Quote Originally Posted by TsPoet View Post
I drive a MINI now, for a long time I was a Toyota driver. The Toyota dealership here had several salesmen that were very willing to help me - pick out a color. I asked about all-wheel vs front wheel drive and they (more than one!) came back with "what color were you looking for". I asked about 4 cylinder vs 6 cylinder engines and gas mileage and the response was "what color are you looking for?" I kid you not - two different trips, 3 different salesmen - the exact same response to any of my questions - what color do you want?!
I hoped they were incompetent. But, I asked a male friend to go with me on a third trip and they all of a sudden knew what drive train and engine options were available on the then-new version of the Rav4. Not incompetent, just stupid.
I went directly to the MINI dealership (a 3 hr drive away) and bought a MINI. I love my MINI.
I had a similar experience at a Saturn dealership back in the 90's. I had just totaled my VW and had the insurance money to buy a new car. I went to Saturn because I thought I would like their 'no haggle' policy. I asked to drive the bigger engine sports car they had (sports car being a relative term). The two salesmen I was working with (why two??), both tried to tell me that I didn't need the extra hp and that I'd be perfectly happy in the smaller engine version. "It still looks just as cool!" "Here, we have a pretty red one right here" . No joke! I told him I wanted more performance than that and they kept trying to talk me out of it. When I finally told him what VW I had totaled (Corrado G60), they agreed that I'd never be happy in the smaller engine car. Duh! I hated the car anyway because not only was it ugly, but it drove like crap.

I ended up buying a Jeep and had an excellent experience at that dealer. Same thing with the two MINI's I bought. In both cases, they spoke to ME and not to my husband even though he was with me for those purchases.