ago and doing test drives at all the luxury dealers, and it was interesting to see how each manufacturer has their own separate culture. I test drove a Porsche Panamera (Porsche dealer side by side to the Audi dealer since it's the same company) and they were so nonchalant. Didn't ask for a license, told me to take my time with it, recommended a drive route including both freeway and street driving, etc. Even let me drive a couple different models back to back because there's a huge difference in engine options/price.

My experience at multiple BMW dealerships was the same as yours. Hard to get anyone at all to help, and when I finally got someone they acted like it would be such a pain to have me test drive a 5 series. Made me sit and wait, and when I finally got a test drive the sales rep actually drove it out of the lot instead of me, and then eventually parked and let me drive it a bit before having me go straight back.

The Mercedes dealer I went to was better than the BMW dealers, but they were REALLY salesy. It was like stepping into a time machine and going to a dealer in the early 90s or something. He tried all of the stereotypical pressure tactics to get me to buy an E class that day. Asked me about the other cars I was comparing, and then he printed off a comparison sheet for me on this old black and white step-above-dot-matrix printer to prove that the E class was the best. In general he was talking to me like the internet didn't exist for me to have already done my own research.

I had a great experience at the Lexus dealership. Sales rep knew instantly that I'd done my research, just needed test drives and logistics. Decision ended up being between the Panamera and ES350 F-Sport - went with the Lexus based on the price along with maintenance costs of the Porsche.