g60stu

Looked at a W reg (16k miles) Scooby yesterday at a main dealer. It used to be an ex-demonstrator. Is it likely this car has been thrashed to hell and back?

Should I avoid a car like this or use this fact to beat down the price?

markys

I had a test drive in a new STI @ Parks the Subaru dealer in Exeter, only 400'ish miles on the clock and the salesman taking it to 75000 RPM. I rest my case.

Richard Work

So it will be nice and loose then !

But seriously has anyone actually bought an exdemonnstrator and had a problem?

When the cars are delivered from the ferries I am sure that they get as much of a thrash as on any test drive....

Given that and you were to buy an ex-demo what would you expect to take off - 10%, 20% ??????

carl

Originally posted by markys:75,000 rpm! Gas-turbine powered, was it?

chiark

Knowing how I drove the demonstrator car that I was in, I wouldn't touch one. I daresay there'll be no problems as engines are apparently bench tested pretty harshly, but there's always that nagging doubt in the back of your mind...

...plus dealers seem to be wanting a pound of flesh for their demonstrators too.

Perhaps sir would like to consider an import ? (I did)

Hanslow

I bought an ex demo and the only problem (as such) that I have had with it was a knackered rear shock, which was fixed under warranty.

What I don't have is a lot of the problems people have seemed to experience with MY00s such as hesitation. I'm happy with mine, I paid 3 grand under list price for it being a demo, but it still came with the 3 year warranty so quite frankly I didn't care. It drove fine, looked fine and was cheaper.

On the plus side, when I drove it, the dealer told me to wait until it had warmed up before booting it, and also made sure we sat with it idling for a few mins when we got back.

I don't see the why a demo should be any worse than a non demo car. Some cars that roll off the production line have more faults than others....it's pot luck really

Tiggs

load of pants- my car got thrashed fom new- by me- but you wouldnt know it when you buy it from me as one careful owner, enthusiast, and member of the SN club who all love their cars.

anyone ever had a demo that was doggy because of a hard life??? and before anyone dives in there are plenty of brand spankers that have problems.

Tiggs

g60stu

I guess it's a lottery. But the dealer wants £17k for a W reg with 16k miles. Seems quite steep to me for an ex-demonstrator.

Maybe I should stay with my supercharged Golf (but I'm fed up with wheel spin!!!).....

Richard Work

A guy I know has a legacy turbo (not from new) and has always thrashed it from cold - turned it off whilst hot etc. He has never had a problem with it... He did rebuild teh engine, but that was at about 150,000 miles I guess the tollerances they build them to are pretty high....

jon hill

I've bought two ex-demo's: both my lotus elise & my Integra type-r were demo's, albeit with very low mileages. In both cases I saved a years depreciation - in fact the lotus went for more after 18 months than I bought it for.

My view - check the car over, be happy with the warranty, and all the normal stuff. I had no problems whatsoever (expect those visited upon the car by myself....)

MattW

I bought a demo MY01 Wagon. No problems at all. The chances of something going wrong are more likely in the first few hundred miles anyway. A good thrash wil prove that it's a good un!

Bakerman

Different machine I know but I test rode a Kawasaki ZX6R and did about 100 miles on it - it only had 200 when I took it out. I rode it hard (occasional red line etc) and really enjoyed myself. Anyway, a couple of weeks later I bought it and it gave me no problems at all in the 18months I owned it - in fact the engine was the smoothest I had heard.

Engines nowadays can deal with high revs, abuse when cold etc far better than before - you will do more harm loading the engine in low revs than reving the nads of it.

IanW

IMHO As long as the car was being sold from a main dealer, with a warranty from the manufacturer, then i would go for it.

The only cars i would never consider buying are ex hire cars, as we all know how they are driven!

peccy

once did a YTS some years back at a Mazda Dealership, all the demo cars got thrashed to bits, i used to go collect parts and do the dinner runs in them, once took a new shape RX7 to the local chippy and back! had not been driven for a day or so and as soon as i got out of site from the boss i was redlining it and bouncing over speed bumps and stuff.

feel quite ashamed of it now , didnt give these types of cars the respect they deserved.

peccydotcom

EBRWRX

Yep, my MYO1 WRX is an ex-demo and one of the young salesman drove it to and from home virtually every day, so I've no doubt that it got thrashed.

But as a previous post mentioned all the depreciation should have gone out of the price, the car has been run in and more importantly all the brand-new car niggles that you sometimes get should have been sorted.

In my case I now have a car with plenty of main dealer fitted mods, full skirts, morrettes, loud spoiler + quickshift and over 2-1/2 years warranty still left on the car (until I get bored and start fitting some performance mods !!!)

The only thing that smells in your case is the asking price which seems a bit steep even if the mileage is relatively low. Given that I haven't seen the car if you were interested I'd be offering a lot less, demanding at least 18 months warranty and insist that the next service is free (although this is a cheap one). The other thing to insist on is that he picks up the cost of fitting a tracker, though you'll need to pay the annual subs.

Jon1T

17k is well steep for a car with 16k miles - £900 more and you can get an 'in stock' brand new WRX.

As soon as you drive that car of the dealers forecourt it'll be worth about £13k....

IanF

Typically I wouldn;t really go for an ex demo, but at the end of he day you could get a 1 careful lady which might be a real pig.

Following story kinda proves the point.

My brother runs an accident repair centre and needed a fleet of courtesy cars. Back in 1994 he did a deal with a well known car hire firm to buy 15 or so 6 month old ex-rental Fiat Unos.

A couple of years ago he renewed his courtesy car fleet and sold about 5 of the Unos to his mate who runs a pizza shop, to be used a delivery cars.

Anyway, these cars have spent 6 months being hammered by the rental hirers, 5 or 6 years years being hammered as courtesy cars, and now for the last 2 years totally hammered by the pizza delivery drivers.

They are still going strong apart from the couple that the delivery drivers have managed to write off!

Regards
IanF

g60stu

I think at the end of the day, I could get a 1 owner example for the same price.
It's no guarantee but probability says that one owner from new has taken more care of a their motor than several car sales guys and their prospective customers.

MattN

an ex demo should be much cheaper, you shouldn't have to pay

delivery charge
VAT
first reg fee

also the fact it is 'used' will have an effect on the value.

Assume £400 delivery charge, £3500 VAT.

A 21k car less 4k = 17k THEN you need to take into consideration the age and mileage.

scooby nutter

My Evo IV is a Warrenders ex demo car,
Now on 50,000 miles and not a hiccup

chrisp

Nope I wouldnt touch one. Chances are they have been thrashed from cold by saleman and test pilots. Probably not be cooled down either and probably been run on cheap fuel. My local dealer has a demo STI but I told him if I brought one I wouldnt want the demonstrator. False economy IMHO .

cheers

chrisp

FreeT

Itsshould not show fault till high milage arrives - extra wear and tear from poorly run in engines - your talking around about 50k plus miles before it shows the signs. So if you aint gonna keep it that long shouldn't worry too much, just sort the price.

ChrisS/P1

I bought an ex demo P1 back in Feb 2001 with 2000 miles on the clock. It was 4 months old and cost 29,000. Fairly good deal really, and I've had no problems with it at all so far (well apart from crashing it anyway).

MARK MORRIS

I bought an ex demo p1 with 1900 miles last may for 3k below list, 6 weeks old,no probs at all, the car was the dealers owners own car, had its first 1k service when a week old before being used as a demo
on the other hand i was going to buy an evo 6 demo, they registered the car on the friday, i test drove it on the monday with 500 miles on the clock and it hadnt had its first service, redlining it all the time
mark

JASON H

Sales rep took me out in a P1 early one morning the car had stood all night, he red lined first 3 gears

kevin stanton

i don't know about ex-demo's but i bought the dealerships managers car.
it runs perfectly, rolling roaded @ 240.5 bhp (john nobles).
standard all but backbox and element

rik1471

IMO i'd Steer WELL clear.

I've test drove a P1 and the salesman leathered the nuts off it; didn't let it cool down either.

Tiggs

"Chances are they have been thrashed from cold by saleman and test pilots. Probably not be cooled down either and probably been run on cheap fuel"

errr... so what?

mine gets thrashed from cold and after a blast i turn the ignition off as i roll up the drive to stop it from waking the kids!

and cheap fuel? where do you get that? i want some!

the world of used cars is not full of ppl waiting till the engine is warm, running in properly, cooling the turbo, etc, etc.

there seem to be plenty of ppl here who have good ex demos, anyone ever had a bad one??? the false economy is walking away from a demo and buying a private sale like mine will be one day- no warenty and thrased within an inch of its life.

these arent TVR's they are designed to be able to stand up to everyday use!

Tiggs

yoza

Dont worry about it being ex-demo,worry about it being 2 grand over priced!

HamsterWheel

Well, I used to audit Subaru, and we used to borrow the cars. Did we thrash them ? Did we race them ? Did we jump them over hump-backed bridges ?

"No comment" !!!!