test drive before buy?

Yes,t hey make certain you test drive. One person suggested that this is why the dealers are buying at least one used Prius at a premium, to have it on the lot for that purpose. I think maybe it is a law that you have to test drive a car; that has been pushed by every sales person for every car I have ever owned or considered.

Around here, they are NOT permitting you to do more than look through the glass at a car which is sold. can't even unlock it, open the door and look in side or sit in it. NO WAY they want the liability of a sold car having a test drive and getting in an accident! I don't think you need to worry on that point.

 

At 2 different dealerships, we were allowed to sit in a Pri that had just come in, pre-sold. Push the button, check the rear camera, radio, seat comfort, etc..but absolutely NO driving. Hopefully your dealer will have the same respect for your vehicle.:car:

 

Good grief...the dealers around here could care less if I have test driven one. I started out my journey just trying to find a dealer that would allow me to test drive one. That never happened. Now I am getting my #2 super white in less than 3 weeks, and I have still not set foot in a Prius. I try to park next to one whenever I can, and I am always careful to clean up any drool I have left on the car.

 

Have you considered a rental for a weekend. Try Hertz or Enterprise or whoever has "green" rentals.

 

My neighbor got a Prius about 2 months ago...she let me drive it and I have ridden in it several times as well. Which was a good thing since my dealer did not have any on the lot when I went in to arrange the deal. They are supposed to call me as soon as mine hits the lot (which is sometime this week) and I will be there to pick it up before anyone has a chance to put a dirty fingerprint on my baby.

 

Some friends were kind enough to let us borrow one of their Prii for a weekend. Since we're a family of four moving from a minivan and a station wagon to a single Prius we wanted to make sure that was a realistic choice to make. As mentioned, several places rent them - worth a day or two's rental fee to see how it works IMO.

 

It's definitely not the law that you have to test-drive a car before you buy it. Many dealerships simply don't have a Prius on the lot.

We rented one for four days - recommend doing so. We test drove one as well, but it's hard to get a feel for a car during a 15 minute test run.

 

Our dealer asked several times if we wanted to test drive one and I kept pointing out we already owned one and this would be our second so it wasn't really necessary!

Becky, I'll in West Lafayette this weekend with mine if you want to come up and drive it!

 

There were four Priuses on the lot they day we purchased Yoda. One test drive, and we were fans for life! That being said, we initially were only allowed to test drive the silver Priuses that were not sold nor had deposits on them...

When we arrived at the dealer, Yoda was being prepped for a purchase. That sale fell through, and after that we were able to take Yoda for a ride....ahem, drive...

 

I test drove a car they had on the lot, but when they didn't have the color and package I wanted, I made sure that they could deliver it and that I could test drive it before I put my final check on the table. I did, and it drove exactly like the one I test drove so I bought it right there, and picked it up a day later after they cleaned it.

 

The Prius was the first small car I could comfortably get into. I was almost 400lbs when I bought it. Funny thing is the car is addictive and I have lost 50lbs just since march when we got her.

maybe should have called her "cocaine"?

 

Funny, it was the first small car I fit in. I'm only 125 lbs, but I am 5'10. I wish that it had a telescoping wheel and also a seat that could be pushed down. Nonetheless, I still don't feel that I am looking through the top inch of windshield like I do in other small cars, and it seems very big inside with lots of leg room, etc.

 

I put my deposit down 3 weeks ago on a Prius with the Touring package, without having test driven both. I have driven by brothers 2007 Touring Prius. None of the dealers I visited had a Prius to testdrive.
When my brother bought his, a year ago he test drove both the Touring and Standard versions and told me how much better he liked the Touring models, people are at a big disadvantage without experiencing the differences for themselves, but I like the way his car handles, so I opted for the Touring version.
One thing that puzzled me was that none of the dealers made any attempts to talk me into another model car on their lots. With the large numbers of Corolla, Yaris, & Camry's on their lots, I was expecting that, but none of them tried to which was great.
C