A test drive that actually finds problems

Most test drives are too short, too smooth and too talkative to reveal anything. A useful one is deliberate.

Start cold. A car that has been warmed up before you arrive is hiding its worst starting behaviour. Ask for it cold, and if that is impossible, come back.

Drive your route, not theirs. Include a rough surface, a few tight turns at low speed with the windows down, a stretch of freeway, and somewhere safe to brake hard once.

Turn the radio off and listen. Clunks over bumps are suspension. A rhythmic hum that changes when you sway the car gently at speed is usually a wheel bearing. A whine that follows engine speed rather than road speed is something else entirely. Grinding under braking is pads; pulsing through the pedal is discs.

Watch the transmission. It should shift without hunting, without a shove, and without a pause before engaging drive or reverse. On a dual-clutch, some low-speed hesitation is normal; a shudder is not.

Park and look again. Leave it idling, get out, and look underneath for drips. Check that the air conditioning is genuinely cold after a few minutes, not merely cool.

Then sit in it for a moment with everything off and decide whether you want it. That part matters too.