Just put a deposit on my first Aston...
Discussion
... after 14 years of driving 911s and I'm more excited about a 'new' car than I've been in years!
A friend (who already owns a 2004 Vanquish and has just bought an N430 to keep it company) had been insisting for months that I should test drive a 4.7 Vantage. The time was coming to change my current 911 (a 997S.2 w/PDK) and he kept telling me I didn't know what I was missing.
Finally, last Sunday, I had a fairly lengthy test drive in a standard, manual, 420BHP Vantage. Truthfully, I had no idea what to expect as I'd never driven any Aston before - boy, was I very pleasantly surprised! Firstly what an 'event' driving these cars is - for desirability alone, they're off the scale compared to the all-too-familiar 911. First impressions were of a car that's as far removed from the 911 as it's possible to be. Much more physical, totally different control weights, glorious sound, very direct steering, surprisingly hard ride (but no more so than what I'm used to). Then, after a few miles of familiarisation, it was time to push the car a lot harder and this is where the big surprise happened. The way the car can be placed so accurately through corners, the level of feedback through the steering and through the seat of the pants is amazing. This is a car that can really be hustled - it's possible to carry some proper speed into, through, and out of even tight corners. So entertaining - the harder you push, the more alive the car becomes. It certainly put a huge, daft grin (the only type I have) on my face for mile after mile after mile.
In absolute terms, the car's probably not quite got the straight line speed of the Porsche, but it's not too far away. As a thing to enjoy and to look forward to driving however, it's in a different league.
Moving-on from the test drive, I'd decided that it was time for a change from Porsche for a while and that an Aston was the way to go. It also made sense to me to look for a Vantage S as they seem to do just a little bit more of everything that I find important in a car. Eventually, the dealer found me a manual, 2014 Vantage S SP10 that ticked all the boxes and I'm now moving on with the purchase. Much as I hate the idea of wishing my life away, I'm really counting the days until I take delivery.
In the meantime, I spent a very interesting time chatting to Mike at Bamford Rose and the car will be booked-in for the full manifolds / cats / airbox / ECU etc. package as soon as possible. Mike reckoned that 470BHP, together with (more importantly) a big increase in torque lower down the rpm range is possible. This should allow the car to really exploit the chassis as well as making it somewhat quicker than the car I'm leaving behind!
So a big hello to one and all on this forum - I hope to get involved a lot more here in future.
Ian
A friend (who already owns a 2004 Vanquish and has just bought an N430 to keep it company) had been insisting for months that I should test drive a 4.7 Vantage. The time was coming to change my current 911 (a 997S.2 w/PDK) and he kept telling me I didn't know what I was missing.
Finally, last Sunday, I had a fairly lengthy test drive in a standard, manual, 420BHP Vantage. Truthfully, I had no idea what to expect as I'd never driven any Aston before - boy, was I very pleasantly surprised! Firstly what an 'event' driving these cars is - for desirability alone, they're off the scale compared to the all-too-familiar 911. First impressions were of a car that's as far removed from the 911 as it's possible to be. Much more physical, totally different control weights, glorious sound, very direct steering, surprisingly hard ride (but no more so than what I'm used to). Then, after a few miles of familiarisation, it was time to push the car a lot harder and this is where the big surprise happened. The way the car can be placed so accurately through corners, the level of feedback through the steering and through the seat of the pants is amazing. This is a car that can really be hustled - it's possible to carry some proper speed into, through, and out of even tight corners. So entertaining - the harder you push, the more alive the car becomes. It certainly put a huge, daft grin (the only type I have) on my face for mile after mile after mile.
In absolute terms, the car's probably not quite got the straight line speed of the Porsche, but it's not too far away. As a thing to enjoy and to look forward to driving however, it's in a different league.
Moving-on from the test drive, I'd decided that it was time for a change from Porsche for a while and that an Aston was the way to go. It also made sense to me to look for a Vantage S as they seem to do just a little bit more of everything that I find important in a car. Eventually, the dealer found me a manual, 2014 Vantage S SP10 that ticked all the boxes and I'm now moving on with the purchase. Much as I hate the idea of wishing my life away, I'm really counting the days until I take delivery.
In the meantime, I spent a very interesting time chatting to Mike at Bamford Rose and the car will be booked-in for the full manifolds / cats / airbox / ECU etc. package as soon as possible. Mike reckoned that 470BHP, together with (more importantly) a big increase in torque lower down the rpm range is possible. This should allow the car to really exploit the chassis as well as making it somewhat quicker than the car I'm leaving behind!
So a big hello to one and all on this forum - I hope to get involved a lot more here in future.
Ian
Edited by Ian_UK1 on Thursday 30th June 14:15
Thanks for the comments.
Definitely agree about these cars "gettin' you bad" - buying this one is totally a 'from the heart' decision, whereas the Porsches have always been a 'rational' purchase. (Sums-up the differing characters of the cars quite well). I wonder if I'll still feel the same in 12 months?
I'll be sure to post some pics as soon as I have the car (probably a week on Saturday, but still to be confirmed).
Then I can settle-down and try to be normal again...... (until the car comes back from Bamford Rose).
Definitely agree about these cars "gettin' you bad" - buying this one is totally a 'from the heart' decision, whereas the Porsches have always been a 'rational' purchase. (Sums-up the differing characters of the cars quite well). I wonder if I'll still feel the same in 12 months?
I'll be sure to post some pics as soon as I have the car (probably a week on Saturday, but still to be confirmed).
Then I can settle-down and try to be normal again...... (until the car comes back from Bamford Rose).
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