How does anyone buy a new car?????

[craig_the_german]

Hi all,

My wife and I are in the market for a new Golf (to replace my MKIV) We have settled on a 90TSI Manual but before handing over our hard earned dollars, we need to take one for a test drive.

There in lies the problem.....it appears that no dealer within cooee of here has one....of any colour...of any spec...to test drive.

Are they so rare?

My wife rang a dealer this morning (before we drove 100km to their site) to enquire if they had a 90TSI manual that we could drive and was told that we could drive a TDI DSG........."as they had the same interior"

My wife quickly pointed out that the manual obviously had a different interior as they had to make provision for a 3rd pedal!!!!! (such a smart ass sometimes)

I am at a loss as how the salesman could think that a test drive in a TDI DSG would be the same experience as driving a TSI Manual.

The first to give me a test drive in a 90TSI Manual gets the sale !!!!!!

[thewafflecaust]

I had enough trouble getting a 118TSI DSG to test drive when i was trying to buy mine, and that's supposed to be the volume model.

Ironically, at the time, 2 of the dealers I rang had 90TSIs in DSG and Manual but no 118s available.

[mikinoz]

It's easier to buy a Peugeot 308! Even the dealers are interested in you, which is a pleasant change.

[team_v]

When people are told that you have to wait 6 months for the car you want to order to be built and shipped out, they are more willing to pay a premium to drive the one off the showroom floor. This means you have to wait for a shipment to come in to fill the gaps in the dealer stock to allow a test drive.

This is probably why there are barely any stock left in most VW dealers

[Umai Naa!!]

My partner and I had no trouble taking one for a spin this morning. I suppose it helps to work at said dealership.

Thankfully, we keep a decent variety for a dealership our size.

[MariusGT]

It's easier to buy a Peugeot 308! Even the dealers are interested in you, which is a pleasant change.

reading that made me ROFL.....

When I was wandering about test driving cars last year I made my way to trivette in Alexandria and had quite possibly the worst interaction with a dealer EVER.

Drove the outgoing (2nd hand) 307 hdi touring and then was waiting 20+ minutes in carpark for guy to return w keys to 308 hdi touring. Went upstairs to showroom and found him negotiating with another customer.... Ummmmm WTF!!!!!????

He spotted me and my wife (combined with bemused/unimpressed look) and looked very embarassed. I walked up and told him not to worry- we were off to VW.

Wrote email to trivette director of sales. To his credit he replied with an apology. But we bought a VW. Bad trivette- very very bad.

[skyva]

I have to agree with the OP. I went to one dealer and asked for a test drive of a passat cc v6. He said they had one but it was being driven by the managers wife, so it was unlikely they would have it available for a test drive, ever?!? I left a card and said i can be at the dealership at short notice should it ever become available.... ever... but obviously not in the last 2 weeks as I have received no call.

A little bemused I rang another dealer, and he said he had one, 2009 model, but 2nd hand. Perfect I say, I am happy to buy a low km almost new car at a bit of a discount.
So I skedaddled over to the dealership later that arvo. Guess what, no car! They had a diesel model, but i really wanted to try the v6 before I buy. I said to him, when can you get me a drive of a demo of the v6. He said that they had none around, and that I have to wait until the next boat arrives! I saw in the paper the next day that the sister dealership (ie same dealership owner, same company name, advertise in the same ad) a few km down the road has the car I am after, but obviously either it was too much hard work to get it organised or the branches of the dealership don't get on.
Again I left a card but never got a callback

Anyway it seems that perhaps VW dealers believe they can sell their cars without having to go to the bother of making them available to punters like me (40yrs, suit, rings ahead to organise drive etc). Good luck if they can make the sales without the effort, but I have to say that I don't have any sympathy when I hear the sob stories about how hard it is for dealers to make a sale. If I worked like that I would be out of a job in a week.

[craig_the_german]

Hi all,

Thanks for responses. It would appear that everyone is having the same problems trying to arrange a test drive of the cars they want to buy.

A note to VWA......if you are selling the number of cars you are without anyone being able to test drive anything....imagine how many cars you would sell if there were a few cars around for customers to test drive.

A note to VW salesmen...we are not all uneducated gits when it comes to cars....when a customer asks for a TSI Manual, don't offer them a TDI DSG to drive.... "they have the same interior"

[iBoost]

I agree with the OP, but at the same time if there are no cars available, then perhaps a drive of the same spec car in DSG is at least some indication of what it will be like.

I remember a few years back when I was thinking of buying a Corolla Sportivo and went to test drive one. They had one in the show room but said "No we don't do test drives. You can order one and test drive your one when it arrives."
Needless to say, no sale!

[Beaker]

It seems to be more and more common. I wanted to test drive an XR5 Focus and was told I could only drive a base one as they were the 'same anyway' I said I'd order one sight unseen if I could pay the base models price since they were the same. LOL. When I bought my Patrol I had to order it based on a drive of the previous model (but it was a mid run facelift so I was confident it would drive the same).

I agree with the original post. There is no way I'd pay that sort of cash for something I hadn't driven.