Finally sold the 4.3 Vantage .....

[bogie]

Well after nearly 10 years and 80k miles of happy motoring in my 4.3 Vantage Coupe, it was time for a change this week....... to a 4.7 Roadster

Haven't got many pics yet, too much rain and the car is filthy already. I have done a couple of hundred miles so far and its great, lots of nice improvements over my Jan06 car, Im really pleased with it so far. I hope its going to be as relatively trouble free as my old Vantage.

Its a Dec12 car, tungsten silver, N420 sills, later V type wheels, obsidian black interior, red calipers, premium stereo/nav/phone etc

It will never be as clean as this again....



Now I can look forward to next summer

[thomasx4]

Glad you've stayed with another Vantage and looks very nice.. sure you'll be keeping it nice and spick and span, especially in the early days...
Summer is a long way off still but nothing like an open top run out on a cold, clear frosty morning either..enjoy :-)

[james-witton]

Congratulations, great car.
That looks like the Silverlink.

[Mansfield]

Was recently reading a thread from a few years ago saying you'd like the roadster.

Congratulations on the new purchase, looks stunning.

[V8V Pete]

Speaks volumes that a Vantage owner of 10 years buys another Vantage. Many congratulations, looks great. Have you yet been through all the receipts and done the maths so you can tell us the 10 year, 80,000 mile running costs of a Vantage?

[bogie]

james-witton said:

Congratulations, great car.
That looks like the Silverlink.

Yes, AM Newcastle, largest dealer in the UK I think, opened earlier this year, lots of nice cars in there, and great team to deal with

Re running costs, I did hand over the history with the car, it wasn't that bad when I had a quick flick through it. I've already posted the bits ive replaced over the years on here before, all the common stuff like; aux belts, thermostats, coolant sensor. There was a window regulator in the boot I never got around to fitting, that was the last £250 part to fail. 3 wheel bearings over the years and a clutch at 73k miles were the most expensive parts.

I have fuel paid for by employer, so effectively pay 40% tax on that cash benefit, as always depreciation is the biggest cost. It lost £49k in 9 1/2 years. I did originally buy it a year old, and saved 25% on new price. The new car is just under 4 years old and already lost 50% of its value so not that much more to come out of it, certainly no more than buying a new avg family car.

In the first few years of its life my old Vantage cost me less to run than the previous Audi I owned. Unless you have bad luck and get a car that suffers all known faults, and you go back to main dealer each time at £150ph then I do think you can run a Gaydon era Aston Martin for similar cost to a premium large engined German car . Certainly I think the modern AM is a usable daily car proposition, which is one of the reasons I've stayed with it

[hashluck]

Very nice and great info for anyone contemplating a purchase. And yes they certainly can be a daily driver.

[northernmedia]

Congrats on the new roadster!

Btw, they've got your old car up for 31.7k
http://newcastle.astonmartindealers.com/home/pre-o...

Looks like a great entry car for someone

Edited by northernmedia on Sunday 23 October 09:46

[Murph7355]

Lovely car bogie. I think your coupe must be one of the higher mileage cars out there.

Ref running costs, mine lost 67% of its value from new after 8.5yrs and 55k miles. Total costs including everything (depreciation, fuel, tax, insurance, all servicing and consumables etc) over that period were 98k. (If anyone's interested I can break it down).

I totally agree that these costs compare well with big engined German cars...IME performance cars of similar ability tend to cost similar amounts to run irrespective of the marque

Enjoy the Roadster. Winter's a great time to drive an open car.

[bogie]

northernmedia said:

Congrats on the new roadster!

Btw, they've got your old car up for 31.7k
http://newcastle.astonmartindealers.com/home/pre-o...

Looks like a great entry car for someone

Edited by northernmedia on Sunday 23 October 09:46

thanks, and yes thats my old car. Great car for someone, i figured it would retail at £30k ish based on others on the market with 60k miles on for £32k. They havnt hung about prepping it; it needed the paint bubbling sorting out around door handles and a front end respray, wheel refurb, window regulator fitting.

Probably need shocks in the next year or so too, otherwise a nice entry into AM ownership for someone, especially if its a weekend car for 3-4k a year....

[johnnyBv8]

Congratulations - it looks fantastic. Your old one must've been pretty decent for the main dealer to retail it at 80k miles. I've just done something similar (albeit I only had my 4.3 Vantage for 5 years rather than 10, and have replaced it with a 4.7 Coupe rather than a roadster). I did think about getting a roadster for a bit of a different experience....my new car is great but looks almost identical to my old one!

[Grant3]

Nice one Mark, she looks stunning the Roadster is the pick of the range IMO and I see you have been very canny getting into a 12.25MY+ with a host of useful updates and a nice chunk of depreciation gone

You'll end up driving everywhere roof down, so get the thermals ready enjoy.

[bogie]

thanks guys....Already been out today for couple of hours; roof down, sun out, 11deg, heated seats and heater works well...certainly much better than an Elise I had for 6 years/85k miles that rarely had its roof on

I do think my old Vantage is the cheapest/highest miler in the dealer network. It looks great in the pics, I can see the wheels have been done.

I did consult "the book" Grant, it was measured decision, and well worth waiting for the right spec/age/price point car. Trying to find a used manual roadster 3-4 years old max was challenging. Just a quick look on autotrader now shows:

340 Vantages for sale
81 Roadster
41 are 4.7L
34 are 2012 on
and just *2 manuals*

Maybe next time I change, I might have try this sportshift thing ...and a V12

Edited by bogie on Sunday 23 October 17:44

[krisdelta]

Nice upgrade Bogie, I've followed your updates with interest, the fact you used your car so much gave me the confidence to get one as a daily all those years ago. Enjoy!

[dbs2000]

Nice work and great you're staying with AM

[Bincenzo]

Good work Mark, I was worried you'd leave us! You've been a great source of info to me and a lot of other forum members, so now we can expect 4.7 nuggets! Lovely car BTW,

[michael gould]

many congratulations .....enjoy your new toy

[Grant3]

Mark, I hope you have been driving everywhere with the roof down.... just checking

[bogie]

Ive managed a couple of hours roof down and few hundred miles ...been out of the country all last week on business, no time for fun driving

First fault on new car; emissions light- crank angle sensor error code...probably needs a new one, off to dealer this week.

Also ordered Larini front cat replacement pipes

On another subject, what revision is "the book" up to Grant? is it up to date if I put a new copy on my xmas list ?

[Grant3]

They are forecasting a dry warm Winter.... so (if they are right) there should be plenty of roof down fun to come!

I was going to suggest a V8S back box would be the ideal Xmas gift for your new toy, but sounds like you are already on the case, I'll be interested to hear how the Larini cats work out.

The guide is now on the 12th edition, published this April to include DB11 and the 17MY changes (Ami III, etc).