V8V - £40k budget - what's achievable?

[cmcm3]

I'm starting my V8V hunt and am going to try hard to stick to my £40k budget. What I'm looking for is people's opinions (ideally based on some experience) of what might be achievable, with a bit of negotiation, from A) Authorised Dealers B) AM Specialists C) Private.

I'll have no trade in but am a bit disadvantaged by being up in Scotland, so it's not easy to just view one car at a time. Might need to organise a weekend going round a few.

I'm probably looking for a Tungsten or Titanium Silver car (Black too much of a PITA to keep looking good and I would love a nice AM Racing Green but they seem rare) and likely a black with silver stitch interior, although do like Iron Ore.

Spec I'd really like is parking sensors, bluetooth, cruise control, xenons, and bright finish grill. Other than that I'm pretty easy going - anything else I should really be trying to get?

[bogie]

options wise you have most of the popular ones covered, other than premium audio, which is a nice to have

for £40K you should find a nice selection of cars, often with less than average mileage on them ...you should get a bit more for your money private, and you might not find so many sub £40K cars in official dealers

price is difficult as it varies per car and dealer, sure there are a few for sale, but not thousands

happy hunting, theres lots of info on here if you search

also Grants book www.astonmartinreview.co.uk is well worth £20 for research on everything to do with the modern Aston

[krisdelta]

+ 1 on Grants book - invaluable for the hunt.

I picked up my 2007 MY for under your budget 4 months ago, private sale, fresh service, tyres, tax and tracker. You should be able to get a 2006 car from a main dealer under this budget. Depending on where you are in Scotland, you could take a look at Sytner who can move cars around their network for you. I went the private route to give me a chunk of cash below my overall budget to remediate any snags and get the most car for my money. Cruise, heated seats and bluetooth were my personal "must haves". Nearly all have Nav anyhow and I've yet to see one without HID's

Happy Shopping!

[v8woollie]

You can get what you want from a dealer but sometimes luck plays a part. The car I got had only been in the dealer for an hour when I arrived.

I got my one owner full dealer service history 2007 V8V 4.3 for around £42.5k from an authorised dealer nine days ago. It has one year premium AM warranty, had a service, MOT and years road tax all done in Feb. It had 14,600 miles on it, body film protection, heated memory seats, HIDs, heated screen, 19 inch wheels, bluetooth phone prep, two new front tyres, Lifeshine paint protection, satnav, powerfold mirrors, bright grill, rear park sensors and some things I forget now.

I decided to pay a premium by going the dealer route as on a car with potentially expensive issues I wanted to get a relationship with a friendly dealer. I don't think I would have found many private V8Vs mich cheaper privately with the same spec, although I may well be wrong in that assumption.

Good luck with your hunt. It is worth the prize

Edited by v8woollie on Monday 2nd April 22:22

[Lunablack]

To give you an idea of what you can get for your £££

One year and 1 week ago I picked up my 4.3 vantage... happy days

Private sale
06 year
13000 on the clock
FSH
Warranty until August
HID's
Cruise
AM battery conditioner
Power fold mirrors
Sat nav (crap)
Front mudflaps
Heated seats
Reversing sensors

Managed to get the colour and interior combo that was high on my list...

All for the princely sum of £38k

It now has almost 19k on the clock, and I've enjoyed every minute

My point is, a year on, and with a budget of £40k you will almost certainly find the right car, with the right spec...

Obviously, buying second hand means you might not get the exact spec, so I suggest you sit down and make a list of definite must haves, like colour, mileage limit etc, things that you're prepared to accept if the rest of the car suits.... And complete deal breakers...
Then go on the hunt

For example, I really didn't want sat nav, but had to accept I wasn't going to find the "right" car without it, so had to accept it as a compromise....fortunately my Garmin sits on the little pop up hatch perfectly so no big deal...

[cmcm3]

Thanks for the replies guys, all very helpful in determining what I should be aiming for. Looking forward to finding one, although the snow today did make the RS4's 4wd very appealing...

[BingoBob]

Cruise control can be retrofitted for reasonable money. As can the shiny grill.

All would be negociating points if your car doesn't have it.

I think the problem you will find with that budget is that you are on the cusp between a low mileage well spec'd 4.3 and a higher mileage, less well spec'd 4.7. It'll be a tough decision.

Edited by BingoBob on Tuesday 3rd April 11:36

[BingoBob]

cmcm3 said:

the snow today did make the RS4's 4wd very appealing...

The Vantage blows the RS4 away in every respect but one: It's no good for transporting washing machines.

Edited by BingoBob on Tuesday 3rd April 11:37

[petecowie]

Cruise control retro-fit, any idea on price? I have a DB9 and would really like this fitted, I bought a V12V Steering wheel (without airbag) with the buttons present but have so far found no one willing to fit to my car and I guess do the firmware upgrade required. Long Stratton AM said it wasn;t possible as the part number is different to the DB9 Wheel.

[BingoBob]

When I was speaking to dealers they were saying between 700 and 1000 pounds.

I have difficulty believing that they can't activate the cruise with the V12V wheel. Think it's more a question of not knowing how / not wanting to be bothered. How about trying one of the specialists? I'm sure Bamford wouldn't shy away from that.

[cmcm3]

Murray Motors Edinburgh told me c.£800 for "the cruise steering wheel", fitted and operational. Think that was on the basis of buying a car from them though.