i wasn't allowed to test drive my Evo IX until payment was made and i took the car off the lot.

i test drove the X GSR without any hesitation on the salesman's part (Henry from Puente Hills Mitsubishi - great guy). was offered to test drive the MR but didn't do it because regardless of how awesome the auto tranny is i just need 3 pedals. i know test driving the MR woulda been a blast but i don't like the idea of beating on a new car without any purpose but for fun...i'll drive an MR from some friend some other time.

X would get a new a**hole torn by my RSTi, under WOT i could sip on a cup of coffee and read newspaper or something in the X because it felt so smooth and gentle (good and bad)...but the handling and ride quality were awesome, and the front seats were mind-bendingly awesome.

surprisingly the car felt lighter than the IX...off boost the car took off just fine, and i test drove it in pretty warm weather (80 degrees easy). 5th gear at 45mph still lagged like hell but can't ask too much from a 2.0L.

 

They all work in sales. They must understand that anyone could be a potential buyer or at least show some hospitality.

But it's ok. I have my eyes set on an Evo X and so I hope that I'll be driving one off the lot soon!!!

 

I did feel a different kind of discrimination when I went to a Mitsu dealer last september - because I wasnt a guy. I went with my dad (he's the car person in my family) and we drove up in our '07 Mercedes SUV, but even so the salesmen were almost afraid to ask us if we were interested in any of the cars until we were there for about an hour and my attention was fully devoted to the rows of new Xs they had despite several rounds around the dealership looking at the cars available.

The salesman that did come up automatically assumed it was my dad who wanted the car, and was still (a little bit rudely imo) in disbelief that it was me who was considering owning an evo. he kept asking me to wait for the Lancer Ralliart to come out. The guy did offer a test drive almost immediately when he heard my driving record was clean for the last 3 years - didnt say a word when I floored the car to the speed limit on the freeway.

I was almost ready to leave the dealership because of the discriminating service but the Xs kept me there - I dont regret bringing my MR home though; having to put up with the bad salespeople are almost a forgotten memory.

 

How old are you? I think age has more to do with it than gender. My wife is 32, and if we go to a dealership, they come out and greet her right away.

It sucks that happened to you, but maybe they were just not intelligent enough to understand that you were serious. Really dumb they tried to talk you down into a lesser car.

 

I agree. Most salesmen realize that its the women that general make the car buying decision and will go out of their way to make sure they feel involved in the process, if it is a man and woman who appear to be a couple. IF it is a man and young girl, and the man appears to be her father, and the girl looks like she's not old enough to buy a car by herself (hence the reason her dad is present) they are almost always going to pay attention to who has the money and the power to sign on the bottom line.

 

That's ok. A bad salesman can ruin the atmosphere immediately, but if you're there for the car than try your best to make the transaction quick and efficient and just get going.

Of course, I'm not saying the deal don't matter. LOL

 

i just turned 18 and went down to look at the new Xs and they asked if i wanted to test drive it amd i said hell yeah! so i think they just didnt want to lket u drive u one

 

I never asked for a test drive. They offered it to me. I drove all the way home and back. It was about a forty minute ride each way. oh yeah, I now own a Evo x.

 

i no at my dealership test drives r not allowed

but as for service wise i find its wht u drive in with, like last week i pulled in with my A4 just so i can check some stuff out with parts, then i went 2 glance at the x and when i did that a sales came up 2 me and asked if was gunna trade my A4 4 that x

i mean if i pull into any dealership with my A4 i get service pretty much right away, but if i pull in with my lancer i dont seem 2 exist

 

I'm 24 - pretty sure I don't look like I'm 18. I'm not short either (5"7), so there's no way they could mistake me for a kid. Guess my dad didnt look his age because he has a full head of black hair despite being 56.

I guess it confused them that we walked around the dealership looking at many other cars too (including the Eclipses that I'd at first thought I was going to buy till I saw the EVOs irl) - probably the generalization that "oh if its a girl buyer she'd go for the eclipse". I do like the new Eclipses but the Evo X is just beastly sexy in comparison ^__^

 

Well to me, that explains it. 19-24, these days its hard to tell with some people. You'd look like a college age person with her dad, and her dad is the one buying a car. Most people in college don't have full time jobs and/or established credit and can't buy a car on their own. I mean no disrespect, I'm just being real. I personally would have tried to involve you as much as possible and not tried to steer you towards one car, but I can totally understand how another salesperson would concentrate on your dad more.

 

That's really not right. I am astounded at how little training some of the salesman have. I worked in real estate all through college and learned the tricks of the trade, one of the big ones is to LISTEN instead of assume. No test drive? That's cold, unless you didn't have any other dealerships to go to I would have told them to stuff it and tried another place. I could never pay 35k for something and not have driven it myself.

Something I have learned to do at car dealerships is to completely remove the salesperson from the deal.. It does work. Just walk in and say you want to talk to the manager, and that you won't buy a car without speaking to him/her. This way, you can be negotiating a sales price before they know anything about you. You know everything about the car already (hopefully), and they haven't had a chance to ascertain your wealth, status, or any other indicator of how much you can pay.

It doesn't always get you a great price, but it certainly saves a TON of headaches with the mongoloid salespeople. Haha last time I was in a Mitsu dealer the salesperson didn't know if the lancer had "rear disk brakes". I told him I preferred drums, and he agreed saying they were far superior. What a conniving dunce.

 

Well drums are generally lighter than disc brakes.

 

Yes, that is true. But come on, would you really buy a brand new car with drums on it? Unless it was purely a grocery getter, I couldn't live with that. I know it's mostly superficial in that the rears do like 5-20% of your braking, but still. The salesperson should know something like that. I don't expect them to know engine codes (they should really), but I do expect them to know things as simple as brakes.

Reminds me of my younger days when I first set out on a mission to purchase a lancer. I knew I wanted something cheap and dependable that wasn't a Honda or Toyota. I walked into the Mitsu dealer, told him OZ and he told me in a very stern and sincere manner "You know.... the OZ's are just a step below the EVO."

It was at that point that I walked out and found myself in carmax and never looked back. I bought the OZ for the mpg and the affordability, not for the "near evo performance"

 

Hahahahah! Sorry man. Not laughing at you, but with you. Same thing happened to me a few yrs. back when the 8's first came out. All the dealers here in Cali, have a policy to where any turbocharged car is not test-drivable. One salesmant told me that if you were to go through all the motions of deposit etc. to show you're really interested that you could get one, but basicly everyone already knows what the cars are and can do so they dont wanna be giving test drives all day to guys just trying to have fun... Especially since alot of buyers are picky at the amount of milage is on a "NEW" car.