There's no way I'll be putting 30k into a car without driving it first! You people that are willing to put the money into the car w/o driving it are, IMO, nuts! I've seen it, sat in it, and done everything but drive it, it is a sweet car so far. However, I still won't put my signature on anything until it puts a grin on my face with me behind the wheel.

 

Absolutely.

Its not like we are buying a Rolls Royce, or a Lambo or a Ferrari.
It is a regular production car, you bet I'm gona test drive it first. In fact this is the only reason I'm hold back on making an order.
I wanted to see how the cars feels to me personally. It really doesn't matter how well the car feels to the Magazine Editors or you everyone else around the world, if it doesn't feel "right" to me, I'm not getting it. Plain and simple.

Now, in terms of those people who wanted to test drive because they can concern with reliability and rattles .... well hate to tell you, but a test drive usually won't give you that information. In terms of reliabliy, you just have to talk to past and current owners, (like come here on the forum and ask people !!!) In terms of rattles, a car at this price range for sure won't have a lot of rattles (if any) when it is still pretty new so the test drive probably won't tell you much. If you are seriously concerned, wait a year and ask these guys on here to see if weird noises are creeping in.

Good luck !

 

Considering I'm in the 3rd allocation (since I wanted to save up another 2 months so I can have a 15k down) I am going to test drive at as many Mazda Dealers as I can. I WILL reach the 9k limit just to hear the sweet sound of the rotarty.

Also for you guys that are in the first allocation, why not test drive at a local dealer other than the one you are going to get your car from. I mean who doesn't want to feel the power of the car as soon as test drives come around. Just a thought.

Since we are within the 6-8wk ETA of the first allocations, please post them pix and review asap. I would like to hear what you guys think. For all the SoCal ppl, anyone wanna set up a meet sometime bye the end of summer?

Counting the days away till "my precious" comes...

 

For VIP day I got in through my local dealer. If you still have your preoder in you can get a free invitation from them. Thats how I got in at least.

 

I understand that everyone wants to test drive the car, however I would love to hear from the person who had money for a pre-order and then backed out because of a poor test drive. If it is a monetary thing, then that doesnt' count but from a poor test drive. The car is going to be fast and handle exceptionally well. Several publications have done more extensive tests than anyone will do on a test drive to come to those conclusions. If the car is a lemon it is protected under the lemon law as well as if it jitters and squeks etc... All that stuff is under warranty and you would know it just driving it home. Either way the dealer isn't just going to give you another car off their lot since there won't be any; so they will have to fix it. While the excitement is there to buy this car, I don't think people won't buy it because it doesn't sound like they had imagined when it revs or becuase it doensn't handle correctly on your 10 minute test drive. To each their own, and as said before, I want to hear from the first person that doesn't buy this car from a poor test drive.

 

Well I guess the only thing I'm concerned about (after of course I actually sit in one and inspect throughly myself), would be ride quality/comfort.

I don't know how the car rides, I haven't a clue! I don't even need to drive it, if I sit in the passenger seat I will be happy but driving is better.

I'm not sure if I want to live with a stiff suspension ala 350z, but from what I read it is a little softer than that. Which is good, is it soft enough? I don't know.

Is it miata quality? I'd be happy with that.

 

I haven't preordered, and I can't bring myself to plunk down a deposit (even if refundable) without seeing, hearing, feeling and driving the car. I will come down to comfort, utility, and driving dynamics for me. All of these things must be assessed in a tangible environment.

All the pics, reviews, specs and measurements available here and other places are terrific, but will not seal the deal for me. As mentioned earlier, I plan on waiting until one of the several local dealers has an example ready for driving.

It may be a long wait

 

For 4k more than I had originally decided to spend on a new car, you bet I will be taking one for a spin (to my own specifications first) If it isn't comfortable for a 60 mile per day round trip, or the performance is not what I expected, I won't buy one.
31K is a lot of money to waste if you don't get complete satisfaction.

I'm expecting it to be wonderful, but you can't let enthusiasm overtake your own common sense. (unless you are independently wealthy or something! :p )

 

Sounds good, and unfortunately I've let myself do just that at least twice before despite the fact that I consider myself an overanalytical person. There's just something about being in that special car that can cause you to do something that you will regret starting about four months later and continuing on for an indefinite period afterwards.

It also hurts when the money spent is well over that $31K.

 

why wouldn't you get a test drive? i mean it's a win win situation.

if you drive it, like it, and planned on getting it then that's a win.

if you drive it, don't like it, and planned on getting it then you'll reconsider, which is a good thing. not in the aspect of simply not buying the car, but that in you won't buy a car you didn't like.

if you drive it, didn't like it, and didn't plan on getting it then... hell you got to drive a nice car.

and it goes on and on. get what i'm saying? just test drive it. :D

 

Test driving it on the way home like my last two cars: first allocation of the Beetle Turbo and then the first allocation WRX. If by chance, I did not like those two cars, I could have immediately sold them for more than MSRP.

 

This thread brings up a question I have. What does one get out of a test drive? I ask this because I sat through two test drives with a friend the other day (Toyota Matrix and Corolla S). The way he drove them, I doubt he got much out of them except "yeah, these cars are better than my current car".

What I mean is that the majority of cars in a given performance/luxury class will all be pretty similar, particularly given the "average" test drives I've seen. Unless your dealer encourages/allows you to drive the car near limit, I doubt that the actual test drive will reveal many things about the car's driving dynamics. Here's my short list of what I typically look for in my test drive.

• Interior Fit and Finish
• Interior ergonomics, are there cupholders, do they suck?
• _basic_ handling characteristics
• blindspots

Obviously different people test drive differently, but one would have to be pretty daft to drive a car at limit on public roads especially if the dealer is sitting next to you right? Personally, I plan to test drive any car I buy, but I have a difficult time determining a car's driving characteristics during the actual test drive.

Doesn't the above (if you agree with it) pretty much mean that you're picking between cars based on those criterea and not things like how a car performs near limit? (which is what I think many enthusiasts would like to use when deciding between cars)

 

Bummer. My dealer did say I could go with him on the special dealer day. Maybe then we can test drive them. If not I won't lose any sleep over it.


JTEK, My salesman told me I would get the VIP invite because I pre-ordered. ???


Dreamwarrior, Guess I'm nuts. To each his own.