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

[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

[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....

[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

[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 ?