Went up to take a look today, just out of curiosity. The dealership in Chattanooga only has 2. They won't let ANYONE test drive these things: Too much "liability" says the dealer. The test drive is when you fork out the 31k and drive out the Lot.

Interesting

 

theyll never sell any this way.. unless you test drive elsewhere and buy from this dealership b/c you found a better deal..

who's going to spend 31k on something they've never driven..? much less a mitsubishi

 

My thoughts exactly

I told the salesguy this as well...

If I were in the Market for one, I would simply drive down to ATLANTA, where I could DRIVE one, and buy it from him.

too much to spend NOT to be able to take it for a spin

 

Lame.

Mitsubishi dealers are living in a pipe dream. This is a 31k Lancer, not a 911 GT2. I would never, ever, lay down that much money for a car without having the opportunity to test drive it first. I took the CL out TWICE before I purchased. The first time was in the base CL, the second time in the CL-S.

They're acting like these things are trimmed in 24-karot gold with diamond encrusted radio control knobs.

Forbidding the average boy racer who obviously looking for a free joyride is one thing, but they will be passing up potential sales the way they are acting.

 

Yup, same thing with me!!! I had to make an appointment to meet with a sales consultant to go see it. I asked her about the test drive and the mileage on the 2 that they had.

She laughed at me when I asked about the test drive. She said that no one test drives them. They sell them as quickly as they get them.


FUNK DaT! I really wanna drive one!!!

 

On the other side .... I would not want to buy a 31k car someone else has test driven. Especially a turbo with performance brakes.

If they don't need to have a test drive to sell them, why should they?

My CLS still had the plastic on it when I bought it.

 

I spent 30k on my Z and I never saw it much less drove it until the day I took the keys after delivery :-)

 

You would have taken it for a ride, put 10 or so miles on it and would not have bought the car.

This is what the dealers are trying to avoid, everyone wants to test drive an Evo......same thing is going to happen with the STi.

I have heard of people test driving Evos, but most dealers are not allowing it at this point unless you have a checkbook in hand.

If a dealer has 1 or 2 in stock, they don't need to let anyone drive them to sell the cars.

 

Fact of the matter is: if they can get away with doing it, they will

Its WIN/WIN situation for them: Prestige, untouchability, till-you-pay-for-it-factor makes it seem all the more "alluring" NOT to mention they don't have to worry about the avgerage "punk" boy racer coming in and abusing the heck out of it, maybe even wrecking it....

Makes sense when you look at it from a dealer perspective

 

I hate it when dealers are punks. The dealer knows they got you over the barrel because the EVO 8 is going to be a limited edition(kind of like the Integra Type R) only so many are going be brought over to the states. so therefore they can treat the customer like crap and if they got one in he or she will buy it.
Plus the rule of supply and demand comes into play here. I've heard of on the WRX sti (which should hit dealers next month) them charging 5-10 k OVER MSRP(which is nuts if you ask me).
if the dealer treats you like this out of the hole imagine what it's gonna be with warrenty work. They'll probably blame you and try to stick you with the bill.

 

Because I think it accurately reflects my own opinion, I'll repost part of EdgarFan's post:

"Lame.

Mitsubishi dealers are living in a pipe dream. This is a 31k Lancer, not a 911 GT2. I would never, ever, lay down that much money for a car without having the opportunity to test drive it first. "

If I'm paying $31G for anything, I'd like to make certain that I....ya know....REALLY like it. (But I'm a freak that way.)

 

I agree with all of the threads above. Both dealers and customers have their reasonings, and they are very logical.
On the dealer's side, since Evo is so limited so it should not be difficult to sell them even at $31k. Also, since it is so famous, many people just went there to test drive to see how it feels without the intention to buy it in the first place, it will wear the new car out(at least give people this impression). However, on the customer's side, it is our right to test drive something so expensive before we actually buy it. What if we don't like it after we drive it off the parking lot? Even we go buy oranges or grapes in the supermarket, we(usually my mom ) would try to have a taste before buying them home, let alone it is a car. Therefore, I would recommend people who don't try to buy it not to test drive it, and the people who really wants to buy it go to some bigger Mitsubishi dealer to test drive it.

 

I drove one yesterday. It was fast, REAL FAST, but there is nothing else remarkable about this car other than speed.

My "joking" thread about the cars..

http://www.acura-cl.com/forums/showt...hreadid=103783

 

hey, they aren't having a problem selling them. I agree it's really stupid. Alot of the infiniti dealers are doing the same w/ the G35C. My aunt works at a nissan dealer and says people always come in after the infiniti dealer to drive and usually buy the Z cause infinity wouldn't let them drive the G

 

people drop 90,000$ for a nsx without driving...

 

i drove the WRX's when they first came out. The dealer only had one and the sale was pending. He was cool as shit. So was the car ... for a four door econobox. But..the engine was dreamy.

 

uhh...the NSX (like a Ferrari or Lambo) is more a collector's item than a car.

Any person blindly purchasing an EVO and thinking it's going to be a collector's item (like an NSX), will be in for a BIG reality check in several years when the resale value less than $10G!! (think Eclipse GSX)

 

When you ask to test drive they tell you nobody test drivs em, they sell as fast as we get em.

I have seen the same 3 lancers there the whole time