See all Motoring AdviceWhen it comes to buying your next car, whether it’s new or used, it’s always highly advisable to take it for at least one test drive before you commit to spending a big chunk of your own money – and we’d even say multiple test drives are a better bet.
But rather than just seeing how fast your potential purchase will do 0-100km/h, or what its engine (if it’s fitted with one) sounds like at high revs, what are the key points of a test drive? What should you be looking for, doing, and checking? Here are our top tips to avoiding buyer’s remorse by doing a test drive properly.
Book a daytime viewing
This isn’t going to be a problem if you’re buying from a garage or dealership, because they will normally only be open during normal working hours, but if you’re buying from a private seller then avoid night-time test drives – at least initially. You need to be making a thorough visual inspection, outside, inside and under the bonnet, of the car in question and doing this at night is a no-no. It might seem like the seller is trying to be helpful by suggesting an evening viewing, maybe to fit in with your own work schedules, but someone who specifically wants you to look at a used car at night is probably trying to hide something that you might otherwise spot in the day.
Don’t limit yourself to just one test drive
As we said in the intro, and hinted at above, if you’re only going for one test drive then you need to make sure that’s conducted in the day for the visual portion of the checks you need to carry out. But you might want to know how good the car’s headlights are, or how the interior looks at night, so if you are doing a few test drives of the same vehicle, you can safely book in for a secondary go in the car in darker conditions if you’ve carefully given it the once-over in the daylight previously. You can also vary the times of day you’re trying the car out – perhaps do the first test drive in the middle of the day, when the roads are quieter, but set up a subsequent trip in the car at rush hour so you know what it’s like in heavy traffic.
Vary the test route
Whether you go for one drive or multiple tests of the car, try to make sure you sample it on a variety of roads. It’s no good only driving the vehicle in town if you’re someone who does the vast majority of your driving time on the motorway, and vice versa. It’ll all depend on where the seller’s business is located or where they live (if a private buyer) but try and take in some slow-speed urban routes, narrow country lanes, faster trunk and major roads, and then some dual-carriageway or motorway work. It’s only when you’ve tried a car in all possible driving scenarios that you can be sure there’s not some behaviour it exhibits which might annoy you in the long run – for example, it might be brilliant at cruising at 120km/h on the motorway but have a lumpen ride quality in town. So, try it everywhere to be sure.
Ensure it’s comfortable
This might seem obvious, but how supportive are the seats? Do they feel hard or pillowy? Is the driving position suitable for your frame? How relaxed do you feel at the wheel when you’re driving on the motorway, and in town? If the car doesn’t afford you a natural, comfortable driving position and experience, it’s clearly not going to be a good choice for you in the long run.
Bring along your family and their accoutrements
If you’re single and buying a car for yourself, or you’re in a new relationship with no kids, there’s no need for people to accompany you on test drives of a potential new car. But if you’re buying the model in question to be the main family transportation, it makes sense to take your partner and children on at least one of the test drives, if not all of them. Find out if there are things they love – or, more importantly, hate – about the car. Check the boot is big enough for assorted family-life paraphernalia. If your children are young enough and you need to fit car seats, test how easy it is to load the seats into the car and then secure them in position (with the garage, dealership or owner’s permission first, of course). All of these things are better to check before you’ve bought the car, rather than once you’ve laid down a load of money and got the thing home.
Visual checks: what to look for
- Shiny pedals, worn seats, tired-looking steering wheel: these items only typically start to show their age in car interiors where the vehicle in question has done at least 160,000km. So, if a car is advertised as having done 60,000-100,000km, but when you view it the steering wheel has oddly smooth patches on its upper surfaces, or the pedals have no tread left in their rubber, or the front seats’ bolsters are all sagging, it’s a sure sign something doesn’t add up.
- Scuffs, dents, kerbed alloys: there’s no law against selling a used car with visual damage on it, but it needs to be reflected in both the wording of the advert and the price of the vehicle being reduced in comparison to mint examples of the same model. Also, if the car has excessive cosmetic damage, like scuffs on all four corners of its bumpers or absolutely ruined alloy wheels, it’s a sign that the previous owner(s) didn’t take the greatest care of it – and you might be best walking away.
- Warm engine: when you first arrive, if it’s a used car and the engine has been pre-warmed by the current owner, be alert. You ideally want to start the car from cold, so if the engine is already warmed-through the owner might be hiding something. If the car is cold, then what you’re checking for on start-up is excessive smoke from the exhaust – if this smoke is black and the car you’re looking at is a diesel, that’s not the worst thing in the world, as long as it doesn’t continue smoking for too long. But if the smoke is either blue or thick white, walk away – these are signs of serious problems. Be aware in cold weather that exhausts ‘steam’ for a brief period during the engine’s warm-up phase, so there’s a difference between that (perfectly normal) and continual thick, white smoke (a sign of a problem in the engine).
- Tyre tread: carefully inspect the tread depth of all four tyres. This is easier for the fronts, because you can start the car, turn the steering to full lock then get out to look at the tyre treads now standing clear of the bodywork. Check for uneven wear (i.e. the outer edge of the tyre is more worn than the inner edge, or vice versa), which is a sign of the tracking and balancing of the car being out. Make sure they have at least 1.6mm of tread depth – run a €1 coin in the tyre tread, and if you can see the outer edge of it then the tyres are too worn. Ideally, you want at least 3mm of tyre tread depth, but that’s a little more difficult to accurately check without a tool, although all tyres have tread-wear blocks built into them, if you know what you’re looking for – if not, look it up online before viewing the car.
- Exterior lights: make sure they all work, they all illuminate properly and, if they are LEDs, there are no ‘blank’ patches on them. You will need someone else, either the seller of the vehicle or a friend/family member who has accompanied you, to operate the relevant in-car functions to get the exterior lights to work (brakes, indicators, reverse, fog lights etc) so you can check them.
- Interior lights: not only the cabin lighting, but warning icons in the dashboard. If there’s anything showing here, it’s best to walk away as you won’t know quite how serious the fault in question could be.
- Paperwork: make sure all the relevant paperwork connected to the car, like the vehicle registration certificate (VRC), the national car testing (NCT) certificate (if appropriate), the service and maintenance records, and – if an import – the vehicle registration tax (VRT) are all present and correct.
Driving checks: what to look for
- Engine: after the initial check for excessive smoke on cold start-up, keeping checking your mirrors during the test drive and watch for clouds of smoke from the exhaust during acceleration phases; if there is any, especially again if it’s white or blue, walk away. Listen for unusual noises or rattles from the engine and exhaust system. Check there are no ‘flat spots’ in the power delivery.
- Gearbox: if it’s a manual car, watch for a high-biting or heavy clutch pedal. Keep an eye out for ‘clutch slip’, or for the vehicle dropping out of gear when accelerating. Check the shift action of the gearbox is smooth, and all gears easily engage; if they don’t, avoid buying it. On automatics, you want to make sure all the shifts are clean and quick, and there’s no excessive ‘slurring’ during the changing of gears. Be alert to an automatic gearbox ‘hunting’ for gears, when you ask for serious acceleration. The car should quickly select a lower gear and engage it, not spend seconds searching for the right ratio.
- Brakes: listen for squealing or grinding noises, a sure sign the brakes are overly worn. Check there is no ‘judder’ from the pedal or through the frame of the car when decelerating, and also (on a quiet, empty road with no other vehicles around) try an emergency stop from 80km/h – the car should brake true and in a straight line; if it pulls wildly off to one side during braking, there’s a problem.
- Suspension: make sure the ride quality is good, and the body of the car feels controlled at all times. Sportier cars will not ride as well as everyday or luxury cars, which means they won’t be as comfortable, but terrible ‘wallowing’ from the vehicle on rougher roads or going through corners suggests something is wrong. Listen out for loud clonks or bangs from the suspension when going over bumps.
- Visibility, controls: make sure you’re happy, as the driver, with the view the vehicle affords you out of its cabin in all directions, including to the rear of the car. Ensure you can use all the in-car switchgear and functions easily, including on the move – there will be times you’re driving on your own and you can’t always rely on a passenger to adjust various features safely in the car, so it’s essential you can operate them from behind the steering wheel.