I'm in love with the GTO. Ever since i heard they were making a new one, i have adored it and i know everything about the 05. I'm only 18 and i have a job that pays minimum wage so theres no way i can actually afford a gto. i always wanted to sit inside one so me and my girlfriend decided to go to a pontiac a few miles away from where i live. i come across a employee there. he'll already knew i wasnt planning to buy one so he didnt really attempt to sell the car. he unlocked it for me to go inside and left to go catch a customer pulling in the lot. i sat in the drivers seat holding the steering wheel and i was in heaven. and i wasnt even driving it. i literally was in there for about 20 minutes just sitting in each seat and looking at everything i can possibly look at. i decide to pop the hood to take a look at the engine. my girlfriend was getting restless and wanted to go. for some reason i ignored her and just kept staring in amazement. all of a sudden a much younger salesman comes out of nowhere and says "that thing has 400 horses." i reply with a grin "oh, i know." "why dont you test drive it?" he says. my eyes opened dramatically. "got the keys?" i reply with a little laugh. he says hold on lemme get em, and let me get your license while im at it. he comes back with keys and he drives it out the lot with me in the passengers side and my girl in the back. he pulls over on the side of the empty road and says "drive it as fast as you want, just be careful." i hop out the car and get behind the wheel. i put the car in drive and floor it. "HOLY s***!!" the car pulls me through like never before and i turn the corner with ease. the whole time i was driving i had a huge smile on my face. everytime i had the chance i would floor it, having other cars beep at me like i was a mad man. then he turns off the traction control. when the light turns green i floor it and the back just starts spinning with the people behind me beeping with dismay. we take it back to the lot and the salesman says how most of the people that work there dont like taking teenagers out for a test drive but understood my passion for the car so he let me take it out for a spin. he was one of the most helpful and kind people i have met. i really wish i had the money to buy a GTO cause he deserved a car sale.

I'm glad you had a fun time but that is the exact reason people dread buying a new car from some dealers. It might have 25 miles on it but someone as yourself might have beat the h#ll out of it for those 25 miles.

Now if you could tell us the name of the dealer and the color/tranny of the GTO you test drove so we can all stay away from it and the salesperson and dealer.

Like I said glad you had fun, but I sure as h#ll wouldn't want the car unless the dealer took a SIZEABLE chunk of $$$ off of it.

And some teens wonder why dealers don't let them take hi-po or pricey cars out for test drives.

Some unlucky B@stard might end up with that Goat and wonder why he/she has to bring it in for warantee work every other week after they buy it.

Sorry but I cringe when I hear stories as yours.

:(

hahaha, i understand where your coming from orange, but what could i have done? drive it at speed limit??!! its probably far away from anyone on this site. its the fremont auto mall in california. it was a phantom black A4. it already had about 600 miles. which brings me to my next question. i hear people talking about the 500 mile break in. can someone elaborate on that and explain what would happen if you DIDNT do it that way.

Sweet man, you got really lucky that there was a salesman there that would do that for you. I do understand Orbit's thinking, but at the same time I sure as hell know I would've done the same thing if I was given the oppurtunity :D

Oh I'm not blaming you. ;)

Any red-blooded American teen male with a pulse would have done the same including myself back in the day.

My problem is with the salesman and the dealer that let/encouraged you to do it. I do feel a little "better" hearing it had 600 miles on it already. Hopefully it was broken in properly. But the thing is what if those 600 miles were all broken in the way you did it? I sure as h#ll wouldn't want that car then.

You're OK, the salesman/dealer is the one that makes my stomach turn.

Just remember your experience when you go to buy your first new car. You might want to ask who has put on the miles and how it was driven. Not that you'd get an honest answer anyway. Glad you enjoyed what we all get to enjoy each day. Save your $$$ and you will some day too.



:)

First off, I don't blame you or think anything negative of you.
Now, a little story.....

In February of 2003 I had the itch to trade my Camaro in on a 2002 Formula. It was brand new and the dealer was offering it at a great price ($20,995). It was loaded. I always liked the Formula more than the Trans Am.... Although I really wanted an SS Camaro. Anyway, I head to the dealership for a closer look and a test drive. The salesman I dealt with was a couple years older than I (about 26). We get into the car and he's got to drive it off the lot. One of those deals. He tells me "I love driving these". He promptly fires up the LS1 and procedes to launch down the service road (frontage road). We turn onto a rarely used raod and I think I'm riding with John Force! He pulls into a gas station for a driver change. At this point I'm already thinking no way am I buying this car. I slide into the driver's seat to see the odometer at 197 miles. Now I'm thinking this poor car has been through at least 100 miles of this type of abuse. I took it easy back to the dealership and see what the numbers come out to be. $17,995. What a deal. However, I just couldn't pull the trigger after what I had just experienced in that test drive. So, I kept the Camaro. A little over a year later the Camaro was stolen and I end up getting the 2004 Impulse Blue Metallic GTO (6M). In fact it I bought my GTO one year ago today! Time flies, as does my GTO.....

... And no, I did not buy my GTO from that dealership.

You'll note elsewhere that I bought mine with 5 miles on the odometer. My dealer knows me (bought several new cars there) and he knew I wouldn't accept any car with "test miles" on it. In fact, he called me when the transport pulled in and I watched it hit the ground with 5 miles on the clock.

I looked it over with all the shipping junk on it, turned down a test drive and walked away. They cleaned it up and pre-delivered it and parked it with 5 miles still on it. I called later that afternoon and told the sales manager to pull the keys until we could talk about $$.

Bottom line is, buy from a dealer you know and trust, and who knows you, if you can. Nobody else could have sold me that car.

I bought my GTO in Detroit so I could get what I wanted and get a car that hadn't been driven. I did test drive a car locally. I drove it on the day they got it and the car already had 100 miles on it from test drives...

Fremont Auto Mall huh? Far away from everyone on that GTO you mashed? I live in Union city, and that's our only Pontiac Dealership close by. I'm glad I wasn't living back in the bay area when you did this. And what empty road are you talking about? Unless your talking about Cherry street? And in that case there wouldn't be cars beeping at you. There's nobody on that road. I work right there off of Boyce and Stevenson. Anthony is the General Manager, and has sold me a couple of my Trans Am's back in the day, and even back then when I WAS 18-20 buying my first couple brand new TA's, He didn't allow me to take either of those cars for a test drive...and his employees know better. I bought both my previous TA's without a Test Drive because of how strict this dealership is on letting young people drive the TA's....I'm sorry, I frequent the dealership and know alot of the guys there...and I don't find your story even remotely believeable. At least tell me what the guys name was IF he took you, so I can tell Anthony what his guys are doing.

PS, That dealership LOVES TA's and GTO's and they don't order A4's at all unless pontiac sends it to them. They can't stand having Auto's... anytime you visit that dealer it's almost impossible to get an AUTO, Anthony will dealer trade them out and they don't order them unless someone comes in asking. the only dealer demo they have right now is an 05 Black M6 with red leather, and Anthony is driving it, and it has 1340 miles on it. So I don't know what you were doing or what you were driving, but I didn't happen at Fremont Pontiac is what this boils down too. Sorry to bust you out, but this board is dying as it is and I can't take reading posts about BS, when we should be talking about how to make our cars better and what we like about owning them and how it's a sense of community. Not scaring our potential owners because some kid made up a story.

to sinful GTO: why the hell would i make this story up? the empty street im talking about is the one right behind the dealership, its not a long street, but IT was empty when i drove it down. and im not going to tell you who the dealer was because he was a saint compared to the others that didnt even bother to help me out and the last thing i would do is rat him out. they do have A4, call them and ask them about it. do not refer me to me as "kid" either.I am young but i dont feed off of my parents as i am hard working individual just like everyone else on this site. GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT BEFORE YOU FLAME.

Thats some strong words there sinfulgto.I don't think you should call the guy a liar without actually knowing he lied and whats up with this dealer that he can't stand having autos.

Originally posted by SINFULGTO@Oct 12 2005, 12:41 PM
Fremont Auto Mall huh? Far away from everyone on that GTO you mashed? I live in Union city, and that's our only Pontiac Dealership close by. I'm glad I wasn't living back in the bay area when you did this. And what empty road are you talking about? Unless your talking about Cherry street? And in that case there wouldn't be cars beeping at you. There's nobody on that road. I work right there off of Boyce and Stevenson. Anthony is the General Manager, and has sold me a couple of my Trans Am's back in the day, and even back then when I WAS 18-20 buying my first couple brand new TA's, He didn't allow me to take either of those cars for a test drive...and his employees know better. I bought both my previous TA's without a Test Drive because of how strict this dealership is on letting young people drive the TA's....I'm sorry, I frequent the dealership and know alot of the guys there...and I don't find your story even remotely believeable. At least tell me what the guys name was IF he took you, so I can tell Anthony what his guys are doing.

PS, That dealership LOVES TA's and GTO's and they don't order A4's at all unless pontiac sends it to them. They can't stand having Auto's... anytime you visit that dealer it's almost impossible to get an AUTO, Anthony will dealer trade them out and they don't order them unless someone comes in asking. the only dealer demo they have right now is an 05 Black M6 with red leather, and Anthony is driving it, and it has 1340 miles on it. So I don't know what you were doing or what you were driving, but I didn't happen at Fremont Pontiac is what this boils down too. Sorry to bust you out, but this board is dying as it is and I can't take reading posts about BS, when we should be talking about how to make our cars better and what we like about owning them and how it's a sense of community. Not scaring our potential owners because some kid made up a story.
Seriously man, who the hell do you think you are, the co-owner of the dealership? From the limited experience I have with dealerships (especially since I still must be a "kid" at 20), they're all the time hiring new people to work for them, so who are you to say that nobody let him take it for a test drive? Sounds like to me you might be a little jealous that he got to take the goat for a ride, but you didn't get to test drive your TA's.

Originally posted by GTOGREG@Oct 16 2005, 05:53 AM
Thats some strong words there sinfulgto.I don't think you should call the guy a liar without actually knowing he lied and whats up with this dealer that he can't stand having autos.
That's another thing I was wondering about... why couldn't someone "stand" having autos on the lot? It seems to me a smart dealership would not only want to please the public, but also would want to make the most money possible.. It doesn't take a genious to realize that there are quite a few people who wouldn't want the manual transmission.

For one thing. I told you I know Anthony at the dealership. They have not hired anyone new. This dealerships is really really really small and has 7 sales people. This dealership trust me always has manuals on the lot. I don't care what you say, you've never bought a car there or know anyone there. Check there inventory, i'm sure pontiac or GM Buy power will let you. But anytime they get GTP G6's, TransAm's, Camaros...Goats what ever they used or new 95% of the time they are manual. So don't talk about what you don't know. Just out of curiosity, since you know so much leaving on the East Coast. anthony said the last GTO's that have been test driven were a yellow jacket they pulled off the floor and his phantom black /red interior demo. He said they have not had an auto on the lot for almost 3 months. The point i'm getting at this "KID" is lying. And he shouldn't be making people worry about buying a car that somone might be interested in and not buy from the people I KNOW at that dealership. That's not fair to them, that someone might have bought elsewhere because of what some kid lied about.
Have a good day sir.

PS. Your not saying what dealership now because you edited the name out. And then posted again. You said Fremont Pontiac Origionally, Plus it's the only pontiac dealer over here besides Marina...and they didn't have any in stock till after you posted. My friend adam and I went buy there so I can show him the 05's, cause he liked mine. There is no stretch of open road next to pontiac. Balentine drive has maybe not even a quarter of a mile and that's not there test drive route. There is way to much to contradict your story. Ooops just like Anthony said, GM BUY power and pontiac.com also only say manuals....hum looks like the same ones they had almost 4 weeks ago. What a Co-ink-e-dink.

This has gone far enough.