How many test drives did you do before buying your last car?
Discussion
Just that really.
Asking as I want to upgrade our much-loved Skoda Yeti to a 4x4 family SUV, I want to spend about £45k.
Shortlist is currently
1. X5 45e with driving assistance pack (and therefore adaptive cruise)
2. L405 V6 (post facelift so with carplay)
3. 2022 Model Y + mid 2000s V8 Vantage (which combined would cost the same as 1 or 2)
Ideally I would go and test drive all of these cars and then make a decision. I've never test driven a car before that I haven't then gone on to buy. I know dealers get unhappy with tyre kickers etc...what's a sensible balance of test driving enough cars to make a decision vs analysis paralysis and time wasting?
Asking as I want to upgrade our much-loved Skoda Yeti to a 4x4 family SUV, I want to spend about £45k.
Shortlist is currently
1. X5 45e with driving assistance pack (and therefore adaptive cruise)
2. L405 V6 (post facelift so with carplay)
3. 2022 Model Y + mid 2000s V8 Vantage (which combined would cost the same as 1 or 2)
Ideally I would go and test drive all of these cars and then make a decision. I've never test driven a car before that I haven't then gone on to buy. I know dealers get unhappy with tyre kickers etc...what's a sensible balance of test driving enough cars to make a decision vs analysis paralysis and time wasting?
Edited by tiger roll on Wednesday 17th December 23:14
If I was unsure what to buy I'd test drive the cars on the list. Of the 3 cars we have now, 1 I'd did not test drive at all but bought long distance and had delivered. I did test drive the same car but different year and spec locally. Another I had never test driven that model before. I went to view, test drive and did a deal leaving my car as part ex same day. The third car, I had had one similar before. So I bought it but that was the only 1 I drive and subsequently bought.
Quite a few, we only need 1 car now so it needed to be something my wife (who would have preferred a Honda Jazz) and I (have a bad back and want something comfortable for several hours) were both happy with. However we rent cars quite often so already knew we didn't want a Peugeot or Citroen having driven a few as rentals.
We test drove an Octavia vRS in the UK, and the salesman came out in the car with us and was really keen on making a sale, and I felt a bit bad taking up his time when really just wanted to drive one to compare to a couple of other cars before I made a decision.
We then test drive a V60, XC60, XC40, X1, RAV4 and NX in the Netherlands and the difference was amazing, they all just gave us the keys and said see you in an hour or so. No pressure sales, the BMW guy sat down with us afterwards and went through the costs and options, but the when we got back with XC40 we had to hunt the guy down to hand the keys back. This is how car sales should be to my mind so don't let the UK dealers guilt you in to only test driving once you've committed to buying.
We test drove an Octavia vRS in the UK, and the salesman came out in the car with us and was really keen on making a sale, and I felt a bit bad taking up his time when really just wanted to drive one to compare to a couple of other cars before I made a decision.
We then test drive a V60, XC60, XC40, X1, RAV4 and NX in the Netherlands and the difference was amazing, they all just gave us the keys and said see you in an hour or so. No pressure sales, the BMW guy sat down with us afterwards and went through the costs and options, but the when we got back with XC40 we had to hunt the guy down to hand the keys back. This is how car sales should be to my mind so don't let the UK dealers guilt you in to only test driving once you've committed to buying.
tiger roll said:
Interested in what you made of those...XC60 is on the fringes of our list
Started looking at hatchbacks as a replacement for our Octavia, but when we went to test drive the V60 I sat in a XC60 and realised just how comfortable it was in comparison to the V60. I have lower back trouble and find the more upright seating position of an SUV way betterXC60 T8 - Loved it, very comfortable, especially with the massage seats, quiet to the point of being hard to tell when the engine's running, new model claims up to 90km on battery, 450bhp total and Volvos lane following setup is one of the better ones I've tried and the adaptive cruise works well (both things I want for long distance motorway drives). The boot was a bit disappointing for the size of car but seems to a common issue to most SUVs, and I was a bit spoiled comming from an Octavia with a huge boot. However my wife thought it was to big, and to be honest it does feel big (a colleague just bought a XC90 T8 and it's huge).
XC40 - only available as a mild hybrid and it felt really sluggish compared to the PHEVs. Top spec interior of the XC60 isn't available in the XC40 so it felt a bit spartan inside.
X1 xDrive 25e - The less powerful PHEV with a 3 cylinder engine, unsurpsingly felt a bit slower than the others but the 30e gets more power. Comfortable, competent, quiet, I could lived with it despite not being a BMW fan. However anything other than base spec costs you more.
RAV4 - Comfortable, decent power (300 BHP PHEV) with about 60km electric range, all the gadgets, but slightly more spartan interior than the others. slightly bigger boot though. However it felt very offroadery to drive (I learned to drive in a Landover 110), and the bonnet is quite high which contributes to the offroadery feel.
NX450h+ - Feels smaller than the XC60 despite only being a couple of inches smaller so narrowly passed the wife test, and the external cameras are good when you're parking. Bonnet slopes a lot more than the RAV which makes it feel shorter. Very comfortable I didn't test them back to back but I think the XC60 might just beat it on comfort. 300bhp and 5.5 0-60 is great for a 2 tonne SUV that will do 50mpg on the motorway. All the gadgets as standard and the lane following is about the best I've tried. 60km electric range and decent sized petrol tank which some PHEVs do badly on. My wife fancied the automatic parking as it was still a big bigger than she'd like, but that's not available on the UK spec cars for some reason, and would have cost us about an extra 10k to get a Dutch spec with it on so we went with the UK spec. Had it since September and love it. The most comfortable motorway cruiser I've had, and we've done a couple of trips to the UK and one to Germany in it so far. The CVT (also on the RAV4) sounds a bit weird when you first drive one but you only really notice it when you accelerate reasonably hard. 60km electric range is plenty for our short journeys and on longer trips it reverts to Hybrid mode and keeps the battery at 20%. As an added major selling point, if you get Toyota or Lexus cars serviced at a main dealer they'll push the warranty out to 10 years, and on PHEV's if you get the battery checked yearly they'll warranty them to 15 years. Way better than BMW or Volvo were offering.
Given your current list I'd say have a go with an XC60/XC90 and a Lexus RX.
ETA: If you plan to tow check the towing weights carefully, I got tow bar fitted and am now looking get a bike rack, and was surprised to find the nose weight is only 60kg for the NX. I believe towing weights tend to be a bit less on PHEVs and EVs so might be an issue on some of the cars you're looking at.
Edited by RizzoTheRat on Thursday 18th December 13:10
Two test drives.
The first time was for c.2500 miles from Enterprise as I needed a larger car for a long trip (Liverpool, Cornwall, London, Cornwall, Liverpool, Inverness, NC500, Inverness, Liverpool) over a week.
The second was just to make sure the car I was buying felt the same as the car I'd hired.
Only reason I've I changed car after 3 years, was to get the bigger-engined version of the same car, which cruises much nicer at 100mph+ speeds on German autobahns.
My previous big purchase (big for me, probably puny for the PH Company Directors/Owners) was a Z4MC.
On the Z4MC (bought in 2008, still own it and it's now on 165,000 miles)...I test-drove 4 over the course of 2 days at BMW dealers over 200 miles apart (London, Tring, Newcastle)...and went back and bought the one in Tring. One of the things I noticed was the notchy gearchange on 2 of them and was told they're all like that, especially 1st/2nd...and I've found out over the years that a lot are like that, but a bit of moaning at the BMW when you bought your new car would get them to realign the clutch to remove the notchiness, which the previous owner of mine obviously did.
The first time was for c.2500 miles from Enterprise as I needed a larger car for a long trip (Liverpool, Cornwall, London, Cornwall, Liverpool, Inverness, NC500, Inverness, Liverpool) over a week.
The second was just to make sure the car I was buying felt the same as the car I'd hired.
Only reason I've I changed car after 3 years, was to get the bigger-engined version of the same car, which cruises much nicer at 100mph+ speeds on German autobahns.
My previous big purchase (big for me, probably puny for the PH Company Directors/Owners) was a Z4MC.
On the Z4MC (bought in 2008, still own it and it's now on 165,000 miles)...I test-drove 4 over the course of 2 days at BMW dealers over 200 miles apart (London, Tring, Newcastle)...and went back and bought the one in Tring. One of the things I noticed was the notchy gearchange on 2 of them and was told they're all like that, especially 1st/2nd...and I've found out over the years that a lot are like that, but a bit of moaning at the BMW when you bought your new car would get them to realign the clutch to remove the notchiness, which the previous owner of mine obviously did.
Edited by mmm-five on Saturday 20th December 11:50
Zero on the last two cars.
Prior to that I was choosing between 3 alternatives and did one test drive of each.
In my opinion unless there's something wrong with the route or it's rush hour, I cannot fathom why one would need more than 1 test drive of each vehicle.
I also think a list should be narrowed to 2-3 options before booking them in.
If one needs to test 9 alternatives then it's clear the person doesn't know what they're looking for.
Prior to that I was choosing between 3 alternatives and did one test drive of each.
In my opinion unless there's something wrong with the route or it's rush hour, I cannot fathom why one would need more than 1 test drive of each vehicle.
I also think a list should be narrowed to 2-3 options before booking them in.
If one needs to test 9 alternatives then it's clear the person doesn't know what they're looking for.
Not test driven the last 15 cars I've bought, with one exception (because it was a working car and a private sale). And I didn't even drive that, I just let the seller drive me round a couple of miles while I watched (in case he did anything weird with the controls while driving) and listened.
Have added NX450h+ to my list based on this thread, thanks.
Reading pistonheads you get the sense that people have driven all kinds of cars, then on here it turns out people don't really do test drives! I don't really get how that fits together for people who haven't worked in the motor trade
Reading pistonheads you get the sense that people have driven all kinds of cars, then on here it turns out people don't really do test drives! I don't really get how that fits together for people who haven't worked in the motor trade
I didn't test drive the last 3 cars that I've bought(F82 M4/GO5 X5 40d/Audi A1), but ideally I do prefer to test drive them if I can though.
The M4 was bought in covid so I couldn't test drive it. The X5 was a BMW management car so I had to wait for them to release it to me, and I could see that the A1 was a clean car, so I knew it would drive alright really.
The M4 was bought in covid so I couldn't test drive it. The X5 was a BMW management car so I had to wait for them to release it to me, and I could see that the A1 was a clean car, so I knew it would drive alright really.
WFH so don't really need a car.
Was without a car for 2 years but kept casually looking locally for something nice, with a biggish engine which was cheap to buy.
Spotted and test drove my current car for 10 minutes and bought it.
Never test drove lease/company cars.
Generally I only buy cars locally so don't have a long test drive. Just enough to listen out for any funny noises and a general check on how it feels to drive.
Have generally made decent choices reliability wise, aside from the Monaro....
Was without a car for 2 years but kept casually looking locally for something nice, with a biggish engine which was cheap to buy.
Spotted and test drove my current car for 10 minutes and bought it.
Never test drove lease/company cars.
Generally I only buy cars locally so don't have a long test drive. Just enough to listen out for any funny noises and a general check on how it feels to drive.
Have generally made decent choices reliability wise, aside from the Monaro....
So if it's pretty commonplace for people on here not to test drive cars that they don't own, I wonder if it's sensible to conclude that the median person on here hasn't driven many cars, and therefore can't actually know that much about different types of car?
I know I don't. I've probably driven between 20 and 30 different cars in my lifetime so far (I'm 44 years old), including all cars I've owned (8 in 25 years) + test drives + hire cars. I quite like the cars I've got but I'm sure there are better ones out there that I don't know much about.
I somehow assume when I read this site that most of the people writing on it will have driven a LOT more cars than me.
I know I don't. I've probably driven between 20 and 30 different cars in my lifetime so far (I'm 44 years old), including all cars I've owned (8 in 25 years) + test drives + hire cars. I quite like the cars I've got but I'm sure there are better ones out there that I don't know much about.
I somehow assume when I read this site that most of the people writing on it will have driven a LOT more cars than me.
tiger roll said:
I somehow assume when I read this site that most of the people writing on it will have driven a LOT more cars than me.
I've driven loads of cars over the years(and currently own 5 of my own too), because I just really enjoy trying different stuff. All of my mates over the years have let me drive their cars too for example. Plus I've had a lot of loan cars off of BMW and Merc over the years too, and I've also hired a few cars myself as well. I just enjoy trying different stuff for sure. More recently I've been lucky(or unlucky depending on your perspective) to have driven a few hybrid and fully electric cars as well.
I have never bought a car without a test drive. Even test drives for company cars. Usually test drive 2 or 3 different cars.
When I bought my current Leon FR I had also test driven an Astra Elite. My previous Octavia vRS I drove 2 examples.
The most I have test driven before a purchase is 3 different cars back in 2006 - Civic Type-S (160), Leon FR {180) & Focus ST (170). I bought the Civic & kept it for 7 faultless years.
When I bought my current Leon FR I had also test driven an Astra Elite. My previous Octavia vRS I drove 2 examples.
The most I have test driven before a purchase is 3 different cars back in 2006 - Civic Type-S (160), Leon FR {180) & Focus ST (170). I bought the Civic & kept it for 7 faultless years.
Both of my last two cars were bought second hand. Both BMWs.
I knew exactly what I wanted, even though I had never driven a BMW let alone the specific models.
My last purchase I test drove and bought the first one I looked at (because the colour was right and there were pretty much none others for sale in the country, and I'd travelled 200 miles to see it).
The one I bought previously... first I saw was well overpriced and I only really went to see it to check how the driving position felt. Second I saw was very cheap and I test drove it and bought it.
I knew exactly what I wanted, even though I had never driven a BMW let alone the specific models.
My last purchase I test drove and bought the first one I looked at (because the colour was right and there were pretty much none others for sale in the country, and I'd travelled 200 miles to see it).
The one I bought previously... first I saw was well overpriced and I only really went to see it to check how the driving position felt. Second I saw was very cheap and I test drove it and bought it.
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