I was in one for about 20 mins yesterday. Clearly not long enough to correctly assess.

Anybody improve on this?

 

It seems to me to be about standard. Nobody seems willing to give you the keys and say take it out for a couple of hours. This used to be commonplace. Why not now? I have a friend who had an Audi for a whole day. Do any dealerships do this now?

Edited 22 July, 201312 yr by harrysprout

My dealer is lending me one not sure how long for but i have paid my deposit

My dealer is lending me one not sure how long for but i have paid my deposit

Eye.... But you have shown the colour of your money. A test drive down the same old roads whilst the salesman sits clutching the dashboard, makes for a very boring blast in a car. Seems they are scared to death of someone putting them through the trunk of an oak. Not that I would of course.

Haha yeah thats the thing i only got a 15min one other day

Not a VRS, but Oliver Horton (of Dennis Horton and Son) let me take home their Octavia demo car for a couple of days (which is very highly specced -more expensive than a base VRS anyway) but I had made it quite clear that I was very interested in buying it -for the right price of course...

 

 

...I'm picking it up tomorrow 

Not a VRS, but Oliver Horton (of Dennis Horton and Son) let me take home their Octavia demo car for a couple of days (which is very highly specced -more expensive than a base VRS anyway) but I had made it quite clear that I was very interested in buying it -for the right price of course...

 

 

...I'm picking it up tomorrow 

And the fact that they let you have it for that long made you feel obliged to purchase?? Or was it the fact that you could drive it on roads not used by the salemen, ie a blast up the local bypass, round a roundabout and back to the forecourt. On roads where you knew you would find out what the car was all about. Thats what I would call a proper test drive.

Eye.... But you have shown the colour of your money. A test drive down the same old roads whilst the salesman sits clutching the dashboard, makes for a very boring blast in a car. Seems they are scared to death of someone putting them through the trunk of an oak. Not that I would of course.

 

I test drove the new Mk7 GTI Golf last week and had a good 40 minutes in the car, coupled with that the salesman had no problem with me giving it a good ragging. It will just depend on the dealer mate. I got to use the whole car and on various roads. I'm now going to be doing the same with the new VRS as I wanted to test drive both to see if there really was a difference between them now. 

 

The Golf is absolutely fantastic btw. And the VRS is going to have to be something special to get me to want one over the GTI.

And the fact that they let you have it for that long made you feel obliged to purchase?? Or was it the fact that you could drive it on roads not used by the salemen, ie a blast up the local bypass, round a roundabout and back to the forecourt. On roads where you knew you would find out what the car was all about. Thats what I would call a proper test drive.

TBH they're pretty cool about things there anyway and don't rush you -initially I was looking at the Rapid to get a better idea of what the Spaceback will be like. It was my idea to purchase the demonstrator, I don't think they were intending to sell it just yet and I didn't feel under duress at any point. It was good to drive the car at night and play with the head lights etc and take the Mrs out and about in it to see what she thought. It probably helps that this will be the third car in two years that I've bought from them.

Completely dealer dependent. Some will show you up to the nearest turning and back again, others will just let you get on with it.

 

Time limits may apply on unaccompanied test drives (I believe ours is 4 hours) but again dealer dependent.

 

Another thing to bear in mind is some may not let you go out on your own if the car is not registered (running on trade plates) due to insurance etc.

 

Not really much help I know, just an insight.

We had a two sessions in a VW Beetle recently, one for 4 days and another for 7 days, and was told to bring it back later than that if we wanted!  Its all dealer dependent I suppose.

And if you have a good relationship with the dealer, probably because i have bought 5 cars from them, they are quite happy to let me have a car for 'the day' while mine is in being serviced.

 

SWMBO's Fabia is going in for a service next week, will see if she will take mine to work & I can have the new vRS as the loan ( only if its petrol ).  

Both the dealers I have driven with over the last two days have given between 20 and 30 minutes... And not on a particularly exciting route. 

Completely dealer dependent. Some will show you up to the nearest turning and back again, others will just let you get on with it.

 

Time limits may apply on unaccompanied test drives (I believe ours is 4 hours) but again dealer dependent.

 

Another thing to bear in mind is some may not let you go out on your own if the car is not registered (running on trade plates) due to insurance etc.

 

Not really much help I know, just an insight.

Thanks for the feedback