were 
 
> >  
> After everyone has either complained about or commended their respective 
> dealer on the issue of trust (whether the dealer gives you the car to test
> drive by yourself), I read this post and I asked myself if this might be the
> reason that some dealers are paranoid.  Although it seems logical when you
> test drive a car to see what it's got in the handling department, I can 
> imagine how a dealer would react to you saying, "Oh, it handled wonderful
> at 110 mph.  No wind noise, and it was still accelerating.  I could've hit
> 120, but the roads are kind of icy."  
> 
> I'm not making a comment about Mr. Quinn's driving abilities here (since I 
> don't know Mr. Quinn).  What I am saying is that perhaps dealers have 
> experienced test drivers who pushed a car too far, only to end up with a 
> totalled demo on their hands. That would be cause for some paranoia on the 
> dealer's part.  Also, as a potential customer, would you buy that car if the
> dealer said, "Well, we have had this car up to 110 mph, and it's very 
> competent."  Wouldn't you wonder if the car's been abused?
 
 
Joe makes reasonable points.  On the risk of damage, when I took 
the car up to 110 mph, I was on a straight, flat two lane road 
that was totally devoid of other cars and had unlimited visibility 
(this is Central Illinois), so the risk of accident was very low.  
I stopped as soon as the snow started coming down.  
 
He raises a valid point about the "abuse", but I don't think this 
is an issue of "trust."  The dealer knew that when I took the car 
out, that I was concerned about performance, because I was going 
to trade in a 1985 Corvette, and I told him I was looking for a 
"Corvette with a back seat."  (I know, I know, so why am I looking 
at an Intrepid?).  That is why he had me take out an Intrepid with 
the 214 hp engine. 
 
I would not purchase a car that was reputed to have performance 
characteristics (they are selling the Intrepid ES as a competitor 
to Pontiac SSEs) without trying its limits.  I thoroughly warmed 
it before I canned it, but if it were mine, I wouldn't be driving 
it that hard with only 600 miles on it.  Two weeks ago I drove a 
Pontiac Grand Prix with the salesman riding shotgun.  He 
encouraged me to experience its full performance capabilities, 
which included a couple of high speed passes on highway exit 
ramps, doubtless introducing some tire wear.
 
From my perspective, the cars that are used as demos will be 
discounted to reflect this use, and to that extent, it becomes 
part of the cost of doing business.  It is also why I would not 
purchase a demo of a high performance car without a significant 
discount. 
 

--
                                    Terry Quinn
                                     Germantown Hills, IL
                                      tquinn@heartland.bradley.edu
from Compuserve . . .                  >INTERNET: tquinn@heartland.bradley.edu
Newsgroups: rec.autos