Hey, I have a question. Are the dealers supposed to have test drive cars for all trim/engine combos? I want to book a test drive for an XRS manual transmission, but so far I have not even SEEN one of these at the 3 dealers' lots I checked out in the Ottawa area. The closest I came to was a white XRS auto transmission at one of the dealers farthest away from me.
I really do not want to do a test drive until mid July since I have some funds becoming available to me start of August (for downpayment) and reading all your comments, I am afraid I'll just go buy one as soon as I have a test drive. That said, I don't want to buy a car without a test drive either...
Of course, one possibility is to try an XRS when I am down in Denver, but I think it will be a little dishonest to the dealer there since I won't be buying a vehicle in the US--not driving it all the way to Canada from Denver even if I could actually get thru the paperwork there.
So, any ideas? Have all you guys who own XRSs had a test drive before you bought?
well...whatever cars the dealer have in stock are the ones you can test drive i think. i actually test drove a couple times at different dealers...the ones around my area almost all have at least one or more xrs...but i test drove the auto so i don't know =P
Try to locate the largest dealer in your area. For me, there wasn't a single XRS nearby so I drove 100+ miles out to the largest Toyota in the vicinity, and found not just one, but five sitting on the lot.
That was back in March though, not sure if the initial stock is depleted yet.
I'm not sure how it is around your area, but in Vancouver BC, I went to two dealers, both said they won't have XRS's for test drives because they can barely even get enough cars to sell, let alone a demo XRS.
Back when the current Sienna was introduced in '03 I went to a Toyota dealer looking to do a test drive. I was told that nothing was available for test drive. They did offer to let me sit in a customer vehicle. I declined an went to another dealer. As Lowincash said, test drives are limited to what's in stock.
Last edited by 78transam; 06-18-2008 at 08:28 AM.
Reason: Typo
I was able to test drive the manual transmission xrs before i ordered one. I ended up going for the automatic since i'm easily agitated by my toronto commute to work and i did not want to be on the clutch going between 1 & 2 for an hour each way. that was back a few months though before the '09s really took off and became a high demand car.
Just sent email to the three dealers on the ON side for the test drive request--if they don't have an XRS, I'll try the ones on the QC side. I really would hate to buy a car without a test drive, although, I suppose I can make do with an Auto XRS test drive if that's all they have.
well what we do at our dealerships we let customers order them and when they come in we but on the deal depending on test drive so it shows customer drives if they like it GREAT if not they can back out of the deal no questions ask and get there FULL deposit back...
Kudos to your dealership. I haven't been to any that would let me do that.
@Jeune
If you're really bent on a manual XRS, go test the automatic first, then take our opinion on how the shifter feels. Just a alternative solution in case you really can't find one to test
OK, I have been offered a test drive on a manual XRS Matrix since (surprise surprise) the Corolla XRS is not available. My question is, apart from the (obvious) rear-suspension difference, how different do these two cars drive? Anyone tried both? I am thinking about giving it a try, can't hurt to try after all, but I was wondering what you guys thought about that.
Not sure but even the base 1.8 litre Matrix and the Corolla S that I test drove were different. The 4-spds were geared differently with the Matrix slightly shorter than the S. Given that, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a difference in the the transmission gearing between the XRS models.
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OK, I test drove the Matrix XRS and a regular 1.8 Corolla. I also found out that another dealer has an Auto XRS tester car so I am going to get a test drive on that too. I liked the way the 1.8 handled, actually, although I am not that impressed with its interior--luckily the interior of the Matrix XRS, which is similar to the Corolla XRS (apart from the funky instrument cluster, which I am glad the Corolla did not copy) The Matrix was more powerful but I didn't like the driving position--not a fan of crossovers. I'll still probably go with an Corolla XRS due to the toys they included in it--an S would have been nice, too, but for the toyz! (I got to drive a "bone" interior CE, which looked very cheap to me, but then that is not a colour I like inside a car--almost as bad as red upholstery!)
I am also booking a test drive on a Mazda 3 GT--60 months 0% interest for a Mazda, no way Toyota is beating that. I was quoted MSRP on the XRS, and when I asked if there was any "leeway" on that price, I got the "let me get you my manager" spiel, and the manager said he'd like me to give the dealership a chance to get my business if I do decide on the XRS after my Mazda 3 test drive. I have the CarCostCanada price report which has the invoice at C$20005.00 and C$1140 for freight/delivery etc. The base price I am quoted is C$21665, same as on the website. I'll try to get some off that price and maybe ask for the body side mouldings thrown in (I seem to be in the minority here, liking them, but hey!) and worst case, there are two more dealers in ON, and 3 right across the river in QC if I can't get a good price from this dealer. Any suggestions on the negotiation process?
i was originally wanting a mazda3 GT too but when i test drove it on a 85'ish degree day, the a/c sucks...even after 15 or so minutes of driving around, the a/c was still not blowing out cool air. the GT has black leather seats and mazda3 dash are all black and stuff so it absorbs a lot of heat. that plus the very weak a/c turned me away from it even tho that was was a blast to drive =/ i've read on mazda3forums that it's a known problem of mazda to have the weak a/c. for me toyota a/c worked great...i test drove it a couple days after the mazda and the weather was hotter too. the corolla a/c was actually blowing out cold air after a few minutes lol but yah a/c performance is very important to me. good luck with the test drive...just make sure you test the a/c out too =D
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Question about test drive cars (XRS manual)
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