Story in the paper yesterday.
3 years ago there were 292 car ranges (I guess that's Focus, Fiesta, etc) and 4301 models (Focus hatch 1.6 LX, Focus hatch 1.6 Zetec, etc.) Now there are 322 ranges and over 6000 different models.
This, apparently, is causing difficulties for dealers because they may not be able to show the customer the model he is interested in, let alone let him test drive it.
Any dealers (Blue Haddock?) out there want to comment on how they are finding it? (And how many people per year do you get wanting to test drive a Yaris Verso?)
|
|
The biggest problem with test drives is getting to drive an automatic. Usually, the only option is to find a used car that fits the bill.
|
|
I have found that a cheap(ish) way to get a proper and unsupervised test drive is to hire the car I am interested in for a day. No change out of £40 but at least you can really try the thing out! I never noticed the rubbish wiper set-up in the 307 when I test drove it from a dealership and it wan't pointed out to me either (of course!)
|
|
|
|
Interesting to compare with the US - the mainstream manufacturers offer far fewer version/engine options than we get, and the cars generally come with higher levels of standard equipment, so have limited option choices.
Apparently the reason for this is that US buyers expect to be able to walk into a dealer, pick a new car, and drive it home that day, especially on mainstream brands, but also on the more premium brands, like Audi and BMW.
I noticed with Honda in the UK, that the cars have very few factory fit options - I think on the Jazz the only choice is colour, and on Accord it's limited to colour and wheels - all the other options are dealer fit. So the factory is churning loads of cars that are exactly the same, which must have huge logistical advantages.
|
If I remember from reading Car & Driver (US Mag) for many years, options are available, but it far easier to buy an option pack and many cars are built with packs on automatically, even if there is no specific order for one.
I was onl holiday in Florida in 1984 and stayed with a UK family who had moved out there a few months before. There was a Ford dealership open 24hours/7days so we deliberatly went in at 3am, and our friends found a car they wanted, agreed the deal and went back at 11am to pick it up.
--
Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
|
I was onl holiday in Florida in 1984 and stayed with a UK family who had moved out there a few months before. There was a Ford dealership open 24hours/7days so we deliberatly went in at 3am, and our friends found a car they wanted, agreed the deal and went back at 11am to pick it up.
Ah, 1984, those were the days - now they're only open from 10AM to 5PM Mon-Fri and they close on Wednesday afternoons.
|
Yes there does appear to be more models than there used to be, things like mini-mpv's just weren't around 15 years ago and yes there are also more and more spec levels for each model.
Gone are the days when it was pretty easy to work out how well spec'd a car was L, GL, GLX etc but now it's much more difficult with makers such as ford having LX, Zetec, Ghia, Titanium and Vauxhall having style, life, design etc It's no where near as easy as it was although toyota's aren't too bad with T2, T3, T4, T-Spirit etc
As for yaris verso test drives, we get a few requests, normally for motability customers and we have to scrat around to find them one to drive as we don't run one as a demo.
|
|
|
|
![2016 Vauxhall Insignia 2.0 CDTi [170] ecoFLEX SRi Vx-line Nav 5dr [S/S]](http://images.honestjohn.co.uk/imagecache/url/crop/90x60/https/assets.heycar.co.uk/t_default-export/f_auto/application_assets/images/holding.jpg)
_COLON_no_upscale()/cdn.uk.prod.group-mobility-trader.com/images/cas/89299d347ff035f5a09f2d539db70815/e526d612085f60be7b2ba59f71c91e4a.jpg)
