[bblost]

I was test driving the Honda Amaze diesel.

The car is very responsive and lurches forward when releasing the clutch in second gear. I asked the salesman if this would result in premature wearing out of the brakes.

He assured me that the car was equipped with anti braking system that sees to it that the brakes are never applied with excessive tightness.

[scopriobharath]

Originally Posted by bblost

I was test driving the Honda Amaze diesel.

The car is very responsive and lurches forward when releasing the clutch in second gear. I asked the salesman if this would result in premature wearing out of the brakes.

He assured me that the car was equipped with anti braking system that sees to it that the brakes are never applied with excessive tightness.

I guess he meant Anti-lock / anit skid braking right ?

Anti Brakes : -. What does he think - He thinks we all are morons

[saket77]

Originally Posted by scopriobharath

I guess he meant Anti-lock / anit skid braking right ?

Anti Brakes : -. What does he think - He thinks we all are morons

Actually, I would differ on this. Often the term 'anti braking system' is used in place of anti-lock braking system.
Also there have been some print ads by manufacturers too stating 'anti-braking system'.

Regards,
Saket

[mallumowgli]

Originally Posted by saket77

Actually, I would differ on this. Often the term 'anti braking system' is used in place of anti-lock braking system.
Also there have been some print ads by manufacturers too stating 'anti-braking system'.

Regards,
Saket

Hope you dont think that the term 'anti braking system' can be used in place of 'anti-lock braking system' !! They are either typo-errors or howlers from the marketing and ad-copywriters

[raj_5004]

Originally Posted by DWind

I feel we should concentrate on the Mahindra, the company's idiocy in designing such a contraption with no forethought instead of SR. The SR was just selling what the company wanted him to sell (an MUV under 4M with seven seats). Full Marks to the SR for at least coming up with an answer which will convince most (except us) saying "Stephanie" will save you.

Why just target M&M then?

Which of the 7 seater SUVs out there are safe, including the Tavera, Sumo, Safari, Innova, Fortuner, Endeavour, etc.? Forward facing seats do not make it much safer, does it?

Any person who cares about safety in these SUVs/MUVs have the option of not using those seats and keep them safely folded. But there are times when there is a need to lug around 7 people and the bitter truth is, safety is the last thing that crosses our minds when we do that... Ask any honest owner.

P.S.: We never use the 3rd row in our XUV! It is always folded down.

[tharian]

Well, this happened at a VW outlet with the Sales Consultant when I went to check out the GT TSI .
I was trying to make conversation during the test and asked the sales guy does the car have ABS and EBD. What I meant to ask was ESP and not EBD actually which later I corrected to ESP for which he said, ' its not ESP, it has EPS.'
I did not respond and later the evaluator was checking my Figo 1.2 and opened the hood and saw the Cold Air Intake. The same sales guy as before started talking about the snorkel intake on SUV's and jeep's that he had seen and thought its the same thing!
I explained to him the difference since I really could not ignore that.

[gaurav911]

This incident happened a few days back when I had accompanied my friend for a test drive of the Renault Duster.
The sales executive was a young enthusiastic chap and ended up making 3 brilliant 'remarks' (comedies).
Now during the test drive, my friend was driving the Duster Diesel (110bhp RXZ) with the sales executive sitting in the passenger seat as I had opted to test the rear seat comfort and was thus sitting behind the driver.

Brilliance-1
I struck a conversation and asked the sales guy- "Is there a turbo lag in the 85 bhp version of the Duster?"
Answer: Yes sir, both the engines of the Duster have lots of turbo lag so you will enjoy driving. (Saying this he beamed proudly.)

Brilliance-2
Now, hearing this my friend actually gave him a stare and then asked "At what rpm does the turbo kick in"?
Answer: Arrey sir, turbo wala hi engine hai (it is a turbo engine) and Renault has included rpm counter (tachometer) in all models. So you can see that when you start your car, rpm needle moves - matlab turbo engine shuru ho gaya (it means that the turbo-engine has started/fired up)!

Hearing this I was barely able to stop grinning.
In the meanwhile my friend patiently explained to him some concepts.

Brilliance-3
Now sitting at the rear I commented on the protrusion of the rear AC vent, stating that a 5th passenger will find sitting very difficult and the AC vent positioning seems odd.
Answer: "Sir, after lots of research, Renault has specially positioned the rear AC vent like this. It is to take the cooling as close as possible to the rear passengers".

[Car Architect]

This happened while test driving the Zest QJD

Me: Inquiring about the tachometer's calibration (as it was calibrated up to 8K RPM, a strange thing for diesel)
Sales Rep: Sir, this is QJD engine it can rev upto 8k RPM
Me:

In the Maruti Suzuki showroom, a potential customer was inquiring about Ertiga

Customer: Does the Eritga top end come with GPS navigation??
Sales Rep: no sir, the car only comes with rear parking sensors
Me: wot??

Third situation, while test driving Ciaz

Me: Causal talk with my cousin about the improved tractability of the engine when compared to swift.
Sales Rep: Sir this one uses supercharged turbocharger and hence the difference.
Me:

[vinit.merchant]

Me at Nexa showroom, Airport Road, Pune. Lot of crowd gathered.

A well dressed SA appears, greets and asks
"Would you like to see the car?" !
Well, I was not in the mood so just a "yes please, thank you".

So he takes me to a car which had its battery drained. Understandable. We go to another model, the delta version, which I was keen to see. After much haggling of a family inside, each of whom tried each and every seat in the car, I was able to get in the stationary vehicle after a good 15-20 minutes. In that time I had asked SA if I can get some water. He nodded. I forgot about it when I got inside the demo car.

The SA showed me standard things, and I might add, he did that well. Later,
Me: So the advertisement states this is an introductory price. Approx till when will the prices be kept the same?
SA: No Sir, the prices are not going to be changed
Me: But the advertisement clearly says "introductory"
SA: No sir, the prices will be unchanged for the time the car is one sale !!!

Ok, I leave that Q.

Next he tells me there is a lever below the steering. Steering is height and reach adjustable, and can be done using the same lever. I try for the reach, I couldnt.
SA: Try harder sir, Pull with force.

I use more force but still nothing. I get worried that I should not damage anything for my mistake. So I let the SA give it a shot. He tries.
After a couple of minutes: Sir, only height adjustment.

Cool. I too wasn't aware of it either.

Next I try the rear seats.
Me: This is quite spacious
SA: Yes, very spacious car. 3 can sit on the rear bench.
Me: I agree. But the under thigh support is bad
SA: Sir the seat has good under-thigh support
(I show him how much short the seat is)
SA: Sir that is because of your height. See, when I sit, it is perfect.

Phew. And I am not a very tall person at 5'11. I let it go.

Next we wait for the test drive but some group of friends test driving, just kept driving it one by one. So I inform him I will come by some other time.

He brings the iPad for filling in the details. Takes my name, he already had my DL for the test drive. There is a section where they have to fill in what was the customer offered in the showroom. He selected "tea" and he clearly knows I was watching.

I collected my DL and left immediately.


Maybe someday less crowded would be better.

[Doge]

When I was looking at the SCross, the SA was as usual praising the car like any SA would. When he asked me which other cars am I looking at, I told him that I'm most impressed by the Avventura yet and have set it as the benchmark. He started the stereotypical Fiat crtisisim. I listed patiently and asked him why does maruti use Fiat's engine then? This was followed by the most inaccurate history of Maruti. He said that Maruti had long ago abandoned Fiats Mjd and is using Suzuki's 1.4 diesels! The Mjd isn't even a 1.3.
Always pretend you know nothing about cars. That shows the SA's honesty and makes you feel a little smug.

[avdhesh15]

Originally Posted by Doge

I listed patiently and asked him why does maruti use Fiat's engine then? This was followed by the most inaccurate history of Maruti. He said that Maruti had long ago abandoned Fiats Mjd and is using Suzuki's 1.4 diesels! The Mjd isn't even a 1.3.

I had the same situation - apparently Maruti developed an all-new powerful diesel engine with SVHS technology and plonked in into the Ciaz

Called this dude's senior who then corrected him and told him Celerio is the one with the Maruti engine - everything else is Fiat (this is after I told him I was referring to T-BHP website).

We had a good laugh at that time but I am sure someone must have got quite a few words to hear after I was gone. I am now planning to try this out in NEXA and see their response on the 3 diesel engines available (190, 200, 320) - will update this thread once I do that

[jessie007]

Experience at Tata dealership in West Delhi.
Vehicle: Nano AMT
SA: In order to change gear in manual mode - lightly press brake pedal once and then change gear - lower or higher.

[vinit.merchant]

Originally Posted by jessie007

Experience at Tata dealership in West Delhi.
Vehicle: Nano AMT
SA: In order to change gear in manual mode - lightly press brake pedal once and then change gear - lower or higher.

Lets pray he doesn't get to drive the Nano AMT. Or get to accompany someone who has never driven an Automatic, in a test drive.

[srj1266]

Recently when i was TDing the Zest, i asked the representative if the car had a cooled glove box similar to the Xcent. he said yes and even got a confirmation from his colleague who was with us. I stopped the car and asked him to show me the vent. When both of them could not find it after a thorough search, they explained that it was available on the 2014 Model, but not on the 2015 model.

The sales rep at Pandit Auto went even further. The car that they had on display did not have the key. i asked her the same question and she said that it has a cooled glove box. she even call a technical guy who said that what she is saying is true. I then showed them the brochure which had no mention of the cooled glove box. Even then they assured me that i would get a cooled glove box.

[asingh1977]

Car salesmen not knowing the intricate details of a vehicle is one aspect, but when they start to dish out non asked for suggestions it is highly irritating. They ask weird out of line questions like how many vehicles all ready owned. Daily ridership miles and other personal stuff.

I remember when I inquired about the Thar. Both the Mahindra showrooms in GGN gave me buffoon laden answers. Buy a Thar if it is your 4th vehicle. Thar is only good for weekends. You cannot go to office in a Thar. A Thar looks too rugged and rough. One salesman had the gall to tell me: "I own four SUV's and the Thar is my fifth vehicle". He even grimaced when I requested to see a Thar, like I asked for some weapons grade Plutonium. What the heck was he trying to tell me. That he is richer than me, or I should get 4 SUVs then a Thar, or I am too poor to afford a Thar. If a shop is selling cow dung cakes and pastries under the same roof, it should not matter to the salesman what is being requested. This should be abstract to him and he should be unbiased and transparent in his approach. Yes, I know they have aggressive targets but: they should not ruin the brand, down grade variants/models, lie, and make the potential customer feel like a moron.

I find women in this field to be less naive and brash vs. males, who are just unemphatic and walk around with an attitude under the dealership. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth. End of the day most try to: make fools of the customer, which would sound said better in Hindi; which I cannot post here for obvious reasons. They get a glee and kick when a customer is taken for a ride till the last post and far beyond.