[SoumenD]

Our first car Maruti Estilo was bought without any test drive back in 2010. Was gifting it to dad who was in a different town in Jharkhand while I was in bangalore. His only requirements were 'Has to be a Maruti' & 'should be comfortable for his height'. Both prospective drivers(brother & dad) are 5'10". Alto was ruled out because of the height & Wagon-R was too boxy. Not that Estilo was any beauty pageant winner but the 2010 facelift(BS-IV version) looked slightly better than the initial version. Whole process took just 2-3 days and the car was home. One helping factor was that the SA was our relative so we didn't expect any unruly surprises. It served us well for 8.5 years and 40,000kms without any issues, post which had to exchange it(with a heavy heart) for an automatic.

My first bike was also bought with a small 2 kms test ride back in 2007. Apache RTR160. And it has been a splendid ownership till date. Running strong even after 12 years. Kudos to TVS quality

[xway]

Yes, I had already researched aplenty, infact it was the time when i became a t-bhp fan.
All details, pictures, comparisions, performance, pros and cons were listed in here which seemed very fair and unbiased.

It was already decided which car I will buy based on all this information I had in hand, rest was just a formality to go and book. No, I did not take a test drive but did compare the feel of the car in person and compared models variants before deciding on the exact variant to purchase.

[Kosfactor]

While many of us BHPians give advice to large population of general public in terms of a vehicle purchase, it's surprising to see a lot of them did not bother a test drive many a times - myself included!!

My last purchase in 2018 was without a test drive, I have not even traveled in the vehicle as a passenger as well. The decision was to surprise myself, in my mind I'm so familiar with the vehicle as it is a childhood dream to have my own Jeep (Thar CRDe). The only new car feel I'm going to have with this was the driving experience, so why let the test drive spoil it?

I drove the vehicle home smiling, receiving thumbs-up from strangers on the road all the way home. It's my daily drive now - what a machine.

I have to admit, there was a bit of fear in my mind that I might find the vehicle too crude If I had taken a test drive , silly if me I realize now.

[pahwa]

Bought a celerio in 2014. Booked on launch when A-Star was phasing out. Needed an automatic and didnt have any other option. AMT was new and it was a risk but not so big.

Took the bullet and drove the car only after delivery. No regrets till date!!

[KPR]

My first bike Yamaha Libero G5 in 2007 - without test drive. In fact after delivering my bike (last unsold bike in his stock), the very next week the dealer closed his shop forever. Those were days when Yamaha was caught in the conundrum of RX series out of market and FZ yet to arrive. Still the bike is running like a gem for local errands.

My first car was the first Ecru Beige - Alto 800 in 2009 - without test drive. I went to the showroom for obtaining quotations of M-800 and Alto-800. Sales executive showed me the first Ecru Beige Alto in the city just unloaded from a trailer. Booked that car instantaneously. Later sold that car in 2012. At that time the colour was so unique for an Alto.

Both the purchases I was not confident enough to drive as they were firsts in my life. So there was no question of test drive even if they had insisted me to drive .

[imidnightmare]

Bought two that way - sort of. The Honda City and the Honda Brio.

In 2009, I owned an Esteem I wanted to change. Budget etc. considered, it actually made no sense to TD anything as the City was the only car that ticked all the boxes. Walked into the showroom next to my home, negotiated, made the payment and that was that.

In 2013, similarly, the Brio was the only car that made sense. To be fair, I'd driven the i20 and i30 ATs and knew that the AT sucked in Hyundais. The only other existing options for hatches were Maruti's bunch of no-hopers with horrid ATs and build. Read that the Brio was launching with the City's AT box and just went and booked one in advance of anything.

Haven't regretted either choice.

[jusgetgoing]

Originally Posted by GTO

That being said, I have to admit that I've bought two cars without a test-drive. Have you?

Yes. Bike and car.

My second bike, the RE Machismo A350 - I had never ridden a Bullet in my life, my father said this was the bike to buy. 19 years back, it was. Rode, got used to the right side gear shift after the showroom guys delivered the bike home. It served me well and I have never regretted it.

My first car, the Swift VDi. I had an Esteem Diesel and the Service Advisor was raving about the revolutionary DDiS engine in the Swift back in 2006. Booked one without taking a test drive. I got the one from first lot and this served me well too.

[yogeshsom29]

Never gave a thought that, of the 7 cars I have owned, I have TDed only 3 of them & in that too ended up buying cars either with different body shell or with a different engine

•M 800 (Preowned) – My Driving school Tutor did the TD as I was too naïve to understand anything as had just learned driving then. No regrets as actually honed my driving skills on this & the car rarely disappointed me on any front.

•Wagon R (Preowned) – Did the TD but was still fairly new to automotive world minus the TBHP insights – was royally duped as I was sold on the upkeep of the car but mechanicals were screwed which I could not make out in TD.

•Palio (Preowned) – no TD, purchased it form a fellow BHPian & the way it was kept was enough for me to seal the deal. It turned out to best decision & had amazing ownership of the car

•Accent (Preowned) – No TD as knew what I was getting into – No regrets

•Getz Prime 1.1 (Preowned) – No TD as the car was in workshop for touch ups when I went to check out but now I was armed with better sense of automotive world & was able to make sense of what’s happening under the hood as it was idling. Also, what helped was complete history of the car was available – No regrets as it served well for 4 year before I parted ways.

•New Figo (2015) – Was sold on the design language & booked it on launch. Had TDed the Aspire but ended up buying Figo – Had good times, lot of long drives with no regret what so ever.

•WRV (2018) – Tded the petrol, found it uninspiring & it reinforced what I read on TBHP & booked a diesel purely going by the engine review here.

Infact I have better hit ratio of friends & family buying cars basis my TD impressions

[tirumalavoleti]

I have a somewhat bad experience of buying a car with out test drive.

I was looking for a good hatch to replace my Alto and considered i20 and did a test drive too. I liked the car but could not afford even the middle variant.

Considering the same petrol engine in i10 and took i10 with out test drive as I was coming from Alto. It was not a good decision at all. I liked i10 car practicality and city drives, but its not for my driving like on highways. I like more road grip and never got it from i10

[Aqua]

When I bought my current car Elite i20, I had already decided that I am going to buy this car. No other option was considered. Only the variant was decided when I went to the showroom.


I had the i10 and was happy with it, so did not take a TD for i20.

[rulerofsun]

Yes. Bought my First Automatic Scooter Kinetic Honda (1994)DX and learnt to ride on it after it was delivered home by the mechanic.

Bought the Jelly Bean Zen (1995). This was before the versions came out. Loved it.

Dad, bought the Tata estate without any test drive, just because it was the only estate car available at that time and could ferry my dog (Great Dane) easily as compared to other cars.

Regards
RoS

[palsaumik]

Now that you have bought up the topic - my answer is a big YES! In fact, all my 2W and 4W purchases till date have been without initial test drives - and there's a reason to it. I, most of the times, follow heart over mind in my purchases.

Bajaj Discover (2005) - Back in 2005 when I bought my first 2-wheeler with my second salary, I was already in love with it since I had seen the ads on TV with Jackie Chan doing stunts over it. I was head over heels and I knew that if I ever bought my own bike, this would be it. So, when the opportunity came, I booked it at Khivraj Bajaj and then went for a customary test ride.

Suzuki Swish (2010) - One of my colleagues had expressed his interest over this scooty and I very much liked the overall sharpness of the design (in my view). Went over to Dolphin Suzuki, booked the scooty and went home. Got the scooty after 1 week and I had a full glee moment (considering the simplicity of riding a scooty) as I had never ridden a scooty before.

TVS Scooty Pep+ (2014) - Wifey needed a low-seating scooty for her city commutes. After quite a bit of online research, I finalized this one, went to the showroom and booked it in flat 30 mins. No test rides taken. Came back after 3 days for delivery.

Honda Brio (2014) - People usually do a lot of R&D before purchasing their first car, but I was sure about two things in this case - brand and budget. I loved Honda brand for high-quality engineering and it perfectly fitted by pocket at 5.15 OTR Bengaluru. So, went to Whitefield Honda, explored the interiors, negotiated hard with the Sales Rep and booked it on the spot. No test rides taken. It was delivered in 3-4 weeks.

Honda Hornet (2018) - Once on my way to office, I saw a guy riding one and that is when I liked it very much - especially the wide rear tire. The bike also seemed to pull really well as soon as the signal turned Green. I was green with envy and within a month, walked in to Saffire Honda, booked it and went home (as usual). Bike delivered in 7 days and went for a long ride immediately out of the showroom.

For all of my above purchases, I was always sure on two things - design and budget. I get carried away by design first always. If the design is to my liking, then there's no looking back. I am ok to flex my budget a bit to bring home the chosen 2W or 4W that I have gotten hooked to. From then on, there's no looking back. I just go and buy. And trust me, I have not regretted even once (touch wood).

[lambodara]

Yes, two bikes, Pulsar 180 (2005) and Honda Fireblade. (2009)
But not anymore. I test drove several cars before we decided on Skoda Superb.
To get to know the car, I believe a full day drive is necessary which no dealer provides. The longest test drive I've ever had was of Audi A7(around 2 hrs) and that's the best car I've driven ever !

[Chhanda Das]

Yes, we got our 2017 Creta Petrol AT without a test drive but we had done about a year and a half of research to compensate for the lack of a test drive. Touchwood, I have had no reason to regret my decision.

[ash22]

Yes, Indeed. At that time (around 2006-2007) we were looking for replacement for our ‘97 Zen, Our only requirement was a small car with power steering and better AC. We enquired nearby Maruthi showroom by phone to check for the better replacement. Who ever took the call there, suggested Alto 800. Next day we went to Maruthi showroom, booked Alto 800 and car was delivered in next 5 days.
DONE.