Big Den

Would you buy an ex-demo STI from a UK dealer (or have you already)?

Following on from my thread 'Where are they all coming from? - Prodrive STI type UK', and that it would appear the only Prodrive STI UK's left (other than Euro Imports of course) are those that the dealers have as demo's.

The prices do not seem to be much less than the new buy price was, if at all, with some of these cars being listed as having done 7,800 miles & registered as long ago as March!!!!

I had asked in my other thread that if a dealer informed you that the car had only been on accompanied test drives & had not been used for dealer track days but you later found out that this wasn't true - would you have any comeback against them or Subaru UK (IM)?

Den

LG John

If you've ever driven a demo-car you'd know NEVER to buy one. They may last and there may never be anything wrong with them but you can't escape the fact that 100's of people have jumped in from day/mile 1 and thrashed hell out of it!!!

Big Den

SaxoBoy

That was one of my questions: If they have only been out on accompanied test drives.

I've had test drives from several Subaru dealers in the past & have always been accompanied (except once in a WRX). This does not limit you from exploring the cars potential but would/does stop you from behaving like a complete tit and abusing the car.

I suppose you could say that when you buy a second hand Scooby you have no way of knowing how many people have driven it especially when dealers are giving sales test drives or the previous owners were giving some stick because they knew the ywere trading it in!!

Den

TrueSTI man

I drove a demo back in May and the salesman encouraged me to push the car to its rev limit even though it had only done 700 miles.

Scooby-Doo

As I know my dealer I test drove an STI on my own. Explored its full potential before it was returned

Up_North

Big Den,

Remember the manual for the STi says not to go over 4000rpm for the first 1000 miles in order that the engine is run in properly. Somehow I can't see dealers forcing potential customers to stick to that - not a lot happens below 4000rpm so potential customers just wouldn't buy if they couldn't see what the car is capable of.

Maybe you could find a decnet STi-savvy dealer who has done the running in themselves before letting us lot loose on it!!!

Ian

Contigo

Rest assured that people have jumped into them and not only caned them, but caned them from cold

mutant_matt

Well, thrashing from cold and redlining in every gear is abuse in my book, if the car hasn't been run in, which none of the Demo cars have by the time joe public starts thrashing them.

A dealer that didn't allow you to drive the car properly would make no sales on the back of the test drives so they don't have much choice, don't have the time to run them in (usually) and generally, don't want to put any miles on them so they can shift them as "nearly new" when the time comes to get rid of them

Simply put, I would never touch an ex-demo performance car, particularly a turbo one and one like the STi where the running in seems to be so important (remember at least one and possibly several UK STi's have blown up before 1000 miles )

Matt.

Squizz

In answer to your original question:

"No..."

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

And what do you think happens to your brand new car that's got 10 miles on the clock? I bet the engineers who do the PDI checks at new reg day, have so many to go through that the test drive would be very swift from cold.....

Then there's service time, oil change and a quick thrash up the road from cold....

It's all pot luck whether a car will be affected or not, but I agree that a demo is probably more likely to have had more of the above.

F

MattW

I bought a demo STI with 2.5k on it. The car feels as new in every respect, no nasty noises etc. I had a WRX demo before it with no problems whatsoever.

My Dad always bought demos, as they were almsot new with a good discount. He has never had a problem with a demo car, even back in the days of OHV engines.

The chances are that if its going to go, it'll go in the first 1000 or so miles, if you can get a good discount (i.e. 2k+) where's the problem.

MARK MORRIS

i bought an ex demo p1, the dealer did 980 miiles in a week, did the first service, then it started as a demo, i bought it with 1900 miles 5 weeks later, now 17 months old with 10k, no probs
mark

vel boy

I bought a ex-Demo WRX it had 500 miles on it when I bought it.

Never had any problems and it been regulary up to 150MPH on a private road of course ;-)

And seems to be getting better each day

korky

No way! It'd be like buying a timebomb!

Korky

chrisp

Abuse on cars is cumulative, you may get away with thrashing it from cold for 5K miles but sooner or later it will catch up. Depends on how long you intend to keep the car. Thrashing it and turning it straight off may not destroy your turbo in a week but you are putting wear on it. Anybody seen the advert 75% of engine wear occurs in the first few minutes . Why do they tell you to run them in if you could just thrash them from new and from cold

I wouldnt buy a ex-demo car but thats just me.

Chrisp

[Edited by chrisp - 8/19/2002 11:28:33 PM]

chrisp

What was that famous quote :

"Drive it like a race car, fix it like a race car"

Turkish1

I test drove a WRX a couple of months after they first came out, it had 340 odd miles on it and the salesman drove it before me and then gave me a go. He thrashed the **** off it, so of course I couldnt let myself look a fool, I had to as well (LOL)
Turkish1

Ex_Pug

I've just bought an ExDemo X reg' Impreza from one of the Lancaster dealerships, visibly the car is in mint condition in all aspects, is this really a ticking type time bomb? Am I doomed? I notice people who have bought demos without any side effects have posted, and there is a distinct lack of people who have had problems as a result of doing so. So if there is anyone out there who has had issues with an Ex-demo car, please post! Otherwise, I shall assume that it's all a bit of a myth, and that these cars are a little more resilient than you give them credit for.

Tiggs

pick a dealer whos not a **** and it'll be fine.

dealers (who arent *****) do not let ppl get in cars and destroy them (i sold cars for a while and was selling the saxos when the VTS was launched) NO ONE EVER thrased it with me sat beside them but i sold them still.

also- even if they did thrash them its a car not a ming vase- it wont collapse.

and if you buy private will it be any better? is my car not thrashed by me EVERY day from stone cold? is it? who knows? not you!

T

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

Don't worry about it Mr Pug, I've not heard of any ex demo cars going pop.

Imprezas are more resliant than people make out on here especially if you compare to mainstream cars like Ford and Vauxhalls. Now if it were an Escort Cossie ex demo then I would be worried, I mean have you ever seen the fingernails of Escort Cossie owners? - they're always filthy and they're the pampered cars.....

F