Test driving a Roadster Red tomorrow

[mrsmr2]

Finally getting to drive an 03 spec car, having been convinced by this forum that its an improvement on the pre-03s (see topic "Which one, 02 or 03?")

The salesman is letting me take the car out for an hour on my own   s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:  

I've driven a number of pre 03s so it will be a good comparison.

Luckily I've fixed my existing car   s:( s:(  , so no immediate need for the MR2 (this time last week I was expecting to place an order tomorrow if the price was right).

Will I buy or pass?

Jason

[Anonymous]

Enjoy the drive... but remember, mid-engine + rear wheel drive, may well be different to what you're used to, so don't go throwing it into a....whooooo hold on a sec, it's not your car, nor your insurance... so, make sure you enjoy yourself and don't go hurting anyone (you included).

[Anonymous]

looking forward to your write-up comparison tommorrow mate   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  ...

[mrsmr2]

Right back from the drive.  s:D s:D  Here's the write up:

Road was wet and it rained for most of my 90 minute drive.  The roads were reasonably slippy - in fact I'd lost the back end on my 405 on a roundabout earlier so I thought it would be a good test for the 2.

Collected car, salesman showed me the wipers and indicators and off I went.  Moved out of the town and found some back roads near the villages where I live.

This car didn't feel as agile as the pre 03 models I've driven before. I have heard this from other sources before but I can confirm it for myself now.  It still hangs on to apexes when turned in but there is a minute delay before the car turns in.  I remember the pre 03s turning in instantly as long as power is being applied.  However, it was wet so this might account for it.

I found a few medium sized roundabouts and found the same understeer there as before.  However, I wasn't going to push too far to see what would eventually happen to the back end.  Overall, the car held on well to the apex considering the state of the roads.

Then set about thrashing it in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th and was really impressed with the level of grip.  This car felt much more planted than the others I've driven.

The engine was quite boomy with the roof up and louder than my 405 (which I thought was noisy), but the ride was much better.
The leather seats were superb and much better than the pre 02 cloth ones.  They held me in place and my back still feels OK as I write this - I got quite a lot of back ache from the other seats.

Went home, put the car in the garage and found the door mirrors to be almost useless for this exercise.  The MR2 is slightly narrower than my 405 but much harder to line up using the mirrors.

Then tried fitting my usual overnight case in the rear lockers.  Too big, but it would fit behind the passenger seat.

Rain had reduced now so I thought "It's not my car so I'll put the roof down".  Then set off again along back roads and made full use of all gears.

Putting the roof down really transformed the car.  I suddenly felt released from the cage and as long as I kept above 30, dry as well.  Although I found that water starts to come back into the car above 80 as it gets forced up the windscreen and then drops down where the windscreen meets the window.

The only time I'd driven one with the top down was on a Toyota on track day and as I had a crash helmet on, I didn't appreciate the feeling.

Putting the top down removed a lot of the boom that was there previously, and bizarrely I could hear the radio better  s:? :? s:?  

Time to take it back to the dealer and had to encounter traffic lights.  Thought I'd try to put the roof up at one set of lights.  Half succeeded and attached the roof properly at the next set.

Dropped the car off and admired the interior and exterior.  I thought the roof was nice - had a nice dark colour when it was wet.  The seats were red leather and very supportive.  The steering wheel was OK but a word of warning - after nearly 900 miles the red top part was looking dirty (but that might have been shading from the light with the roof up).

I don't really want leather but the salesman didn't have any cloth 03 spec seats for me to compare.

So overall:
- enjoyed driving a 2 again
- had great fun nipping about
- impressed with the grip levels
- impressed with the build
- impressed with the extra stability
- loved the seats

- car didn't feel as darty as before
- didn't like the colour
- didn't like the lack of storage space

Did I order one   s:?: :?: s:?:




No, the salesman would not come down to a suitable price.  I dropped enough hints along the line "if you give me the right price I can commit to an order very soon", but no luck.  So I walked, but the salesman has my details in case he changes his mind.

[filcee]

Right back from the drive.  s:D s:D  Here's the write up:

<snip>

Did I order one   s:?: :?: s:?:

No, the salesman would not come down to a suitable price.  I dropped enough hints along the line "if you give me the right price I can commit to an order very soon", but no luck.  So I walked, but the salesman has my details in case he changes his mind.

Glad you enjoyed a good test drive.  I suggest that you now collate all of the information the salesman gave you in his "offer" (rates, price, discount, finance deal etc.) and go to at least one other dealer.  Show/tell them the deal you were offered and see if they can better it.  Heavy hints about ordering should help.  Try going back to the test drive place with better offers from elsewhere.  Don't forget that from the middle of next month they will be trying to reach quarterly targets  s;-) ;-) s;-) .

Good Luck!

[mrsmr2]

The dealer didn't actually come up with a price.  I told him what I was looking for and he told me straight he couldn't match it as that price was outside of their margins.

He did say that mid-month is a better time to negotiate as they are more likely to do a deal if they are likely to miss their monthly target.

Shame I'd had to put the test drive back a week, but then wouldn't have experienced top down driving in the rain  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

However, even then he was suggesting things like £1k off.  I was looking for a lot more than that.

[Anonymous]

Just by luck, I bought mine the last week of the month, considering it was only up for sale the day b4 i put i an offer. I'm sure that made a bearing on the final price, plus the sales guy was an expert on selling boxters and elises... not many MR2's, sir...