Next Saturday I will pick up a slightly used Coupe. I will fly to the dealer and test drive it before purchasing. I have read back about 18 months of posts on the forum, but have a couple questions.
First, any hints on checking out the car in the test drive. What I have is:
1. Clutch - Smooth shift? Misses gears? - Report from Mas dealer is that it just had the clutch replaced 1k miles ago.
2. Some shake - check at high RPMs.
3. Stitching coming loose on the interior.
Anything else besides the obvious visual items (scratches, tires, etc) that should be checked before purchasing? Purchasing from used car dealer, but was locally owned and serviced. Mas dealer has confirmed service info.
Second:
How do I drive the paddle shift? I know this should be obvious, but...
1. Will it allow me to shift into a gear that will put the RPM's above red line (i.e. I am accelerating and want to hit the upshift but hit the downshift instead)? If so, what happens?
2. Will it downshift automatically when slowing down if I am in manual mode?
3. Assuming the RPMs are ok, is it OK to downshift 2 gears quickly, or should the car be stepped down slowly? What about upshifting?
4. In manual mode, if I come to a stop, can I keep the car in 1st or do I need to shift into neutral (forum seemed a little unclear on this one when I checked the back posts).
5. If I am in auto mode and driving, how do I switch to manual mode and then back to auto mode?
I will read all the manuals, etc, but probably will not have a chance before I take the car for a test drive. Any help is appreciated.
Thank you and great site...
First, any hints on checking out the car in the test drive. What I have is:
1. Clutch - Smooth shift? Misses gears? - Report from Mas dealer is that it just had the clutch replaced 1k miles ago.
2. Some shake - check at high RPMs.
3. Stitching coming loose on the interior.
Anything else besides the obvious visual items (scratches, tires, etc) that should be checked before purchasing? Purchasing from used car dealer, but was locally owned and serviced. Mas dealer has confirmed service info.
Second:
How do I drive the paddle shift? I know this should be obvious, but...
1. Will it allow me to shift into a gear that will put the RPM's above red line (i.e. I am accelerating and want to hit the upshift but hit the downshift instead)? If so, what happens?
2. Will it downshift automatically when slowing down if I am in manual mode?
3. Assuming the RPMs are ok, is it OK to downshift 2 gears quickly, or should the car be stepped down slowly? What about upshifting?
4. In manual mode, if I come to a stop, can I keep the car in 1st or do I need to shift into neutral (forum seemed a little unclear on this one when I checked the back posts).
5. If I am in auto mode and driving, how do I switch to manual mode and then back to auto mode?
I will read all the manuals, etc, but probably will not have a chance before I take the car for a test drive. Any help is appreciated.
Thank you and great site...