Share Your Wildest Test Drive Experience

[EXBMWGUY]

I have two that I'll never forget.

It was 1990, and the Infiniti Q45 had just been released. The sales guy was a real character and wanted to demo some of the car's features before I moved over to the driver's seat. So the first thing he did was find a patch of glare ice in a parking lot near the dealer. Put it in gear and WOT - the car just sat there pretty motionless. Huge grin from this guy. Ok, I get it - traction control. Hmm. So from there, he goes to a deserted road that is straight as an arrow, level and dry. He pounds the throttle and we're over 100 and he takes both hands off the steering wheel and crams the brake pedal through the firewall. I'm still here to talk about it, so the car did pretty well. I loved the way the car drove, but hated the way it looked. Went straight to the Lexus dealer and bought an LS400.

Fast forward about 18-19 years. Went to the Maserati dealer and sat in a new Q. Sales rep was a woman. Attractive face, well-dressed, extreme widebody model (rep not car). She quickly wanted to start the car (inside on the dealership floor). I let her. Then, she softly quoted the advertising lyric Maserati had just started using, "the sound of a Maserati has been shown to raise a woman's testosterone level." I got a phone call at that instant and was able to safely exit the car.

 

[WowCool]

In the UK I used to be a Test Driver for Fiat..I had an early "96 Fiat Coupe (5cylinder Turbo) - anyways a young blood thought he new all about turbo's etc. etc.. Remember no Traction Control or any other electronic sophistications..
So off he went FULL bore with the car going to the Right then the Left as the turbo came In and the wheel was tugged from his sweaty palms...
Luckily we tested at a local private airfield.. But it was so much fun..
Another car was the Triumph GT6 Mk111 with a tuned in line six..Beautiful..

 

[brfatal]

One of our neighbors is a big rally fan. He used to be a professional rally driver in the 1970s in Europe. Both of me and my gf also drive modified WRXs so we all got to know each other. He also happens to be the owner of Aston Martin of Washington D.C. We have permission to come over and test drive whatever he has at the lot. The most exotic thing we've gotten to drive though was the new V12 DB7 Vantage before it was released in the US. Previously they'd all be V8s.

 

[NJTom]

mid 90s. In college. My buddy was looking for another car. We test drove a 1987 Nissan Pulsar from a used car dealer. The dealer didn't come along. Needless to say, the manual transmission was thoroughly worked through and probably lost a few thousand miles on the tires too. Fun little death-trap.