![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
I'd say its no indicator at all when it comes to franchised dealers - service is a completely different set of people motivated by completely different goals.
Am I being unreasonable?
- Thread starter Kingy
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I'd say its no indicator at all when it comes to franchised dealers - service is a completely different set of people motivated by completely different goals.
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Sorry to hijack, 1 more question for Porsche people.
If you had a choice of a Boxter S 3.2 convertible (2008), Cayman 3.4S Coupe (2007) or a 911 Carrera 4 Cabriolet Tiprtonic S (2003) ... what would be considered best? I assume the age rules out the Career?
If you had a choice of a Boxter S 3.2 convertible (2008), Cayman 3.4S Coupe (2007) or a 911 Carrera 4 Cabriolet Tiprtonic S (2003) ... what would be considered best? I assume the age rules out the Career?
As a rule, most if not all soft-tops will be called gay/girls cars... I find the trick is to not give a **** what other people think, and buy what's right for you. In truth, those that bash the Boxster as gay/girly/poor mans porsche drive something much more mundane anyway...
The boxster is a tricky one, as I have an issue handing over so much cash for something that's quite sparsely specced as standard imo. I'd be after a 987S either in 3.2/280bhp or 3.4/295bhp form. I'd want Nav, Bluetooth, MFSW Sports Chrono, Wind Deflector, electric heated seats, electric folding mirrors, PASM, PSE and Litronic lights (Xenons), in Cobalt Blue Space Grey or Black. I can't stand the Carrera S wheels, so they'd go in favour of Carrera Classics or Sport Design wheels. As much as I don't dull black leather interiors, Porsche seem to have a funny approach to bringing colour to the interior, so it's either soul crushingly dull or *fabulous*.
Hens teeth.
Simplest thing to do is just to say "ok, thank you, i'll leave it thanks" and go somewhere else. When we looking for my mums BMW, we first went to Cooper Colchester and the salesman seemed hell bent on selling her a diesel and saying about how she'd get so many more MPG and how diesel is the future.
She said she wanted a 6cyl petrol but the guy didn't seem to accept this and kept coming back with print out's of 335d's then 320d's. Then she saw a nice 325i she liked the look of, but it was brand new and £35k. She just wanted to get a feel of what a 325i E90 was like but the guy was so reluctant to let her test drive it and was arrogant and smarmy, almost cold. In the end she got a drive, he seemed like he couldn't care less on the drive, took it around some 30mph roads then on a dual carriageway for a couple of miles then back to the dealership. It almost seemed like we were an annoyance to him.
She told him if he found any that were within budget, to give her a call, but we both weren't keen on his attitude.
Couple of weeks later we went to Elms Cambridge BMW to see another car (they didn't have it in stock) but the salesman, Simon Thornton, was a really nice guy and he went through what he had in stock and ended up selling her a much more expensive 09 325i. I think this was partly down to his excellent attitude and warm nature. We had a good running joke because i knew more about the car than most of them, but instead of getting offended/defensive as some salesman do, he went along with it, and any questions my mum asked him that he didn't know, he just handed it over to me
Would definitely rate Elms Cambridge.This, to me, really highlighted the difference between a very good salesman (and importantly, one we felt we could trust), and a poor one and when i come to buy a car if i feel like i am a bother to the salesman i will politely retreat and go somewhere else.
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I'd have the Boxster personally.
The Cayman is the sharper tool apparently, but it has a 'manual' roof that's a real pain to get down...
I know its not your intention but you do seem to come across as being a test pilot which perhaps explains the attitude you are getting. You seem to make quite a big emphasis on the power levels of each car and wanting to 'feel' 420bhp. I don't think many people even mention the power output of a car they are considering.
Once I realised I that it wasn't just one crap salesman, but 3 including the sales manager, I wrote off the dealer completely and did exactly that.
I'd still consider a car that Sytner Leicester have in stock, on the strict proviso that it gets transferred out to another dealer, they can have the comission as reward for being competent...
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Cheers Kingy, thanks for the tips - ill have to look like you for the spec if a lot of things are not default.
[TW]Fox;18912727 said:
I take your point, but how else would you articulate your fustrations at not being able to compare the significantly cheaper (to buy and run) 335i against the M3?
I know what you're saying, but while a 15 minute test drive might satisfy someone testing a 4 pot diesel company car, I don't see how an exclusively in-traffic test 'sells' the M3 (or indeed a 330i/335i for that matter)?
Exactly. After spending 15 minutes in an M3, doing an average speed of 4mph in traffic, do they expect you to say "Ok, great, love how she drove - here's my £40,000." They should at least grant you a decent test drive and it's not like your 17 with a 10 year old Vauxhall Corsa. You're 28, and rocking up in a sporty BMW.
I agree it doesnt sell it at all, but this is because they dont think they are going to sell you an M3 even if its the best car in the universe. I mean what are you spending, £20k or £30k? Whilst I appreciate some people might honestly have a budget that variable, 99.9% of people dont turn up at a dealer and tell them you want to spend between £15k and £35k on a range of cars including some of the highest performing cars they sell.
It's pot luck really, when I bought my Z4M (Sytner Chigwell) the sales guy was encouraging me to push it as much as I wanted, had about 40 minutes behind the wheel and got a good feel for the car. When I was looking to change a couple of years back I enquired about an M3 at Sytner Solihull and had to call them back about 3 times to get a test drive and when I finally did the sales guy treated me like I'd just passed my test, safe to say i didnt but a car from him. I have had good experiences with Sytner Solihull since so it really is the luck of the draw.
Oh and the Z4M is not a fan of crap road surfaces, then again show me a car like that that does.
Oh and the Z4M is not a fan of crap road surfaces, then again show me a car like that that does.
Not wanting to sound too confrontational but I inferred that maybe the salesman thought you were a test pilot, which you've pretty much just gone on to confirm in this very thread...
You've got a GT3 and a Golf GTI in the same list of "cars you are considering buying". no one who is genuinely looking to buy a GT3 has a Golf GTI on their radar. If you went into a Porsche dealer and asked to test drive a Boxster and a GT3 they would rightly see you for what you are (in terms of what you represent to them), a guy who just wants to test drive their cars with zero intention of purchasing... sorry to say.
edit: beaten a bit, though I do think that list betrays your true intentions which don't match the tone of the original post. "Why is he treating me like a test pilot" *posts lists of cars to test drive ranging from £15k to £100k*
....so basically you're just looking to test drive a load of cars, some of which you have no intention whatsoever of buying, or can't afford, and yet you're a bit miffed that the salesman treated you exactly like the sort of person who just wants a test drive with no real intention of buying?
You've got a GT3 and a Golf GTI in the same list of "cars you are considering buying". no one who is genuinely looking to buy a GT3 has a Golf GTI on their radar. If you went into a Porsche dealer and asked to test drive a Boxster and a GT3 they would rightly see you for what you are (in terms of what you represent to them), a guy who just wants to test drive their cars with zero intention of purchasing... sorry to say.
edit: beaten a bit, though I do think that list betrays your true intentions which don't match the tone of the original post. "Why is he treating me like a test pilot" *posts lists of cars to test drive ranging from £15k to £100k*
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Aye I'd heard this before, but having tried it, I'm not convinced it was any worse than the Z4 3.0i SE I had before...
Aye, I've already said that was a silly list to post after a couple of beers...
I'd thought I'd put enough tongue-in-cheek stuff in there to show that it wasn't entirely serious (LOLYEAHRIGHT etc). I did say "stuff to sit in", but evidently I didn't make myself clear...
I "sat in" an Evora S a couple of months ago, and knew it wasn't for me because of the interior, I gather the drive is fantastic, but I couldn't live with the lack of quality. The GT3/Turbo was *meant* as a I'll have a sit in it while I'm looking at the Boxster. The GTR was while I was looking at the interior of the 370Z, if I drove by Nissan. That's what I meant earlier when I said snowball logic.
The Golf GTI is unrealistic at the other end of the scale. But if I happened to pop in while driving b & was offered a drive by a bored salesman who wanted to get out of the showroom, I'd gladly spend the time doing it, just on the off chance that I might fall in love with it like people say about MX-5s...
I've never cared about going fast, I just want to *feel* like I'm going fast... If I can do that, feel like I've upgraded from something that was taken away from me before I was finished with it, and not spend as much money buying and running it, then that's brilliant, and worth my time. I know it's not what I said, but it's what I meant...
It was a silly thing to post.
The runflat's had been binned on mine before I bought it, from the reviews I'd read, I was in no hurry to replace them...
Probably as much to do with the fact that mine had 108k on the clock, so the suspension probably wasn't exactly as new...
Whilst the new GTI is very good, I don't think it's for you.
It's grown up and rather dull when driven 'normally' and ridiculously refined, so I don't think it's really what you're looking for.
It's positively slow when compared to the other things you're looking at, and it'll definitely be a step down.
Here's an idea, why don't you just go out and buy a car?
Half the fun is living with an exploring the car through out your ownership, I can safely say that I can pretty much suss out whether I like a car or not within 15 mins of driving it. Unless of course it was going to be the last car that I was ever to purchase and would have to live with for an eternity.
Half the fun is living with an exploring the car through out your ownership, I can safely say that I can pretty much suss out whether I like a car or not within 15 mins of driving it. Unless of course it was going to be the last car that I was ever to purchase and would have to live with for an eternity.
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You don't know what you're on about mate. It might be expensive if you take it to a main dealer but you can cut cost by going to an indy. If you wanted to you could pop down the scrappy and pick up some spare blades.
