StormRune

I agree with all of the other responses, but let's look at the advantage from your point of view. Once you find the car you'd like, you'll know that they discouraged other drivers from abusing the car during their test drives. You now know that these guys try to take care of the cars under their care. You'll feel better about the car you pick.

Collin Chapin

I did specifically say I was NOT hitting the rev limiter in fact I wasn't even taking it to redline.

Its easy to attack someone on a forum when you dont actually read what they said isn't it?

Collin Chapin

True, at the same time, most of the buyers guides I have read have specifically recommended a WOT run in second or third to make sure there are no issues. For this reason I have requested this on my test drives.

StormRune

Oh yes, I think we all certainly agree that WOT stints in a fully warmed up car are necessary as part of the test drive. If they were commenting about that, done in the right place and time, then you have something to be surprised about.

user 72902

Another possibility is that the sales person might not be comfortable sitting in a high performance car with a stranger driving aggressively.

Collin Chapin

Its possible but I happen to know both salesman very well and they both offered to let me drive other cars after which made me think what I did was fine but "not recommended" and that's why I had to ask.

Mikeisen

The Porsche dealer near me lets me take the cars out unaccompanied. I doubt I'm the only one they let do this. Anyone else have this type of experience?

malexgcab

I test drove a 997.2 and 991 unaccompanied.

Robocop305

Most demo cars are cold and take a while to warm up. It will probably take longer to warm up than the test drive.

FullThrottle64

Interesting. The last few I've demo-driven at the local dealership were warmed up before I got in them - clearly intentionally by the salesman ("prepping it to test", IIRC).

I have never been given any pushback on "spirited driving" by a P-car salesman, and have definitely approached the redline more than once - and pushed the handling limits, as well. I'd bet that how you do it is as important as what you're doing - if you give the appearance of "controlled testing" rather than "flogging", you probably get more leeway.

Ford/Chevy salesmen don't seem to be expecting us to test the limits, though - I've gotten some interesting responses to my test driving style.....

Macster

My local dealer has offered to let me take car out, once or twice, but I've declined though with thanks. Not really interested in test driving a car I'm not in the market or mood to buy.

Collin Chapin

Yes in this case I drove two cars, the first was warmed up and the second was not.

sjfehr

I'd chock this up to the dealer not being familiar with your skill level, and not wanting to risk damage to the car on a test-drive. Because there is absolutely nothing wrong with revving right to the redline on a warm engine, nor is there anything wrong with doing it repeatedly. There is nothing sweeter than the sound and the feeling of an H6 revving past 7000rpm! In fact, if you're not doing red-line shifts multiple times in rapid succession every time you drive the car, you might as well have just bought a prius

It's really tough to actually test the limits on these cars, though, just because the limits are so high; not to mention that it's not really safe or prudent to test the limits of ANY car on public roads. Porsche dealers really need a closed track or at least an autocross pad in the back of the lot to let people push these cars on.

Last two cars I test drove (GTS, 981), the dealer tossed me the keys and said "have fun". Which was especially surprising considering I could no way even come close to affording a $125k GTS... though after driving it, I was about ready to mortgage my house for it, lol

Collin Chapin

Thank you for confirming what I thought. What was funny to me is shortly after the first guy made a comment about it he was giving me a hard time for not going FAST ENOUGH!

He would tell me to "get on it" around the turns and when I told him I was nervous about losing control his exact words were "dude we take these cars to the track and do stupid ****, have fun!"

It was odd to me that one minute he was telling me not to push it and the next he was, so I was curious if there was an actual issue with me going close to redline.

From most of what everyone is saying, what I did was fine, although it would have obviously been best if it had been in my own car.

englebert

Of course it's fine, and shouldn't put you off buying one! Modern engine oils mean you can thrash it from cold if you want, but most enthusiasts - myself included owners treasure there cars and like to think they're taking care of them. However my race engineer, quite justifiably, will happily rev his cars from cold because he has a better understanding of modern engineering that i ever will!