Dealer Opinion

[toyroom]

I called a nearby main dealer on Saturday looking for an oil filter. In conversation I asked the salesman (parts had closed), who sounded about twenty five, if he had seen any Esprit lately. He said not and that any Esprit which did not need six or seven thousand spending on it straight away was virtually unheard of.He said that most of the cars they took in as part-ex went to a well known West Midlands dealer. "Even the V8?", I asked. The answer was in the affirmative. I pointed out that said dealer was of the opinion tyhat the V8 was totally hot coal material and crap in almost every respect. The salesman said he agreed and then launched int a three minute assasination of the V8 from almost every angle. I did not tell him I was a perfectly happy (most of the time) V8 owner of over six years. If the dealers behave like this, what hope do we have with the press and the public.
I don't know why people feel the need to rubbish the cars like this and frankly, this kind of attitude is one of the reasons that an F355 is still sat at 50% of its new price at ten years old whilst the Esprit is at 25%. A lot of it is down to hearsay and rumour. These cars are special and that sometimes means special problems but most of it is rumour and people just love bad news. I have spoken to quite a few dealers who specialise in Esprit V8 bashing. Come on guys, give the only British mid-engined V8 supercar a break ! It did more than its fair share of product placing (and hence looked after you) when it was new, so look after it in return now it is old !

[Dodgey_Rog]

toyroom said:

I called a nearby main dealer on Saturday looking for an oil filter. In conversation I asked the salesman (parts had closed), who sounded about twenty five, if he had seen any Esprit lately. He said not and that any Esprit which did not need six or seven thousand spending on it straight away was virtually unheard of.He said that most of the cars they took in as part-ex went to a well known West Midlands dealer. "Even the V8?", I asked. The answer was in the affirmative. I pointed out that said dealer was of the opinion tyhat the V8 was totally hot coal material and crap in almost every respect. The salesman said he agreed and then launched int a three minute assasination of the V8 from almost every angle. I did not tell him I was a perfectly happy (most of the time) V8 owner of over six years. If the dealers behave like this, what hope do we have with the press and the public. I don't know why people feel the need to rubbish the cars like this and frankly, this kind of attitude is one of the reasons that an F355 is still sat at 50% of its new price at ten years old whilst the Esprit is at 25%. A lot of it is down to hearsay and rumour. These cars are special and that sometimes means special problems but most of it is rumour and people just love bad news. I have spoken to quite a few dealers who specialise in Esprit V8 bashing. Come on guys, give the only British mid-engined V8 supercar a break ! It did more than its fair share of product placing (and hence looked after you) when it was new, so look after it in return now it is old !

Ask someone who drives an F355 how much his last service was, ker ching!!!!!
I had the same experience in Ipswich some years ago, even when they had one (V8 GT) in the showroom, the guy was leaving i think and basically said it was the biggest pile of shite he's ever dealt with, my brother put his cheque book away and we left. They were never that bad, thanks to Lotus and TVR, it put myself and my 2 brothers through private school, gave us a comfortable living and we had nice house. So they can't be all that bad can they??

[ErnestM]

If you take care of the V8, it will take care of you.

It's not a Honda

thank God!

ErnestM

[cross-eyed-twit]

that seems to be the main thing with ferraris. They cost an absolute fortune to 'service' so it makes me wonder whether they are dealing with all the problems that Lotus has but disguising it as 'servicing'.

Well excuse me if i don't bother with ferraris, nice to look at but I don't want to buy something that the dealer thinks he can dictate the price of purely on the exclusive and 'rich people buy these' factor. Also, any company that sells only to 'invited guests' has lost the plot. Wait for a major recession and they will be banging on peoples doors to flog the stuff. Anyone who isnt invited will buy a second hand one with about 27 miles on the clock because the previous owner cosseted the damn thing in an air conditioned duvet lined container to retain its value. Sorry. Drive the damn thing and be done with, please.

However, the 430 appears to be an engineering marvel so all is not lost, albeit not a pretty car.
Also, the Enzo is an ugly POS imo.
The 59999999 is pointless and will lose most of its retail price in 6 months or so.

Best looking Ferrari was the 308/328/288gto. whatever happened to them...


mmmmm.






;-)

[cross-eyed-twit]

that seems to be the main thing with ferraris. They cost an absolute fortune to 'service' so it makes me wonder whether they are dealing with all the problems that Lotus has but disguising it as 'servicing'.

Well excuse me if i don't bother with ferraris, nice to look at but I don't want to buy something that the dealer thinks he can dictate the price of purely on the exclusive and 'rich people buy these' factor. Also, any company that sells only to 'invited guests' has lost the plot. Wait for a major recession and they will be banging on peoples doors to flog the stuff. Anyone who isnt invited will buy a second hand one with about 27 miles on the clock because the previous owner cosseted the damn thing in an air conditioned duvet lined container to retain its value. Sorry. Drive the damn thing and be done with, please.

However, the 430 appears to be an engineering marvel so all is not lost, albeit not a pretty car.
Also, the Enzo is an ugly POS imo.
The 59999999 is pointless and will lose most of its retail price in 6 months or so.

Best looking Ferraris were the 308/328/288gto. whatever happened to them...


mmmmm.






;-)

[deecee]

I like to Innocently ask the salespeople if they have "Served" any Interesting Clients Lately?... and give them a dose of reality with a well timed "Oh, is that what you Drive?", followed by "You mean that Ferrari doesn't provide you with a Demo?"...



>> Edited by deecee on Tuesday 16th May 19:45