10 Things to Check Before the Test Drive

10 Essential Tips for Women Before Test Driving a Car

In this episode of 'Women Buying Cars,' host Meredith Reynolds, a former teacher turned used car dealer, shares 10 crucial things to look out for before taking a car for a test drive. Meredith emphasizes the importance of inspecting the car's exterior for imperfections, checking tire tread using a penny, and ensuring the battery is not older than four years. She also advises evaluating comfort, visibility, and functionality of controls and features such as radios, windows, and seat adjustability. Meredith discusses considerations like ease of entry and the importance of checking for any warning lights or unpleasant odors. Additionally, she introduces a segment about cars she loves, highlighting the Kia Telluride for its aesthetics, functionality, and luxury at a reasonable price. As season two kicks off, Meredith encourages listeners to make and stick to their resolutions, sharing her own experience with avoiding doomscrolling. Tune in for these valuable tips and more to empower yourself in the car buying process.

00:00 Introduction and Host Welcome
01:15 New Year's Resolutions and Personal Insights
04:07 Pre-Test Drive Checklist Overview
04:33 Inspecting the Car Exterior
06:23 Checking the Tires
07:04 Under the Hood Inspection
07:32 Interior Comfort and Visibility
10:03 Special Segment: Cars I Love - Kia Telluride
13:38 Testing Car Features and Electronics
16:13 Ease of Access and Warning Lights
18:09 Final Checks and Conclusion

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Transcript

Meredith 0:01

You've been thinking for a while about which car you want to purchase. You've been looking around on the road, seeing what catches your eye, doing research, reading reviews, looking into reliability. You've narrowed it down and you think you know what you want. You need to go test drive the car to see if it really is going to work for you once you arrive at the dealership, but before you take the car for a spin. I have 10 things you need to look for. We'll go over those 10 things today on women buying cars. You are listening to women buying cars, and I'm your host Meredith Reynolds. I'm a former teacher turned used car dealer and I'm here to teach and empower you to walk into a car dealership with confidence and walk out with the car that's right for you. Welcome to season two of Women buying Cars. I am so thrilled to be here. My name is Meredith Reynolds and I am grateful to you for joining me today. It is a new year. Do you have any resolutions? I have one resolution. I resolved to not read the news after 6:00 PM every night because what I was finding was I was winding down in the evening. Getting to a point where I didn't have anything going on and it was a terrible habit to doom scroll. I was constantly checking the news in the evening to see what other horrible thing may have happened since the last time I checked the news. It's not good for my mental health. And it's sucking up so much of my time that I could be doing something constructive. So that is my resolution. Let me tell you, it has not been easy. Today's the eighth, but I have not given in. I have been trying to tell myself whatever has happened, I can read about it in the morning because I do read the news. I do check in. I like the news. Well, I don't like it. It's kind of a, partly a habit, but I am interested in what's going on in the world and in our country. But it has been really good for me to have. A specific deadline because I have a tendency to make resolutions like I'm going to exercise more. Well, you can't measure more what does more mean? Very subjective. And so that is my tendency though, because I don't wanna commit myself to something that I don't think I'll actually follow through on. So making this very specific time limit has helped me a lot. So, I hope you've made some good resolutions. If not, you can still do it. There's, you know, it's arbitrary to pick at January 1st. You can resolve to do things better at any point. Last year, my New Year's resolution was to create this podcast and I did it. I would love to encourage you to do something that you think you can't do or something that you have a desire to do, but you don't know where to even begin. I wanna encourage you to just do it. Getting started is the hardest part. Once you get started on something, then you just continue doing that, continue following the steps. It's much easier, but taking that leap is hard, and I just hope that you will focus on something that you've always wanted to do, so we are here on season two and I'm very excited to get started. I've had a little hiatus at the end of 2025, but now I'm back. So today I'm gonna tell you what you should be looking for before your test drive while you're at the dealership, but before you actually go drive the car. It's tempting to just take the key, get in and head out. But I want you to look for these 10 things before you get started. I have not listed these in order of importance. I tried to list them in the order that you would actually do these things. Number one, I want you to look all around the outside of the car and determine if you can deal with any imperfections that you find. What is your limit on imperfections? I say that because if you're buying a used car, there will be imperfections. We assume they won't be severe, but if it's used, it's years old and it's been driven in the elements next to other drivers, parked next to other drivers and humans walking past it You are just going to have to expect that there will be some hairline scratches here and there, or a tiny little, I mean, tiny little dent, like smaller than a dime You. Okay, sometimes people get hung up on that stuff, and I suspect those people never end up buying a car or at least not a used one, because it never meets perfection. Okay? If you're buying a new car, that's different. So really inspect it top to bottom. Looking at it, from different angles. 'cause sometimes hail damage can kind of hide depending on the light. So, you know, kind of look at the hood and then squat down, uh, six inches and look at it still and move back and forth to get different, viewpoints to see if you can see anything like that. So just decide what you can live with, if. There are things you could talk to the car dealership About if you feel there are scratches that could potentially be touched up with some paint or hail damage that you would like removed. Maybe they'll do that, maybe they won't, but just look at it really well. Top to bottom. Number two, you need to look at the tires. I'm going to do an entire episode about tire care, But for the test drive, what you really need to look for is that there's a lot of tread on the tires, that the grooves are thick. Here's an easy trick to help you determine if there's enough tread. Come prepared with a penny. Take that penny, turn it upside down and put it. headfirst into one of the grooves. If you can see his entire head, you need new tires. The crown of his head should be covered. So that is a quick, easy check for you. Number three. You probably see people lift the hood, look under the hood. What exactly are they looking at? What are you supposed to be looking at? If you lift the hood, what are you looking for? Well, one thing you can look for is the battery. Look for a date on the battery. You don't want the battery more than four years old. Okay? So if it's four years old or older, then talk to them about getting you a new battery. Okay. Next, go ahead and sit down in the car. Number four, is the seat comfortable? You're gonna be sitting in this car quite a bit over the years, so does it have lumbar support can you adjust the seat so that you're in a really good position? Make sure that you are comfortable. if you're really tall, does the headrest come up high enough for you? Number five is visibility. Okay. Here's what happens. Sometimes we set our sights on a car that we really want. And then we overlook some of the negatives because we really want this car. I'm talking about the people who have their sights set on a car they've wanted for a long time, like a Jeep Wrangler. It's just been your dream to have a Jeep Wrangler, and then when you sit in the Jeep Wrangler, you just kind of overlook some of the negatives. Because you don't want to admit there are negatives. You want this car, but down the road, those negatives will catch up to you. So one thing that's really important is that you are paying attention to the visibility. Can you see, well, out of the car, a lot of times a small sporty car. It doesn't have to be a sports car, but sporty. That are on the smaller side, they have small back windows and you can't see a lot when you're backing up. Now we all rely on backup cameras, but it's still a good idea to be able to see out the back. So really ask yourself if you have enough visibility for someone like me who's tall and long wasted. Sometimes smaller cars don't have a long enough windshield for me and the top of the windshield. Like the trim is actually in some of my sight line. Well, that's a problem. Really ask yourself if you can see well out of this vehicle, you can adjust your seat up and down. Okay? The seat doesn't just go forward and backwards. You need to make sure you can get it in a position that's comfortable for you, especially if you're not of average height. You can also raise the seat up or lower it back down to accommodate your particular height. now it's time for a little segment I like to call. Cars I love. The car I love today is the Kia Telluride. We have a Kia Telluride on our lot right now, and I am in love with this car. I do not need a three row SUV, which is what this is, but if I did, this would be at the top of my list. I borrowed it for a little while and drove around in it. I drove down to my mother's house for Thanksgiving, which was about a three and a half hour drive, and I just love this car. Like I said, it's three rows. Depending on the trim level, it can seat seven or eight, and the first thing that gets me is that it's just really good looking. If you look at. Just the little details that make a car go from boring to really good looking things like the wheels and the grill, or just the lines of the car. It's just really attractive. It's been compared to Range Rover, which I also really think is good looking, but significantly less expensive than a Range Rover and more reliable over time. So I love the looks inside. The interior is very cushy and feels like a luxury car as well. Nice big seats that can be adjusted in multiple ways. Tons of safety features. if you're using a bench seat and you need to help someone get to the third row, there's just a button on top of the bench seat that pushes the seat forward. So it's easy. A lot of Hondas, like a pilot or a minivan, you have to pull a strap and then push a seat up, which is not really very kid friendly. So this button makes life very easy. There's a lot of leg room in the second row. third row, like a lot of third rows. I don't know if you would fit three adults back there, it would be pretty cramped, but three children or a teen and some kids. Uh, you know, that kind of combination. You can make it work if you need to. The trunk space, a three row SUV, you don't have a ton of space, but you are gonna get more space back there on the Kia than you would. On a Honda Pilot or Toyota Highlander. Also, you can lift up the base of the trunk and there's another little secret compartment down in there. Great. For whatever little treasures you need to hide. The Kia Telluride had a lot of get up and go. It's a V six and one thing that I noticed, I've never noticed this on a car, so it's a little strange that this would matter to me, but I noticed that it corners really well. I usually don't like driving large SUVs, especially when you have to pull into a parking space. But pulling this into a parking space felt like I was pulling a car into it. I mean, it cornered and just whipped into that parking space, so, well, I noticed it every time. I never had to stop. Back up, try again. It really is easy to drive. So if you need a three row SUV and you want one that is quite luxurious without a high luxury price tag, you should consider the Kia Telluride. All right, now let's talk more about looking over your Car. Number six, while you're sitting there, look to see if the radio and the heating and air conditioning is controlled by a dial, or if it's a touchscreen, or if you care. Maybe you don't care either way, but I am meeting more and more people who are wanting a dial because that's what we've always had. And they just find the touchscreen too complicated or distracting. And I understand this. There are some cars, and I'm looking at you, Cadillac, that you have to take a couple of steps to get to the heating and air conditioning. Like if you don't want the air on your face anymore, you want it on your feet, you've gotta click around on the touch screen to get to that. don't like that either. I also don't like having to touch the touch screen to raise the volume of the radio. I also like a dial, so if that matters to you, then pay attention because it could become an irritation and a distraction. I wanna be able to mess with the radio or the AC without having to really look. I just wanna be able to do it. If it is a deal breaker for you, ask your salesperson which cars you should be looking at that have, a less high tech console. Number seven. Speaking of buttons, you need to check all the buttons to see if things work. Raise and lower all the windows. Use the lock and unlock. Test out the sunroof. Make sure it opens all the way. Use the radio. Go through a few stations. Check your mirrors. Make sure the mirrors are adjustable. Tilt the steering wheel so that it's at the height that you want it to be. If you have long legs. Get the seat where you need it, and then look at the back seat. Does someone sitting back there have enough leg room? Could an adult sit behind you if they needed to? Also, if your own personal music is really important to you in the car, then make sure your phone is going to work. If you wanna use Bluetooth, make sure it has Bluetooth. If you wanna use Apple car play. Make sure it has that. Don't just trust the listing that says it had it. It could have been a mistake. If you need to plug your phone in, then bring a cord with you and plug it in to make sure that it works. I have a USB port in my car that doesn't work, so you need to find that out before you buy the car and are unhappy. Number eight. Can you easily get in and out of the car? Again, this is for those emotional buyers who have really wanted this little sports car or really wanted this lifted Jeep. Those can be hard to get in and out of things that are really low to the ground or things that are really high off the ground and depending on your particular stature. So is it reasonable to think you can easily get in and outta this car? Could your children get in and out easily if you have them, if you have little kids, do you really want a two door? Probably not. Especially if you're taking them to school or picking them up from school. Do your elderly parents ride with you a lot? Will they be able to get in and out if you are buying a three row SUV, how hard will it be for people to get to the third row? It depends on if the second row is a full bench or captain's chairs. It depends on if a 4-year-old is getting in the very back or a 14-year-old or an 84-year-old. So make sure you're looking at all of that really closely. Number nine, start the car and see if there are any warning lights on. These days, there are a lot of safety features that are often lit up on the dash. If you don't know what something is, just ask. You don't want to think that something is a warning when really it's just telling you that the crash detection warning is on. If you see an exclamation point that is the TPMS that is monitoring the tire pressure. Sometimes I've had people say, oh, the check engine light's on, when really it was just the tire pressure monitor. It's an exclamation point, so it makes you think that there's something to panic about, but it could just mean that one tire needs a little bit of air so again, if you don't know what the lights are, ask and number 10, this one you won't need any reminders for. Does it smell bad? It is so, so, so difficult to get cigarette smoke and marijuana smoke. Smell out of a car. if that's gonna bother you, it's probably always going to bother you. One of the best remedies we've found is having the entire headliner, meaning that fabric that covers the ceiling of the car completely replaced. And that wraps up my 10 things you should be looking for before you leave on your test drive. My next episode will be what you need to be looking for and listening for during the test drive, so make sure you listen to that episode as well. If this has been helpful to you, I would so appreciate a five star review that really helps me grow the podcast and helps more people find it. Thanks so much for joining me on season two and happy driving.