So I am in the market for a new vehicle, and the TSX is one of the cars at the top of my list. For the price, the TSX is a great value.

Today I went into Acura of Bellevue in Washington State, in order to test drive a 6MT TSX, which I figured would be easy enough. But my experience at this dealership was not what I expected.

First off, it took a while to get a salesperson to help me, and its not like the dealership was slammed with customers. There were salesmen hanging around looking out the window, like they were waiting for customers to come in, when they already had one in me, standing in their showroom.

When I finally spoke to a salesmen, I told him that I was interested in the TSX and wanted to test drive a 6 speed manual. He told me that in order to test drive a manual TSX, we had to sit down and establish all the numbers for purchasing the car. This is so when I test drove the car and if I liked it, he would already have the deal done. To me, this sounded ridiculous, and I was pissed that he wouldn't let me test drive the car without hammering out the #'s.

When I asked him why this was, he told me that they only had 2 6MT in stock and they did not want to put miles on them. He said they don't allow test drives on the 6MT TSX or the NSX, unless there is a prior agreement to purchase the vehicle, with a good test drive. The NSX I can understand, but the TSX!!?? Its a nice car, but its not an NSX.

I asked him if they had any used 6MT 04's, and he said all they had was automatics. Too bad I was looking at a used manual 04, on his lot right before I walked into the showroom. This fact made me realize that 1) the salesman didn't know what he was talking about, or 2) he didn't take me seriously. After this I ended up leaving, kind of pissed off.

Has anyone else experienced this difficulty test driving a 6MT?

 

I was allowed to take a 6MT around the parking lot. They wouldn't let me take it out on the road. For test drives, the dealership I bought my car from had AT demos. Even driving the AT, my mind was made up.

 

Same thing happened to me. It doesn't bother me, its just the way dealerships are.

They aren't getting anything from me unless i'm satisfied with the deal and the car, doesn't matter which one happens first

 

I went to the largest dealer around (Acura of Boston), asked for a test drive in a TSX MT and got it. The salesman came along for the ride, but that's the usual process. The dealer has 25 or so TSX's in stock. A couple of weeks later I went back and negotiated the deal. There must be a large dealer near Seattle who'll do the same thing.

 

I got this sort of thing from one of my local dealers. I wanted a test drive and they told me the route to take, which included no roads with speed limits in excess of 35 mph. I told them I wanted to get on the highway and the guy was like "well we're really not supposed to but I guess so", all reluctantly and stuff. Then I also wanted to drive a TL 6MT and told the guy so and he pulls it around and is like "you want me to show you what it can do?" like he was going to drive me around, and I was like "no, I want to drive the car". I'm in my mid/late 20s but could probably pass for late teens/early 20s, but I swear man, some car dealers must think that no one under the age of 40 is able to afford to buy a car the way they treat you. It's quite frustrating. So I bought from another dealer.

 

Wow. I'm disappointed. I've never had a bad experience at A of B. I didn't drive the 6MT, tho. I had a decent experience with Peter (salesperson). This (2004 TSX) was the 2nd car I've purchased from them.

 

Acura dealerships should not have NSX's on hand. They are only order to buy instantly. No test drive needed.

 

That sucks man...

When I first arrived at Acura Markham (Ontario, Canada), I went in to take a look at the TSX. Within minutes, a sales rep came to say "hi" to me, and asked me if I wanted to go for a test drive. I was pleasantly surprised with that experience, because I thought that sales reps would at least attempt to probe whether I was really serious about purchasing or just window-shopping.

I told the sales rep that I wanted to test drive a 6MT, she then checked to see if they had a 6MT demo available, and told me that they did. I then told the sales rep that I would rather test drive the car on the upcoming weekend, as less traffic would be on the road. This was not a problem with the sales rep, and we booked an appointment for the upcoming weekend.

Very pleasant experience overall, and I did purchase from this sales rep about a week after my initial test drive. Not pushy at all. In fact, when I was talking to the business manager to sign some papers, I think he may have alluded to his opinion that the sales rep may be too passive.

 

When I initially went shopping for a TSX I was looking at a 6MT. They didn't have a 6MT demo available for a test drive so they brought a brand new one out and let me take it out for a spin. It was so new that the plastic was still on the seats and the protective oil/grease was still on the paint. The same thing happened the second time I took out a 5AT with my girlfriend.

I would think that a dealership that was really interested in selling you a car wouldn't be concerned with putting a few miles on a new car.

 

Now that you mention it, it begins to make me wonder about delivery mileage on a new car. My friend had his new TSX 6MT delivered with 150km's on it. I was like, "WTF?", whereas his previous car, a Mazda3, had only 8km's delivery mileage.

I am expecting my TSX within 2 weeks, and the dealership told me that they will have to make a dealer trade because they do not have my colour on their lot. I asked about delivery mileage, and the business manager said, "I can't tell you, because we don't know where the car is. It can have 10, 20, 30km's. We won't know until we find out who we are trading it with."

 

That's total . I've been to that Acura dealer in Bellevue and test drove a 6MT. It's true that they don't want people to test drive a brand new car but they do have 6MT TSX demos. In fact, I test drove the 6MT from the Seattle, Bellevue and Fife dealers and ended up buying one from Fife. I never had to fill out any paper work or work out any numbers prior to the test drive. All I did was to provide my drivers license so they can make a photo copy. If they insist on the paper work or won't offer a 6MT demo, then drive to another dealer.

 

If they gave you that much shit, it because they didn't take you seriously. If you brought out a fist full of cash for $30,000, I guarantee you they would have given you a key in a second. If you want to test drive, just swallow your price and then when you are ready to buy, work out the best deal you can make w/ that dealer and then call a competing dealer for $300 less and most likely they will take it. Be ready to pay and walk our proud. Make sure the don't add much more than protection package but not bs stuff.

 

Yes, Markham Acura let me test drive their 6MT demo w/o giving me ne hassle. But make me never turn back when dealing my trade in. I end up get a even better deal on Acura 2000.

 

My dealer let us have a 2005 TSX w/ 3 miles on it for the weekend . That was a real test drive. All he asked of us was that we kept the miles under 200.

 

wow your dealerships suck. When the TSX came out mine had two test cars set for people to test. one auto one stick.

 

Both dealerships in this city had nice salespeople. This one jolly black guy let me and my ex take out a TSX with no trouble. Even though my ex said he wasn't ready to buy for another YEAR. He let us take it out down the highway and everything. We were gone for over half an hour (even though the salesman was in the car). He was laid back and did not try to push the sale. He didn't talk too too much during the drive either. He encouraged us to take out the 6MT but my ex could only drive auto. The salesman said he could try the TSX 6MT ANYWAY. I was like . We ended up taking out the auto, and mostly the guy talked about the stereo and a few of the features that we didn't know about.

 

The phone is your friend. Unless you sound like a total idiot on the phone, the dealer can't make a judgement about you over the phone. It also eliminates the problem of expectations - ask them exactly what you want to do and they should give you a yes or no. You will also be able to tell what kind of dealer you're dealing with when you talk to someone.
I called ahead to test drive a 6MT CTS (rarer than a 6MT TSX) and it was there waiting for me even tho they had to get from one of their "other" lots.

If you set your expectations real low maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised once in a while. Other than a few generalities experiences vary a lot dealer to dealer.

 

Great advice.

 

Thanks for the input everyone. The more I think about it, I think I was a victim of "looking to young". Like scheißterhöffer, I'm in my mid 20's, but could pass for being anywhere from 19 to 21. Unfortunately, I think your appearance does have an effect on how seriously you are taken.

The advice I've received from this thread has been very helpful, and I'll use it with my future dealership encounters.

 

I'm getting a picture of Al Roker selling cars. But whoever wrote that is definitely white. No black man has ever uttered the words "jolly black guy" other than to describe one of those black santa clause dolls.

 

I had a pretty good experience at Acura of Fife. Well actually a friend of a friend works there when I bought my 05 TL and a week later a 05 TSX. I have a busy schedule so he actually drove the TSX to my house for my to test drive, because I had to work that day. It was a NBP 6 MT needless to say the next day after work I went straight there to purchase it.

 

I'm Italian if that counts as white. He does kinda look like Al Roker with a bit lighter shade of skin, and minus a few years (he was probably 30 ish). Anyway, it was weird for me to use his skin colour as a descriptor, but I kinda wanted to give a mental picture cause people just assume someone's white if you don't mention anything.

That's besides the point though. He was hands down the BEST car salesman I have ever dealt with. When I buy my new car in August 2006, I will make sure to buy it from him. I was that impressed!

 

I feel your pain... I'm on the cusp of turning 29 and could easily pass for someone 10 years younger.

 

When that happens you walk out and buy elswhere. Then if you need a part, a cheap one so you don't give them too much business, show up to that dealership in your new car and be a dick to all the salesmen. It feels REALLY good.

Funny cause I'm 23 and people say I look 18, but car salesmen flock to me. But when I'm in a retail store they avoid me.

 

Well I don't see any reason car salesmen would flock to you in a retail store in the first place

 

Lucky for me I didn't have a car to trade in.

 

Look, if any salesperson treats you bad or makes you feel bad, you just ignore that asswipe and walk up to another salesperson and say "Look, I'm a serious buyer and I'm getting treated with disrespect by another salesperson, can you help me?" If you get the run around from 2 guys, ask to see the sales manager. You don't have to be angry or anything, just matter of fact. You've got to learn to take control of these situations. I'm 27 dealing with people twice my age in business so it helps to not feel like they can push you around just for being younger.

 

Strange.
At my local dealer they've got Demo's of every single model.
For example, TSX manual and auto, rsx manual and auto and etc...
There shouldn't be any reason you're turned down for a test drive especially because they dont want to put mileage on the cars. The demo's are made to be driven.

Did you happen to give them the impression that you weren't a serious buyer?
You didn't pull up in a rice rocket did you?

 

I remember during my college years when I would actually be denied a test drive! I always wondered...

Finally I encountered the famous Edmunds.com article, "Confessions of a car saleman" (or something like that) that gave an insight from a salesperson's point of view. The author worked at a high volume dealer like Acura and with a no-haggle dealership like Saturn. One of the policies of the high volume dealer was that if you go on 3 test drives with no sale you're fired. This meant that the salepeople had to take their test drives very seriously which lead to stereotyping and many judgement calls based on appearance.

Next time you encounter this experience, tell the guy, "Test drive policy, huh? You should work for another dealer." Don't waste your time or pride. Move on.

 

You can't be too sensative, if a place has a policy you can't blame the salesperson for sticking to it

 

I wanted to test drive both AT and MT Tsx. The daelership (Gunn Acura in San Antonio) had only an AT available. I was there however a week later for an oil change in my Integra and used the time to test drive 05RSX. When the salesperson learned that I wanted to try a MT Tsx, he offered his own vehicle. So, right after finishing with the RSX, we switched to his MT Tsx.

It was definitely very nice on his side and the car was very nice...but driven right after the Rsx, it made me hesitate... Eventually we got a Tsx (AT) for my wife, while I am gearing up to get the little one...before it is discontinued.

 

Flatirons Acura in Boulder has one in the show room. A nice black one.

 

Try calling the following sales person at acura of Bellevue. He let me drive several 6M's over a 2hr period and based on my knoledge of car financing I got a very good deal.

Ian K Seitz
Acura of Bellevue
Client Services
425.644.3000 Ext.1117
425.830.3527 (Cell)

 

Our salesman (at one of the two dealerships here in Calgary) let my wife and me take a TSX 6MT without him in the car. We bought one a week later (got it yesterday!).

In fact, the entire sales experience was pleasant, with the one exception of being low-balled on the trade-in. Except even that turned out well, since they allowed me some time to sell the car privately instead. (I got $9500 instead of the $5500 they offered me.)

 

What kind of deal did you get? Who did you work with? Thanks for the insight!!!

 

Any dealership that doesn't let you test drive a vehicle prior to working out the deal is throwing away customers. That practice is sh%t. Just walk away and find a respectful dealer. You can bet everyone of those salesmen test drove whatever they drive BEFORE they talked money. No wonder they all have a bad rep.

Your perceievd age shouldn't make a difference but probably does. I'd just tell them up front that you are serious about the car but need to drive it first. Most dealers I've dealt with (Acura,Subaru,Volvo) will let you drive the car without them, some have even offered me the car for the aftern0on for a real world test. Now that's impressive. If your dealer sucks ass, find a new one.

 

Without them? Are ya kidding? There's no way any dealer in my area would ever do that. I can't even drive it off the lot by myself.

 

Motohip, All dealers have different rules on this but I have found that it is easer to get to drive the car you want without them if you look like a serious buyer, IE wearing nice cloths when you go and driving a car that is comprable in price.

The other route is to take your girl and go drive 2-seaters. I got to take mine in new Kompressor and 350z with no dealer I can voutch that both will spinn the tires off the line but I was disiponted that when my girl drove the 350 she dropped the clutch at 5k and it smoked the clutch, we did not move 5 feet.

 

5k clutch drops by a girl...HAWT!

I should try that. Bring my whole family and say we're ALL in this together.

 

Yes she is a speed racer wannabe. She is driving my old 2000 accord and thinks she is a nascar driver.