Thetitanium8

My buddy had me drive him to look at the Evo today. The plan was when we get there to tell them I was looking to trade my 8 in for it. We figured since we are both under 25 unless we said this they wouldnt give us the time of day or even let us test drive one. We went to 2 dealerships to look. Both dealers new nothing about their flagship car.

First dealer was Crown Mitsu. Salesman at Crown said that"The Evo was a Twin Turbo car". Now most people know that its a "Twin scrolling turbo". Then he said that it could get over "400hp with a simple air intake".Then he asked me is that a V6 or 4 cyclinder in my 8. So we went to a diffrent dealer

The second dealer was Lokey Mitsu. We talked to salesman for a while. Then we ask if it was possible to test drive. He said "to test drive you need 5k non-refundable". Then My buddy just to test his knowledge asked him how a twin scrolling turbo works. This is funny part. He said " you know more then I do about this car" and walked away.

I just feel bad for all the Mitsu people out there who have to deal with salesman who dont care what they sale. I have owned 2 toyotas and 2 mazdas and never had problems with salesman not knowing the product. Also you think they would know atleast the basics of their rivals.

Ike

1.) You were just wanting a joyride and they probably knew it, they get people like you all the time wanting to drive the Evo.

2.) The Evo is not a high volume car, dealers do not move many a year and in general at every dealership across the country for every car manufacturer there are clueless salespeople. It's a lousy job and turnover is very high in the business.

expo1

Very surprised at that. I find most know very little to nothing about the cars they sell. With the hours they have to put in and dealing with us “experts” that walk in with our net printouts demanding $1,000 under invoice I think the last thing a salesperson would do in their free time is read car bulletin boards or read Car & Driver. I doubt they attend very much “classroom” time also as that is time away from a potential sale. What would be nice to read is any posts from people that ever worked as or with car sales people, to get the inside scoop.

Hornet

When I got mine the dealer I went to was considered one of the best in the U.S. as far as I have heard. They didn't try to make up what they didn't know and they sold the cars at sticker. I had been to another that didn't know anything including specs (the only benefit I give him was that this was about 2-3 months before the car became available in the U.S. although everyone following the progress of the car knew the specs) and he wanted a $5K markup. I guess just like any other manufacturer's dealerships there are good and bad ones.

grapes

No SH*T, what did you expect Mitsu's are garbage and so are most of their dealers.

grapes

HORNET- i'm sure there are exceptions to the rule. I've had 2 Mitsu's great for first 2 years or so then problems galore. Just my experience.

Japan8

grapes has got the number here. Mitsubishi is garbage. They HAD hot cars in the past and the Evo is decent in design. But really... even the Japanese won't buy Mitsubishi anymore... why should you? (the same goes for Honda... foolish Americans... hahah j/k, but really... Honda ain't all that) Hasn't it come out in the US news?? The large truck hub that had the small problem of breaking and flying off when driving... it happen to do this one time and killed a young mother and child. Mitsubishi blamed the truck owner for bad maintenance. They have now been government mandated recalled. And there is the HUGE double booking of problems and consumer complaints... My brother-in-law has a Legnum, non-turbo, non-AWD and he's had his share of problems with the brakes on it...

Hornet

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) I didn't get to keep my Evo long enough to experience any problems. The only other experience I had with Mitsu's cars was an '89 Galant that I mostly learned to drive on. It was my parent's car but usually I knew if they did anything to the car. I don't recall many problems with it that were related to build quality. I do know about the crankwalk issue of some of the DSMs that might account for a lot of the perception.

rx8van

Agreed. Although I had basically decided that I was buying the 8 I still took 2 months and looked at all other cars in it's class. I found most dealerships didn't give me the time of day, even though I was very serious. When I went to Mazda for the 1st time they let me take the car home for the weekend!

Today I took my car in for a checkup today at Mazda and was treated like a king. They were pretty busy but immediately attended to my car checked it over, confirmed completion of all bulletins. A very good first experience.

DOMINION

Mitsu = Import GM

stangmatt66

Doesn't Mitsu have more connections with DaimlerChrysler than with GM?

Eclipse=Neon=Stratus=PT Cruiser=Sebring=Galant

Dodge Dakota=Mitsu Raider

??

shorty911

Ha im only 17 and the mitsu dealers were relaly nice i told the guy i wanted to look at the evo and his eyes lit up he was like ok ok ok ill go pull it up for you
then he asked if i wanted to take it for a spin on the condition he could drive it to acertain point it seemed he wanted to drive it really bad so he drove us about 15 misn down back roads ragging the car then let me rag it for a while it was alot of fun he didnt ask for license or anything

sti_eric

Yes.

I also can attest to Mitsu having horrible dealerships. My first car was a 1992 3000GT. Everytime I brought the car in for something, they always gave me the run around. For me, they define the term "shady car dealer".

When I was looking for a new car, I went to the Mitsu dealership (in my 2001 Z3, BTW) and asked to test drive an Evo. The answer was a flat out "No". They were also asking $5K over invoice and they gave me some bull story about how other dealerships had already offered them MSRP+$4000 for the car, but they wanted to sell it themselves. So, I drove down the road, hopped into an STi and bought it the next day. In retrospect, the Mitsu dealer really did me a favor by forcing me to the STi.

I have always said that the Evo is an awesome car, but too bad it's made by Mitsubishi. They don't stand behind their products, and they have a horrible dealership network.

AbusiveWombat

I walked in to look at the EVO...just lookin' and the dealer asked if I want to take it for a drive. No hagglin', no copy of drivers licence or insurance. It's completely dependant on the dealer. Hell, when the S2000 came out, the Honda dealer would only let me testdrive the car I ordered. I couldn't even sit in one at the dealership.

You've got to remember that the EVO is fairly rare and most, if not all, buyers want to see their new car with less than 20 miles on it. A car that's been testdriven a few times will be hard to sell.

subduedracer

I am a Sales Manager at a Dealership. I've been in the business for 8 years. I started as a tech. before that. The most important thing is find the top salesperson. The people who sell the most cars are the ones that know the most about what they sell. In sales there is a 80/20 rule. 20% of the people make 80% of the money. Its not a career for just anyone. Do research on the dealer's CSI score. The customer's opinion is the best way to tell who's doing right. I am a "gearhead." Naturally I sold the most cars as a salesperson.

Icemastr

At every dealership I have ever worked for the top salespeople were never experts on cars, they were experts on sales. Soem were good because they had greater customer satisfaction and had lots of repeat customers, others sold a lot of cars because they were good at "making" people buy them. I have never seen a correlation between a salesmans knowledge of cars and their success as a salesperson. Most customers that come in these days already know everything about the car, all the salesperson has to do is make friends with the customer and provide them with a good experience and make the numbers fit. In fact I have seen a couple of mechanics fail as salespeople because they talk to much about the details of the car that most people just don't care about.

subduedracer

I not saying that any tech. can be a salesperson. What I am saying is that a real dealership that is successful, the top salepeople do know the cars well. As a customer you should research the vehicle that you are purchasing. In any business, some places do better than others. Just like in this forum, some know much more than others. Some even give misinformation that is incorrect. In a new vehicle dealer, the manufacturer provides "ride and drives" so that salespeople can learn about the vehicles and the selling points. The salepeople that are serious about selling go to these. The ones that don't go are not. It all comes down to shopping for the right saleperson. Most people keep shopping until they find one that truely sells them. Since every customer is different, the salepeople are as well. Find the one that fits you.

Overport

I almost didn't buy the RX-8 because the dealer was so stupid, or should I say...the salesman. He didn't know a thing about the car, every time I asked a question about options he would have to run over to his manager to get an answer. Every, single, time! Finally I had had enough, I was getting into my Ford and ready to leave when the Sales Manager comes walking out and appologizing about the moronic salesman. "He's knew...blah blah blah", I wasn't really listening. After all that I still managed to buy the car when he hacked off 5K for me to stay (thats before my Ford discount).

snap-on

I am a ASE Tech AND a Service manager...

I have seen good sales people come and go..the best are the ones that DO take the time to understand what they are selling. When a service customer ask about a new car I always send them to my favorites.

It is very frustrating when a sales person is so gross driven that he doesn't learn the vehicles he/she is selling.

When the Rx8 hit the streets I gave a class on the difference between piston and rotary theory..needless to say the only two salesman that showed up (two hours before they usually have to be at work) were the 2 that have been there the longest.

subduedracer

True Snapon. You can always tell who is the most serious about selling. There is such a turn-over in salespeople. Only 10% of salespeople stay in the business after a year. The ones that do stay in seem to never get out.

bean438

I took a look on the web. Did I see right? 80 grand for a Lancer? Huh?
A joke right?

Ike

Not sure where you're looking but in the US you can get an Evo for under 30K easily, which is less than a loaded RX-8. If performance is the most important thing to you it's just about the best value on the market.

DOMINION

Yea and will play keep up with an 911 too...

Tony Orlando

Veteran salespeople are very good at spotting jackasses looking to joyride in a new model. There are certain things you look for.

That being said, it's not in a salesperson's best interest to "curb-qualify" a customer, (i.e; think they've got them figured out before they leave their car), they could miss a sale, but it happens, and most of the time, they're right.

Lets face the facts here: You're pissed because you tried to lie and waste a salesperson's time, plus beat up a $30K car you had no intention of buying. Test drives are a privilege, not your God given right. After all, it is their car, not yours.

Ask yourself this:

a) How would you like it if you worked on commission, and some dick wasted your time in such a fashion? and-

b) How'd you like it if someone else did the same nonsense and flogged the hell out of your RX-8 before you bought it?

bean438

Can't remember where I looked. I googled Mitsubishi evo and clicked on a site that had one listed at 80,000. Must have been a typo.