My car was a demonstrator (actually the car I test drove when I was looking at the Octavia). Saved £1750 off list, it was exactly 1 month old when I bought it and had less than 600 miles on the clock (may have been less than 500 miles tbh can't remember). Best bit? Getting it one week later after decided I'll have it and picking it up on my birthday.

I guess it depends on the car, and how many miles its done.

bought mine as ex demo 3 months / 3000 miles 18months ago

no problems

My Octy was an ex demo with very few miles on it it was driven by the manager of the dealer and i have had no problems as yet.

Without a doubt.....

A friend of mine works in bristol docks..... you wouldn't believe the number of 'accidents' that happen while cars are in transit on ships. Cars that go on to have bodywork repairs before they even get to the dealer and are sold as brand new - which they are.

This business about performance cars being thrashed as demo's..... so what, they're all fitted with rev limiters and 'limp mode' for a reason. In addition, modern engines are built to such fine tolerances that the need for running in is a bit of a myth. If you're going to buy a performance car in most cases you're buying for that very reason - if you wanted economy you'd buy a diesel right ? So you're going to drive it hard yourself anyway, even if only occasionally.

Do it, buy a dealer demo car and save yourself a shed load of money - spend you're saving on a remap and enjoy your bargain car even more !!

Try and find a low (3k) mileage one and enjoy it - Just like getting one with zero miles, in reality you'll not consider a 'brand new' one to be brand new for more than around 3 months anyway !!

Mine was 3k miles ex demo with a £2500 saving. No difference from new, warranty still for 30 months and enough cash saved to pay for massive amount of fuel.

my current mk2 vRS was the demo...5 months old..just under 3k miles

in the days of modern engines I really dont see the problem..and its warrantied if anything really big breaks...its been totally unproblematic though and dont expect it to change