Would you buy a former press car? 

"E. Julius" (soonerfrommi) 03/08/2015 at 12:14 • Filed to: None

0

16

My dad is thinking about replacing one of his current toys with a Miata, and he came across somebody sort of close to us selling a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! that the seller claims was used for !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! when it was new. I'm not asking if you would buy this specific car, but in general would you buy a press car if it appeared to be well maintained?

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

On the one hand, the journos don't exactly baby them when they have them. On the other hand, one would think that car gets top notch maintenance during this period. I'm not sure how many miles would be put on a car during its stint as a press car, so it might be a big deal or it might not be. I feel like if it was in good condition when you were looking to buy and the seller wasn't trying to tack on some ridiculous "celebrity" premium, it might be cool to buy a car and then find an old magazine so you can say "yep, that's my car right there" and put it on your garage wall or something.

dogisbadob > E. Julius 03/08/2015 at 12:19

0

Don't they usually get crushed? They're pre-production and I don't think they even have VIN numbers either.

Anon > E. Julius 03/08/2015 at 12:19

1

HELLLLLL NAWW!

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > E. Julius 03/08/2015 at 12:21

2

Press cars have the living shit kicked out of them. Then sent to the next publication and its done all over again

Patrick George > dogisbadob 03/08/2015 at 12:22

4

The ones we drive on launches are often pre-production cars. The ones that go into press fleets that we get as loaners are normal production vehicles.

As for whether you should buy one, I think it depends on the vehicle. We tend to beat on the sports cars, hot hatches, sport sedans and trucks pretty hard, but a normal car — say, a Golf wagon — probably didn't endure much abuse.

djmt1 > E. Julius 03/08/2015 at 12:26

3

I might. Press cars get beat on but they don't fall apart so a sneaking suspicion of mine is that they are more durable than customer cars plus I reckon that manufacturers probably service them immediately after they are returned. For example the Bentley Top Gear beat on in Australia being serviced.

Moves-Like-Senna > dogisbadob 03/08/2015 at 12:29

1

Those are only the earliest test models in certain cases. Most test cars are part of a fleet of production vehicles with proper VINs. I would note that press cars are abused to death.

dogisbadob > Patrick George 03/08/2015 at 12:31

0

cool

jkm7680 > E. Julius 03/08/2015 at 12:43

1

If it's maintained.... They're usually beat on quite a bit.

Sam > E. Julius 03/08/2015 at 13:19

1

If buying a press car means a massive discount, sure. Like if the F-Type V8 press car went on sale for $40k (about a 40% discount), I'd say NP.

XSeriesWalkingDead > E. Julius 03/08/2015 at 13:29

1

The real answer is you really don't know the history of any used car that you buy. I worked at car dealership in the late 80's. Two of the guys raced their "demonstrator" cars up to what was apparently their top speed of 128 MPH, where they promptly cut off. No telling what else they did to their cars. I've also driven manufacturer vehicles at a track day type of event. I did what I could to break the car. These cars had tires replaced every two weeks due to wear. I asked the manufacturer's rep if they crushed them when the track day events were done. He said, "No, It's just a used car that gets sold at auction."

A Miata could have easily seen time on the autocross course or track days.

Kevin Barrett > E. Julius 03/08/2015 at 13:38

2

I went to Mazda's "Zoom Zoom Live" on two consecutive years , back when the NC Miata and RX-8 were new cars. It was a press fleet that Mazda brought around to large cities with large parking lots, and they set up small race courses where any Mazdaphile who pre-registered could tear around in first gear. The cars were driven from 8am to 6pm by people who weren't going to have to drive them home, and at the end of the day the sides of the tires were bald.

I stayed on the Miata pretty much the entire time, and by lunch time people who couldn't drive a manual transmission were lining up to take the next lap in the passenger seat beside me. It did convince me to buy a Miata, but it also convinced me to never buy a press car.

Okay, I'd buy that press car.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > E. Julius 03/08/2015 at 14:19

2

Well if you were to get the press C7 from C&D, you would get a brand new engine.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > E. Julius 03/08/2015 at 14:29

1

Not if someone like Ray molests it.

j.davism5 > E. Julius 03/09/2015 at 01:29

2

In my case, I say yes.

I own the exact car I drooled over as a 19 year old, a 2001 e39 M5. I have the magazine I read back in the day, and I have the car to match. Aside from owning the EXACT car I dreamed about, it came with the following advantages:

Complete BMW service history, with all in warranty recalls completed. I still spend the coin on BMW service today, as down here in Australia, your service history can account for 10-20% variance in price when dealing in prestige. Not that I'm ever going to sell it, I've already made that mistake before, but that's another story for another time.

It was flogged from the moment it was born. This means that everything seated properly in the valve train, and any propblems reared thier head early, and were dealt with accordingly, by the manufacturer. Unlike almost all other E39 M5's, my car doesn't eat TWS motorsport oil (at 30 AUD per litre!) at anywhere near the rate that others do. The S62 is notorious for eating oild at as much as a Litre(quart) every 4000km. I'm lucky if my car uses 500ml every 20,000km. Most times it's less. It also goes like a cut cat when compared to retail delivered and babied versions.

The list of people who enjoyed it's charms are a list of people whose opinions I cherished, and who careers I idolized as a kid; the legendary Robbo has driven my car, as well as a host of other wheels magazine and motor contributors, and it was also Ralf schumacher's ride when he was here for the 2002 Australian GP.

Owning the magazines and memrobialia associated with it's career in the press is a great story and wonderful show piece. To car lovers that I talk to about it, It's not just any M5, it's THAT M5, that the read about and drooled over all those years ago.

It makes it a little bit unique. I intend to buy a second E39 M5 at some point, but I expect it will be just another car to me (I change at least one of my cars every 6 months). They will take this car from my cold dead hands.

TL:DR, Go for it. Especialy with a quality product like mazda, I don't think you could go to wrong.

I'll take a picture of the mag it was in when I get back to my other house. It's always great to pick it up and read it..

E. Julius > j.davism5 03/09/2015 at 04:02

0

Wow what an awesome story! I wish more people could see this. Have you considered turning it into a short post?

j.davism5 > E. Julius 03/09/2015 at 09:19

0

one day, I'll write the post, when it is time for both oppo and the fp that the E39 m5 is the best, and most jalop M car. It involves tales of pure joy and four years of utter despair and pining, a chance encounter and a message in a letters from the readers section of one of australias most popular car magazines. But for now, all you need to know is that the M5 sits in my driveway, completely over insured to ensure that no matter what happens, I can rebuild it no matter what. There isn't a day I don't thank the lord that I have it again. I love my wife and kids, but that thing is a nice chunk of the equation that completes me. And I've had plenty of cars to know.