theiceman

On my car I never test drove it. Felt I didn't need to and would not gain anything from it. I had it put up on a hoist. checked it carefully mechanically and for body panel clearances , saw it had a few issues and was done, a risk ? yes ! . Everybody is different but I have enough confidence in my diagnosis skills to determine if it had any serious problems. turned out it was a great buy and has been a great car.
Personally I never drive other peoples cars , and I never offer to have them drive mine.. the 4th- 5th shift can br tricky on a 915 if you don't know it (even if you do ) , and I would hate to have a friend do that miss shift .. that would be just awful.
As far as wives go my wife will go no where near it. She knows what the car means to me and ( As a hobby moe than a chunk of steel ) and would hate to have anything happen .

flatsixnut

If I did not stop her when I did, I would have been replacing the clutch the next day. I hate it when people make the statement like "its not an exotic", "its only a 911", or the most stupid one.."its only a car". ....My answer to that is not hardly.
My wife has a very nice SUV (worth a lot more than my 911), I have a very nice truck for my daily use. The "911" is my toy, my hobby, my passion..etc. It is not meant for anyone else but me. That is not a snob statement...hardly. Perhaps you can afford to let whomever drive your 911 when you get one.....but I sure as hell can not afford to buy a clutch every time my wife would want to drive the car. With a $10,000 budget to buy a 911...you cant either.

GeneralTso

4th-5th is easy.... Shifting down from 5th to 4th is scary though! I'm always afraid I'll find 2nd instead of 4th at 80MPH...

theiceman

never done that one .... but now you have put the thought it my mind ...

GothingNC

I test drove about 12 Porsche's before I picked mine.

The road test allowed my to check the brakes, clutch, steering feel, firewall flex, handling, wheel balance, alignment, acceleration, rattles etc.

John

Auto_Werks 3.6

In direct response to the topic of the thread. I would not have bought either of the two 911's I have owned if I could not have driven them. The first was an '83 911 SC that I only looked at because all the 944 Turbos that I had seen (about 6) were complete junk, and I wanted to see how an SC stacked up. The car was waaay nicer than any 944 I had looked at, but I wasnt hooked until he had me drive the car. The second 911 is a much more complex story, but the short of the long is that I wasn't even looking to upgrade my SC until the seller (a friend of a friend) asked me to drive the car as an evaluation. I decided quickly that it was time to upgrade.

To digress, I am a firm believer that ANY car is just a car.. Unless you built / rebuilt the car by hand, or the car was passed down to you through the family (and perhaps some other rare circumstances). To be more blunt, all the used 911's we drive are cars that for the most part the previous owner became bored of, or could no longer afford to keep (financial or family matters.. whatever). Im not afraid to let people drive my cars who demonstrate a knowlege of operating macinery respectfully. Now, you may not WANT to share your hobbies and passions with close friends and loved ones, and that is totally up to you...

CT944

I didn't test drive mine before I bought it. If I were ever to sell my car, I would only let someone who has driven one before drive it.

I consider myself a good 5-speed driver, having owned M3's, 944's, 5.0's, etc and it even took me a good 2 days to not grind a gear when driving around town.

GothingNC

I had no problem adapting to the 915 transmision shifting since I was used to driving air-cooled VW's with worn shift bushings and non-functioning reverse lock-out and a few trips with a fully loaded manual gearbox U-haul truck.

John

PeterRT

When I was looking for mine I was offered a test drive every single time without asking for it. Wouldn't buy a car without driving it first.

psychoideas

I just don't believe it's worth the risk. It's too easy to go from 'Trying to sell a car' to ' Having to buy a gearbox before trying to sell a car.'

It's fine to think, "Nothing will happen." But I suppose that's what all the people killed in road accidents thought before they went for their last drive..................

gerry100

It really comes down to the buyer.

I bought the 3rd 911 I looked at and was offered a drive in each one( one owner jump started the car, gave me the keys and sent me off by myself). I never once asked to drive.

True car people repsect the machinery and gently dirve any strange vehicle until they get a feel for it and even then don't abuse it. These people are little danger to even a 915 car. If one of these show up and show some commitment to buying a car( like spending to time to ask questions and crawl around on the ground doing an inspection) you are probably OK.

True ( fill in the blank) show up and are eager to drive, mash the pedal and show how manly they can be with the gear shift. This is an extreme.

If I ever attempt to sell my car to a private buyer I'll want to see a lot of inspection and answer a lot of questions before they even get in the car, let alone drive. If they are a good passenger, I might make the offer.

Anyone who pushes to short circuit the process is likely a joy rider.