[TROOPER]

1. Dad bought the 1993 Maruti 800 in December 93, no test drive.

2. Then he bought our current Swift Dzire Vxi in 2010, with around 3 month waiting period in December 2010. I was just 16 then and not much of my opinion made a difference and this was car was selling like hot cakes, so I guess my Dad's attitude must have been like 'What test drive? Kaiko?'

At Wilson Point, Mahabaleshwar. My first road trip with friends in Jan 2014

Currently planning on our next purchase and will definitely test drive the Hexa, Seltos and Harrier. Coincidentally, even this will happen in the Dec-Jan period.

[naveen.raju]

1) Bajaj Pulsar:
Didn't even see the bike in person. Asked my dad to confirm the booking and it was shipped to my location. That's was when I first drove it.

2) Hyundai Creta:
Yes, didn't test drive it. Knew the engine was among the best, had all that I missed and went ahead with the comments from my friends and relatives who test drove it. Here are some excerpts from my ownership report.

July 11th – July 14th
By now, I was completely focused on the Creta and was glued to the TeamBHP thread but wife was not willing to part ways with the ecosport. She was in love with it and my idea on getting the creta wasn’t encouraged by her. Although she liked the Creta, this new car thingy was not to her liking, the reason being the ecosport was not even 2 years old. Few days into the week and she agreed to book the car. This was purely on the condition that if the price was beyond our budget, we would cancel it. Learned the hard way during the ecosport booking experience. We had booked after the price launch and we were late. This proved to be costly as many had already booked and we had to wait for 2 months. So didn’t want to go through that phase again, so decided to pre-book the car.

July 15th
Paid 50k advance and finished all the formalities. Opted for the 1.6D SX(O) white. As the expected price was within 15L, we decided to go for the top end. Went to the yard and showed the car to my wife. Although she said it was similar to the ecosport, she liked the size and the front grille of the car. Of all the things, she loved the 17” alloys the most. Anyways, she gave the green signal and the wait for the price began.

July 16th – July 21st
Countless sleepless nights later , D day arrived. When the price was announced, I was kind of disappointed. 13.6L ex showroom and I knew it would come close to 15L although that was the budget I had in mind. I expected it to be priced a bit lower. Called up my SA and he confirmed that the on road price would be ready later that day. The on road came to 15.92L for the SX(O), 1L beyond my budget. Then planned to go for the lower variant, SX+ but wife wasn’t too keen on that. Went for the launch at the dealership and was asked for the final decision. We then confirmed on the SX(O). Now the wait for the car started, The SA knowing me really well knew I would pester him daily,he immediately gave the delivery date as any day between Aug 1st to Aug 15th.

Got a call on 24th July saying that the vehicle has been allotted and delivery will be on 29th July. Well, that was some good news. I decided to do the PDI on 28th evening. Got to see my beauty for the first time. Odo read 30kms.

[VWAllstar]

Test drove Polo GT TSI, Ameo and even the normal Polo petrol 1.2 and went ahead and booked Vento 1.6 MPI. Regret it but never mind, it is a reliable car from a VW stable.

[boniver]

When I got my first car in November '18, I didn't know how to drive and dad was too busy to help me out. Saw an ad, checked the car out, paid on the spot and got the seller to drive the car to my place (and even park it) while I followed on my bike. Of course, I had read enough on Team-BHP and had watched a lot of ChrisFix's videos so I checked everything physically and sat beside the owner while he drove (to check for unusual noises). Over the next week, I learnt how to drive in that car, and I was pleasantly surprised and immensely lucky that my gamble had paid off. The car was M-I-N-T!

Attaching two photos of my reliable companion that I took today:

[avinash_m]

The first ever brand new (family) car, a Maruti 800 back in 96, was actually bought without a test drive. It was the first car I ever drove (on road) as well. The Amby and Padmini, prior to the 800, were pre-owned and were used as a stepping stone - to get the 'feel' of the drivers' seat, while dad wasn't watching!

[Durango Dude]

Cool thread, indeed. I suggest you put it up for vote. I've TDed all the cars, I've owned. Have never bought a car without a TD.

[keshav1426]

Booked my new Ertiga April 2019 zxi+ without a test drive, I had the earlier version so knew what to expect. Some 3 months later and I bought my Interceptor 650 without a test ride . No regrets on both my purchases. In fact I got more than what I expected.

[kauphylover]

I've test driven both the bikes I bought (Apache 180 and the Interceptor). I test drove a few cars for my parents and we finally decided on an i10 (no regrets, it's worked out well so far). I'm currently driving my dad's type 2 Honda City 2001 (which, iirc, he bought without test driving! I know he considered the Lancer as well). I'm sort of in the process of finding a replacement for the City and have test driven 3 cars. Some more test drives to go before I decide! I can't imagine buying a car without test driving!

[Nikhilb2008]

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-...s-45k-kms.html

To quote from my original ownership thread:

Prologue:

On the 10th of August, while returning from Coimbatore, my Civic developed a coolant leak. The entire saga can be read here: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...ml#post4250389. After this, I realized that time was running out for the Civic as a reliable daily driver. The car had seen 1,80,000 kms and a very small percentage of that was easy on the car!

Coincidentally, on the same day, Skoda India held a technical briefing about the specs of the new vRS. So, when I started thinking about getting a new car, this was at the top of my mind. If not for all auto blogs, forums and auto enthusiasts talking about the vRS, I would have decided on the Elantra 2.0 Petrol A/T and been happy with my choice. It’s not a comparison but two totally different cars. Hyundai would have been reliable, I have experienced fantastic service from Trident Hyundai in Bangalore, the car is extremely comfortable, loaded to the gills with all the features you can want(including ventilated seats! My absolute favourite!) and the 2.0 Petrol is a decent enough performer on the roads. The handling too is very un-Hyundai like.

The Civic would have become a full fledged project car. As of now, we have kept the boost low, are on stock internals, in the interest of reliability. My car simply CANNOT break down on me when I’m driving to Chennai at 5 in the morning for a 10:00 am appointment at Koyambedu. And the car has never given me a problem. Coincidentally, the only two times it troubled me on the highway were on my drives with friends. Not when I was on work. So, coming back, since the interwebz was full of vRS related news, I decided to enquire at the very least.

The beginnings:

My friend put me in touch with Shibin. Shibin of Head Over Wheels is a known and trusted face/name in the VAG community in Bangalore. He’s the authorized Pete’s representative in Bangalore and is famous for his VAG car mods along with the ceramic coating he does on mostly high end and luxury cars. He also has some good contacts at TAFE Access Limited, one of the two dealers in Bangalore.

Pre-Sales and Sales:

Got in touch with Reji James. He is the Sales Manager for the Hosur Road TAFE Access showroom. He is a very nice person to interact with. Throughout the three weeks that I was in touch with him, I enjoyed my interaction. He was always prompt. In case he didn’t pick up my call, he always called me back. I never had to chase him for anything. Messages were replied to promptly as well. Unfortunately, I never got to meet this gentleman as he was busy on the day of the delivery and didn’t come to the St Marks Road showroom. I was very keen on getting the Race Blue and he ensured I got the colour of my choice. I supported him by ensuring that the payments from my side were made on time.

I also interacted a little bit with Mr Jose Thomas who is the head of Sales and Marketing for Tafe. He is a very polished, polite gentleman on the phone who started by apologizing for not replying to my emails. The emails were sent by me to him and a couple of other people at TAFE and Skoda India about the delivery date of my car. There were some plans to deliver my car on the 2nd of September which was unacceptable to me for multiple reasons. So, I sent a mail to him which went unanswered. Then I sent another reminder mail which also went unanswered. This point was rendered moot as he called me personally and his soft, polite approach totally calmed me down and I ended up apologizing to him in case I was a bit harsh or rude in my excitement!

He was on top of everything and when he committed to let me know something at a certain time, he did. He even called me back once I got the car and asked for my feedback regarding the delivery process and if there was anything else he could do to help me out. I thoroughly enjoyed this pre sales and sales experience at TAFE. There’s a statement I never thought I’d make, given Skoda’s reputation!

Bought the car completely blind. No PDI either. The first time I laid eyes on the car was when I went to the small garage area behind the main showroom on St Marks Road to see the car. The guys were still cleaning the car but I didnt care!

I had paid the entire amount of Rs 31 lakhs even before I entered the dealership! Forget about test driving the car, I never signed a single document, met a single person or even visited the showroom! That's how blind it was.

Two years later, I have no reason to regret. The guys at TAFE have reciprocated my feelings and have taken good care of me, my car and my friends' cars over the years.

[duke]

My most recent purchase, the Innova Crysta was done without a test drive. The very puzzled sales advisor was quite sceptical if I was serious and finally asked me to sign a test drive sheet during the sale as their software would not permit them to go to the next screen to enter the sales data (VIN, date of purchase, etc.) after entering the customer data if a test drive was not completed. 😂😂

[akshays]

Immediate 4 cars - currently booked i20 Elite Magna, fortnight back delivered Honda City VMT, 2015 bought Tata Nano XTA and my sold 2010 Ford Figo diesel, all bought without a test drive. Perhaps it was all purchased after intense research

[Abhi_abarth]

Yes, I did.

Yamaha Rx 100 (2003-2007) : No words to express. After fanatically searching some good bikes bought the bike without a blink. No regrets

Honda Unicorn (2007-2017) : The alloy version was just launched and I was so much in love with this bike. As with the case with all two wheeler dealers at that time they used to laugh at the request of a test ride. I couldn't get a test ride but yes I didn't regret the decision for the entire 10 years that I had her with me.

Suzuki Access (2012 till present) : Again, no test ride. This time it was my choice as I wanted to buy a scooter which is more powerful and just not an Activa. Don't regret the decision though. She has been the families workhorse and might retire soon.

Palio S10 (2015 - 2016) : Such was my craze for fiats that I went all the way to Raichur and bought a 2002 S10 without even a test drive. Couldn't keep the car for long time for obvious reasons. Had to shell off close to 50 K in less than 6 months after the purchase. Tough lesson learnt.

Fiat Uno (2010-2012) : Was my friend's car. This is when I just learnt driving and wanted a beater car. No test drive, just bought it for 60 K.

A funny phenomenon, vehicles I have test ridden/driven (except the Baleno) so far couldn't make it to my garage and those I didn't did make it. (test drove 3 t-jets and the deals failed at the last moment when the owners backed out. I guess I made them realize what a magnificent machine it was)

[StarrySky]

No, I haven't got any car without first test-driving it. But of course, I haven't always managed to test-drive the exact variant of the car that I was planning to get.

[Rahul Rao]

Till date I've had 19 cars, and two cars that is my second Innova in 2008, and my ecosport were purchased without test drive.
In case of Innova, I already had a 2005 one, only thing added in 2008 was intercooler which would only be an improvement, and decision for replacing the 1.9 Lakh km run Innova had been made, and other options were not within our budget.

The second the Ecosport was also purchased without a test drive. The reason was that the car would be predominantly driven by my dad, Upright seating was necessary, Automatic was necessary, online reviews including Team BHP were good, and in 2014 Ecosport was the only option. What use would a test drive have made.


Rahul

[sharad_kmc]

Bought my first car an i20 Magna with no test drive. To top it off committed the sacrilege of opting for the home delivery with no PDI of the new vehicle. This was way back in 2009.