Inspired or idiotic? "Cheap" V8 Vantage

[Shnozz]

I used my Aston as a daily. Was similar mileage to the OP at 60ish thousand and was only worth about £30k when I bought it. No garage queen so took the view the worst I could lose was £30k if I drove it into the ground - life’s too short and have no regrets.

[samjlevy]

I had one of these for 3 years many years ago. Apart from consumables (clutch, brakes etc…) I had no real issues. Did about 10 track days in it, 15,000 miles of driving including 2 Nurburgring trips. I put it on lowering springs with wheel spacers all round which in my opinion made it look great, swapped the cats out for 200 CEL and had it remapped. I wouldn’t recommend going down the sport cat and remap route, didn’t make much difference to performance, think it made 405bhp but it was obnoxiously loud.

[Nigel_O]

skeeterm5 said:

In general terms has it still worked out cheaper to buy a cheap one and work on it? Or would it have worked out cheaper to buy a more expensive, better sorted, one in the first place?

My budget was £30k and I wasn't willing to go any higher. I could easily have borrowed to fund a better 4.3 or even a 4.7, but I simply didn't want to get into debt.

I've now spent £5,221.11 on the car since I bought it last October. The front discs and pads were an extravagance at £1,050, so I could have got away with about £700 less than that if I was trying to keep costs down. I've also lashed out £360 on a cover, £76 on jacking pads, and about £400 on a set (pair) of mats, which was daft, but made it look better. I therefore reckon I could easily be £1,500 better off if I was in full 'Yorkshireman' mode.....

On this basis, I doubt that a £33k car would have required no expenditure at all, so in answer to your question, I reckon I've done it the right way. Purely anecdotally, I reckon you need to be a) very lucky or b) spending well over £40k and probably mid-40s before you get a car that genuinely doesn't need anything spending on it.

I was looking at 4.7s over the weekend and I relaised that when searching Autotrader for 4.7 manual Coupes sorted in price order low > high, I was on the fourth page before there was a car with a non-black interior - this will be one of my requirements if I'm replacing the 4.3, so it looks like I'll be keeping it a while longer....

[Nigel_O]

Brave Fart said:

Your situation is similar to mine. I have a mint 2015 4.7 Vantage V8 in the garage, but my BMW 535d is parked on the drive in front of said garage. Sometimes I think "Ooh, it's a nice day, I could go for a drive in the Aston", but I'd have to move the BMW, then squeeze into the Aston (it fits in my garage, but only just). Usually I just take the BMW because I'm lazy. The 535d is a very enjoyable car to drive, despite being a filthy diesel.

My wife says "Why keep a car that you hardly ever drive?" and she has a point. I have toyed with the idea of a single 'do it all' car, but that would involve selling my two existing cars, and like I said, I'm lazy!

I will have the same issue - if I buy a daily-driver shed, it will be blocking the Aston in the garage. I definitely don't want to get a REALLY capable daily driver - a 535D (especially after a remap.. ;-) ) would probably be quicker than the Vantage in 98% of everyday driving.

The Panda 4x4 is still beckoning, although SWMBO lets me use her Volvo XC60 whenever I need it, so perhaps I should just save my money and use her car when I need to carry stuff or drive in the snow....

[skeeterm5]

Nigel_O said:

My budget was £30k and I wasn't willing to go any higher. I could easily have borrowed to fund a better 4.3 or even a 4.7, but I simply didn't want to get into debt.

I've now spent £5,221.11 on the car since I bought it last October. The front discs and pads were an extravagance at £1,050, so I could have got away with about £700 less than that if I was trying to keep costs down. I've also lashed out £360 on a cover, £76 on jacking pads, and about £400 on a set (pair) of mats, which was daft, but made it look better. I therefore reckon I could easily be £1,500 better off if I was in full 'Yorkshireman' mode.....

On this basis, I doubt that a £33k car would have required no expenditure at all, so in answer to your question, I reckon I've done it the right way. Purely anecdotally, I reckon you need to be a) very lucky or b) spending well over £40k and probably mid-40s before you get a car that genuinely doesn't need anything spending on it.

I was looking at 4.7s over the weekend and I relaised that when searching Autotrader for 4.7 manual Coupes sorted in price order low > high, I was on the fourth page before there was a car with a non-black interior - this will be one of my requirements if I'm replacing the 4.3, so it looks like I'll be keeping it a while longer....

Thanks, interesting as I guess many of us have thought of doing just what you have.

[Wish]

Just spent ages looking at these on Autotrader.
They seem to be getting better with age (in my eyes) quite fancy an early tintop in auto ?

Is it worth going for the auto box ? Who box is it ?

[Nigel_O]

skeeterm5 said:

Thanks, interesting as I guess many of us have thought of doing just what you have.

There are always differing experiences - have a look at this thread for someone else that bought at ‘entry level’ and is in the process of getting hit with a large bill

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

I spent a LOT of time on these forums before buying mine, so I had a decent idea of what to look for. That said, I still regard myself as lucky that I haven’t been hit with a big bill (although there’s plenty of time yet…)

[Nigel_O]

Wish said:

Just spent ages looking at these on Autotrader.
They seem to be getting better with age (in my eyes) quite fancy an early tintop in auto ?

Is it worth going for the auto box ? Who box is it ?

The auto box is actually a robotised manual (not a torque converter slush box) and is christened ‘Sportshift’. By all accounts, this is not an accurate name….

I like the interaction of a manual gearbox, even though it’s probably no faster than the Sportshift.

That said, there are lots of people that swear by the auto. Best bet is to get a decent drive in both types - make sure you get a good mix of all driving scenarios - town, country, motorway and definitely low-speed manoeuvring.

Don’t get a Sportshift if you have to reverse up your drive.

[Brave Fart]

Nigel_O said:

The auto box is actually a robotised manual (not a torque converter slush box) and is christened ‘Sportshift’. By all accounts, this is not an accurate name….

I like the interaction of a manual gearbox, even though it’s probably no faster than the Sportshift.

That said, there are lots of people that swear by the auto. Best bet is to get a decent drive in both types - make sure you get a good mix of all driving scenarios - town, country, motorway and definitely low-speed manoeuvring.

Don’t get a Sportshift if you have to reverse up your drive.

Very good advice Nigel, particularly the 'try before you buy' part. I tried a Sportshift - it was a 2007 4.3 with the original single plate clutch - and hated it, I genuinely didn't like it. It was especially at low speeds that I found it irritating and clunky.

That said, I love the fully auto ZF8 'box in my BMW 535d, I really like PDK in modern Porsches, and I love the manual gearchange in my Aston. I'm a sort of transmission atheist, I suppose. But I wouldn't have an Aston with Sportshift. Oh, and my house has a steep drive.

[CABC]

idiotic.
but don't some of the best memories come from those decisions?

[Nigel_O]

UPDATE

Exactly one year to the day since I collected my V8 Vantage.

Some stats (I'm a bit of a stats geek...):

Spending - I've spent £5,367.88 (not inc fuel or insurance - see below), of which about £2.5k was actually needed (tyres, service, brakes, aircon) and the rest was discretionary, such as new mats (£400), a cover (£359), etc. Now that I've got over the initial 'hump' of spending, it has dropped right off - I've only spent £1,500 in the last six months and I suspect it will drop even further, down to an expected £1,500pa.

Fuel consumption - 18 tanks of fuel, over 3,561 miles, at an average of 18.7mpg and a cost of £1,450, with an average cost per litre of £1.68 and a worst of £1.96 (never managed to fill up at over £2 per litre. Best tank was 23.2mpg, worst was 16.0. The consumption focusses the mind when popping out for a quick drive can swallow £100, but when I was commuting to work (I WFH now), I was spending about £2.5k a year on a shed of an Alfa GT diesel. I'm therefore saving money.....

Insurance renewal has just come through - will be about £190 with protected NCB

MOT passed with an advisory on the EML light (usual 'emission service required') and the brake warning light (which was becuase the tester didn't release the handbrake properly)

Subjective stuff:

I'm still utterly smitten with it. Every drive is an event and it's just a pleasure to own and drive. Due to the (relative) rarity, most people I know have assumed I'm hit lucky on the lottery - they have no idea it cost as 'little' as it did. I've had guesses of £50k to £75k from people that don't really know enough about cars to price it, but enough to know it's fairly special.

It's really not very fast. Sure, it's not slow, but it's not "push you back in your seat" fast. At first, coming from a 480+ bhp Fiat Coupe, it felt a bit underwhelming (remember Clarkson's verdict in the 2005 Isle of Man test?), but then I remember why I sold the Fiat - it was WAY too fast to enjoy on public roads. The Vantage is entertaining at less-illegal speeds (ie I'd probably only get a hefty fine and points, rather than a ban and a possible custodial that would result from getting caught while wringing the neck of the Fiat).

After a few months, when I got used to the way it drives, I started to think about a 4.7. Entry-level for these is now sub £35k, so if I'd waited a year and saved the money I've spent on my 4.3, I could be in one now (but I would probably still have had to spend a few grand to sort out the niggles). However, I've become more and more attached to the interior on mine. I really didn't realise when I bought it that 80%+ of V8V interiors are black. Out of the 30+ sub-£30k V8V's on Autotrader, only two or three have anything other than black and to get into a 4.7 with a non-black interior is going to be £40k plus.

I've now decided that unless my numbers come up on the lottery, I'll be sticking with the 4.3 and just enjoying it.

So - was it idiotic or inspired? A year ago, I feared the former, now I'm convinced I did the right thing

[Longy00000]

A nice update and glad to hear the potential regrets have vanished.
I think you're doing the right thing in just enjoying it, I can't for the life of me understand why people buy these types of car and then don't use them with ' I must try and do more miles , I've just been so busy'...

Plus of course putting miles on it helps keep the repair costs down

[Shnozz]

Longy00000 said:

A nice update and glad to hear the potential regrets have vanished.
I think you're doing the right thing in just enjoying it, I can't for the life of me understand why people buy these types of car and then don't use them with ' I must try and do more miles , I've just been so busy'...

Plus of course putting miles on it helps keep the repair costs down

Indeed. Especially with a <£30k car. Life’s too short. If you lost the full £30k and the car was worth zero surely it’s great value to spend a few years driving an Aston every day.

[outnumbered]

Glad you're still enjoying it. I think you're right to stick with the 4.3, it seems you've got a nice car, and would the additional performance actually add much pleasure to the overall experience ?

[SuperCarrera]

Shnozz said:

Indeed. Especially with a <£30k car. Life’s too short. If you lost the full £30k and the car was worth zero surely it’s great value to spend a few years driving an Aston every day.

Though I’d be amazed if these ever drop much lower. They appear to have bottomed out the past few years so could be the most sensible motoring decision you make.

I had a 4.3 Vantage that I bought 9 years ago for £38k. Put loads of miles on it over 3 years then part-ex’d it for £30k. That car now, 6 years later, looks about £25k if not a couple of grand more.

Cost me under £3k a year in depreciation. The next owner has lost less than £1k per year. That’s cheap motoring.

People will say that you pay in other ways, such as high bills and unreliability. But these are solid cars with many cheap parts. I didn’t have a single thing go wrong on that 4.3 or the 4.7 that I traded it up to. I regret paying for warranties for 5 years as they were a waste of money.

[Nigel_O]

Insurance renewed - £178 included protected NCB - 5k miles a year, including commuting.

Not often that “bargain” and “car insurance” can be mentioned in the same sentence…

[BrettMRC]

Not a bad years motoring!

[moktabe]

OP, great to hear you're still happy with your purchase 12 months in.

Re the question what do other Aston owners have as a daily.

I collected a 2016 V12S at the start of June with the intention to use it rather than look at it. The only place I won't take it is into town (sunny Derby). It's such a wonderful thing to drive it's difficult not to use it!...for town visits I have a Smart.

It gets looked after religiously, both mechanically and cosmetically. Fortunately I have a mate who's an excellent detailer and, wth the car being black, I let him look after the washing etc. I just make the coffees.

[andy97]

Just re-read this thread and then had a quick look at AT - the cheapest AM v8 Vantage is now about £21k with approx 100k miles on it……..

Probably a good job Mrs 97 is retiring at Xmas and I am supposed to be being sensible with money!!!!

[Nigel_O]

so you've got a month left of being frivolous?

Get out there and buy one before you have to go all sensible.....