First test drive experience

[arsenic74.9]

Test drove it on a Saturday afternoon. Since my son works at the local Toyota dealer, I had him as "the sales guy" in the car. Drove it around town for a little while, really drive, since there wasn't a real sales guy in the car breathing down our neck. When I got it back to dealer, told them I have to go check out another car, Dodge Challenger. After that, decided on the FR-S. They put a SOLD tag on it and I went back Monday and bought it.

Later that evening, my son told my wife I had this huge grin on my face, I looked like a little kid

[Braces]

I leased my long gone 2013 when there was only a few delivered cars in Arizona. There was a BRZ at a dealership. I sat in the car and was convinced this was the car for me. I didn't have time for a test drive.

I've owned a lot of high powered NA and turbocharged cars. When I saw the FR-S concept ... I was sold. It was time to experience a small nimble sports car.

I wasn't in a hurry (other car was coming off lease in a few months) so went down and ordered a new Firestorm red manual FR-S.

Recall that I've never driven the car before. 4 months later .... the dealership called and I went down to pick the car up. The salesperson with me in the passenger seat drove to a Chevron to put premium in it. The car had like 6 miles on it.

We got back and it was my turn to drive it off the lot. Like @MrDinkleman ... I didn't know how to put it in reverse. Got it figured out. Drove away with the biggest smile on my face. Loved the revvy 4 banger. I was johnny racer oversteering on every corner (safely of course). Had the car for 3 years. Enjoyed every minute.

[finch1750]

Originally Posted by Songha

I lost my 2014 Lancer ES 5-speed to a deer on Christmas night. Rnadomly decided to look for the twins and found one an hour away. The dealership takes a $500 deposit for a two-day test drive. I let them keep my deposit and ended up keeping the car.

Damn. $500 for a twin? Thats the best deal ever

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Songha

I lost my 2014 Lancer ES 5-speed to a deer on Christmas night. Rnadomly decided to look for the twins and found one an hour away. The dealership takes a $500 deposit for a two-day test drive. I let them keep my deposit and ended up keeping the car.

Oh god I hope you know you have to pay more than the deposit!!!

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by finch1750

Damn. $500 for a twin? Thats the best deal ever

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Oh god I hope you know you have to pay more than the deposit!!!

Well now, don't we think alike!

[extrashaky]

The funniest part for me was not the test drive, but the interaction with the salesmen. I drove onto the lot in a well beaten Jeep Cherokee and asked to drive a BRZ. I don't think they took my interest all that seriously, because they assigned their brand new rookie salesman to me. I probably just looked like I was shopping.

They had six automatics and one manual on the lot, and the manual was buried out back behind a bunch of other cars. The salesman was almost successful in hiding his annoyance at having to get people to move all those cars so I could drive the manual. During the drive, he made a few comments about how little power the car had, especially compared to the WRX.

When we got back to the lot, I took him by surprise by saying, "Okay, I'm interested in ordering one. What do we need to do next." He stammered a little and then went to get the sales manager to take over. I suspect he hadn't actually sold any cars yet and didn't know what to do.

The sales manager was also taken off guard, because suddenly he had what appeared to be a sale dropped in his lap without any of his normal lead up. So we quickly went through the whole "no I'm not interested in driving a WRX" thing, followed by the whole "no I don't want an automatic" thing, and finally "no the one I drove is a Premium, and I want a Limited, so we'll need to order one."

Then we got to financing. What none of these people knew when I walked in was that I already had credit union financing in place, and they couldn't even come close to matching the interest rate.

Then we got to trade. "I'm keeping my Jeep," I said. That was the end of that.

So in the end we just had to negotiate a price, which I already had in mind from having researched it before I walked in. He gave me a number. I countered. We agreed. I probably could have gotten it for less. I was willing to pay more. I still got it for less than what the FR-S was selling for, just because the Subaru dealer was able to negotiate. Then we went through the computer forms to set up the order.

Three months later I had the car.

One more stupid/funny end note to the story. I took delivery on a Thursday and put a hundred miles on it over the weekend. Then, that Monday, I had a four hour business trip. I got to my destination and realized that I was so excited about getting to drive the car that I had run out of the house without my laptop and couldn't do a lick of work.

Since I had gotten an early start, I had just enough time to drive back home, get my laptop and return, using the back roads and varying the RPM the entire time to avoid cruise control and long periods of running the engine at the same RPM during the break-in period. Since I mostly work alone in client offices, none of my colleagues were the wiser. I passed the 1000 mile mark on the way back from that trip. I suspect that was probably among the quickest break-ins of anybody on this board.

[finch1750]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

I suspect that was probably among the quickest break-ins of anybody on this board.

Yep. Get it over with. I drove mine around for no reason just to hit 1000 miles. Took two days.

[Songha]

Originally Posted by finch1750

Damn. $500 for a twin? Thats the best deal ever

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Oh god I hope you know you have to pay more than the deposit!!!

I thought I mentioned for a two day test drive. They dropped off the twin at my place which was an hour away from their dealership location. The $500 deposit was for the "free" two-day test drive and would have been refunded if I didn't want the car.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Songha

I thought I mentioned for a two day test drive. They dropped off the twin at my place which was an hour away from their dealership location. The $500 deposit was for the "free" two-day test drive and would have been refunded if I didn't want the car.

LOL ya we got that. Just your phrasing was humorous was all. It implied that you forfeited the deposit and just kept the car. We were just joking.


"I let them keep my deposit and ended up keeping the car"

[finch1750]

^what he said

[Songha]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

LOL ya we got that. Just your phrasing was humorous was all. It implied that you forfeited the deposit and just kept the car. We were just joking.


"I let them keep my deposit and ended up keeping the car"

I suck at explaining/phrasing things, lmao.

[shiumai]

My 'test drive' was driving my car home from the dealership. I had followed the development of the car for a while (lurking on this forum and reading as much as i could) and I was in the market for a new car, and had decided that the BRZ would be it. I contacted the owner of the subaru dealership where we bought our Outback from and told her i was looking for a limited DGM BRZ. they had one on the way so i bought it, sight unseen. i had never seen the DGM colour in person before - on dealers had any at that time. picked it up when it arrived 3 weeks later and drove it home.

The day I brought her home (3/3/13), window sticker and all:


Then, i joined this forum as an owner.

[guybo]

My father had a little toyota truck he bought in 85 and I learned to drive on that truck and I have been a Toyota fan ever since. Living up north and working around cars, I became a fan of Subaru quality and the flat-4 sound even though I never owned a Subie. When I heard about the Toyobaru and say the first reviews, I started to watch the development of the 86 and have wanted one for a while.

My first test drive was really just to see if there was anything that would prevent me from buying it. I knew it was the car for me once I realized that my kids will fit in the back seat (barely). The salesman was trying to show me how to drive a standard LOL it turned out I was a lot better at it that him and he mentioned that he felt a little dumb patronizing my driving skills. I didn't know enough to disable the SC and TC, but I managed to get a it a little sideways (the SC light came on) and scare the salesman a little bit ;-)

I love this car a little more every day.

[ichitaka05]

My first time test driving was...

Test drove in figure 8 and go side ways. Checking to see how it feels to get the rear out.


Ken made it look easy, but it's not as easy as AWD snow drift (which I'm used to)


Testing in Autocross to see how this car handles in the tight corners. See the car's stabilities and balance.


Moto-san show how's properly done (both grip & drift)


Testing out in the track to see how much FRS can handle it at the hot sunny day at the track. Slide here and there have little fun.


Meeting some legends for some Q&A and some story of making the car. (Left is Moto-san from Club4AG. Right is CE Peoject FT-86 Tada-san)


See other awesome cars.


No biggie lol


Sent from my mind