ford dealership experience + question to mustang owners
 

Had a pretty interesting experience today while car shopping. I went to Markville Ford to check out mustangs. Hardly any sales people working there. I walk around and check out some mustangs in the backyard. Then I sat in a gt500 convertible inside the showroom for a few minutes checking out the interior. I try to get a feel for the clutch and manual gearbox. A sales man tells me I shouldn't do that because the transmission is dry because the car doesn't get driven or moved from its place. He asks if he can help me with something. I tell him I wanna know about mustangs. Right off the bat, he asks me my age!?!?!?!?! Him: How old are you? Me: 28. Him: Because you look young. !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then he asks me what I would like to know and I tell him I'm interested in 5.0 gt models, manual, coupe with brembo package. He checks his inventory and finds only a 2012 convertible. He has some company demo models from 2011 but without brembo pack. I ask if I can possibly test drive it. He says they don't do test drives on them in the winter because their summer tires get very hard in the cold and due to the torque the back end slides and spins out. Ok fair enough. Even though it was bone dry out there, but it was a bit cold at -3 celsius. So I ask if can test drive the base model without brembo pack since they come with all season tires. He said the same thing happens with all seasons too so no test drives on these either. I ask if he'll be getting more cars soon, and he tells me in a couple of weeks they will get another delivery which might have something to my preferences. I tell him to take down my contact info and let me know. His tone suddenly becomes less hostile and now he's actually more willing to talk and chat as opposed to a few minutes ago when he seemed to be eager to show me the exit. He gets my contact info and give me his business card which I of course tossed into the trash as soon as i went home.

I was never a big fan of fords or mustangs but I tried to keep an open mind. But that experience just left a sour taste in my mouth. Needless to say, even if by some miracle I do get a mustang, markville ford won't be seeing a single penny of my money. I was actually shocked at the way he treated me. I would have expected to be treated like crap at porsche or bmw, being young in casual dress, and looking out of place among the well heeled crowds that go to such dealers. Yet surprisingly enough, the porsche sales rep was very polite and actually offered me to test drive an 2006 c4s with a laundry list of options they had in stock, and sent me an email a few days later asking me again to test drive it. I would have, but their asking price is too steep for me so I never followed up on it. And the bmw experience was even better. I went there to check out M3 right after the ford visit, and talked to a very nice sales lady that offered me a coffee, and chatted with me. She was very open to the idea of me taking a test drive, agreeing i have to like the car before i decide to buy it, only they didn't have any cars available. They had a new one inside the showroom on a trickle charger that's never moved, and they had a used one but it was just sold so i couldn't test drive it. But she will call me in a few days when they get more inventory.

So seriously, here I am, young, dressed in casual clothes, and I get VIP treatment at luxury car dealers like porsche and bmw, while i get treated like crap at FORD of all places!!!!!!!!!!!!! One of the lowest tier car makers out there, a company that nearly went bankrupt a couple of years ago. I remember the same crappy treatment i.e. no test drive allowed BS I experienced a couple of years ago at a Mitsu dealer when i was cross shopping an EVO X.


Anyway, that brings me to my question to mustang owners. That gt500 I sat in, when i tried getting a feel for the shifter, must have been the roughest, clunkiest, harshest shifter i ever touched! I actually think it aggravated an elbow injury i had or something. It took quite a tremendous effort to get the shifter into any of the 6 gears. Heck, even just moving the shifter sideways in neutral was heavy. I really don't get the salesman's logic that the gearbox is dry as the oil isn't sloshing around since the car isn't driven. I parked my 370 for a couple of weeks at a time when on vacation and i never had such a problem. I remember messing around with the shifter in other 370's and even other cars in dealership showrooms that were never driven either. Heck, even the new m3 at that bmw dealer i mentioned, the one on the trickle charger that hasn't moved from its location for weeks if not month, still had a buttery smooth shifter you can move into gear with a single finger if you wanted. Was there something seriously messed up with that gt500 i saw today or are all mustang manual gearboxes so damn rough and clunky?

its cause everyone and their mom has them.. my friend who is 25 got turned down for a test drive on the V6!!

Pharm, sounds like you found a dbag of a salesman. Unfortunately, they exist for every make. Glad you chucked his card. With that line of bs, he wouldn't get my business, either. Believe me, I've been there as well.

You are comparing different level of car dealerships.
BMW will do a lot of things for you before you even test drive or talk about the car which generates a positive experience, while a Ford dealership just wants to make a sale. Same goes for Mitsu, Nissan, etc.

The Tremec is pretty stiff. If you are just shifting it back and forth while the car is sitting there you won't get a feel for how it is when it's warmed up. They are very beefy, though. Keep in mind the Z you're used to is rated to 33x lb-ft. The TR-6060 is rated to 600lb-ft or so, so it's going to feel a little different.

The Getrag MT-82 in the 5.0s is smoother than the TR-6060, IMO, but it's still got some notch as any direct-input style transmission would.

I feel like you should be able to engage the gear with finger pressure, even in the GT500, though. The Z definitely does have a very weak (read: light) action in the shift lever.

I've only ever had a positive car buying experience at Subaru, and that was mostly due to the Costco Auto Program. It dangles over dealers like a noose; if they get a complaint about their service Costco rips their hearts out.

Agreed that BMW takes care of their clients, as they should be doing given how much they ask for their car. But your experience is not out of the ordinary; in fact, sadly, I consider it to be the norm. It's rare to find a dealer that is willing to help you out very easily.

Some bimmer dealerships act all snooty and won't even approach you.

I've actually had positive experiences at all of the dealerships I've been to for the most part. Porsche, Ford, BMW, etc. I am always floored at these stories of dealerships treating their customers like crap, especially in an economy like this.

Pharm, since the 370 is the only RWD car you've driven before it's also the only direct-input style gearbox you've driven. Most of them share some common traits, but usually the higher the torque rating the more effort required to operate. Just something to keep in mind.

I dont think it's fair to generalize all dealerships (i.e. ford, nissan, etc) based on one encounter. It's easy to get a douche salesman, or even an entire douche dealership (some dealerships are still stuck in the 70s). I remember going to a ford dealership where we test drove an 04 cobra when it was still new. I've also been to dealerships where you practically have to show your pay stubs to get them to unlock a car. Just depends on where you go.

So this was you

Yeah, what of it?

Yeah we're all loaded in NOVA.

:icon17:

The part about nova is def true, not sure about the rest, I'll take your word for it.

I've had good and bad dealership experiences at a variety of makes. I have found, in my experience that the american car dealerships tend to be more pushy, dodge, ford, and jeep to be specific. I've never been treated like I couldn't afford the car anywhere and I dress super casual and with my normally shaved or almost shaved head and crazy biker beard, you'd think they wouldn't give me the time of day. :confused:

Porsche dealerships have always treated me very well for what it's worth.