Fallen out of love, 2k miles in the last 15 months.

[MrOrange]

I've hankered after an Aston since being a wee lad and took the plunge in Jan of 2011, buying a minter N400 with eff-all miles on it. It was lovely and compared to my history of Porkers, Lotus and fast Audis it was a breath of fresh air. Fast, comfortable, pretty-cheap to run and folks let me out of junctions. I did 8k miles in the first year, west-coast of Scotland and other GT-type runs. What a fab year.

I think I've fallen out of love with it, shame really - just can't get up the "drive" to take it out for a drive. Busy roads, potholes, speed-cameras and not wanting to leave it anywhere except my garage is really restricting my enjoyment.

But, car is due for a service and I've only done 2k miles in the last year. Add in the cost of insurance, tax and depreciation and it's costing more than a fiver a mile. Talk me out of selling it please, folks.

[tonyhall38]

don't sell it....

[Bincenzo]

Were all probably feeling a little down in the doldrums due to the weather etc. See how you feel mid summer, when you've had chance to really enjoy it. I know exactly how you feel about not being arsed to get it out of the garage - that's because the run out will be compromised in some way, normally the weather.

If you still feel out of sorts, summer may be a decent time to sell? HTH

[bananarob]

tonyhall38 said:

don't sell it....

Ditto. Changed your mind now?

[brakedwell]

I must admit I have hardly driven my DB9 since it was serviced last December, mainly due to the state of the roads. The soddin' weather hasn't helped either. A UKIP local council election flier landed on the mat yesterday where they pledged to Prioritise Road Maintenance and complete a much needed bypass round Arundel. I know it will never happen, but I we have decided to vote for them as a protest. Then I will continue to swerve all over the road like a drunk to avoid the potholes and puddles until I have no other option than to buy a Range Rover!

[mblade123]

500 miles in mine since last mot 12 months ago.
Spend most of the time driving the Discovery. I think to myself sometimes, do I rearly need the Aston?.
Then I take it out for a spin and think, sod that, I'm not selling this :-)

[bogie]

im afraid to say ive had a similar year ...just checked, its due a service, only 3.2k miles since last year. At least its on "cheap" road tax (pre march o6) ...so I reckon its costing me £100 a month in service/tax/insurance to sit outside the house for the odd ride out...at least the depreciation has just about bottomed out now

I have a couple of bikes I love to ride and every time a nice day came I was out

then when the weather isnt good (most of last year) id be in the Range Rover

so when to fit the Vantage in ?

I guess I need to organise a car touring holiday again and get away for a week, in the car.....

actually its not as bad as I think; last year did 4K +1K + 3K (vantage) + 20K Rangey so at least I did do 8k totally for pleasure miles ...its just split different across toys these days

[Jockman]

Might as well make the most of it me old sweaty !!

If old fish face gets his way and you gain Independence then it's unlikely you will be able to afford such a gorgeous car as your leaders tax the hell out of you in order to repay your share of the enormous national debt.

And all your bills will be in euros.

And all your women will grow beards.

Hth

[JBE68]

Owning an AM was also an ambition and having found a 2010 V8V showcase model inc sport pack, I covered 2500miles in 12months. Sold it last Saturday for the same reasons as you.

[snuffy]

I've had my V8V for 9 months and I've done 2,300 miles. Does it bother me ? No, not at all. I don't drive that much anyway (since I mainly work from home) and I don't make pointless journeys just for the sake of driving (apart from a few miles every so often to keep the battery etc in good order). But I like the fact that I have it and it's in my garage and it's mine.

[DangerMonkey]

1419 miles here in the last six days

/not helpful I know

[Fantuzzi]

Ive recentlty changed my hooning route, its been pretty good for pot holes and things, perhaps having a drive round your local area, find somewhere that dosnt have the surface of a quarry and you havnt driven before will get youre relationship back on track.

I find If you set out for a drive, so you go at a time when you know its quiet (in the summer I find going early evening is best, Dusk time means you get some nice views as well, Make sure youve got no stuff that shouldnt be there in the car, (I never do but it dosnt help the mind set if youve got coins in the center console or maps on the passenger seat etc), then when the engines warm and the roads get tasty go like hell you have a lot of fun, rather than just going for a drive, you make it an event. Something with rituals and protocol.

Only way I can imagine getting some love back unless youre unhappy with the car.

[Simon T]

I don't understand why you guys don't drive them. I have done 2k miles since Dec, Rain, snow, fog, cold, still a great place to be and still a huge amount of fun.

In fact thinking of nipping out for a takeaway in a min, pissing down but will prob take the beast

Simon

[V8LM]

You can't rationalize owning an Aston. When you get to the point that you want to sell it, go to the garage, jump in and drive. After a nice little drive, you'll park it up, think there is no way I can sell this, and be even more content as you've reduced the cost-per-mile*.

• Unless something breaks, which often happens when I take mine out.

[outofstepuk]

Simon T said:

I don't understand why you guys don't drive them. I have done 2k miles since Dec, Rain, snow, fog, cold, still a great place to be and still a huge amount of fun.

In fact thinking of nipping out for a takeaway in a min, pissing down but will prob take the beast

Simon

+1.

Why aspire to/achieve owning a nice car and then find every excuse not to drive it. So what if it's cold? As long as it's not ice/snow and dangerous.

Pot holes? Long wait for those to be fixed. Not that hard to avoid most of them!

True that you car won't get any marks on it in the safety of your garages, but I'd rather get a few marks in a supermarket, than not get to enjoy driving my car.

I'm due a service on time, which is disappointing, only 9000 miles since the last one.

[hornbaek]

I used to commute in my V12V into central London. During the closure of the Hammersmith Flyover year before last, traffic in West London broke down so I started bicycling to work. Have never looked back since and my Aston has been out twice since it got its winter tyres on in October. Summer tyres are now back on but it has not stopped raining since. The weather gets to all of us eventually.

[outofstepuk]

hornbaek said:

I used to commute in my V12V into central London. During the closure of the Hammersmith Flyover year before last, traffic in West London broke down so I started bicycling to work. Have never looked back since and my Aston has been out twice since it got its winter tyres on in October. Summer tyres are now back on but it has not stopped raining since. The weather gets to all of us eventually.

I'm just always surprised how much people are put off by rain. Sure I'm not in a monsterous V12V, and whilst of course it's not as fun as a beautiful dry day, for me it's still enjoyable.

You'd think Aston's were made out of paper mache the way some people talk about it.

[tonyhall38]

bananarob said:

Ditto. Changed your mind now?

keeping it short....bet it works...

[MrOrange]

Loads of comments, thanks guys, lots of sense.

Like Bogie, I find I'm tending to take the bike (Ducati) if the weather is really nice. Maybe a case of winter blues - I've got a Rangey for day-to-day running and that's my "go to" car when I go anywhere but I did drag it out today, gave it a wash. Spending a bit of time with my baby Aston in the sun cheered me up a bit and, god, they are pretty cars so I'm not sure what I would get instead.

It seems that the big depreciation hit I took in 2011 seems to have levelled out quite a bit and with it's (relative) rarity I might not suffer the £25k loss I was expecting so I'll start thinking about what's next. Should be a good time of year to sell but not keen to let the dealers take my pants down so onto PH/Autotrader it will go

[bogie]

I did use mine daily for the for first 18 months and put 30k miles on it quite quickly as an only car ....but now its only + 60k miles 6 years later, as in recent years have only done 3-5K miles

its nice to have the choice and 3000 miles of pleasure driving still makes it feel special everytime rather than doing the weekly airport/motorway run it mid winter tip toeing around in dodgy conditions.

Personally I find I soon start to take it for granted if I use it daily, it all becomes too "normal"

when you use an Aston Martin as your runabout, what do you drive at the weekend? maybe a open top V12 Lambo? or a track car?

I dont think I could part with the Vantage though, not for a while until Im ready for a V12 Roadster. For what its worth there isnt anything out there as nice to replace it with.....

Edited by bogie on Saturday 13th April 19:13