Hello Everyone

I was wonder if anyone here has bought a EVO VIII without test driving it? I saw my first one a couple of weeks ago and fell in love with it!!! I've been to three Mitsubishi dealerships and after settling on a price and ready to trade in my 2002 Civic Si I asked to test drive it and the managers told me I couldn't. I didn't understand why-he just said no. I REALLY want an EVO but I also don't want to spend $29,000 or so and not know how it drives-that's RIDICULOUS!!!!!

By the way my name is Rocky and I love this website!!!

 

It depends where. I go to school in Buffalo and there are two dealers. The dealers out in no where (Hamburg) let me test drive their Evo. Other dealer located in a more populated place in Buffalo did not allow it. Where I bought my car, NYC, I drove it after I gave my money and waited to pick it up...I had to get some gas...hehe

 

i bought mine in NYC also and I paid for it 2 months before it came in last March. NO, i didn't get ripped off but with this type of car you know you want it and if you have to ask about it then you don't need it. Get it, you won't regret it

 

Many dealerships have a "no test drive" policy. I think there are two reasons:

1) Many people would come in and abuse the car for fun with no intention of buying. I know I’ve gone out and looked at cars with friends on slow days. I try not to waist anyone’s time, but if they offer a drive, I’ll take it.

2) The car has very specific break in requirements. As seen in some posts here, some people beat the crap out of cars when doing test drives. I know I would not take an Evo that was a tester and had 30-100 miles on it. That leaves the dealership with a $30,000 car that no one wants.

I realize it is a catch 22 (good book by the way). You don’t want to buy something you can’t drive. I got lucky and found a dealership that allowed test drives. They still have that Evo a few months later and I think they’ve given up on selling it. It is covered with all kinds of decals for the dealership. One the flip side, my car had 8 miles on it when I signed the paperwork. Call around and find a dealership that will give you a ride. They would be more likely to give you a ride if you had financing set up. You could also talk nice to Evo owners on this board, maybe one of them will give you a ride.

Best wishes,
f86sabre

 

I just bought it. No need for test drives. I looked at the black evo and immediately wanted to make sweet sweet love to it....*cough* i mean drive it home.

 

I also bought it blindly. I really wanted a test drive to feel the car, not the speed, but was never given one.

 

The test drive is what sold me on the car. Without a test drive, I would not have bought it. What car company says "Drive=Love"? Well, that's how it was.

A lot of 2003's left on the lots. If the dealerships have a hard time selling these cars, as it seems they may right now, I think they have themselves to blame. No test drives plus the offensive pretense of $5000 markups drives a lot of elligible buyers away.

This is just a $30K car with 271 hp. It's not any faster, or much faster, than a lot of non-exotic cars these days. The dealers need to stop acting like it's such an exclusive an amazing car and sell it the same way they do the other vehicles on the lot (an oversimplification, but you get my drift). My $.02.

 

I feel your frustration rocky. I was in the same boat Till I asked if a local EVOM.net would take me for a ride to see how the car was. So Chris In HB was nice enough to help me out and I met up with him and he took me for a spin and I was verry happy and thankfull then out of the blue he tossed me the keys and said your turn to drive. I was totaly shocked that I guy I met mabe a hour let me drive his EVO. All I can say is this teh EVO is the best thing out there if u love to carve corners and love to hall some *** it does every thing u could ever want in a car witih easy and grace and comfort.

Trust me u will love it u dont need to test drive it just buy it. The drive home will be the best drive u have ever had and then u will know right off the bat thta u made the right purchase.

just my .02

 

No test drive for this boy when I bought it..

No need to drive it..

This comes from someone who has issued plenty of test drives to potential buyers..

Let's face it guys and gals, you are either in or out...

You can't walk into a Porsche or BMW dealer and test drive one of those cars without sitting down and talking turkey..

"NO TEST PILOTS"....
Used Car Managers are especially sensitive to test drives on performance cars that they have on the lot..

New car dealerships really should have one car designated for a demo, but then who would buy a "demo"..

It's a tough car to sell new for a lot of reasons!!

 

bought both the SRT4, and the EVO without a test drive, no regrets on either one, I miss the SRT sometimes but that is all. hehe

 

Chris lives out here with us now. He is a great guy and it does not suprise me he was so cool to you!

I say try to find a dealer that will let you test drive. If you are looking for the closest thing to a rally race car for under 30K this is the car for you with or without a test drive! If you are looking for a drag car keep looking at other cars. I have 26K on my EVO and I still hate to get out of it every night!

 

When I went to look at the EVO I loved the way the outside of the car looked, plus I needed something that was fast enough to own my friend's 99 cobra. Anyways I sat in the car and didn't like the feel one bit. I had basically my whole family there. I was about to leave the dealership when the dealer asked me if i wanted to test drive it. I figured why the hell not. I have never had so much fun driving a car in my life. I fell in love with the EVO and even though I haven't test drove alot of things yet, I'm hell-bent on getting the car now. I have driven a 99 cobra convert, an 03 gti 25th aniversary ed. (modded), and a pretty modded up 95 maxima and none of them even come close (I realize they are in completely different classes, but still they were all relatively fast, fun cars). I personally couldn't buy a car without test driving it first, but i will tell you first hand, the car is insanely fun to drive. As soon as I have enough I'm 99.99999999563827% sure i'm getting an EVO. Good luck with everything.

 

Thanks a lot for the help guys. I'll probably end up buying it without the test drive. I got to sit in a couple of them to see how comfy it was-all in all I love this car!!! It's fast, got aggressive looks.....I could go on and on. The only thing I have to decide is what color to get-blue or black.?

 

This is the article that helped me decide what color I was gonna get.
https://www.evolutionm.net/features/article/lanevo/26/3

 

Red...