V8 Vantage - what's it really like?
Discussion
Another month on, so time for an update.
As mentioned on another thread, I had a new windscreen fitted 2 weeks ago which was so badly distorted I couldn't use the car. That was finally replaced again yesterday and - apart from some creaking that I hope will disappear in a few days - is a vast improvement. However, it was quickly obvious that it was the third screen with no heating on drivers side. But - I re-checked the fuses and the drivers side had blown as a result of one of the screen changes. Replaced the fuse and I now have a fully heated screen again.
It was interesting to see how much I missed being able to use the car. At this time of year, the Cayenne starts to become my car of choice each day, and the 996 turbo that the Vantage replaced would hardly get used - and I didn't really miss it. But I've really missed being able to use the Vantage and have got quite tired of having to use Cayenne most days (I may have sneaked the 360 out a couple of days as compensation!). So I guess that's proof that I still love the car.
The fix to the mirror that Spellbound carried out has remained successful and the problem has not reoccurred.
The service is due around February time I think, and I will need to decide if I want a new clutch - and if so from where. Head says get a BR one but Spellbound assure me that the official replacement is much better than the original part and will last much longer. I would like them to service the car which means they are the ones who are likely to be doing the clutch - and at an inclusive price of £2k (plus a flywheel if i needed one)it's reasonable (if you can ever call £2k reasonable for a clutch!). I have a few months to decide yet, and the existing clutch isn't slipping so if necessary I can even put it off to a later date.
All in all - apart from the windscreen debacle - it's been an uneventful month. I have discovered that all 4 of my tyre pressure lights flash under the passenger dash but I don't get any dash warnings - I suspect it's been disconnected.
Had to fill up washed fluid today and discovered what a ridiculous design than is. Massive pipe to a reservoir you can't see and the pipe kinks so that you get an immediate air lock. Really needed 3 hands - one to hold the funnel, one to hold the pipe straight and one to pour the fluid.
But as I've said - so far I still love it and I guess I've owned it over 6 months now. When I toy with the idea of selling the Aston and the 360 and buying an even more expensive toy - it's the fact that I wouldn't have the Aston as a (mostly) daily car that stops me thinking about it seriously.
As mentioned on another thread, I had a new windscreen fitted 2 weeks ago which was so badly distorted I couldn't use the car. That was finally replaced again yesterday and - apart from some creaking that I hope will disappear in a few days - is a vast improvement. However, it was quickly obvious that it was the third screen with no heating on drivers side. But - I re-checked the fuses and the drivers side had blown as a result of one of the screen changes. Replaced the fuse and I now have a fully heated screen again.
It was interesting to see how much I missed being able to use the car. At this time of year, the Cayenne starts to become my car of choice each day, and the 996 turbo that the Vantage replaced would hardly get used - and I didn't really miss it. But I've really missed being able to use the Vantage and have got quite tired of having to use Cayenne most days (I may have sneaked the 360 out a couple of days as compensation!). So I guess that's proof that I still love the car.
The fix to the mirror that Spellbound carried out has remained successful and the problem has not reoccurred.
The service is due around February time I think, and I will need to decide if I want a new clutch - and if so from where. Head says get a BR one but Spellbound assure me that the official replacement is much better than the original part and will last much longer. I would like them to service the car which means they are the ones who are likely to be doing the clutch - and at an inclusive price of £2k (plus a flywheel if i needed one)it's reasonable (if you can ever call £2k reasonable for a clutch!). I have a few months to decide yet, and the existing clutch isn't slipping so if necessary I can even put it off to a later date.
All in all - apart from the windscreen debacle - it's been an uneventful month. I have discovered that all 4 of my tyre pressure lights flash under the passenger dash but I don't get any dash warnings - I suspect it's been disconnected.
Had to fill up washed fluid today and discovered what a ridiculous design than is. Massive pipe to a reservoir you can't see and the pipe kinks so that you get an immediate air lock. Really needed 3 hands - one to hold the funnel, one to hold the pipe straight and one to pour the fluid.
But as I've said - so far I still love it and I guess I've owned it over 6 months now. When I toy with the idea of selling the Aston and the 360 and buying an even more expensive toy - it's the fact that I wouldn't have the Aston as a (mostly) daily car that stops me thinking about it seriously.
Edited by davek_964 on Saturday 12th December 12:09
Another month and another update. However, this one is going to be a bit less positive than previous posts! Today, I am not really feeling the love for my Vantage.
My MOT is due 20th March, which means service and MOT will need to be done by then - I'll probably aim for early March (which is not very good timing since the 360 MOT / service is due by 12 April!). So yesterday, I called up Bamford Rose to see what their opinion on clutches was. I explained that my local indy had said a stock clutch would be perfectly fine (at £2k all in, plus ~£350 flywheel if I needed it), but that the forum belief is generally that the twin plate is the way to go. The conversation after that was very interesting.
Firstly, they said that the £2k inclusive cost of a stock clutch did not seem realistic. AM have had several parts price increases recently - and for the clutch, flywheel (they said they've never done a clutch which didn't need a flywheel) and slave the parts prices alone are ~£1800 inclusive. For a 10 hour labour job, that made £2k unrealistic. For a stock clutch, BM were quoting £2.8k.
And when I checked the notes I'd made when I discussed this with the local indy a few months ago, it turns out they were right. The price I was given was £1912 + VAT for the clutch - plus another £300 + vat for the flywheel. I wasn't told whether this price included the slave so will need to check - but it means the local indy is ~£2650, plus maybe the cost of the slave. So if I decide to change the clutch I'd be looking at somewhere between £2.5k and £3k for the clutch - then the service and any incidentals over that.
The discussion about whether I needed a twin plate was very interesting. The summary is that if I track the car (I don't), take part in plenty of traffic light GPs (I don't) or am a heavy clutch user - then the twin plate makes sense. But if not - then they also think the stock clutch is the sensible choice.
The twin plate will last longer - but not to the degree I had assumed. Their estimate is that it's probably about a 30% increase in clutch life under the same conditions.
There is an appeal of having LWF and a slightly quicker revving motor - but I'm not sure it's worth it just for that.
So, strike 1 against the Vantage - if I decide to replace the clutch (which I have a month to think about) it will cost me a shed load of money, and the "shed load" is a bit more than I'd thought. It is a little unfair to hold it against the car really - I knew I'd probably want to replace the clutch this year when I bought it, and I knew the rough cost (I at least knew it would be a minimum of £2k) and that was negotiated into the price I paid. But it's funny how your perception changes when it's time to come up with the cold hard cash!
By an unhappy coincidence - after having this conversation with BM yesterday, and realising I was remembering the clutch costs through rose tinted lenses - when I started the car this morning, the passenger mirror failed to fully fold out. This is the first time it's happened since it was fixed by the indy a couple of months ago - and to be fair, that was never expected to be a permanent fix - but it may mean I need to consider getting the mirror replaced at the service too.
To top it off, I've thought that my boot struts seemed a bit weak in the last couple of weeks - and they proved that this morning when the boot didn't want to stay open. I'll order a couple of boot struts - haven't decided yet whether to go AM or aftermarket. Aston Bits seems to be about £60 for the pair with postage - aftermarket still seems to be £40 so I might just buy the real ones.
So, I must admit - today, my Vantage is definitely not flavour of the month. I don't really need a clutch - but it is a bit heavy, and sometimes that makes it a bit of a pain in traffic. But I'm sure that if I lived with that I probably have many miles left in it (car has done 38k). And as I said, it's not really a surprise since I knew it when I bought it - I just don't actually feel like paying for it!
It does make me start thinking again about having a single "sensible" daily car and swapping the 360 and the Vantage for a McLaren MP4-12C. But "swap" wouldn't really be the right word, since I could only swap if there was about £30-40k in used £10 notes in the boot of one of the cars. Still, does no harm to browse the classifieds occasionally does it....?
My MOT is due 20th March, which means service and MOT will need to be done by then - I'll probably aim for early March (which is not very good timing since the 360 MOT / service is due by 12 April!). So yesterday, I called up Bamford Rose to see what their opinion on clutches was. I explained that my local indy had said a stock clutch would be perfectly fine (at £2k all in, plus ~£350 flywheel if I needed it), but that the forum belief is generally that the twin plate is the way to go. The conversation after that was very interesting.
Firstly, they said that the £2k inclusive cost of a stock clutch did not seem realistic. AM have had several parts price increases recently - and for the clutch, flywheel (they said they've never done a clutch which didn't need a flywheel) and slave the parts prices alone are ~£1800 inclusive. For a 10 hour labour job, that made £2k unrealistic. For a stock clutch, BM were quoting £2.8k.
And when I checked the notes I'd made when I discussed this with the local indy a few months ago, it turns out they were right. The price I was given was £1912 + VAT for the clutch - plus another £300 + vat for the flywheel. I wasn't told whether this price included the slave so will need to check - but it means the local indy is ~£2650, plus maybe the cost of the slave. So if I decide to change the clutch I'd be looking at somewhere between £2.5k and £3k for the clutch - then the service and any incidentals over that.
The discussion about whether I needed a twin plate was very interesting. The summary is that if I track the car (I don't), take part in plenty of traffic light GPs (I don't) or am a heavy clutch user - then the twin plate makes sense. But if not - then they also think the stock clutch is the sensible choice.
The twin plate will last longer - but not to the degree I had assumed. Their estimate is that it's probably about a 30% increase in clutch life under the same conditions.
There is an appeal of having LWF and a slightly quicker revving motor - but I'm not sure it's worth it just for that.
So, strike 1 against the Vantage - if I decide to replace the clutch (which I have a month to think about) it will cost me a shed load of money, and the "shed load" is a bit more than I'd thought. It is a little unfair to hold it against the car really - I knew I'd probably want to replace the clutch this year when I bought it, and I knew the rough cost (I at least knew it would be a minimum of £2k) and that was negotiated into the price I paid. But it's funny how your perception changes when it's time to come up with the cold hard cash!
By an unhappy coincidence - after having this conversation with BM yesterday, and realising I was remembering the clutch costs through rose tinted lenses - when I started the car this morning, the passenger mirror failed to fully fold out. This is the first time it's happened since it was fixed by the indy a couple of months ago - and to be fair, that was never expected to be a permanent fix - but it may mean I need to consider getting the mirror replaced at the service too.
To top it off, I've thought that my boot struts seemed a bit weak in the last couple of weeks - and they proved that this morning when the boot didn't want to stay open. I'll order a couple of boot struts - haven't decided yet whether to go AM or aftermarket. Aston Bits seems to be about £60 for the pair with postage - aftermarket still seems to be £40 so I might just buy the real ones.
So, I must admit - today, my Vantage is definitely not flavour of the month. I don't really need a clutch - but it is a bit heavy, and sometimes that makes it a bit of a pain in traffic. But I'm sure that if I lived with that I probably have many miles left in it (car has done 38k). And as I said, it's not really a surprise since I knew it when I bought it - I just don't actually feel like paying for it!
It does make me start thinking again about having a single "sensible" daily car and swapping the 360 and the Vantage for a McLaren MP4-12C. But "swap" wouldn't really be the right word, since I could only swap if there was about £30-40k in used £10 notes in the boot of one of the cars. Still, does no harm to browse the classifieds occasionally does it....?
Jon39 said:
...
You do say that you do not need to replace the clutch. I would do nothing. It is a considerable amount of money, just for the hope of a lighter pedal action.
...
I agree.You do say that you do not need to replace the clutch. I would do nothing. It is a considerable amount of money, just for the hope of a lighter pedal action.
...
And IME the clutch on these is always heavier than most cars. Especially if you're comparing it to a 360.
After driving the V8V for a while and then jumping into my RS4 I nearly put my foot through the bulkhead
On a previous car (F355) I changed the clutch because I was nervous about it - pedal getting higher, feeling heavier etc. Changed it only to find it would have gone at least twice as much further. Lesson learnt (and much cheaper on one of those). If the clutch isn't slipping, making odd noises or smelling funny then leave it alone until it is. (It's a shame more systems don't have wear sensors).
(Also, my wife drives the V8V. 5'4" and never moans about clutch weight. Just saying
).I must admit, on the drive home just now I wondered why I was considering it. It is definitely a tad firm but that isn't an issue most of the time. While I was sitting at some traffic lights I imagined my reaction if somebody had knocked on the window and said : hey mate, give me £2.5k and I can make that clutch pedal feel a bit lighter. Er - no - but it's not that different from what I've been considering!
Will make a final decision in February but at the moment I think I'll probably stick with the existing clutch.
Will make a final decision in February but at the moment I think I'll probably stick with the existing clutch.
Minor update on the boot struts.
I learned the hard way with another car that it's not always good to assume the independent part suppliers are cheaper than dealers (in that case, I'd paid £100+ more than I would have at main dealer for something).
So called Aston / Reading today and discovered that their price for the boot struts is about £2 less per strut than AstonBits (about £22 vs £24) - and of course, no delivery cost. Assuming they arrive at the dealer by the end of the week, I'll collect them from Reading on Saturday morning. Current forecast is for clear sunny weather - if that turns out to be true, will be a pleasant drive and I can browse some shiny cars at the same time.
I learned the hard way with another car that it's not always good to assume the independent part suppliers are cheaper than dealers (in that case, I'd paid £100+ more than I would have at main dealer for something).
So called Aston / Reading today and discovered that their price for the boot struts is about £2 less per strut than AstonBits (about £22 vs £24) - and of course, no delivery cost. Assuming they arrive at the dealer by the end of the week, I'll collect them from Reading on Saturday morning. Current forecast is for clear sunny weather - if that turns out to be true, will be a pleasant drive and I can browse some shiny cars at the same time.
In the past month, the ownership experience has been almost boring! But not in a bad way - driving it is still a sense of occasion, but it just "works".
The last update I gave was on a day where the Vantage clearly wasn't in the mood to play. But since then it's been fine. Boot struts were literally a 10 min fix (would have been 5 mins but one of the C clips really didn't want to let go!). The passenger mirror has worked fine ever since, so the failure seemed to be a one off for now.
I decided the clutch really does not need changing - and once you stop thinking about it, you don't really even notice it.
It's booked in for its first service (in my ownership) on 8th March. The history shows that the servicing has been regular, but not always the service I'd expect (although it has an AM history). So although it's coming up to 10 years old at the end of this year, it looks like it needs the 4 year / 40k mile service because the last one was in 2012. Since it's only about 1500 miles short of 40k miles anyway, that works out fairly neatly.
I have had some doubts my thermostat works since it does warm up fairly slowly - however, I've been watching it and it clearly does - I can see the temperature drop as the thermostat opens. So I think it is warming up normally, even if it's not as quick as some of the estimates I've seen.
The main problem I have with the car is that I want to drive it much more than the 996 turbo it replaced. Usually at this time of year, my Cayenne would be the car of choice and the other cars don't get much use. But this year it seems a conscious effort to force myself to take the Cayenne. I've kind of settled on : wet roads / raining = Cayenne, Dry roads = Vantage. Although if the Vantage is already dirty then it still gets taken if it's raining!
Let's see if I still love the car when I'm presented with the service bill! The only extra I'm aware of is that the drivers outer door handle is very slightly stiff as it reaches the fully open position - more noticeable when it's very cold - so a little lube in the mechanism might be a good idea.
The last update I gave was on a day where the Vantage clearly wasn't in the mood to play. But since then it's been fine. Boot struts were literally a 10 min fix (would have been 5 mins but one of the C clips really didn't want to let go!). The passenger mirror has worked fine ever since, so the failure seemed to be a one off for now.
I decided the clutch really does not need changing - and once you stop thinking about it, you don't really even notice it.
It's booked in for its first service (in my ownership) on 8th March. The history shows that the servicing has been regular, but not always the service I'd expect (although it has an AM history). So although it's coming up to 10 years old at the end of this year, it looks like it needs the 4 year / 40k mile service because the last one was in 2012. Since it's only about 1500 miles short of 40k miles anyway, that works out fairly neatly.
I have had some doubts my thermostat works since it does warm up fairly slowly - however, I've been watching it and it clearly does - I can see the temperature drop as the thermostat opens. So I think it is warming up normally, even if it's not as quick as some of the estimates I've seen.
The main problem I have with the car is that I want to drive it much more than the 996 turbo it replaced. Usually at this time of year, my Cayenne would be the car of choice and the other cars don't get much use. But this year it seems a conscious effort to force myself to take the Cayenne. I've kind of settled on : wet roads / raining = Cayenne, Dry roads = Vantage. Although if the Vantage is already dirty then it still gets taken if it's raining!
Let's see if I still love the car when I'm presented with the service bill! The only extra I'm aware of is that the drivers outer door handle is very slightly stiff as it reaches the fully open position - more noticeable when it's very cold - so a little lube in the mechanism might be a good idea.
The car is currently in for its 40k mile service and MOT. Had a call yesterday, and I'm not particularly happy. List of issues they've noted :
1) Replace driver’s door handle mechanism (This is because the drivers door handle has become stiff - I assumed it just needed some lube, but they say it needs replacement parts)
2) Replace front brake pads & wear sensors
3) Replace rear brake pads & wear sensors
4) Fit modified steering wheel airbag fixings (apparently it's rattling)
5) Supply tyre sealant (old one has expired)
6) Replace LH repeater lamp
7) Replace both front shock absorbers
8) Seal rear screen drain holes
9) Re-align RH headlamp to body (They say it's not quite flush)
I'm genuinely surprised it needs pads - I checked it when I bought the car in May and noted that the discs and pads were almost new, and from memory they were replaced in 2012 I think (previous owner only did a couple of thousand miles a year). But in any case, I'm not paying £600+vat to have brake pads fitted, I'll do them myself.
I will never use tyre sealant, so 5) can be ignored
6) I've never noticed it was damaged, even when cleaning the car - I'll check it when I get the car back and replace if necessary.
7) Apparently, one of them has started leaking slightly. At £1250 + vat for a pair this is not good news.
8) Is apparently the mod to stop water leaking into the boot when you open it, but I'm sure I can do that myself.
So, they will do 1), 4), 7) and 9) - even with me doing the rest, combined with the cost of the service (~£1k with vat) I think I'm looking at about a £3k bill - and if it really does need the other stuff, then another few hundred for pads etc. even though I save on labour.
Not really very happy - was not expecting such a big bill since I wasn't aware there was much wrong with the car!
And next week, I'll get to do it all over again with the 360.
1) Replace driver’s door handle mechanism (This is because the drivers door handle has become stiff - I assumed it just needed some lube, but they say it needs replacement parts)
2) Replace front brake pads & wear sensors
3) Replace rear brake pads & wear sensors
4) Fit modified steering wheel airbag fixings (apparently it's rattling)
5) Supply tyre sealant (old one has expired)
6) Replace LH repeater lamp
7) Replace both front shock absorbers
8) Seal rear screen drain holes
9) Re-align RH headlamp to body (They say it's not quite flush)
I'm genuinely surprised it needs pads - I checked it when I bought the car in May and noted that the discs and pads were almost new, and from memory they were replaced in 2012 I think (previous owner only did a couple of thousand miles a year). But in any case, I'm not paying £600+vat to have brake pads fitted, I'll do them myself.
I will never use tyre sealant, so 5) can be ignored
6) I've never noticed it was damaged, even when cleaning the car - I'll check it when I get the car back and replace if necessary.
7) Apparently, one of them has started leaking slightly. At £1250 + vat for a pair this is not good news.
8) Is apparently the mod to stop water leaking into the boot when you open it, but I'm sure I can do that myself.
So, they will do 1), 4), 7) and 9) - even with me doing the rest, combined with the cost of the service (~£1k with vat) I think I'm looking at about a £3k bill - and if it really does need the other stuff, then another few hundred for pads etc. even though I save on labour.
Not really very happy - was not expecting such a big bill since I wasn't aware there was much wrong with the car!
And next week, I'll get to do it all over again with the 360.
I believe that the dealers recommend replacement of pads and disks at a very early stage, 40% remaining life comes to mind, so there is a good chance that they don't need doing for quite a while yet
When you purchased it did you get anyone to do an inspection on it? good chance some of the problems were there at that stage.
It is also one of the reasons that many buy from a dealer so that a lot of the niggle things are rectified before you get the car.
You presumably purchased it at a good price as it was a private sale and are now going to have to spend some of the cash you saved bringing it up to condition.
Hopefully it won't put you off of a lovely car.
When you purchased it did you get anyone to do an inspection on it? good chance some of the problems were there at that stage.
It is also one of the reasons that many buy from a dealer so that a lot of the niggle things are rectified before you get the car.
You presumably purchased it at a good price as it was a private sale and are now going to have to spend some of the cash you saved bringing it up to condition.
Hopefully it won't put you off of a lovely car.
This is actually from an indy - who have done a couple of things in the past 6 months for me, so I'm generally happy with them.
I don't think they're drumming up business - although they clearly have gone through it with a fine tooth comb. But I think that's a good thing - I can then decide what really needs to be done, and either ignore the rest or do it myself. It's just unfortunate it's going to be more than twice what I expected - but I've had expensive cars long enough to know that it does happen sometimes. Just better not be regular!
ETA : I should also mention, they did say that the shock leaking was very slight and had probably started recently - and that it <might> get through the MOT with it, so I could potentially delay getting it fixed if I wanted to - they could try getting an MOT and see if it passed. But I declined - if it needs doing, it needs doing - but at least they are giving me the options, so still happy with them as a place to get the car worked on.
I don't think they're drumming up business - although they clearly have gone through it with a fine tooth comb. But I think that's a good thing - I can then decide what really needs to be done, and either ignore the rest or do it myself. It's just unfortunate it's going to be more than twice what I expected - but I've had expensive cars long enough to know that it does happen sometimes. Just better not be regular!
ETA : I should also mention, they did say that the shock leaking was very slight and had probably started recently - and that it <might> get through the MOT with it, so I could potentially delay getting it fixed if I wanted to - they could try getting an MOT and see if it passed. But I declined - if it needs doing, it needs doing - but at least they are giving me the options, so still happy with them as a place to get the car worked on.
Edited by davek_964 on Wednesday 9th March 08:57
I think a slight weep from the shocks is fairly common, i spoke to a couple of dealers about it when i was buying (not the one i bought in the end) and its pretty common, apparently if only minor weep it wont effect performance and should pass MOT. Just what i was told twice by a dealer. I've also read that you can get the shocks refurbished at a far better price than buying new.
I would check discs and pads yourself, i had a warning on my rears for two years which when inspected by myself were fine, i just had them replaced 7k miles further down the road from when first recommended, did the pads and discs at same time, still hadnt set off the sensors, had no issues at all.
I would check discs and pads yourself, i had a warning on my rears for two years which when inspected by myself were fine, i just had them replaced 7k miles further down the road from when first recommended, did the pads and discs at same time, still hadnt set off the sensors, had no issues at all.
Edited by gibbon on Wednesday 9th March 12:55
I had the shocks reported as weeping about 6 years ago on the last service at a dealer, checked myself and couldn't see anything. No mention of it since at MOT or services
If they are really weeping bad the try www.astonmartinbits.com for a good used pair, or make a decision to upgrade and do all 4 as a set from Nitron or somewhere
If they are really weeping bad the try www.astonmartinbits.com for a good used pair, or make a decision to upgrade and do all 4 as a set from Nitron or somewhere
Gassing Station | Aston Martin | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff