Did you make an appointment to test drive your M3/M4?

[ImGoingPlaces]

I base all my car purchases off YouTube reviews, bought the m3 and the i8 sight unseen

[espressoo]

Originally Posted by Modaddict79

Appointment - to drive a mass produced sports
Sedan ? Come on. The demos are always laying around the lot. The M3 is a great car but it's no bloody Ferrari.

I never make an appointment. I'm happy to wait for the salesman. If they want a sale, they have that window to arrange something or I'll walk to the next dealer. It's that simple.

I'm not sure I understand this logic unless you don't value your own time or another person's time. Calling ahead to me is common courtesy. It ensures they actually have the vehicle you're interested in and would let you drive it. Value of the vehicle is irrelevant really. If they responded no to either inquires, why waste your time with that dealership? Even if it's calling 5 minutes ahead when you suddenly have the urge to swing by the dealership.

[drgmt]

Originally Posted by espressoo

I'm not sure I understand this logic unless you don't value your own time or another person's time. Calling ahead to me is common courtesy. It ensures they actually have the vehicle you're interested in and would let you drive it. Value of the vehicle is irrelevant really. If they responded no to either inquires, why waste your time with that dealership? Even if it's calling 5 minutes ahead when you suddenly have the urge to swing by the dealership.

It's quite simple.

Unless a business is ether all appointments or all walk ins, scheduling appointments doesn't work. Why? Because it's human nature to treat the problem in front of you rather than the one coming in 15 minutes by appointment. The salesman will have to finish with that walk in before they see you.

The end result - they are late for your appointment and you may well have just walked in.

The nice thing about buying a new car is browsing the different options and going with the flow. Making 3 appointments at three different dealers is contingent on the previous two running on time (won't happen, see above reasoning).

If the car were rare, the dealer may need time to organise a test car. Given our car is an m335i, ie basically a 3 series with an m badge on it, they are everywhere. Hope this clarifies.

[Darth One]

i'm actually more surprised at how many people bought their car without test drives. IME cars drive so differently from generation to generation, and even between trim levels and optional equipment, that i wouldn't dare do this.

[Gibson6594]

Originally Posted by Darth One

i'm actually more surprised at how many people bought their car without test drives. IME cars drive so differently from generation to generation, and even between trim levels and optional equipment, that i wouldn't dare do this.

Because I'm not Mario Andretti.

[Manbearpigbear]

Originally Posted by Gibson6594

Did they let you test drive the 911?

yes

[GrussGott]

Originally Posted by Darth One

i'm actually more surprised at how many people bought their car without test drives. IME cars drive so differently from generation to generation, and even between trim levels and optional equipment, that i wouldn't dare do this.

On the other hand I find test drives completely useless - you don't know a car until you can get many many hours of angry run time in it ... it took me over a year get the hang of the 2015 F8x (weekly sport drives) and I honestly never truly did (the 2018 CP is WAY easier). Maybe if you do full balls out track tests like a car reviewer, but even still you're missing the day to day experience ...

Anyway, no fucking way a test drive is going to tell me what a car is like - you just gotta put a ring on it and give it a few years.

I never test drive.

[Darth One]

Originally Posted by GrussGott

On the other hand I find test drives completely useless - you don't know a car until you can get many many hours of angry run time in it ... it took me over a year get the hang of the 2015 F8x (weekly sport drives) and I honestly never truly did (the 2018 CP is WAY easier). Maybe if you do full balls out track tests like a car reviewer, but even still you're missing the day to day experience ...

Anyway, no fucking way a test drive is going to tell me what a car is like - you just gotta put a ring on it and give it a few years.

I never test drive.

You are right that there's no substitute for years of experience, but it's not a binary equation either. Your choices are not either "no test drive whatsoever" or "years of experience" with nothing in between.

My dealer tosses me the keys and tells me have fun and bring it back when you've made a decision. In around 30 minutes you can tell whether you're happy with the acceleration, like the steering, love or hate the active sound, etc.

I've test driven two M4's. A first gen convertible that was the worst M car I've ever driven, and a GTS that I loved enough to buy on the spot and drove for a solid month without touching the Porsche GT cars in the garage even once.

If you're happy to buy a car that you've never personally experienced but grow to love on the basis of secondhand information, then that's totally cool. I'm just saying that I don't get it

[snareman]

I would have bought it without driving it, but I told my CA that I wanted to try the DCT. He said they don't usually let people test drive the M's, but that I could, just not to take it too far or too fast.

Incidentally, my parents weren't allowed to test drive their Corvette. They are both around 70, drove in in a earlier model Corvette that they were going to trade in, told the guy they were ready to buy and were told that test drives aren't allowed on them. They had this experience at every dealer. Crazy.

[Everling]

Originally Posted by snareman

I would have bought it without driving it, but I told my CA that I wanted to try the DCT. He said they don't usually let people test drive the M's, but that I could, just not to take it too far or too fast.

Incidentally, my parents weren't allowed to test drive their Corvette. They are both around 70, drove in in a earlier model Corvette that they were going to trade in, told the guy they were ready to buy and were told that test drives aren't allowed on them. They had this experience at every dealer. Crazy.

First dealer I went to told me the same thing, but then he let me do it anyways. Then had me sit down with someone else to go over numbers. That guy refused to offer any discounts at all... being younger looking, he probably didn't think I could afford it. I just walked away and never came back.

A few weeks later, went to different dealer that I contact online first about pricing. They even repeatedly asked me to come in for a test drive and then talk about pricing. I did and ended up getting my car from there.

[Gibson6594]

Originally Posted by GrussGott

On the other hand I find test drives completely useless - you don't know a car until you can get many many hours of angry run time in it ... it took me over a year get the hang of the 2015 F8x (weekly sport drives) and I honestly never truly did (the 2018 CP is WAY easier). Maybe if you do full balls out track tests like a car reviewer, but even still you're missing the day to day experience ...

Anyway, no fucking way a test drive is going to tell me what a car is like - you just gotta put a ring on it and give it a few years.

I never test drive.

It can help in some scenarios. For example, I went and drove a MB GLC (because kids), expecting it to drive like a raised up boat. I came away pretty impressed; it felt like a car with a high seating position. Made me more confident about buying a crossover in the near future.