Lexus totally changed the Luxury car market in 1989, the cars were so much better than the top German marquess. And at a base price of $36000 for an LS400, a great deal. The 6 cylinder ‘90 S class had an MSRP of $72,000, exactly double the V8 Lexus. And then they gave a company called JDPower a nice gift and contracted with them to survey every buyer and began the now industry wide practice of measuring owner satisfaction with the purchase and the first few years of ownership satisfaction. I remember when Range Rover started surveying they owners and the scores were about 25% of what Lexus owners rated their cars at

 

Can't drive it until you buy it? What BS is that? I agree with all that you say regarding fit, materials, performance, etc. I wouldn't even consider buying a car that I couldn't test drive...

 

I've bought and helped buy many cars, I have never really had an issue with any new or used dealer past then getting intimidated since I know how the finances side works. They are only there to transfer papers as there is nothing they know about the car that I don't

 

Ya, I can see a Ferrari dealer holding firm with no test drives but the rest of the new car dealers usually use the test drive as part of their “steps to the sale”. People are going to pay more after getting a test drive

 

Usually if a dealer has a special vehicle on the lot, they will want to make sure terms are agreeable before a test drive but I have never seen one that refused any test drive before u buy it. Must be really hard to get and they are expecting someone to just buy it over the phone or something

 

Going through a bad sales experience now. My partner ordered a F250 through our business and it came in last week. Went to do the paperwork Friday as a lease and the salesman says you can’t lease a F250 even though for the last couple months while we ordered the truck all we have been taking about is leasing. He goes to ask about it and turns out you can lease and shows us the lease rates which are terrible so we then look to buy and he says it should be around 2-3% interest rate on the loan. He leaves and comes back with what he says will be high single digit interest, to which I say, so around 9%? He says yes and I say no way. Call my bank and they say about 2.49% but they need a couple days because they are closed until Monday. Still working on the deal and I swear the games they are playing are annoying and we are paying MSRP!

 

That would be am inexperienced salesman. Usually they know what kind of terms are available. Leases are no longer the bargain that was once possible. Banks have had some serious losses over the years with optimistic residual values. Since the financial Crisis of '08, very few Banks offer leases. And onoy a few manufacturer finance companies still offer them. The tax incentives for a business vehicle can make them a good deal even if the terms aren't the best. But usually this stuff is covered when you order the vehicle, and they leave some wiggle room, and then lock everything down when it leaves the factory, and u still have to wait a few weeks before the vehicle is actually there. They want to make sure you understand the terms before ordering it, so they don't get stuck with some special order that will be hard to sell if the deal falls through.

 

This is completely untrue. It’s true that few private banks offer leases anymore, but EVERY manufacturers finance arm offers leasing, not “just a few”. 60%+ of luxury cars are leased.

 

That sounds like an accurate number a decade ago, but it sounds pretty high in the current market. I was working at a Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealer in 2016 and during that year Chrysler Financial did not offer any lease on any new vehicle. Certainly this could have changed but it seems like the way the market is right now, with the future values being extremely unpredictable, I would think fewet lenders would be interested in the exposure. Maybe they offering them technically but they set a money factor so high that nobody is ever going to want to pay it.

 

I lease a new car every 2 years or so, and I help people negotiate leases for fun. Again, totally not true, every manufacturer has leases, including Chrysler. I have leased 4 Chryslers, as recently as July 2020 for my current Pacifica and I have gotten lease quotes for a new Jeep Grand Cherokee as recently as last month. Chrysler Financial only started doing leases around 2017, but before that Chrysler did leases through Ally Financial (which they still can do). I leased Jeeps in 2011 and 2014 through Ally.

Just completely false.

 

I'm pretty sure this is more about the BRZ, and people coming in to joy ride it without being serious, than the dealer's overall policy. Call them again and tell them you want to test drive an Impreza and see what they say. Every car dealer I have ever dealt with asks me in the first engagement "Have you driven it yet?"

 

If you go in and they see you and meet you, they will let you drive it. It’s the fact that you’re just somebody on the phone just looking for a drive.

 

I should be able to call and say "I want to come in Thursday for a test drive" without having to sign a purchase order. I want an appointment so I don't have to wait around the dealership.

 

They get a ton of people that want to go drive these cars with no intention of buying one. I don’t blame them for dissuading people on the phone. Just go meet them and show them you’re a real
person.

 

About a quarter of all cars are leased, across all brands and categories. That jumps to around 60% for luxury brands. Here's some stats from 2019: