I'm strongly considering an evo, but wouldn't mind giving it a soft test drive first. Are dealers allowing test drives?

 

Heck, I hope they are at this point. I mean how stupid is it that you can test drive a Corvette, Porsche, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, and any other make of car, and Mitsubishi uses the reverse psycology on everyone, holding them hostage in their own excitement. The other day I got to test drive a Lotus Elise, and put a deposit down that day. I am putting another deposit at a different dealership next week. I was able to steal a test drive of an EVO within the first two weeks that they came out. If you di get one, I would definatly buy from that dealership. Best of luck. If they tell you no, then just tell them that one of your friends has an STI and you have had a ride in that....and that is what you will be getting. I think that that would change their minds pretty fast.

 

around me they do.... all i asked for when in went to the dealer was a pamphlet for the evo and he asked if i wanted to take one for a test drive.... i told him when i came back in a few weeks i will because when i do i'm leaving with it.... didn't want to be tempted because i know i would have gone home with it.....

 

Do not ever buy a car without test driving it, there is no reason if you are a serious buyer that a dealership would not let you test drive one.

Here's my story how I ended up buying an EVO: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...hreadid=379211

 

The dealerships around here are allowing test drives, don't buy the thing without taking it around the block once or twice. If you are serious about getting one and they still wont allow you to drive it, walk.

 

No one I have talked to so far (2 dealers, 1st dealer had only 1 evo, 2nd dealer had 4 in the showroom) are allowing people to test drive. According to both dealerships they are only willing to let you test drive after credit application is approved and they are sure you are serious about buying. On a side note: I am going to look at an apex silver EVO on friday at a different dealer and hopefully they might let me test drive. I just contacted a subaru dealer in the same area for a price quote and got an email from them offering me a test drive of an STi so I will do that on friday as well. :smile: I love cars

mike

 

Not only did Tempe Mitsu let me test it, the sales *** told me to... lets see what were his exact words, oh yeah "Punch it *****". And I had no intent of buying that car, I ended up buying an OZ.

 

Nothing wrong with this, that's what my dealer did, a credit application doesn't mean you have to buy it. If you were serious about buying it and not just wanting to test drive it, than this shouldn't be a problem.

 

I didnt have any problems test driving the Evo or STi , there both great cars . But once it came down to buying my car i knew what the Evo was capable so i went just to pick out the color i wanted and it was a done deal . (since i had tested a previous one ) There was no need to take any more time that i need it too....
Mitsu is not the only dealer that has been refusing test drives on there cars , at the beginning with the IS 300 came out and there were selling like crazy, only serious buyers were being taking in consideration to do a test drive , or at least they had one car to take all the abuse that they go throught .
Same goes with infinity dealers and there G35 coupe 6 speed , is either me that they dont like or they just selective on the persons that are serious . Since i was on the market for a car for a while i didnt want to show any commitment since i wanted to see all my options and by them running a credit report and me not buying just looks bad on your credit score ....

 

I never said there was anything wrong with this. I guess I am just used to the treatment my parents get at the local ford dealer. They seem to have no problem handing the keys of 30-40k trucks and cars over to my parents and letting them take one home for the night. If they didn't do this we would all be looking at EVO's with 100 miles on them, and wouldn't have to break them in because there would be no point. My problem with this is when the manager of a dealership tells me he has not sold one of his EVO's in 3 months and then in the next sentence tells me you can't test drive it until you sign the papers. Just a little odd in my opinion. I don't want some racer out hot rodding my future car around but i would also like to be able to test drive to see if indeed i want it to be my future car.

mike

 

From a dealer standpoint..... I agree that some dealers may need to do this to weed out people that just want a joyride.

From a consumer standpoint (where I am).... I wouldn't want to have a CREDIT INQUIRY hit the three credit bureaus unnecessarily... because in the end ... just the dealer running credit could hurt my FICO score which could affect my ability later to get a good interest rate. Reference FICO Definition

In short... don't let anyone RUN a credit inquiry unnecessarily... its not good for your credit record.

 

The test drive issue is one of the reasons my wife and I bought an Infiniti G35. A couple of months ago my wife and I went to courtesy mitsubishi in Santa Clara to drive an evo. Since it was my second time there and I called ahead to speak with the sales lady it wasn't a big problem in getting a test drive. They brought out a brand new car with 3 miles on it. We only got to drive it for about 5 miles. the lady said that they wanted to keep the miles low on them. after the test drive, I could tell that my wife wasn't sold on the evo. When I told the sales lady that we need to think on it, they were shocked. I bet they thought they had a sale for sure. They wanted me to go back in and talk to the manager why we didn't like the car. I thought that was a bunch of Bull$hit. It's not like this car is a ferarri. We walked over to the infiniti dealership, test drove a G35 for 20 miles and ended up buying it a couple of days later. Mitsubishi screwed the pooch on that sale becauase of their lame test drive policy. If they want to sell cars, they should have a demo Evo for anyone and everyone to drive. Sure they are going to get a bunch of people driving it with no intention of buying, but it will generate a lot of interest and most likely a lot more sales.

 

I think it matters a lot on your appearance. i went to a mazda dealer and they wouldn't let me test drive a ****ing mazdaspeed protege. bums man.

 

I had to basically put a front on that I was ready to buy today, they brought an Evo out that had 15 miles on the OD.... I got on it most of the time, redlining it every time.

I basically said "sorry dont like it" walked out.