8c or Vanquish S?

Author
Discussion

craig_m67

949 posts

188 months

Wednesday 23rd September 2009
quotequote all


Mr Finn says "buy the red ourcar daddy"....ourcar is an Alfa, albeit a pedestrian sportwagon
he was allowed to put his hands all over it too.. for those of you with weak hearts

Edited by craig_m67 on Wednesday 23 September 04:17

Beefmeister

16,482 posts

230 months

Wednesday 23rd September 2009
quotequote all
craig_m67 said:


Mr Finn says "buy the red ourcar daddy"....ourcar is an Alfa, albeit a pedestrian sportwagon
he was allowed to put his hands all over it too.. for those of you with weak hearts

Edited by craig_m67 on Wednesday 23 September 04:17
Bah, that kid's been photoshopped in... we want a custard test.... wink

k-ink

9,070 posts

179 months

Wednesday 23rd September 2009
quotequote all
That little lad is cute. When my girl is this age next year I'll have to explain that Daddy is too poor and useless hehe

chimera40

7,259 posts

177 months

Wednesday 23rd September 2009
quotequote all
Zod said:
Scottish_ninja said:
8C!

As far as owners are considered (having spoke to many), i think 95% of modern aston owners buy the car as a cock extension and have very limited knowledge about the car or cars in general. I would hate to be tarred with the same brush.

Buy the alfa.
Happily, having an enormous cock, I am one of the 5%.

I'm interested to know how the other 95% intimated to you that they had bought their Astons as penis extensions. Given you would fear being tarred with the same brush, does that mean that you are in need of an extension yourself?
Talk about talking crap, the size of my dick although not huge had feck all to do with the reason I bought my DB9. Try driving one and come back with that comment.

polar8

520 posts

202 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
quotequote all
WTFWT said:
Update:

I bought the 8c!!

Drove both cars back to back today and in the end it wasn't too hard a decision. A stunning, stunning bit of kit in nearly every way.

I'm thrilled to bits cloud9
so.... after three months of ownership, what's it like? I saw a black one drive through Notting HIll today (quite possibly you!) and was stunned by the sound and look.... amazing! Desperate to hear how it is to own -- I've found two black cars for sale in Germany and am having bad bad thoughts...

WTFWT

Original Poster:

841 posts

223 months

Thursday 15th April 2010
quotequote all
Quick update as I was going through some old emails and found an old PM between myself and a fellow PHer.

Thought I would share it to give an update on what this car is like... There seems to be a huge amount of interest in it everywhere I go.

Me, bored at work:

Don't know where to start with the car really, so I'll just ramble on. I bought the Joe Macari car and have found their pre and post sales service to be excellent - they have been absolutely faultlessly attentive and responsive and Joe himself is a real character. I bought the car with 400 miles on the clock. I've had the car for about 3 months now and have done 3,500 miles in it, all over the UK and Europe. It is a truly wonderful car in many ways and a slight let down in a few others. Obviously styling is a subjective issue, but my heart genuinely beats faster as I walk up to it in the garage and peel the cover off it (beautiful tailored Alfa cover that came with the car). Peeling back the cover makes you realise the car is wide and quite large – larger than you would think from photos. I had the valves in the exhaust wired open full time as the noise is just unreal. The engine turns very quickly on the starter, but takes a while to catch light. When it does, it just explodes into life and the sound... Oh my god, the sound...

When you pull away from rest when the car hasn't been used it is almost as if the clutch needs to relearn its biting point. The car lunges a bit and then nearly stalls before dipping the clutch, catching itself and then retrying. This happens for about the first 2 or 3 times when moving away when the car is cold (always let it warm through for about 2-3 mins before moving off). The auto mode is pretty poor as it tries to hold onto the gears for too long when you are pootling resulting in un-necessarily jerky changes. Much better to use the manual mode and leave it in standard for slightly slurry normal shifts and then into sport for faster shifts when you are pushing on. There is a noticeable difference between shift speeds in the two modes.

You sit low in the car and the carbon backed seats are very hard and supportive. On my first 2 hour journey I felt sore all over but bizarrely have done several 8 hour trips in the car since and got out feeling fine. The wipers, sat nav and radio all work well. The stereo is very good without being excellent – loud and clear, but lacking real definition. The steering is direct, quite quick and feels very linear on the turn in – the car turns in very well initially, feeling pretty much mid-engined (due to the 50/50 weight I suppose.). Looking under the bonnet confirms that the engine is set well back, almost under the dash coaming and low down. It has beautiful red cam covers with a crackled finish, with all the breathing on display – a great looking engine. The brakes look huge behind the 20” wheel and are excellent providing immense, fade-free stopping power with a good deal of feel.

The engine is the real centrepiece of the whole thing. It has such a wide range of vocal sounds and really sings its head off all the time. It completely dominates the driving experience. There is really useful torque from idle and then it picks up markedly again at 4,500rpm and howls all the way to 7750, perhaps tailing off in delivery over the last 250rpm. That might improve as the engine loosens up, which it is doing noticeably. It is definitely getting louder too. One enthusiast upon hearing it roll by said it made his de-catted Cerbera sound like a Prius. The best bit is the over-run... When the manifolds are hot, the engine pops and bangs on the overrun, sometimes with the loud crack of a rifle upon lift off or on blipping the downshift. It is the most extravagant, pugnacious sound and then as the note dies away, it drops the last 500rpm to idle with a rumbling woofle that almost seems to signify disquiet, as if it is saying “come on, let’s get going again”.

When cornering hard at low speed, the car turns in well and will then settle into a neutral stance, verging towards understeer if you really start to lean on it. There is quite a bit of roll – the car feels slightly undersprung and overdamped. The ride being firm, but the car rolling under load. It’s the kind of thing Lotus have got licked and Alfa haven’t. The tyres are very sticky D8 compound and generate prodigious grip. I would go for something less intense next time. With enough lock and room, you can unsettle the rear with a big throttle commitment. However, it moves sideways quickly and continues to do so on opposite lock, pushing the car sideways rather than driving it forward, despite the LSD. It is hard to ‘4 wheel drift’ per se. You need to stay committed to get it to come back smoothly, but it will snap back into line very controllably if you just come off the throttle abruptly. On faster corners, the car works better, hooking up and then taking attitude the minute you get back on the throttle. Sitting so far back, you can really feel it move and it feels terrific – really alive and involving.

In the wet it is a quite different story – the car takes a very oversteery stance on any application of the throttle. It moves sideways happily in 2nd 3rd and 4th gear, again moving sideways, rather than forward. This can be great fun coming out of slow corners you know, but it happened to me once in 4th gear when I was not expecting it and the car gobbled up all the tarmac before I could get on top of it. I could see the coast was clear before I committed, but it was still an unwelcome shock. I have never driven a production car (and I’ve tried a few) which has such an oversteery stance. Not even my Caterham. It makes wet weather driving a sweaty palmed experience, for better or worse and at one moment, wrestling it through damp Highland roads I was suddenly aware of how much faster the integrale was over the same ground. It would absolutely devastate the 8C point to point.

It has suited the long distance role well – the fitted luggage is beautiful, but to be honest I haven’t used them. You can fit two large soft bags on the parcel shelf and that has been plenty for a week’s touring. I loaded my bag in, went to my girlfriend and she loaded her bag in. I just laid my suits and her dresses over the gearbox cover under the glass panel. There is a huge amount of headroom and the car feels much airier and lighter than the Vanquish. The cabin is beautifully put together and everything is a tactile and visual delight.

The venturi must work really well as the car feels incredibly planted at speed, loping along at 120mph and feeling super glued down, almost compressed, at 175mph which is the fastest I have had it up to. The paintwork has picked up a huge number of stone chips, but then I have been driving it hard all over Europe. I am resigned to letting it wear the battle scars and probably have it resprayed every 18 months or so, or when my conscience can’t take it any more!

Overall, I am very happy with it. I think I’ll hang on to it for a good while yet. It is the only car, other than the Vanquish, that I have really lusted after and I haven’t seen anything yet that would tempt me to replace it. The Vanqs were all lovely, especially the S, but the 8C was in a different league for how it made me feel, which is what it is all about I suppose (just like the integrale).


Edited by WTFWT on Thursday 15th April 21:26

ZesPak

24,428 posts

196 months

Thursday 15th April 2010
quotequote all
bow

Thank you for sharing, it's things like this that make me (at 25y old) try really hard in life to achieve what you have.

Now we're looking in Belgium for one who would loan us one for our wedding day as the first car, but we've settled for a Spyder smile.

jason156v6

31 posts

201 months

Friday 16th April 2010
quotequote all
Great post

Really good to hear what an 8C is like from a real owner. it Sounds like you are enjoying it.

Whilst the Vanquish is dream motor for almost everyone the 8C really does have that rarity factor - well done on getting one.

All Hail!!!


DJC

23,563 posts

236 months

Friday 16th April 2010
quotequote all
WTFWT said:
Quick update as I was going through some old emails and found an old PM between myself and a fellow PHer.

Thought I would share it to give an update on what this car is like... There seems to be a huge amount of interest in it everywhere I go.

Me, bored at work:

Don't know where to start with the car really, so I'll just ramble on. I bought the Joe Macari car and have found their pre and post sales service to be excellent - they have been absolutely faultlessly attentive and responsive and Joe himself is a real character. I bought the car with 400 miles on the clock. I've had the car for about 3 months now and have done 3,500 miles in it, all over the UK and Europe. It is a truly wonderful car in many ways and a slight let down in a few others. Obviously styling is a subjective issue, but my heart genuinely beats faster as I walk up to it in the garage and peel the cover off it (beautiful tailored Alfa cover that came with the car). Peeling back the cover makes you realise the car is wide and quite large – larger than you would think from photos. I had the valves in the exhaust wired open full time as the noise is just unreal. The engine turns very quickly on the starter, but takes a while to catch light. When it does, it just explodes into life and the sound... Oh my god, the sound...

When you pull away from rest when the car hasn't been used it is almost as if the clutch needs to relearn its biting point. The car lunges a bit and then nearly stalls before dipping the clutch, catching itself and then retrying. This happens for about the first 2 or 3 times when moving away when the car is cold (always let it warm through for about 2-3 mins before moving off). The auto mode is pretty poor as it tries to hold onto the gears for too long when you are pootling resulting in un-necessarily jerky changes. Much better to use the manual mode and leave it in standard for slightly slurry normal shifts and then into sport for faster shifts when you are pushing on. There is a noticeable difference between shift speeds in the two modes.

You sit low in the car and the carbon backed seats are very hard and supportive. On my first 2 hour journey I felt sore all over but bizarrely have done several 8 hour trips in the car since and got out feeling fine. The wipers, sat nav and radio all work well. The stereo is very good without being excellent – loud and clear, but lacking real definition. The steering is direct, quite quick and feels very linear on the turn in – the car turns in very well initially, feeling pretty much mid-engined (due to the 50/50 weight I suppose.). Looking under the bonnet confirms that the engine is set well back, almost under the dash coaming and low down. It has beautiful red cam covers with a crackled finish, with all the breathing on display – a great looking engine. The brakes look huge behind the 20” wheel and are excellent providing immense, fade-free stopping power with a good deal of feel.

The engine is the real centrepiece of the whole thing. It has such a wide range of vocal sounds and really sings its head off all the time. It completely dominates the driving experience. There is really useful torque from idle and then it picks up markedly again at 4,500rpm and howls all the way to 7750, perhaps tailing off in delivery over the last 250rpm. That might improve as the engine loosens up, which it is doing noticeably. It is definitely getting louder too. One enthusiast upon hearing it roll by said it made his de-catted Cerbera sound like a Prius. The best bit is the over-run... When the manifolds are hot, the engine pops and bangs on the overrun, sometimes with the loud crack of a rifle upon lift off or on blipping the downshift. It is the most extravagant, pugnacious sound and then as the note dies away, it drops the last 500rpm to idle with a rumbling woofle that almost seems to signify disquiet, as if it is saying “come on, let’s get going again”.

When cornering hard at low speed, the car turns in well and will then settle into a neutral stance, verging towards understeer if you really start to lean on it. There is quite a bit of roll – the car feels slightly undersprung and overdamped. The ride being firm, but the car rolling under load. It’s the kind of thing Lotus have got licked and Alfa haven’t. The tyres are very sticky D8 compound and generate prodigious grip. I would go for something less intense next time. With enough lock and room, you can unsettle the rear with a big throttle commitment. However, it moves sideways quickly and continues to do so on opposite lock, pushing the car sideways rather than driving it forward, despite the LSD. It is hard to ‘4 wheel drift’ per se. You need to stay committed to get it to come back smoothly, but it will snap back into line very controllably if you just come off the throttle abruptly. On faster corners, the car works better, hooking up and then taking attitude the minute you get back on the throttle. Sitting so far back, you can really feel it move and it feels terrific – really alive and involving.

In the wet it is a quite different story – the car takes a very oversteery stance on any application of the throttle. It moves sideways happily in 2nd 3rd and 4th gear, again moving sideways, rather than forward. This can be great fun coming out of slow corners you know, but it happened to me once in 4th gear when I was not expecting it and the car gobbled up all the tarmac before I could get on top of it. I could see the coast was clear before I committed, but it was still an unwelcome shock. I have never driven a production car (and I’ve tried a few) which has such an oversteery stance. Not even my Caterham. It makes wet weather driving a sweaty palmed experience, for better or worse and at one moment, wrestling it through damp Highland roads I was suddenly aware of how much faster the integrale was over the same ground. It would absolutely devastate the 8C point to point.

It has suited the long distance role well – the fitted luggage is beautiful, but to be honest I haven’t used them. You can fit two large soft bags on the parcel shelf and that has been plenty for a week’s touring. I loaded my bag in, went to my girlfriend and she loaded her bag in. I just laid my suits and her dresses over the gearbox cover under the glass panel. There is a huge amount of headroom and the car feels much airier and lighter than the Vanquish. The cabin is beautifully put together and everything is a tactile and visual delight.

The venturi must work really well as the car feels incredibly planted at speed, loping along at 120mph and feeling super glued down, almost compressed, at 175mph which is the fastest I have had it up to. The paintwork has picked up a huge number of stone chips, but then I have been driving it hard all over Europe. I am resigned to letting it wear the battle scars and probably have it resprayed every 18 months or so, or when my conscience can’t take it any more!

Overall, I am very happy with it. I think I’ll hang on to it for a good while yet. It is the only car, other than the Vanquish, that I have really lusted after and I haven’t seen anything yet that would tempt me to replace it. The Vanqs were all lovely, especially the S, but the 8C was in a different league for how it made me feel, which is what it is all about I suppose (just like the integrale).


Edited by WTFWT on Thursday 15th April 21:26
What ho lad smile

Great to see you are still enjoying her.

GFWilliams

4,941 posts

207 months

Friday 16th April 2010
quotequote all
Where abouts are you from?

I saw a black 8C coming up Reigate Hill a while back.. Can't be too many black ones around!

Great write up, very interesting as I always saw the 8C as a car most wouldn't push, but clearly I'm wrong biggrin

stuartalfa

318 posts

217 months

Friday 16th April 2010
quotequote all





& 8c Sound Cardiff 23rd April 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a96-dw4R-J0

I just love itbiggrin

Rawwr

22,722 posts

234 months

Friday 16th April 2010
quotequote all
I think it'd be the 8C for me, too. There's just something quite 'penisy' about modern Astons that I can't quite put my finger on.

snotrag

14,457 posts

211 months

Friday 16th April 2010
quotequote all
ZesPak said:
Thank you for sharing, it's things like this that make me (at 25y old) try really hard in life to achieve what you have.
Took the words out of my mouth - really good post that, thank you for sharing.

I dont know exactly why, but this -

WTFWT said:
. The engine turns very quickly on the starter, but takes a while to catch light. When it does, it just explodes into life and the sound... Oh my god, the sound...
is the part that stirs me. I have no idea what your house and garage looks like, but for me I can just imagine that tailored cover with the Alfa logo on it.

And the starting procedure seems to make it special, no? The long, whiiring turnover, it must create an incredible atmosphere and sense of occasion. It sounds ludicrous on the face of it - no doubt a German engineer will tell you that starting on the button is 'better', and it is. But I just love the idea of slinking into the seat, sat with the door open, one leg out on the floor. Press and hold... whiirrrrrrrrrrr-bang-whirrrrrrrr-bang-whiirrrr-bang-whirrr-bang-bang - onto a fast idle, a bit lumpy, plumes of condensation out the exhaust flowing up to your garage ceiling.

I'm coming over all funny just thinking about it.

I'm as British as they come, but by God I'd love to own that Alfa Romeo.

Hope you continue to enjoy it, and share it with the rest of us!

thumbup

TonyHetherington

32,091 posts

250 months

Friday 16th April 2010
quotequote all
I've said it before and I'll say it again; simply the most stunning car I've seen for a long long time. Thanks for the write up; brilliant!

K50 DEL

9,237 posts

228 months

Friday 16th April 2010
quotequote all
TonyHetherington said:
I've said it before and I'll say it again; simply the most stunning car I've seen for a long long time. Thanks for the write up; brilliant!
I'll echo that, I've lusted after the 8C since the first spy shots.

You are a truly lucky man and thanks for sharing.

Chris71

21,536 posts

242 months

Friday 16th April 2010
quotequote all
So so so so difficult. I'm a huge Aston fan, but the Alfa has just as much romance (and noise, and looks) as the Vanquish S and arguably something else too.

I think there's something quite special about the fact that the Alfa is unique. The Aston range - although universally gorgeous - offers several very appealing cars. I could happily place any modern Aston in my fantasy garage, but the 8C is unique (at least if you count the coupe and convertible as one).

Most days I'd probably choose the Aston, but today I think I'm going to say Alfa. God, if only I really was in that dilemma...

Pooh

3,692 posts

253 months

Friday 16th April 2010
quotequote all
Thanks for the write up, very interesting, I had a good look at a black one at the Scottish Italian car day at St Andrews last year and it was stunning.

louiebaby

10,651 posts

191 months

Friday 16th April 2010
quotequote all
8c Convertible for me please.

In pearlescent red with black roof and black interior.

I promise to use it, and not lock it away in a collectors garage.

k-ink

9,070 posts

179 months

Friday 16th April 2010
quotequote all
That Alfa is so special and different from the herd.

will_

6,027 posts

203 months

Friday 16th April 2010
quotequote all
Well done for using and letting the world see it - great write up.