Can I Afford An Aston Martin?
Discussion
£30k will not quite get you a good manual vantage and certainly not a 30k mile one.
Running costs for mine have been no worse than the 911 turbo I had before, but if you're unlucky some things can be unreasonably expensive.
Look for my thread 'V8 vantage - what's it really like?'. It was updated in the last few days so should be on the first few pages of this forum. It's about my decision to buy one and regular updates in the 3 years I've owned it. It should give you a good idea.
Running costs for mine have been no worse than the 911 turbo I had before, but if you're unlucky some things can be unreasonably expensive.
Look for my thread 'V8 vantage - what's it really like?'. It was updated in the last few days so should be on the first few pages of this forum. It's about my decision to buy one and regular updates in the 3 years I've owned it. It should give you a good idea.
£30k will get you mileage > 65k and or an early car with not the best spec. These ‘higher mileage’ cars tend to languish on forecourts too.
You’re looking between £35-40k for thmileage you’re expecting. As always, you have to buy on condition and history but there’s no doubting the impact that mileage has on residuals.
I’ve had mine two years and outside of routine service and consumables, it’s cost me a replacement bonnet switch.
You’re looking between £35-40k for thmileage you’re expecting. As always, you have to buy on condition and history but there’s no doubting the impact that mileage has on residuals.
I’ve had mine two years and outside of routine service and consumables, it’s cost me a replacement bonnet switch.
That looks like really good value for £31k.
Yes you can get aftermarket warranties, but the price for what is covered makes no sense to me. Most of the bills come from consumables and wear items not covered by any warranty. Most of the common component failures are cheap DIY fixes e.g. thermostats, O2 sensors, ABS transducer, coolant sensors that kind of thing. You can pay £1500 a year for a warranty you never get to claim on. I ran a 2006 Vantage for 10 years, 7 of which without warranty. I was thousands of pounds in pocket as it was a few hundred quid of sensors over the years. Just put the £1500 in the bank each year for wear/service items.
Everything else that is going to wear out on a 10 year old car is mostly mileage related like wheel bearing packs @ £500 a corner fitted, suspension similar to other cars - £1500 fitted for a set of shocks.
You can get an idea of service/upgrade costs looking at a specialist like http://www.davidapplebyengineering.com/
there are dozens of threads on here about running costs. Mostly its like running a premium German car with a big engine. Get an OBD II reader and workshop manual and you can do all the simple things yourself. Then its just a fixed price £650 service some years, interspersed with consumable costs.
Dont underestimate the bills when you need tyres, discs, pads in a 12 month period that can be £2500 on top of the £650 service. Check the condition of them all on any prospective purchase.
Otherwise they are very reliable and daily usable sportscars
Yes you can get aftermarket warranties, but the price for what is covered makes no sense to me. Most of the bills come from consumables and wear items not covered by any warranty. Most of the common component failures are cheap DIY fixes e.g. thermostats, O2 sensors, ABS transducer, coolant sensors that kind of thing. You can pay £1500 a year for a warranty you never get to claim on. I ran a 2006 Vantage for 10 years, 7 of which without warranty. I was thousands of pounds in pocket as it was a few hundred quid of sensors over the years. Just put the £1500 in the bank each year for wear/service items.
Everything else that is going to wear out on a 10 year old car is mostly mileage related like wheel bearing packs @ £500 a corner fitted, suspension similar to other cars - £1500 fitted for a set of shocks.
You can get an idea of service/upgrade costs looking at a specialist like http://www.davidapplebyengineering.com/
there are dozens of threads on here about running costs. Mostly its like running a premium German car with a big engine. Get an OBD II reader and workshop manual and you can do all the simple things yourself. Then its just a fixed price £650 service some years, interspersed with consumable costs.
Dont underestimate the bills when you need tyres, discs, pads in a 12 month period that can be £2500 on top of the £650 service. Check the condition of them all on any prospective purchase.
Otherwise they are very reliable and daily usable sportscars
Depreciation is a big factor to think about too, buy the right Aston, look after it, enjoy it, keep the mileage reasonable & you're unlikely to loose any money on it, I don't think you could say the same of the other 2 at the age you've mentioned. I sold my TVR Cerbera last year & bought an 06 in Grigio Titanio with 41k miles for £32k in a private sale & I absolutely love it.
Phil
Phil
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