RE: PH Carpool: Aston Martin Vanquish

[f328nvl]

True automotive heroism: Buy the beautiful temperamental one (and at £45k, the relatively cheap one, although a "cheap Aston" is as common as a downhill skier in hell). I had a manual DB7 vantage for about 10 years , longest I ever owned anything: http://rjmghome.blogspot.co.uk/#!/2013/01/2010-ast...

I went through two aircon units; The dashboard comes out on a 7 for the aircon but removing the engine? Surely not?

They are the best sounding cars in the world and with the manual gearbox, I'd have one in the blink of an eye if I had the space, money and wild-eyed optimism of youth.

[B10]

Spot on.

[Amirhussain]

Great read,a car that is aging beautifully.

[garypotter]

Amirhussain said:

Great read,a car that is aging beautifully.

I agree, and the Vanquish is def the best looking of the breed, you also probably have better roads in OZ to be able to stretch the legs of the V12 vanquish.

[e600]

Spot on regarding buying a Vanquish thats in regular or semi-regular use rather than a museum piece. I have a 2001 Vanquish, now has 30,000 miles and is a fantastic weekend car, although I use it to work on occasions in the summer months, also had it down to a local meet on New Years day.
Fantastic sound and driving experience with , along with a series 1 E Type, are the best looking cars on the planet.

Enjoy it!

[mikeinsheffield]

Great write up

Great to see a true PH and a gorgeous car, even better with the manual conversion!!

[Auson]

Camaro said:

How did wker in the article get through the swear filter?

I must be because its not nearly bad enough to be considered a swear word in Australian.

[tomoleeds]

Good story,nice car,but the costs have really put me off buying a Aston. The repairs bill alone could buy you a decent car. Audi S4,RS6,maybe a RS4,b7. I know thats not the point,but even so its a lot of money.

[pagani1]

10/10 for bravery- a true PH'er. The bills would have taken the shine off for me and the Oz police are gits for anything that's +10 kms over the posted limit. They don't have many plain wrappers though just zero tolerance as the average Aussie driver (on my 6 week visit to Sydney) has to verify his manhood by continually swapping lanes to gain one car length and thereby prove how super masculine he is. We do have those over here of course.

[Justices]

Wonderful. £60k for a manual Vanquish? YES. It's what the car was missing all along IMO and I didn't realise Aston offered this conversion. Definitely something to consider as it makes the car infinitely more attractive.

Impressive work with the suspension, by the way I'll raise you though. License collected on a Thursday afternoon, flew all day Friday (16hr flight then a 3hr flight) then license suspended on Saturday afternoon.

[mikEsprit]

Maserati paddle shifters have the reputation for going out after 30,000 miles, too.

If true, this is one of the worst 'advancements' in motoring history.

[NGK210]

Still love the Vanquish's styling: a DB7 that hit the gym, trimmed its waist and butt, and beefed up everywhere else

[JohnG1]

Excellent story!

The Vanquish is very popular in Australia, over the last few months I have seen as many Vanquish as I have V8 Vantage...

Although I have only seen three V12 Vantages.

To the OP, Charlie, could you please let me know who you used to import the car to Australia? I've been researching options to import my V12 Vantage (I've owned it for two years in the UK) and there are very mixed reviews for every firm in that market place.

Cheers!

[robsco]

Beautiful, the last truly exciting looking Aston before it all started getting a bit stale. Surprised to hear about build quality issues though... To be understood with some cars, but unforgivable from an Aston.

[Exar Kun]

garypotter said:

I agree, and the Vanquish is def the best looking of the breed, you also probably have better roads in OZ to be able to stretch the legs of the V12 vanquish.

Bwahahahaha! Better roads? In Oz? Not likely. Ours are worse than the UK's!

tomoleeds said:

Good story,nice car,but the costs have really put me off buying a Aston. The repairs bill alone could buy you a decent car. Audi S4,RS6,maybe a RS4,b7. I know thats not the point,but even so its a lot of money.

Depends where you live. The cheapest Vanquish currently on the market in Australia is 80,000 GBP. You won't find a B7 RS4 for less than 50,000 GBP.

[Gorbyrev]

Dun duda dun dun
Dadundada
Dun duda dun dun
Dadundada
Dun duda dun dun
Dadundada
Dun duda dun dun
Dadunda
DA DA DADA DA!

[George29]

robsco said:

Surprised to hear about build quality issues though... To be understood with some cars, but unforgivable from an Aston.

Why?

It's a hand built car. Surely you wouldn't expect everything to be absolutely perfect 10 years on?

[I WISH]

One of my best mates has one ........ beautiful machines that make a wondrous noise.

Have to say that a combination of THAT car with THAT registration ..... and bare feet (!) is SOOO cool.

[tomoleeds]

Exar Kun said:

Depends where you live. The cheapest Vanquish currently on the market in Australia is 80,000 GBP. You won't find a B7 RS4 for less than 50,000 GBP.

Yes i know cars are expensive in Oz,and we have a good selection of cheap used motors in the uk. after checking out the cost of repairs to the aston, a B7 RS4 or M5 (2005-2006) could be bought for the same price

[djt77]

Would like to know what the import costs were? Does seem very tempting it has to be said