I have owned a couple of XJS's and loved them. I have driven a couple of XK8,s and think
they look great and are nice to drive, but a car is more than just the way it drives, its also
about the way it makes you feel, and driving along a nice road with the top down in a DB7 V12
manual with sports exhaust popping on the over run takes some beating for the money. And when it
comes to choosing which car to take, it never fails to give me a buzz saying 'shall we take the Aston'? I know there's a lot of 'badge' going on there, but thats fine by me! And if like me you
have always wanted to own an Aston, lets face it, a DB7 is probably the only chance us mere mortals
will ever have of owning one!

There are still some great XJS convertible bargains out there but they seem to be on the
rise so maybe get one now before they get any dearer, although if your budget allows, I would
go for a low milage DB7 i6 volante. The V12 is far better imho but the i6 is the purer of
the breed and actually rearer.It's also about half the running costs.

I have not owned an M beemer, but I have a friend that has an M5 and that I would
say is more expensive to maintain. I have had two brand new 5 series in the last 5
years and both of them have broken down. The last one was with injection problems
It also started leaking oil from the engine. Total mileage from new was 12k miles.
I told the main dealer that their products were crap and that in ten years of owning
my TVR Cerbera it had never gone wrong or let me down once and that perhaps BMW should
take a lesson from a more reliable car like my TVR. That stumpped him!! I have on the
other hand owned a BM 3 series back in the late 90's and that was great, but like all
german cars they have all had a personality and sole by-pass. inho I would say yes, an
i6 will be cheaper to run than an M series. I am sure that someone on here who may have
owned both could enlighten you more.