So them letting it warm up harmed nothing ?
Dealership salesman car treatment
- Thread starter JoelB
- Start date
Makes up for all the cold starts while in transit when as soon as it fires up it's WOT across the yard.
Bought my Equinox new almost 6.5 years ago. It had close to 100 miles on it and had been sitting on the lot for almost 5 months (jncluding through the winter months when it was snowed on, frozen, etc.) It has been fine for over 61,000 miles. Sure it has some interior rattles, but those come from actually using the car.
There is a lot of conjecture about how new cars are treated on dealer lots and how it can "destroy" them. Meanwhile, 90% of people buy a new car and immediately start driving it in stop-and-go or city traffic the next day. If a brand new car is going to have engine problems, they are going to either be present from a manufacturing/design issue or parts issue when the car is "born", or later down the road from owners neglecting routine maintenance. Moving a car around a lot or lot porters hot dogging them (while certainly not respectable business behavior) won't hurt the car.
There is a lot of conjecture about how new cars are treated on dealer lots and how it can "destroy" them. Meanwhile, 90% of people buy a new car and immediately start driving it in stop-and-go or city traffic the next day. If a brand new car is going to have engine problems, they are going to either be present from a manufacturing/design issue or parts issue when the car is "born", or later down the road from owners neglecting routine maintenance. Moving a car around a lot or lot porters hot dogging them (while certainly not respectable business behavior) won't hurt the car.
We heard from several different members in this thread who had been dealership porters verifying how vehicles were treated so to state that their experiences were conjecture is dismissive at best.
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I test drove one of those Versa last November before I got my Ecosport, Really poorly, cheaply made car and terrible driving. And I like subcompacts.The online reviewers are full of it and not to be trusted. I opened the hood and couldn't get it closed, the clutch engagement was poor and the ECU really flaky. That may have improved with miles but .. .
The Spark was much more behaved in the engine and drivetrain dept - minus some bearing or CV racket up front and no elbow room had me running away. But 2-3 grand less $$ than the Mexican Nissan. - Ken
You won't know until 50k or so more miles if it was ruined.
I'm glad you prefer your "Indian Ford". I was impressed with the interior design and the quiet, smooth driving experience. Not to mention some really great features. So it was an easy choice for me to upgrade from my Spark to the Versa.
What is conjecture is insinuating that the porters treatment of the cars will shorten the life of the vehicle. I wasn't saying that the way porters drive the vehicles was conjecture...we have all seen the online videos, etc.
Was it an Automatic? There is sample to sample variation and I drove only one. I think I drove four samples of the Indian Ford before settling on the one I got. It do need the alignment looked into its very darty and has a persistent pull to the left over the crown - though that may just be my 250 lb lard gut causing the DS rear wheel to toe in excessively. It also gets poor fuel mileage(24.5mpg LTA in town) - but I don't go anywhere so that's not a real concern.
I wish you good luck with the Versa I don't see it in your signature, and your Spark is a 2021?!
Did you get most of your money back in trade ?
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Yes I bought the SR which for a versa is "fully loaded". I think they change the interior quite a bit over the base model. It's got orange stitching and inserts on the seats. Also some faux carbon trim, which I prefer over gloss black. It's also a CVT (gasp). But I think Nissan makes the best driving CVT's of all the newer cars I've driven.
The spark I sold for $400 more than paid brand new. So essentially break even. I did the switch to upgrade to something a little less cramped. I'm 6'4" and I'm getting too old to find the tiny car fun anymore.
6'2" and 250lbs. I was all over the Spark last fall as they were blowing them out for 13K or less.
It was OK, I liked the engine and trans and clutch. But its didnt handle as well as I thought it would - though I had been spoiled by nice , direct Manual steering in subcompacts in the past.
The deal breaker was lack of elbow room, I kept hitting my arms on stuff but I was spoiled by my leased 2019 jetta.
the ecosport has tons of room up front, great comfort but no room in the back seat though - good usable cargo room.
and AWD!
Congratulations, but that up level Versa must have cost a ton though in this market!
I didn't see anything I would term abuse when I worked at BMW. I was a product specialist who was also allowed to take ups. My son worked as a valet there during summer vacation. He told me the that the only issue he ever heard about was a few complaints from the adjacent Honda dealer about cars driving through their lot.
We did take an M5 in trade and the next day there was a 50' set of black marks in the used car lot. I was initially blamed but the used car manager finally confessed to the heinous "crime."
We did take an M5 in trade and the next day there was a 50' set of black marks in the used car lot. I was initially blamed but the used car manager finally confessed to the heinous "crime."
Too many of us have OCD. In February 2008 I flew from Norfolk VA to Atlanta to pick up a new M35 because it was the only one on the East Coast that had bourbon leather interior. It was built in September 2007, had been sitting on the lot of the dealership outside Atlanta and had 282 miles on the clock. At the time I didn't give a rat's butt how many times it had been started or idled. It was the car I wanted, and it's been a gem.
My point is you seldom get to "know" a car has been damaged by abuse until later, and even then you probably won't realize it was the abuse many miles ago that set the stage for premature failure. If the car makes it to 150k it's been a decent vehicle. If not something went wrong. Yes that's subjective but I think it's a good number to use generally.
Folks always like to say they ran so and so oil or whatever and the engine is still running fine. Yeah, but you're not going to blow up an engine running a 20w at 2,000 rpm in a vehicle spec'd for 40w. What you may do is prematurely wear parts that will fail quicker than had you not run the 20w a while back. All these "I did it in my vehicle and it's fine" quotes are meaningless without knowing how long the engine, etc lasted after whatever was done.
I worked as a porter at a BMW dealer in high school. We had a salesman wreck and possibly total the new at the time 3 series demo behind the dealer with a customer in the car. Some other porters after I left wrecked a new M3 doing stupid stuff and limped it back to the lot and hung the keys up in the office like nothing happened. Plenty of other used car shenanigans when a bunch of 16 year olds are involved as well.
I almost wiped out a row of parked cars with a Camaro Z28 we got in as a trade - I grossly underestimated how powerful that car was.
Having learned my lesson, a Challenger 6.4L 6-speed was traded in a few weeks later for an Odyssey. I had to play a light foot with it. But I did take up a steep hill and back in 2nd gear to gas it up for display. I actually enjoyed driving it, though being gingerly careful.
This is BITOG..there is rampant OCD on just about everything......
My Mazdaspeed had similar miles on it when I picked it up. It served me well for 7 years and 158k miles. UOAs showed absolutely no issues during the time that I owned it.
