48 hours before I went overseas I made an online enquiry about the new A4 Avant. It was approaching midnight and I was have late night sessions of proper beer....thought it would be interesting to compare with a 3 series when I return in March.
Next morning at 08:45 I was rudely awakened by local dealer offering a test drive. Keen or what. I intend to but at 3yo anyway so time wasting but still impressed by their Speedy contract.
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Fiat could do with taking a leaf out of Audi's book.
I originally contacted them to take a 24 hour test drive of a 500X on January 18th. They initially replied very quickly to ascertain which model I wanted to test and then told me that they would get back to me once they had sourced a car for me. I heard nothing until today when I received a phone call to book me in for a week on Sunday then, shortly afterwards they rang me back to say that they couldn't find the 2.0 diesel automatic that I wanted to test and would a 1.4 petrol manual be ok instead?
Do car manufacturers actually want us to buy their products? We're on our second Fiat and would happily have bought a third. However, after this fiasco I think we'll be looking elsewhere.
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We had a similar lousy experience with FIAT in August.
Mrs DP was really interested in an Abarth 500C, but not one FIAT dealer we contacted could offer us a test drive. The only 500C we could drive was a Twin Air which she didn't like at all. The test drive itself was a round the block affair in which the salesman basically sat there in complete silence.
She then walked into a MINI dealer to try a Cooper S Convertible. " Just give me 10 minutes to get the car brought round. Have a cup of coffee while you're waiting". She then said she needed to come back at the weekend with me and the kids to have another drive (and make sure we all fit). Salesman said "pick a time, whenever suits", and even offered to bring it to the house. We decided to go there as we were in the area anyway, and they couldn't have been more helpful. Another long test drive ("Here's a good bit of road, you can open it up here"), very knowledgeable on the product, and generally a great, easy experience.
Suffice to say, there's a MINI on the drive, not a FIAT.
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I think this is why German cars sell well - their dealers are, by-and-large, far more attentive to prospective customers than other brands. I mean what chance has yet another Alfa-Romeo relaunch, however good the cars?
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I couldn't help asking myself what the after sales care would be like if they couldn't be bothered to sell you the thing in the first place.
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>>I think this is why German cars sell well - their dealers are, by-and-large, far more >>attentive to prospective customers than other brands. I mean what chance has yet >>another Alfa-Romeo relaunch, however good the cars?
True, this - I had entered my details on the Vauxhall website as I get partners discount, within 10 minutes I got a call from the local dealers with an invitation to pop in an look at cars, go for a test drive etc.
On Tuesday I called the service centre of the same dealers to report a fault. They took details and promised to get the service manager to get back to me. They haven't got back yet!
I don't think I will buy another Vauxhall (see the small SUV tread for details of Mokka problems).
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>> I originally contacted them to take a 24 hour test drive of a 500X on
>> January 18th. They initially replied very quickly to ascertain which model I wanted to test
>> and then told me that they would get back to me once they had sourced
>> a car for me. I heard nothing until today when I received a phone call
>> to book me in for a week on Sunday then, shortly afterwards they rang me
>> back to say that they couldn't find the 2.0 diesel automatic that I wanted to
>> test and would a 1.4 petrol manual be ok instead?
>>
Similar story when we bought our Honda CR-V. We were intending to buy a 120bhp diesel but they could only offer us a 160bhp. However, we were at least given the keys and sent off on our own for as long as we liked. We were suitably impressed, but had some misgivings about whether the 120bhp would be adequate. The salesman assured us it would feel similar on the road, so we bought on trust. He was right and we're more than happy with it, 3 months and 11,000+km further on.
The VW dealer could only offer us a manual version of the Golf SV as well, although we were considering the DSG.
Last edited by: Mike H on Fri 29 Jan 16 at 15:38
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I found Audi dealers a mixed bag. When I bought my A4 cab first dealer would only offer a quick drive around the block with him - openly stated he was to busy for anything else and as it was on trade plates had to be accompanied.
Tried a smaller dealer a bit further out and they were very helpful. Excellent product knowledge, and sourced the model I was interested in from another branch for me to try for a day.
Nearly bought a punto 18 months ago - I get a decent discount through work and could have a decent spec punto for about 100 a month with no deposit. Dealer was hopeless, had no idea about spec levels etc. If they had found one in stock I would have ordered there and then, but it was all to difficult for them. No follow up until about a month later to ask if I was still looking.
Having recently moved to Lexus my experience of 2 dealers hasn't exactly been great though.
Beginning to think cars should just be sold at the cheapest price like a can of beans in a supermarket
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My only dealings with Audi dealers has been:
1. In 2000 I had two Audi A4's as temporary replacements to a stolen Golf. The bulb on one needed replacing and i went for a bulb... they insisted it was a job for them in the workshop and did it then and there. Did not charge me anything and didn't ask about lease company details either.
2. Borrowed a car for 72 hours to test drive in 2014 and I pointed out I probably couldn't get the car through them in the end (before I borrowed it)... they still let me have it for the long weekend. They will get to service it at most once before it gets returned.
3. Driving to Bracknell a few weeks ago, the dash flashed a warning to stop the car, turn off the engine and check the coolant. I did and it had gone down a fraction. Went to the Stoke Audi dealer which was close by and they checked it straight away, topped it up and told me to keep an eye on it. No leaks were found.
So I've had okay service. Not sure 3. is anything to worry about but it's not my car. It will have done 12000 miles soon with a service due in October.
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My driving instructor pal is on his second A3, and I think has just ordered its replacement. Current car, 62 plate 2.0 Tdi has 138k miles, his 59 plate run by his wife has 231k miles. The latter is being passed down the food chain to his son once he takes delivery of new one. He uses a small dealer at Lindale who have given him good service.
He takes it in for a service early sat am, collect a nice courtesy car for the weekend, then picks it up Monday am.
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3. Driving to Bracknell a few weeks ago, the dash flashed a warning to stop the car...
...Not sure 3. is anything to worry about...
No. Sound advice.
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I've not had a new car that's actually lost coolant before. But with long life servicing maybe you need to occasionally top up things like coolant. I know we should all keep an eye on levels other than oil.
The Audi technician that dealt with my car looked 13.
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Had to top up the oil in my A3 a few weeks ago after the warning light came on; never had to do that in any previous car (it's not had its 1st service yet).
Audi dealers were very helpful when I was looking at potential company cars, even when I told them my situation. The Ford dealer I went to wasn't.
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Only car I've had since Thatcher was PM that needed oil between services was a Vauxhall Signum. That genuinely did have bits that randomly "fell off" too.
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Audi - New A4 - Badwolf
