LG John

Since the 406 V6 blowing up episode I've been feeling the 'pull' of performance cars again and have noticed that you can get good S2000s for £15k and I quite fancy something that you rev the absolute nutts off and also the wind in the hair thing.

Yesterday I was passing a Honda garage on the way home from work and dropped in to pick up some bog material on the car and just to have a sniff around up close. I got chatting informally to the salesman and he showed me around the car and said to contact him if I want to take it for a drive sometime.

I thanked him for his time and toddled off

The problem is I REALLY want to drive it but know that no matter how much I liked it I couldn't buy one from a dealership new and would almost certainly go private. The garage would of course get loyalty in the way of servicing, etc but I don't know what to do.

I chanced my arm for a run in a VTS when I was 18 and bought one 3 years later from that garage and I do have a 'like' and 'hate' list of garages around my area and reward with business accordingly.

Should I drive a car I have no intention of buying If I do, how do I say that I can't take it despite the fact I'd probably be grinning from ear to ear?

MJW

Just give them the old 'I'll get back to you' line. Tell him you have other cars to test drive before you make a decision. Don't feel guilty about not buying it. After all, you can bet that car salesmen don't feel guilty about stuffing people on the repayments !

_Meridian_

iTrader: (1)

It's more fun to bargain: point out that you can get one privately for £3000 less (or whatever) and see how low he will go. H*ll, there's a slim chance he'll match. If he doesn't? Well, there's your excuse to leave...


M

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

Well, I recently had an A4 Audi Avant Quattro & a Volvo XC70 out for 24 hr test drives with no problem.

Just ask. I told them I wanted to test it out over my daily commute (150 miles) and accordingly would need it overnight. Didn't seem to cause a problem.

I now have a new XC70 but not from the Volvo dealer as he was a crap salesman & I got it elsewhere at £4k off list

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

My uncle has a Jeep and balgged a Crossfire when it was in for warranty work, we all had a go and he took the remains back the following day and said nahhhh.

Tiggs

never bought a car without blagging a 24 hour test drive first. i have had a 540, 530 Z4, TT V6, Galaxy (twice...went to IKEA with it!), ford focus, ford puma, zafira GSI, pug 307 sw, A6, Shogun, Landcrusier and few more i cant even remember....all in the last couple of years. Takes 2 mins max to phone dealers out of the yellow pages and say "i want to buy X but need a 24 hour test first, is that ok" 90% of the time they will say yesy without question, the other 10% you just phone the next garage......only time i have had to phone more than 2 was for the Z4 but that was because of avalibity not a problem getting a drive.

T

mart360

didnt fancy the 90 then??

thats what i would go for

mart

LG John

So far it seems that rather than encouraging me not to drive a car I have no intention of buying the general concensus is not just to test drive it for 20 mins with the salesman but to blag it for a full 24 hours

Ok But just cause you lot told me to

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

Nah - too common these days & ugly to boot. Plus long waiting list & bad image.




(plus the milf I fancy had one & hated it )

imlach

SB - S2000 a sound car, but EVERYONE I know that had/has one has smashed it at least once

One chap did a full 360 on the Kirkliston to Cramond Brig road, and then 12 months later managed to spin it into oncoming traffic coming out of D.Mains into Queensferry Road...

So, even if you can afford the £15k, allow for increasing insurance premiums within 12 months

This particular chap personally imported his one from Belgium, but he still used Chattams for his intial test drive no problems - but it was the MD's son (Chattam Junior) who took him out on an extended testdrive. He may not have bought it there in the end, but they got plenty of bodyshop work thereafter so it all evened up

He sold it on for £17k last year.....no-one asked about smashes....but if I were buying a 2nd hand S2000, I'd be asking LOTS of questions....reckon there aren't that many out there without "history".

SCOSaltire

dont worry at all.
dealers are there to do a job.
part of that job is servicing the Brand.

lets look at it 2 ways:
1.
u have 25k. u want a car. u go test drive the car from dealer.
ur boiler blows up and all ur carpets and central heating needs repaired.
or something else that takes a fair chunk of ur money away.
so u buy 2nd hand.

next time u go to dealer, with the car even - say how u had cash issues.

2.
u have 15k
u test drive the car. u love it.
u go buy 1 2nd hand.
u go back to dealer - and say u had cash issues.

in 1. - it was a boiler blowing up.
in 2. - u didnt have enuff in the first place

corradoboy

I had a 2 hour private test in an S2000 last summer (hottest day of year ). Just me & my gert thrashing the pants off someone elses brand spanking 25k motor Knew I couldn't afford one, and knew I really wanted the Scoob anyway but the guy offered the drive and who am I to refuse

Go for it, and do a few more cars too. A mate of mine has recently tested a Cayenne, GT3, Evo MR340, M3, 350Z, RX8 and a few I can't remember and then gone out an bought another house instead. The dealers are there to serve prospective buyers in the hope of turning them into buyers, so prospect

LG John

I must admit I'm a little alarmed by the amount of people that have binned these cars! Granted the early versions were a little a little hairy at the rear but that was sorted so why is it still a case of, 'mate had one, lovely car.......wrote it off!' You don't hear people saying that about M Roadsters or elises??!

Brendan Hughes

Now THAT is a brass neck!

andrewdelvard

Brendan , just out of interest, did you buy the MCoupe?

Tiggs

but the stuff my wife wanted was huge.....whats a man to do?

Brendan Hughes

Andrew, no . I simply don't have the money. I never did, but I found out a month ago that I had about eight thousand quid less than I calculated, too . I was supposed to buy a one-bed flat as an investment to pay for my son's university, but I've suddenly found that I haven't even got the deposit I thought I had!

Believe me, if/when I get it, you'll hear about it....<wistful sigh>

andrewdelvard

Same as me in a way. I could in theory buy one right now, but it would be at the cost of so much else that I wouldn't enjoy the experience. I'd just feel guilty.
Just hope I'm able to find a nice one when the time is right and have a couple of £ for when the vanos goes!
We'll see....

Jamo

iTrader: (23)

dont even go there.

avoid lotus elise' like the clap mate!!!

wost record ive ever seen on a car, i was looking at one early this year, as they dropped in price drastically then i found out why! full service every 6 months, and they have more issues than microsoft xp!!

put it this way, if you bought one and had no problems you would be one of the only ones! what car magazine says avoid them and gives them a half star out of five! (impreza is 3 out of 5 because of servicing charges)

go figure on the same hand I have an alfa romeo spider at the minute, and that 4 out of 5!! and that ****** has 8 spark plugs.

Brendan Hughes

Ah, well that's where you and I differ

There's one plus point for us each, and a further for me only:
Each; prices of the new ones (with DSC) will come down further...
Me; I need a LHD one, so I have all of Europe to choose from.

Can't drive the damn thing properly anyway, I should really buy an old RWD heap to practise with first.

Oops sorry Kenny, are we hijacking your thread? Erm... yes, go and test drive it!