tips to consider during test drive

These are few tips that I feel are important to be considered during TDing cars, we can keep on adding to that list.

NOTE:- To try out all these, you may need to TD many times (with different people, in different roads, etc). DO IT!! It is worth, before buying an expensive vehicle.

It is always good to go with a group for TD. You can take your family and also your friends who already own cars. Different people will give different perspectives which is sufficient to confuse you . Anyway, you have more data to decide.

Interiors:
Even though you can have close look at interiors on its quality, etc in display vehicle itself, it is still good to watch them during test drive to check if any issues like rattling or so crop up during movement.

Ride and Handling:
This is more important for drivers, so watch it!! Drive in flat and bumpy surfaces/roads and see how vehicle handles the road.

Try out cornering at regular and high speeds, U turns/90 deg turns/etc (to check driver's visibility, bumpy or not, etc).

Try out breaks at different speeds/gears/roads. If possible, try out breaking in wet surfaces too.

Does suspension feel good in rough roads, potholes, etc?

Engine, gear and steering wheel:
Try out acceleration, pulling up in slope with enough passenger loads with AC on, coming down in down hill and moving in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Check how fast it goes to higher speeds (if this factor is important for you) and how easy it feels.

Check how easy it is to shift gears up-to-down and vice versa. Does it feel hard in lower gears?

Check how steering wheel feels at different speeds. Do you feel pain of driving a heavy weight vehicle or very easy to control with just fingers?

NVH:
Drive for sometime by closing all windows, observe cabin noise at different speeds. Then put all windows down and then observe noise. Of course not much to investigate, but you should hear significant difference in noise (after filtering traffic sounds) - this confirms sound proof in cabin.

Try out different speeds for fan and check if the noise is decent or too much - during my TDs, I found drastic difference between 2 cars.

Observe vibration during idle and running. In modern cars, you shouldn't feel it (or may be, very slightly).

Find out how drive feels at lower/higher speeds to check if it is harsh or so.

While observing Noise, switch off stereo and also ask salesperson to shut his mouth , believe me it helps!! They always divert your attention by giving marketing gimmicks.

ICE:
When ICE is standard, then you can play different varieties like melody, rock, etc to feel the difference - this is nice to do, but not sure on practicality.

AC:
Very important to observe during TD. Manual: Try out different settings. Observe cooling yourself in driver seat and ask passengers in front/rear seats (if it cools enough and how fast it cools). Automatic: Try out different temperatures settings and observe if it cools enough and how fast it cools.

TD vehicles are normally driven by everyone right after each other, previous guy might have kept at any setting. For very short trips, AC may not really show any change as you intended. Wait for sometime, drop down windows, etc to ensure your settings will take effect.

Ask people sitting in front passenger seat and rear seats on AC effectiveness - do they feel it as you do?

Visibility and ease of use:
Check how these are viewable from driver seat: signal light, vehicles on sides, front and rear. You should get good view of all these.

How easy it is to access various controls (AC, stereo, etc) from driver's seat?

How much difference does it really give when you adjust seat height and slider.

Are you comfortable to look through ORVMs without tilting head too much? Is steering wheel adjust sufficient for you at different settings of driver seat?

Try out taking reverse without guidance from anyone to see if you are comfortable while alone and see if no object in car hides your vision (if so, be aware of it before buying!!).

Misc:
Check leg room and head room for you to see if sufficient. Similarly, ask your family folks for comfort of seats, leg room, and head rest comfort.

Hope this helps!! Happy TDing.....