I thought I would share my experience with you guys.
I went down to Gillman Acura Dealer in Houston TX to check out the 04 Tl. Well, the Tl was just phenomenal. Everything about the car exudes quality. I did not drive since it was on the showroom floor but it looked great. Okay, here what I wanted to share. While I was there I told the sales guy Kevin. "I don’t know that is one fine car but 33-34k that might be too steep. So I went over to the TSX to look at it. Yes, next to the Tl the TSX looks plain but it still a nice car. We started talking about the engine of the TSX and the dealer told me that the TSX had the same engine as the S2000. OOPS! I said I'm sorry but your mistaken the s2000 has a 2.0 L engine the TSX has a 2.4 L. And it comes from the CRV and 4cyl Accord. I think that was right, what I told him. It just got me wondering about how many times they have given the wrong info to people. Can' they hire real Honda enthusiats to sell thier cars?

JO

:P

 

yeah I've found most salesmen to be pretty inept when it comes to the amount of knowledge they have. I think they just read the marketing packets and recite the crap back to the customers. Just once, I'd like to deal with a salesman who wasn't going to spit back some Acura marketing script.

 

Move to SoCal and come talk to me.

 

That's nothing...i was told the RSX was a rear wheel drive by a female salesman when the car was first introduced

 

I think you meant salesWOMAN.

 

I hate when this sort of thing happens. It makes us look bad. Then again, some salespeople take no effort to make themselves well informed about the line of vehicles that they choose to sell as a PROFESSION. Sometimes they forget about that. People come in there expecting them to be professionals that are supposed to be the person that represents the product as well as Honda Motor Co. expects us to. Sorry to hear that you got one of the bad apples.

 

Yeah, it is unfortunate. And if I don't know the answer to a question off the top of my head when showing a customer a car (being a sales assistant I do show cars from time to time when all the salespeople are busy) I ask my boss or someone else who does know. There's no excuse to not know your own products. That having been said however salespeople shouldn't be expected to know every little technical detail like engine codes.

 

I would just walk away when a salesperson gives you the wrong information. It's like a pharmaceutical sales rep telling you the wrong side effects/indications, etc.

technically, it is a k24, but my understanding is that it is a completely different head and block...but I don't know a whole hell of a lot.

 

You mean to tell me you would ever, ever rely on info from a pharmaceutical sales rep?????

Even when their info is "correct," you can't ever rely on them.

Not really. IMHO.

 

eek, larch--it's called an analogy, lol. i never said i would ever take the words of a pharmaceutical sales rep. as gospel truth--although they used to give out some cool freebies. besides, i sell information--and therefore that makes me a wary buyer.

the point was that if you are selling any particular product for which your buyer is going to buy for any significant amount of money, at the very least, read the product specs.

 

Ouch, I pissed off ricecake too!

Actually, I did wonder if you just meant it that way. But... (sometimes I think too hard!) ..... I looked again, and it really looked to me like you wouldn't have put it that way unless you gave some credence to them.

So, sorry, no big problem. Except a linguistic one. I guess I just disagree with your analogy.


P.S. By coincidence, "Nightline" last night had a good one about the pharmaceutical industry. It was mainly about U.S. people getting meds from Canada -- which, once they got down to it in detail, you could see there was no problem about it, provided people do it right, although the pharmaceutical establishment cries bloody murder over it. Implicitly the discussion touched on the issue of the huge $$ that drug companies pay for marketing.

 

nah, i'm just being a little bitchy 'tis all...

 

Heh heh - you mean like the guy who told me that the nav system in the TL cannot be used while the car is in motion?

Actually, I don't mind it if the salesperson doesn't know much about the car; everything I need to know I can find through my own research, thanks to the Wonderful World Wide Web. The only knowledge I require of my salesman is how to find the car I want and how to write up the sale.

As a matter of fact, I'd almost prefer it if they knew less; somewhere in the sales training these guys all seem to get told "always keep talking; describe the features and benefits of the car; blah blah blah." I wish they'd just STFU and let me concentrate on what the car is telling me so I can decide whether I want to buy it or not.

 

Sales guy told me when the RSX first came out, that it could out handle my Type R. hahahaha

Subaru guy told me that the regular WRX was compete w/ the Evo. Then when I asked about the STi, he said whats that? haha

 

these sales guy shoud come here for training.

 

The best Salesman ive seen is Colin, He has alot of Knowledge abotu Honda's and all the t echnical specs of it to ,i was very Impresses, And sincehes involved with tuning and import info it makes iteven better, not to mention he has a S2000

 

yep.. i went to test drive.. guy's like u want the 5sp or the auto???


lol those guys, all they know is to "sell cars"

 

Like I mentioned before, it's sad that some know nothing about the product. I take pride in it, especially being so brand-loyal. I do find it funny that the guys that say things like that about the engines being the same, wouldn't have the slightest clue in regards to what engine codes are. Most of the people that work for sales floors probably don't know the difference between the F and K series engines. Not that it is expected of a sales person, but I like to see it. It makes me feel like I'm not such an outsider to know so much. :P

 

Just to let you know, when I was test driving the TSX in Acura of Lynnwood, the salesperson actually knew a fair bit about the car.

As far as I can remember, I don't think he got one bit of info incorrect. And when I asked about some spec that he didn't know, he plainly admitted that he didn't know but he would look it up if I really wanted to know.

So not every salesperson is a brochure-regurgitator. So feel good, justinjsw and kurt_bradley.

 

Thanks.

 

First TSX I test drove the salesman told us that it had the same engine as my RSX-S, except it was bigger, well that doesnt exactly make it the same engine then does it, he said this after he saw my reaction to what he had said. Then he told me something like power drivers seat worked the same way my RSX-S does, I just kept my mouth shut, Then we were back in his office and he was telling us about how he hated that they would only give him a Honda Accord as a demo and kept talking about how inferior it was to anything Acura, he goes on to tell us that Honda Accords dont have traction controll and that they never have........., hmmmmmmmmm, my mom's 2001 Accord EX-V6L has traction controll and has since the day she bought it back in december of 2000.............

He's the same one that lied to us about them not making anymore TSX navi's for the rest of the year.......

So we tried out the Whichita Acura dealership, we looked at a nice white TSX for about 5 minutes and never saw a salesperson, so we walked over and looked at a red one for about another 5 min, still no one wanted to help us......, so even though the guy in OKC lied to us and doesnt know what he's talking about, he's always been nice and that dealership has always been egar to help us......

damn..........................., what to do? where to buy?...........

 

I mentioned in another thread that a salesperson who was making small talk with me as I looked at the new TL asked me what year my TSX was!