RE: Aston Martin V12 Vanquish: PH Buying Guide
Discussion
Always the same - people who never owned a Vanquish talking bad about the gearbox. That's sad.
When I bought my first Vanquish in 2009, an early Non-S, I didn't know much about the gearbox. I saw the car in the Bond movie and fell in love instantly.
Well, just after I bought the car I got angry about the gearbox. It was not what I expected.
I sold the car very soon and bought a 612 instead.
I never forgot the Vanquish and I decided to buy another one in 2012.
This time, I started reading in a forum. I learned about the gearbox and how to handle it.
When I found my new Vanquish, a 2006 S with very low miles, it felt totally different to the Non-S I had before.
I knew how to drive it.
3 years and 32,000kms later that is still the best car decision I ever made.
BTW, there are many Vanquish owners who track their cars in Goodwood, Silverstone etc..
People who say Aston drivers only wear blazers have never attended to a meeting and probably never met an Aston driver.
There's one thing I prefer over talking or writing about the Vanquish - it's driving my Vanquish. That's the difference to all the talkers who repeat Clarksons blahblah.
When I bought my first Vanquish in 2009, an early Non-S, I didn't know much about the gearbox. I saw the car in the Bond movie and fell in love instantly.
Well, just after I bought the car I got angry about the gearbox. It was not what I expected.
I sold the car very soon and bought a 612 instead.
I never forgot the Vanquish and I decided to buy another one in 2012.
This time, I started reading in a forum. I learned about the gearbox and how to handle it.
When I found my new Vanquish, a 2006 S with very low miles, it felt totally different to the Non-S I had before.
I knew how to drive it.
3 years and 32,000kms later that is still the best car decision I ever made.
BTW, there are many Vanquish owners who track their cars in Goodwood, Silverstone etc..
People who say Aston drivers only wear blazers have never attended to a meeting and probably never met an Aston driver.
There's one thing I prefer over talking or writing about the Vanquish - it's driving my Vanquish. That's the difference to all the talkers who repeat Clarksons blahblah.
When I bought mine I had an agreement that anything I found on my own inspection they would put right. Drove it lots for a week and then took it to work and myself and a colleague (Ex Don Law mechanic) went all over it for half a day, we found a few minor suspension bush issues but the rest of it was like new. The previous owner has wax oiled the front and rear steel subframes and they were both fine.
The suspension bushes were sorted as promised.
The car has been fine in the 9 months since.
Having had the gearbox sensors upgraded to the magnetic type is the main thing and then the gearbox is a completely different beast. Unique in character yes, but still a well functioning device. Perfect? No but full of character and like all the Vanquish owners keep saying, it makes driving the car a delight due to the involvement. If you want to slip in drive and waft, look elsewhere.
In my opinion a far better looking and more advanced car than the 550/575 by a long way. The chassis design and build is still very advanced even now, 17 years after it's first showing. Steel tubes on the Ferraris and pre NSX reliability and build quality.
The suspension bushes were sorted as promised.
The car has been fine in the 9 months since.
Having had the gearbox sensors upgraded to the magnetic type is the main thing and then the gearbox is a completely different beast. Unique in character yes, but still a well functioning device. Perfect? No but full of character and like all the Vanquish owners keep saying, it makes driving the car a delight due to the involvement. If you want to slip in drive and waft, look elsewhere.
In my opinion a far better looking and more advanced car than the 550/575 by a long way. The chassis design and build is still very advanced even now, 17 years after it's first showing. Steel tubes on the Ferraris and pre NSX reliability and build quality.
"Now the Vanquish is very much a rising modern classic"
Let's be honest, everything is rising on a market buoyed with crazyness (tho most of it is just silly sticker prices) - before this madness started, Vanquishes had crashed pretty hard and a lot seemed glued to their posh dealer's garage floors (I'm sure I saw tattier models in the £40ks - maybe even one in the £30ks but I'm old, memory fades - is there a nice online price tracker for old metal?)
That will return - they aren't THAT rare, they aren't THAT special either - and current prices make zero sense (12-18 months ago you could have had a DBS for the price of some of the lower-mileage Vanquishes on here right now!!)
Let's be honest, everything is rising on a market buoyed with crazyness (tho most of it is just silly sticker prices) - before this madness started, Vanquishes had crashed pretty hard and a lot seemed glued to their posh dealer's garage floors (I'm sure I saw tattier models in the £40ks - maybe even one in the £30ks but I'm old, memory fades - is there a nice online price tracker for old metal?)
That will return - they aren't THAT rare, they aren't THAT special either - and current prices make zero sense (12-18 months ago you could have had a DBS for the price of some of the lower-mileage Vanquishes on here right now!!)
Edited by 405dogvan on Friday 1st January 21:54
Really??? Total Vanquish production numbers (2,578) are lower than for the DB4/5/6 combined (approx. 4,000), and far lower than the number of DBSs and V8s of the '70s and '80s. Vanquish S production was just 1,086 -- fewer than the number of DB4s (1,110 plus another 100 GTs), just slightly more than the 1,021 DB5s, and fewer than the 1,782 DB6s. About 4,000 V8 saloons were built. Also, Vanquish production was far lower than Ferrari 550/575 production (total of 5,139: 3,083 550s plus 2,056 575s).
IMO, the Vanquish has all the right elements to become sought after and valuable. Limited production (especially by modern standards), flagship model, V12 power, very significant car in Aston Martin history (last Aston Martin built at the Newport Pagnell works and with that level of hand craftsmanship), very advanced construction, great looks, great performance and great to drive. I think the prices of "classic" cars has gotten crazy, but the Vanquish is as deserving as anything from its era. It's a very special car.
IMO, the Vanquish has all the right elements to become sought after and valuable. Limited production (especially by modern standards), flagship model, V12 power, very significant car in Aston Martin history (last Aston Martin built at the Newport Pagnell works and with that level of hand craftsmanship), very advanced construction, great looks, great performance and great to drive. I think the prices of "classic" cars has gotten crazy, but the Vanquish is as deserving as anything from its era. It's a very special car.
405dogvan said:
"Now the Vanquish is very much a rising modern classic"
Let's be honest, everything is rising on a market buoyed with crazyness (tho most of it is just silly sticker prices) - before this madness started, Vanquishes had crashed pretty hard and a lot seemed glued to their posh dealer's garage floors (I'm sure I saw tattier models in the £40ks - maybe even one in the £30ks but I'm old, memory fades - is there a nice online price tracker for old metal?)
That will return - they aren't THAT rare, they aren't THAT special either - and current prices make zero sense (12-18 months ago you could have had a DBS for the price of some of the lower-mileage Vanquishes on here right now!!)
Couldn't disagree more. They are very special, very rare, and many are being snapped up by serious collectors. Limited number, last of line supercars are always sought after, no matter the Marque. Let's be honest, everything is rising on a market buoyed with crazyness (tho most of it is just silly sticker prices) - before this madness started, Vanquishes had crashed pretty hard and a lot seemed glued to their posh dealer's garage floors (I'm sure I saw tattier models in the £40ks - maybe even one in the £30ks but I'm old, memory fades - is there a nice online price tracker for old metal?)
That will return - they aren't THAT rare, they aren't THAT special either - and current prices make zero sense (12-18 months ago you could have had a DBS for the price of some of the lower-mileage Vanquishes on here right now!!)
Edited by 405dogvan on Friday 1st January 21:54
The reputation of the Vanquish gearbox was done in by people who bought the car thinking (or were told) they could drive it like a conventional torque converter automatic. The best thing would have been for Aston to NOT include the automatic shift function button, then drivers would have had to learn to use only the paddles.
If you can drive a manual trans car properly without bucking and jerking, then you have exactly zero problems doing the same with the Vanquish on paddles. This is a MANUAL trans car and needs to be driven in exactly the same way...and then it is a wonderful shifting beast.
If you can drive a manual trans car properly without bucking and jerking, then you have exactly zero problems doing the same with the Vanquish on paddles. This is a MANUAL trans car and needs to be driven in exactly the same way...and then it is a wonderful shifting beast.
I loved my Vanquish, but grew to hate it because of its unreliability. I get the comments on the transmission, and the first thing I done was fit a sensor upgrage, along with a new clutch and flywheel. The transmission, is probably the worst of its type in the way it performs, but I am not a fan of earlier automated manuals anyway. Still, the Vanquish system only really works well at speed.
I had numerous problems including throttle bodies, and lambda sensors, which all triggered transmission limp mode because the TCU is hooked into the fuel system!!
The biggest issue was canbus errors, between the ECU and TCU, which were difficult to pin down because they were intermittent. When the car let me down in the middle of the Scottish highlands last year, I had enough, and sold it after it was recovered and repaired. An achingly beautiful thing, that sounds wonderful, but for me represents an uneasy marriage between old and new tech. If I was to buy another Aston, it would be a DBS with a manual trans.
I had numerous problems including throttle bodies, and lambda sensors, which all triggered transmission limp mode because the TCU is hooked into the fuel system!!
The biggest issue was canbus errors, between the ECU and TCU, which were difficult to pin down because they were intermittent. When the car let me down in the middle of the Scottish highlands last year, I had enough, and sold it after it was recovered and repaired. An achingly beautiful thing, that sounds wonderful, but for me represents an uneasy marriage between old and new tech. If I was to buy another Aston, it would be a DBS with a manual trans.
I prefer the Vanquish paddle system to the manual DBS simply because it shifts faster and has great rev matching on a downshift. Unfortunately, the combination of trans location and the poor (relative) engine response of the V12 means that the DBS is not a delight to shift, as sometimes the gate cannot be found on the first go, and heel/toe is essentially useless to rev match for a downshift because of the slow response to a blip. It is an OK shifting car, but certainly not the paragon of precision you'd like it to be.
DB9VolanteDriver said:
I prefer the Vanquish paddle system to the manual DBS simply because it shifts faster and has great rev matching on a downshift. Unfortunately, the combination of trans location and the poor (relative) engine response of the V12 means that the DBS is not a delight to shift, as sometimes the gate cannot be found on the first go, and heel/toe is essentially useless to rev match for a downshift because of the slow response to a blip. It is an OK shifting car, but certainly not the paragon of precision you'd like it to be.
Cars with massive engines are often not the fastest to shift manually. However a very fast shift is not what it's about for me anyway on a road car. I understand the attraction of a paddle system, especially the attraction of downshifts with throttle blips, the feel and noise is an experience, and I have driven the better ones such as the 599, and Maserati MC Strad ( probably one of the best I have come across ). The Vanquish has essentially the same system as the F360, but it works much better in the 360. At the time I think Aston were too pushed on the latest tech, and used a system still in it's infancy, and not suited to a large slower revving V12. Also they had to reverse engineer some components for the Vanquish because Ferrari, exerted their rights over the Magnetti Marelli system which they had co developed with MM.
It was not for me the transmission that made me loose faith in the Vanquish, just the frequent problems, and living in Ireland it was impossible to find someone to repair the car, meaning shipping it back to the UK.
As for the DBS manual, I have not yet driven one, and would have to try it out, but they are the modern Aston that most resembles the Vanquish in concept, sound and performance. I have owned manual V12 BMW's, manual Porsche 928's, and currently a manual LP640, for me making an effort to shift is part of the drive experience.
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