13th May 2019, 11:14

The only problem with choosing a Toyota, is that the dealerships don't treat you like a "grown up". They have been stuck in a time warp until recently it seems. The sales people still "come with you" on a test drive, like they don't trust you or something with an overpriced $13,000 on the lot priced car they took as a trade in, and paid $5000 or something. Most people in Auckland own houses $1m-$3 million nowadays, so what's the big deal about a $5000 car? So you can't truly evaluate the car properly by taking it on a long test drive. I got fed up with these sorts of cars (and dealerships) so I tried going to premium European dealers. I test drove $20,-$30k Volkswagen Passats, Golfs, and Jaguars. The difference couldn't be more marked. At first I thought they were a bit snobby and not very attentive, but when they just handed me the keys and said "don't bring it back till you're really happy you've given it a good test drive", I knew these guys were on my wavelength. They deal with millions of dollars worth of stock. They appear "not interested" or "snobby" because, yeah, you guessed it, they deal with people who might buy a brand new $100k plus car so what's the big deal about a $20,-$30K car they paid $15,000 for as trade? They couldn't be more down to earth and friendly. Going back to Toyota, it looks they've changed their marketing now and are running ads where you can take the cars for long periods of time!!! Gee!!