V8 Vantage S as everyday car on UK roads

V8 Vantage S as everyday car on UK roads

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Discussion

theaxe

3,557 posts

221 months

Monday 25th May 2015
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I went with a V8Vs manual as my daily. It's only been a month or so but so far so good. The roads near to me are terrible but for a sports car I think it rides very well.

I got a Tune2Air for Bluetooth streaming (haven't tried Spotify though) and it works perfectly.

The only problem I have with the car is reversing, still getting the hang of getting around the corners and up into the garage without stalling or cooking the clutch.

timbals

Original Poster:

64 posts

107 months

Monday 25th May 2015
quotequote all
theaxe said:
I went with a V8Vs manual as my daily. It's only been a month or so but so far so good. The roads near to me are terrible but for a sports car I think it rides very well.

I got a Tune2Air for Bluetooth streaming (haven't tried Spotify though) and it works perfectly.

The only problem I have with the car is reversing, still getting the hang of getting around the corners and up into the garage without stalling or cooking the clutch.
I test drove one the other day, I thought as a driver it wasn't too bad but in the passenger seat it seemed pretty hard. That said, I'm usually only a passenger in a Range Rover.

Does using Tune2Air stop you using the in car phone bluetooth?

theaxe

3,557 posts

221 months

Monday 25th May 2015
quotequote all
timbals said:
Does using Tune2Air stop you using the in car phone bluetooth?
No, should be fine. From the car's perspective you have an iPod and the bluetooth phone, and the iPhone seems to happily handle multiple bluetooth devices. It works fine in my BMW but can't say I've ever used the phone in the Aston.

Jonsv8

7,175 posts

123 months

Monday 25th May 2015
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theaxe said:
timbals said:
Does using Tune2Air stop you using the in car phone bluetooth?
No, should be fine. From the car's perspective you have an iPod and the bluetooth phone, and the iPhone seems to happily handle multiple bluetooth devices. It works fine in my BMW but can't say I've ever used the phone in the Aston.
I do t think it will. You're asking it to be paired with 2 devices at once. In your BMW it's one pairing for both streaming and phone calls.

timbals

Original Poster:

64 posts

107 months

Monday 25th May 2015
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I'm looking at getting the bluetooth upgrade (the 15MY year one), it says it works with Siri, anyone know if it also works with Google now on an Android phone? If it does that sounds perfect.

theaxe

3,557 posts

221 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
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Jonsv8 said:
theaxe said:
timbals said:
Does using Tune2Air stop you using the in car phone bluetooth?
No, should be fine. From the car's perspective you have an iPod and the bluetooth phone, and the iPhone seems to happily handle multiple bluetooth devices. It works fine in my BMW but can't say I've ever used the phone in the Aston.
I do t think it will. You're asking it to be paired with 2 devices at once. In your BMW it's one pairing for both streaming and phone calls.
Sorry but that's not the case. The BMW don't support streaming audio (hence the Tune2Air) but is paired for the phone. I can stream music to the Tune2Air and if a call comes in it mutes the audio and the phone works as usual.

timbals

Original Poster:

64 posts

107 months

Tuesday 26th May 2015
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So, I've put a deposit down on a V8VS and the dealer brought it down to my parking space which is in a stacking system with a ramp. The front just scrapes when going up the ramp if you go faster than very very slowly. He said they can raise the suspension by half an inch. Has anyone done this or have any advice for/against (apart from reversing up tongue out)


Speedraser

1,656 posts

182 months

Wednesday 27th May 2015
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Don't go faster than very very slowly.

timbals

Original Poster:

64 posts

107 months

Thursday 28th May 2015
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Ironic considering your username! I'd just like piece of mind I'm not going to damage the splitter

Speedraser

1,656 posts

182 months

Thursday 28th May 2015
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Maybe you're not going fast enough smile

Besides, I was merely noting that you said it only scrapes if you "go faster than very very slowly." Self-evident solution wink


V8V Pete

2,496 posts

125 months

Thursday 28th May 2015
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timbals said:
So, I've put a deposit down on a V8VS and the dealer brought it down to my parking space which is in a stacking system with a ramp. The front just scrapes when going up the ramp if you go faster than very very slowly. He said they can raise the suspension by half an inch. Has anyone done this or have any advice for/against (apart from reversing up tongue out)
I think I'd have some skid plate protection fitted on the underside of the splitter rather than have the suspension raised and then drive up the ramp very slowly. The CF front splitter is seriously expensive to replace IIRC.

Phil74891

1,064 posts

132 months

Thursday 28th May 2015
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I've scraped the underside of mine twice. Thankfully there are some 'buttons' (can't think of a better word) that take the brunt of it. No visible damage - just an horrific sound.

I wouldn't permanently raise the suspension. Options are to atek the 'very very slowly' route, or research a suspension lifting kit. Extra weight and expense though......

timbals

Original Poster:

64 posts

107 months

Thursday 28th May 2015
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Right now I'm looking at some rubber mats to reduce the angle a little bit to guarantee some safety. Hopefully that will be enough along with going slowly!

timbals

Original Poster:

64 posts

107 months

Monday 15th June 2015
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So it has been a while so I thought I'd give a bit of an update.

Firstly an obligatory photo! This is the parking where I live in London, you can probably see why it was such a big concern. You can see the red rubber mats that have done the job perfectly and I have no ground clearance issues even if I don't go really really slowly and I didn't have to get the suspension raised.



For bluetooth streaming I am using a tune2air at the moment. It seems to work OK, gets a bit confused while skipping multiple songs if using Spotify. As reported by numerous other people, the premium audio sounds great.

As for using it every day, at first I found the suspension quite hard, but having driven it a bit, I'm getting used to it. I've put a cushion on my seat to help with the hard suspension and the back support not being quite right for me despite the plethora of settings (perfect with the cushion). Apart from that, the seats and general comfort is way better than in my previous car (Audi).

The gearbox is a bit jerky at low speeds, but otherwise its great, relaxing when you want to relax and fun when you want to have fun. I've even found D mode usable, I can pretty much guess from the revs when it will change gear, hear it start to change, lift the gas enough to make it smooth. The only thing I dislike about D mode is its tendency to shift down when I put down my foot which basically pauses you for half a second while it gets its *#?! together at the exact moment you want to accelerate.