I got out to a local dealer recently to look at, and hopefully test drive, their sole EVO on the lot.

It had 35 miles on it and the dealer was adamant that I couldn't test drive it until "I had everything signed, contingent on a test drive". Basically, the guy wanted me to have everything lined up for the car (which I'm not even sure I want to buy..) before I even TEST DROVE the thing. Is this normal practice for this car?

It's an '03 with a sunroof and a wing. Sticker is $30,xxx and the guy told me that 'he'd take a couple hundred off' because it's an '03 (with the 7/70 warranty). WTF? Does any of that sound right to you?

What would be a fair price for this new, last years model, Evo beast?

Also, how do I know if I want the Evo or the STi (or the MINI Cooper S, or the Volkswagen R32, or the SRT-4, for different reasons) if I can't even drive the Evo?

Any help here?

 

Covered many times before but after a number of wasted test drives that put the 35 miles on the car they called it quits. We don't test drive until the purchase is approved either. There's no reason to let anyone coming in "thinking about" an Evo test drive it. As the buyer you don't want miles on your car nor does anyone else. The way to keep them off is to only drive qualified buyers. So far not one customer has torn up their paperwork after we've driven.

It also keeps them from ragging it. I've seen them at Subaru, when I was there, drive an STi like the world largest **** orifice then go in to buy and select a different car than the one they just abused. Far too many people are useless and worthless and dealers have to protect themselves. I'm not saying you are because I don't know you, just pointing out a sad reality.

 

Which is why you have them sign - then they buy when they're stoked.

The 35 miles were not 'test-drive' miles. Even the salesman had never driven this car.

The MINI dealer wanted me to run his car harder than I was - to really get a feeling for it. Generally, when I'm test-driving, I'm NOT going to go above break-in revs and I'm not going to drive recklessly - but I want a generally 'feeling' of the car and I won't buy one till I have it. I don't want to make a $30,000 purchase based purely on emotion after a great test-drive. If that means I can't drive an Evo, then I have to effectively eliminate the car from my list.

Even most sports cars only require a down payment to show that the driver is interested in order to take a test-drive.

I really think this policy has more to do with pushing Evos off the lot than it does with 'protecting the buyer' from high miles. True, I might not buy the 'test-drive' car, but I'd likely order mine up the way I want anyway. By not letting me test the car, you'll get no sale at all.

 

you can get some paperwork done and let them run a credit check on you so they know you are serious... then go drive the evo

 

No, I think I'm going to skip this dealer altogether. Maybe I'll test-drive somewhere else and then offer this first dealer a really low offer for his '03....or get the credit check and TD before telling him exactly why I'm not buying from him.

Maybe then he'll understand why he's still got an '03 Evo sitting on his lot when the '05s are on their way.

 

Yeah, I got the same line of CRAP from a Subie dealer in Chicago. I was looking at an STI, before I set my sights on an EVO, and found one. I wanted to test drive it, and they said no way unless I signed all the paper work first, including price talks of which they wanted $37K for the damn thing. They did however let me start it up and all, and when I did I noticed that it had like 220 miles on it! I was like, "obviously someone has been driving it!"

I love my EVO, and I think it’s (at least in my opinion) the greatest new car you can get for under $80K.

But like I told that guy at the dealer, it’s a Subaru (or in this case a ) not a Ferrari. Get a grip and let people test drive it.

The reason I say that is there are probably a lot of people like me out there. I was skeptical whether or not I would want one of these little rockets. I had a Cobra Mustang at the time, and was only thinking of trading. The Subie dealer didn't let me drive the STI, and that is his loss because I probably would've bought it on the spot. When I went, "just to look", at the EVO, they let me test drive their last one, with 4 miles on it, and they had to move like 4 cars just to get it out of the show room. Hell they even let me take it off the lot by myself, and told me "have fun". And man did I! That is what sold me on the car, and I haven't looked back since. I bought it on the spot because I was so impressed with the car, and that was because of my test drive.

 

Yeah, I'm hoping to find a better dealer then.

What would be a fair price on an '03 Evo with wing and sunroof, anyway?

 

That depends on a great number of variables. There are a few threads on this subject already. The main one is a merge thread. Do a search and you'll find it.

Here is one that I've seen before....

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...threadid=72988

Good luck!

 

If someone isn't interested enough and serious enough to do a credit check and get an approval so we know they have the ability to buy if they choose to then they aren't serious enough or interested enough for me to want to waste my time with them. Say what you want but I can tell you from working an open lot that for every one buyer you have a dozen joy riders. Wasting 45-60 minutes can mean missing a buyer for another model.

Take the mirror out from in front of your faces and realize there's another individual involved who is just as good as you are and just as deserving as you are. There's possibly a family involved too who are waiting on the paycheck that only buyers generate.

Too many people have the attitude it doesn't hurt anything to go take time from the salesperson. Time is their money. And whether you'll admit it or not, you don't want a car that some joy rider has abused the way a lot of you would abuse it if you weren't at least partially committed to purchasing.

 

What were they then? It's certainly not 35 miles between the boat & the transporter. Do you realise how many young kids, without the capacity to afford this car, probably turn up at dealerships asking for test drives so that they can tell their mates that they drove the car in Gran Turismo 4? How would you like it if you bought that car with 35 miles on it and it had been on 35 one mile test drives with 18 year olds who beat the loving crap out of it? In a way, the dealership is protecting your investment (yeah, I know cars aren't a good investment, yadda yadda, it's just a figure of speech). If you're serious about buying then why are you worried that they will run a credit check? Not really serious maybe?

 

Here is something I don't understand. When you are a dealership, selling a high performance car such as the Lancer EVO, why not keep one around the lot just for test driving. Let people test drive that one and then when they purchase they can get one of the cars that has not been driven. Since the car they are buying hasn't been driven, the dealership can ask a little higher price for it. I'd be willing to pay a couple hundred more for a car which no one else has driven. The car they use for test drives can be gotten rid of after it has like 1 or 2 K miles on it for bit of a discount. Sell it for $1000 under the normal price. Seems like everyone would win that way. I bet there are potential customers out there who haven't bought the car because they don't want to deal with the hassle of having to deal with the attitudes of the dealers. In fact the last two cars I have bought have both come from luxury dealership lots just because I don't have the patience to put up with the crap you get at the non-luxury dealer lots. If Mitsubishi wants to improve their sales figures they ought to go clean house at their dealerships. If you've never gone to a luxury dealership, then go check it out and see the difference I'm talking about. It's like night and day. Go see how you are treated at an Acura or Lexus dealership, compared to a Mitsubishi or Subaru.

 

IT'S A MITSUBISHI FOR GOD'S SAKE! Yeah, it's a great car, but it's not a car I'm even going to consider without a test-drive.

I don't give two lumpy turds about the dealer or the salesman! Do you want to sell me a car or not?

The dealer didn't want just a credit check, he wanted a deal signed on the contigency of a test-drive.

 

That's what I'm saying! Preach it brother!

on a whole makes crappy vehicles, and I would never consider anything other than the EVO.

And I also don’t give a crap about a car salesmen, I’m the customer and this is a lot of money we’re talking about.

It’s called a DEMO J@CK@$$ !

 

Here's the thing that gets me....I sat in the thing - the seat fits like a glove, I like the interior despite what people have said about its quality...the car just felt right...but - no test-drive. I left the dealer feeling like the MINI dealer wanted my business a whole lot more....and there are huge waits on some of the MINIs, as well as dealer mark-ups at some dealers....the MINI guy didn't NEED my business and let me drive KNOWING I prolly wouldn't make my decision THAT DAY. Not only did he let me drive it, he pushed ME to be more spirited in the TD, encouraging me to use the car's size and quickness to merge between cars and hit the offramp with no brakes....just steering 'round the ramp. It was a helluva drive. THEN, realizing that none of the cars on the lot had the Harmon Kardon stereo upgrade, he let me listen to it in his MINI, as well as letting me check out the car's finer features.

Even my gf was impressed, and she's strictly into trucks (it's a northwoods thing).

 

The dealer with the MINI also had the Infiniti G35 with AWD. I'm thinking that next time I make the trip for another MINI test-drive (potential down payment in hand), I'll also check out the G35. Seems like I'll be less likely to get jacked around with this dealer.