Unsure About Your New Car’s Driving Experience? Consider This

We’ve all felt buyer’s remorse from time to time, and it’s never a nice feeling. However, usually, we hope it’s relegated to the smaller purchases we make, such as not being too sure about that unique ice cream flavour your chanced last night, or buying a shirt that didn’t quite fit you.

When buyer’s remorse translates to a life purchase like owning a home or buying a new car, well, this can be a little less convenient. That being said, sometimes it’s good to let things grow on you. You might have a best friend at work who you disliked for the first month, or begrudgingly watched a show with your partner through its first season, and now feel addicted to it.

If you’re a little unsure about your car and its presence on your driveway, you might feel a little peeved about your purchase. However, we’d recommend taking a few steps to feel more at home in it, and to give the vehicle more of a chance before selling it on:

Read Through The Full Manual

If heading from one manufacturer to a brand new alternative, you might not be familiar with the car’s design economy. Of course, in general, many brands of car drive similarly and have to be constructed to make logical sense. But a feature on one car could be called something else in another. Maybe you’ve switched on the heated seats and have no idea how to turn them off, making those summer commutes to work unbearable and no doubt an influence on your mood.

Reading through the full manual can help you avoid those little errors or worries that are generally considered teething issues, that is, you can adapt to the new norm if you give it time and know what the norm even is. Sometimes, you might give your head a shake and laugh realising what you’ve missed.

Go On A Small Road Trip

Putting the vehicle through its paces is a good way to check its full driving experience without bias, or the stress of a busy work commute. Heading to a local camping spot, travelling to a nice restaurant, or visiting family can be a nice excuse to get out for the weekend, and also see how your new car performs on a few different roads.

This way, you can at least feel a little more relaxed than usual, either knowing that your suspicions are confirmed or you had nothing to worry about. It might be that the car felt a little odd on the country roads to your rural home, but on the motorway, it feels luxurious. It could just be that kind of car. Or, maybe you notice it pulls slightly to the left, confirming an issue you suspected. Either way, you’ll have a good idea of how to address the problem, or just move past it.

Customise & Personalise The Car

If you owned your previous car for a fair amount of time, odds are you just need to adapt to the comfort of a new one as you had before. But what does that mean in practice? Well, putting it simply, customising and personalising the car through a few distinct adornments can be key. Perhaps you enjoy placing a small rug on the seat for comfort, you enjoy sandalwood fragrances, or maybe even customising with number plates for sale to look the business.

All of that counts, and if the car feels more “like yours,” you’ll begin to love it. Just think, if you switch from an Android to an iPhone you’ll spend a few hours putting together your common apps, logging into everything, setting the wallpaper and theme, and uploading all your contacts. Then you can gain a more personalised view. A vehicle is the same way, even if a vehicle’s core features are unlikely to change.

Test All Features

Have you used all the features in the vehicle you’re driving? If you’re unsure about how it feels, perhaps you haven’t enabled all of the utilities at your command. Of course, ABS and other utilities we take for granted. But if you’ve changed vehicle type, perhaps driving an electric or hybrid car now, there may be certain features like self-driving on the motorway with slight steering adjustments or charging schedules you need to get used to.

Of course, this isn’t to dismiss your initial impression. But it’s good to make sure you’ve tested that feeling against all of the functions the vehicle offers. Maybe the car’s sport mode is where it feels most responsive, aligning more closely to what was standard in your previous. At the very least, you’ll give the car a fair shake by considering the fullest picture.

Make Use Of Added Utilities

If you’ve purchased your car for more than just the stock commuting experience, it’s worth considering if they’re up to snuff. For example, a 4×4 vehicle with the strength to pull a large trailer might be worthwhile, even if it’s not as responsive as your hatchback, because it allows you to bring a secondary unit for your long camping holidays.

Perhaps you’ve just purchased the vehicle because of its incredible fuel economy, and testing that is a good way to see if you’ve gained your money’s worth. Sometimes it’s not about the strict initial impressions, but what lifestyle the car unlocks for you. It’s good not to handwave this because initial disappointment might be nothing compared to long-term satisfaction.

Speak To Owners Online

If you need further clarification about the car and to voice your concerns, doing so with owners online can be a good step to make. Just be mindful that taking opinions on the internet, especially from car owner forums, should be done with a pinch of salt the size of the moon.

That’s because some people might dislike a brand and will dismiss it no matter what, while others could be blind fans. But if you post a good question on a car talk community, you can at least find out who sincerely echoes your thoughts or has a new perspective on it. Maybe you’ll realise a mistake you’ve made, or that this specification of car is known for the problem you noticed.

Either way, it can give you space to put down your thoughts and come to more of a conclusion about the car. If it’s a common issue that you had no idea about, you might be able to return it to the dealership for a full refund.

Have The Vehicle Inspected Or Checked For Faults

It might just be that your model of car requires a full inspection for an issue to be repaired. Maybe the internal computing system has failed, or there’s an issue with the braking system. Perhaps a few features haven’t worked. Either way, a full inspection can help to identify the issue and prevent problems from occurring.

This way, you might even be able to return the vehicle as discussed, or realise that the fix was minor and drive on happily ever after. Perhaps the mechanic will just give you a summary of how these cars work and why they’re a little different from some you’ve driven in the past. Having an expert on side can be worth a thousand user forums after all, although be mindful that proprietary car showrooms might try and downplay any issues, thanks to their livelihoods being tied to that.

With this advice, we hope you can more easily either soothe or resolve that unsure feeling we sometimes get in a new car.