Okay today I finally leap into test driving a few NSXs. I decided to try two dealerships. Putnam Toyota in Burlingame, CA and Freeman Toyota in Santa Rosa.
The drive to Putnam was about 70 miles on a beautiful day from Sonoma County over the Golden Gate bridge to south of San Franciso with my Dad. On the way down the 101 south some poor motorcyclist was crushed between two trucks. We had to wait for the Life Flight helicopter to land and take this guy away (pray he is okay.) I tried not to take this as an omen.
We eventually get to the right part (its on like 3 different city blocks) of the dealership where the white/black 1992 NSX with 73,000 miles on it is located in one piece. Thank god cops don't give senior citizens in Honda Accords tickets for going the wrong way down the street.
Props dad!
And low and behold the NSX is on the show room floor (actually not a good thing.) I am jumped by like 3 salesman and the most senior one waves the rest of them off when I say I want to look at the NSX.
I am now convinced that when salesmen go to school they are all taught the line, "Well I am sure that you know more about this car then I do so if you know how to open the hood and the trunk be my guest."
So I pull out my Carfax and NSX Prime car check list and start looking at the car. Well after a quick look its obvious that this car hasn't seen a detail shop in a while. In fairness the paint looked decent and I didn't see any signs of body work. The two rims on the passenger side had the entire outside of the lips of the rims scraped off a few millimeters. The passenger rear wheel was coated with brake dust. he interior could have used a vaccum and the leather looked beat. I opened the engine lid and it was one of those mesh ones that you see with the supercharger kits and the valve cover has a Comptech plate screwed into it where the VTEC plate usually is. HMMMM
So I say screw it I am not going to buy this car. Too weird already. I have never driven an NSX so now its time to lose my virginity. The salesman graciously backs the NSX out and onto the street scraping the front fairing and cracking it getting it onto the street. OMFG so much for thinking its a good idea to keep them inside.
Anyway he says let's go drive this around and we are off. Wow even this POS NSX was impressive, well until I bogged the car in second gear seeing if the clutch would slip and the check engine light came on.
It really felt like something was not working right with the engine. I downshifted got the revs up and all seemed better. (who knows)
So we get back and park the car and the used car manager; who I had find out from the car salesman, has been "more agressive about buying higher end cars" comes out and says hello. He briefly asks me about price and I show him the TMV dealer retail price for the car about $27,000. He tells me to wait one minute so he can show me something and walks back to his office.
He returns with a seven page printout about the Comptec Supercharger. He says did you know that this car has a supercharger. I look at him in disbelief and say, "Um no it doesn't. If it did it would have another pulley on the crankshaft and the supercharger would be driven by a belt to it." The used car manager peeks into the engine compartment. He looks at me and turns white and I mean like white like someone he knows just died. (sadly I have to do this a lot)
Anyway he goes back to the 4 other sales people there and talks to them for a bit. Then he comes back and says you know what you are right this car doesn't have a supercharger. He says what if we can lower the price to close to the $27,000. It was listed at $35,988. I told him I was driving a least 6 more cars before I would make my mind up and left.
Deep breath car 2
1998 Red/Black 58,000 miles at the Toyota dealership. I pull in and am greated by a friendly salesman who says, "Well I am sure you know more about this car then I do so if you know how to open the hood and the trunk be my guest."
Deja Vu
My dad asks the gentleman why the NSX was left out in the rain two nights ago and why it is sitting right by the enterance to the lot where it can easily be hit. Without batting an eye the salesman says the used car manager wants it to get hit.
I am like okay is this just me or what?
So I look at this car and the salesman says this car hasn't been touched except by the used car manager since we got it in trade in. He won't let any of the salesman drive it and he won't let the detail shop near it.
I politely ask why and he says the guy traded it in for a $65,000 Lexus. The manager had no idea what the car was worth and called the Acura dealer a few blocks away. He asked them what they would pay for it if he took it in trade in. He did the deal drove the car to the Acura dealership and they said they didn't want it.
Now the manager is pissed about the car.
So I look at this car and it has obviously had some paint work done behind the passenger door and the aluminum is smooth but not straight there. Even my dad could see this. A few paint chips on the hood and the rims again were liked chaffed and had what looked like part of the finish coming off.
The car drove better then the 92. I was impressed with the six speed gear box over the five speed. It also seemed faster but that may be becuase the other was not well tuned.
So what a weird day.
Three serious questions: What do I make of the body work? Why are all the rims on these cars so messed up? How do the center console compartments open?
Well I hope you got at least a snicker from this. I guess wading through all the crummy NSXs out there makes it mean something when you can proudly say "I joined the club."
Prudeone
The drive to Putnam was about 70 miles on a beautiful day from Sonoma County over the Golden Gate bridge to south of San Franciso with my Dad. On the way down the 101 south some poor motorcyclist was crushed between two trucks. We had to wait for the Life Flight helicopter to land and take this guy away (pray he is okay.) I tried not to take this as an omen.
We eventually get to the right part (its on like 3 different city blocks) of the dealership where the white/black 1992 NSX with 73,000 miles on it is located in one piece. Thank god cops don't give senior citizens in Honda Accords tickets for going the wrong way down the street.
Props dad!
And low and behold the NSX is on the show room floor (actually not a good thing.) I am jumped by like 3 salesman and the most senior one waves the rest of them off when I say I want to look at the NSX.
I am now convinced that when salesmen go to school they are all taught the line, "Well I am sure that you know more about this car then I do so if you know how to open the hood and the trunk be my guest."
So I pull out my Carfax and NSX Prime car check list and start looking at the car. Well after a quick look its obvious that this car hasn't seen a detail shop in a while. In fairness the paint looked decent and I didn't see any signs of body work. The two rims on the passenger side had the entire outside of the lips of the rims scraped off a few millimeters. The passenger rear wheel was coated with brake dust. he interior could have used a vaccum and the leather looked beat. I opened the engine lid and it was one of those mesh ones that you see with the supercharger kits and the valve cover has a Comptech plate screwed into it where the VTEC plate usually is. HMMMM
So I say screw it I am not going to buy this car. Too weird already. I have never driven an NSX so now its time to lose my virginity. The salesman graciously backs the NSX out and onto the street scraping the front fairing and cracking it getting it onto the street. OMFG so much for thinking its a good idea to keep them inside.
Anyway he says let's go drive this around and we are off. Wow even this POS NSX was impressive, well until I bogged the car in second gear seeing if the clutch would slip and the check engine light came on.
It really felt like something was not working right with the engine. I downshifted got the revs up and all seemed better. (who knows)
So we get back and park the car and the used car manager; who I had find out from the car salesman, has been "more agressive about buying higher end cars" comes out and says hello. He briefly asks me about price and I show him the TMV dealer retail price for the car about $27,000. He tells me to wait one minute so he can show me something and walks back to his office.
He returns with a seven page printout about the Comptec Supercharger. He says did you know that this car has a supercharger. I look at him in disbelief and say, "Um no it doesn't. If it did it would have another pulley on the crankshaft and the supercharger would be driven by a belt to it." The used car manager peeks into the engine compartment. He looks at me and turns white and I mean like white like someone he knows just died. (sadly I have to do this a lot)
Anyway he goes back to the 4 other sales people there and talks to them for a bit. Then he comes back and says you know what you are right this car doesn't have a supercharger. He says what if we can lower the price to close to the $27,000. It was listed at $35,988. I told him I was driving a least 6 more cars before I would make my mind up and left.
Deep breath car 2
1998 Red/Black 58,000 miles at the Toyota dealership. I pull in and am greated by a friendly salesman who says, "Well I am sure you know more about this car then I do so if you know how to open the hood and the trunk be my guest."
Deja Vu
My dad asks the gentleman why the NSX was left out in the rain two nights ago and why it is sitting right by the enterance to the lot where it can easily be hit. Without batting an eye the salesman says the used car manager wants it to get hit.
I am like okay is this just me or what?
So I look at this car and the salesman says this car hasn't been touched except by the used car manager since we got it in trade in. He won't let any of the salesman drive it and he won't let the detail shop near it.
I politely ask why and he says the guy traded it in for a $65,000 Lexus. The manager had no idea what the car was worth and called the Acura dealer a few blocks away. He asked them what they would pay for it if he took it in trade in. He did the deal drove the car to the Acura dealership and they said they didn't want it.
Now the manager is pissed about the car.
So I look at this car and it has obviously had some paint work done behind the passenger door and the aluminum is smooth but not straight there. Even my dad could see this. A few paint chips on the hood and the rims again were liked chaffed and had what looked like part of the finish coming off.
The car drove better then the 92. I was impressed with the six speed gear box over the five speed. It also seemed faster but that may be becuase the other was not well tuned.
So what a weird day.
Three serious questions: What do I make of the body work? Why are all the rims on these cars so messed up? How do the center console compartments open?
Well I hope you got at least a snicker from this. I guess wading through all the crummy NSXs out there makes it mean something when you can proudly say "I joined the club."
Prudeone
