Like Herc, Toad, Sputnik, and all the other hardcores here, I'm holding onto my minds vision of a brilliant, world beating RX-8. I refuse so succumb to the dull glow of an also ran image portryaed by the most recent review. In another thread Sputnik said he would wait until the car comes public and make his own interpretations based on a test drive. My question is, how do you suppose to do this in proper fashion with Joe (I used to be a telemarketer before geeting this job as a real salesman 3 weeks ago) Shiznik in the passenger seat?

I live near Santa Anita racetrack (the original Vacation movie with Chevy Chase and son running through the empty Wally World parking lot toward the entrance gates) and attempted, while test driving a MINI S, to enter the vacant parking lot for some robust manuvering and sternly asked not to do whatever it was I was about to do.

 

My hope is that Mazda offers a test drive before the car comes out, to those who put money down on it before the fact.

So they have maybe 50 RX-8s in the country meant only for test drives. But the catch would be, to take us to a track or something of the sort so we can get a good idea of what it's capable of.

 

I think it all depends on the salesman.. I know for a fact and from personal experience :D that a lot of them actually encourage you to push the car..

 

My salesperson won't have a choice

 

in my experiences when I was looking at wrx's the dealer had one specifically for ragging out during a test drive.

The biggest concern is that they have to sell the vehicle and if you rag it out during what is supposed to be a break in period and then not buy it... well you get the point.

However I fear that the mazda dealers won't have this luxary with so few rx8's being available.

My problem was always getting them to LET me test drive. I'm 21 and could probably pass for younger... they always give me one look and start making excuses. I can just point at my 325 hp FD and tell em if I really wanted to joyride I already have a faster car :D

 

It definitly depends on the salesperson.

Just yesterday I test drove an Acura RSX Type-S and the salesperson spun the tires leaving the lot, and ran it up to 80mph, red-lining it all the way. Then he handed the car over to me, and made sure I hit redline a few times, just to feel the VTEC kick in. Great fun, but it wasn't an RX-8.

 

You're not going to find out everything in a short test drive, even if you take it to a parking lot and do a mock autocross. I don't need to rag the car out, and I don't need to see how well it accelerates. I'm mostly looking for how it feels to sit in the car, how things are laid out, etc. Then on the drive, you can tell a bit from how it rides, how it shifts it's weight, understeer/oversteer characteristics, and things like that. Again, you can't tell everything from the test drive, but things that will really put me off become rather evident on a short drive. There are alot of things that I would have to tell after "living" with the car for awhile.

---jps

 

I definitely agree on the "depends on the salesman" part. I went to our local Acura dealer wanting to test drive a RSX type s. The only one they had was on the showroom floor with some aftermarket mods already installed. I told them I would never purchase a car I couldn't test drive first. They responded with "we'll let you drive the base model and just imagine it with 40 more HP." I had already purchased one car from them so I figured they would have given me the benefit of the doubt---I guess not. Some dealers must be proud to have one time buyers. I had a hard time justifying 28-29 grand for an RSX, but without a test drive (at the least), they can forget about it.

 

The salesman beating on cars is the exact reason I'm going to have a clause in my purchasing agreement saying that I don't want any miles on my 8. If there are I'm going somewhere else. I don't know how many miles were on that car but redlining any new car is a great way of screwing the engine up. I have flogged a car or to but I just thought the whole idea of beating on a car that will eventually be owned by someone else sucks, for them at least.

 

I agree. However, if the treatment that cars get by valets, car rental agencies, and car salespeople are any indication of how new autos are being treated during shipping to the dealerships, then I think that we can expect that during the few miles that are on the cars already, they have probably been through as much as we'll put them through during the 'spirited testdrives' we're looking forward to. To that end, now may be a good time to start making friends at the local Mazda dealerships, maybe take a test drive or two (I'll definitly be looking at the Mazda 6 s), to get a feel for which salespeople may let us take liberties with an Rx-8.

 

I have been reading the forum for sometime now and I have enjoyed to here everyones information. As to the above statements that you will not buy a rx8 without any any mileage if you go by that then you will never buy one. All cars are tested on a short squeak and rattle track before sent to the dealership. From there they then have to be driven to be loaded to be shipped. So you won't find a car without mileage on it.

 

Yes I am sure there will be at least a couple of miles on the car.... I guess I shouldn't have assumed everyone would understand that. But there should not be 10 or more miles on a new car. I am just afraid of having the first car at a dealership. That's the car that will have a few "extra" miles on it. And since its a sports car you can almost be certain the car was tested for performance by beating on the unbroken in engine. Especially a car, such as the 8 that would be very tempting to drive. I don't want to be the 10th person at the dealership to drive MY car. It happens look on the 350z board.

 

I've never had a problem, although I do make a point of dressing well before I go to test drive a car. While I was in college, I worked part time as an installer for high-end home theater and home automation systems. The salesmen would generally let anyone who seemed responsible play with the systems, but the controls were all hidden in case someone they thought was irresponsible came in. The average system price was in the $20,000 range, so we're not talking Best Buy type equipment either. I'd imagine that car dealers behave the same way. When I test drove my Miata with my girlfriend, the salesman had no problems with us just taking the car. He asked that we come back before they closed (about 10 hours).

We bought from him.

 

Rich, you see your dealer treated you well, the end result was you bought from them. In my case, I had already purchased from this dealer, have about the best credit rating they had ever seen, and still was being treated like a drooling teenager without a dime to his name. That type of treatment from Acura dealers is atypical, though. Most of them are much more friendly and out to serve the customer a bit more.

 

Well I know for a fact the dealership I'm going to allows people to beat on some of their cars. The miata in particular, I have had a couple of friends go over there and take out a particular miata out for an hour of fun. My main worry though isn't the that they will let other people drive. That particular dealership also made sure not to allow anyone drive an ordered car. I am mainly worried about people that work at the dealership. As I am sure they take certain liberties when it comes to the cars at their dealership especially new models. I want to be there when the car comes in on the truck so I am the first to get ahold of the stearing wheel. I guess I'll still let the dealer ride in the passenger seat though when I take it out the first time, well maybe...:D

 

PDI(Pre-delivery Inspection) pretty much requires a road test. You may be able to ride along with the technician if arranged with the service director.

 

Hmm, where I come from they just hand you the keys and tell you to bring it back in one piece

Although, when I went car shopping with my brother in Toronto the saleperson came with us and he had a (very short) pre-determined route for test drives.

 

I actually just planned on telling the dealer that he will call me when the truck arrives and that I want to be there when its unloaded. No one drives it after it gets off the truck without me in it. Not much you can do before that.

 

Being a new model, and assuming very high initial demand, don't hold your breath regarding any kind of "special requests" of your dealer. They are there to move units and make money.