Which Aston Martin suffered from the weak gearbox?

[555 Paul]

Hi everyone,

A friend of mine is looking to buy an Aston Martin and he is looking at either the V8 vantage or the V12 DB9 but I seem to remember that it was maybe the DB9 that had a weak gearbox and they didn't like being launched but I can't seem to find any information on it

Am I going mad or was there a problem with one of the gearboxes?

Thanks,

Paul

[555 Paul]

I hope the lack of replies means that I was going mad and that's why I couldn't find anything on the gearbox failures.

So the autobox on a DB9, what's it like? A dream to use or slow and annoying?

[TheEnd]

Do you know it's name?
It's likely to have been more commonly seen in Mercs, BMs and Jaguars etc, and you'll find more people with experience in those.

[555 Paul]

Sadly no, that's why I'm struggling to find information and I also think I may be barking up the wrong tree. It was either the Jag or Aston Martin DB9, Vantage and I'm sure if anything it was the Aston and not the Jag

Bottom line is that my mate is looking for £35k Aston Martin DB9 or V8 vantage and it's likely to have a hard life which is why I'm checking out if one of them has a weak gearbox/clutch. I know it's not as powerful but the manual V8 vantage for a good fun sports car looks like more fun to me, I'd not have a manual but it's not my money!

At only £35k you're at the wrong end of the market to be picky

[sebhaque]

In the absence of any solid proof, the only thing I can think of is from Top Gear, where Clarkson says the Vanquish gearbox isn't as good as the DB9s, as in the former the paddle shift is linked to a manual gearbox, which "breaks all the time" (so is probably what you're thinking of). He liked the DB9's box, and since there hasn't been much on the V8V, no news must be good news.

HTH

[paulrussell]

The only problematic Aston Martin gearbox is the flappy paddle one, that was used in the Vanquish. I'm sure the members that frequent the Aston Martin section of the forum would be able to give you more infomation.

[555 Paul]

I think that's what I remember and to be honest I'd rather have the manual just like I went for on my M3. That makes complete sense but at least there doesn't seem to be the problem with the paddle and auto boxes that I thought there was.

Thanks

[greggy50]

Pretty sure its the vanquish from what I have read
As the Aston V8 engine is based around that from Jaguar imagine will be the cheaper option to run and more reliable overall but no fact based behind this I may add just to my mind the cheaper initial car will be the cheaper one to continue running a cheap DB9 would scare me myself...

[Rushmore]

exactly i could not have said it better althought a jag is not in the same league of course but you cant have it all

anothergoodideaistodoawaywithpuctuationANDspacesaswellmaybethatisevenmoreconvenienttotype

greggy50 said:

Pretty sure its the vanquish from what I have read
As the Aston V8 engine is based around that from Jaguar imagine will be the cheaper option to run and more reliable overall but no fact based behind this I may add just to my mind the cheaper initial car will be the cheaper one to continue running a cheap DB9 would scare me myself...

[CampDavid]

It's the Vanquish which is a robotised manual. Pretty much all the road test cars failed as the strain on the box from a standing start generally would break stuff. I think day to day it'd probably be fine.

DB9 is unaffected as far as I know.

I dislike the idea of the box on the Vanquish and don't actually like the looks, however, it's probably the Aston to buy, in 15 years time the values will be 10x that of the DB9