Inspired or idiotic? "Cheap" V8 Vantage
Discussion
Longy00000 said:
Well why settle for 2/3 rds of an engine when aston do so many wonderful V12's with that 'missing 1/3rd' to make you complete? 
From what I've read, the V12 is the engine that the Vantage always deserved. However, for anyone that's been with me since the start of this thread, you'll remember I was getting into AM ownership "on the cheap" by buying an entry-level car. I'm not loaded and I simply did not want to borrow to fund the car. I'm now in my last decade of my working life and I'm trying desperately to balance an incurable desire to own a nice car with the inescapable fact that I don't really have enough money in my pension.So - the cheapest V12 on Autotrader is £60k which is simply more than I'm willing to pay. I know if I drove one, I'd fall for it and my pension plans would be in tatters, so I need to stay well clear and learn to live with 'only' eight cylinders.
Perhaps if the State Pension triple-lock is fully re-instated for another few years, I could entertain it, but as things stand, short of a lottery win, it ain't happening....
Having warped many, many Fiat Coupe front brake discs over my 20 year with them, I was convinced that was what had happened to my V8V discs. I was quite wrong....
No wonder they felt a bit 'wooden' when braking from high speed...
Still, it's one of only a couple of things that have cropped up that I didn't know about when I bought the car, so I'm not too grumpy about it.
No wonder they felt a bit 'wooden' when braking from high speed...
Still, it's one of only a couple of things that have cropped up that I didn't know about when I bought the car, so I'm not too grumpy about it.
Oh damn - that's irritating....
When I washed the car last weekend, I noticed some liquid staining on one of the (newly-refurbished) rear wheels. I thought it was some of the white grease that had been applied to the hubs to prevent corrosion.
It wouldn't clean off with any of the usual wheel cleaning products, so I took the wheel off to have a better go at cleaning it. Even a fairly coarse polishing mop and some cutting compound wouldn't shift it, but then I noticed where the fluid was coming from....
Looks like it has taken some paint off the caliper too - one of the downsides of using DOT4 fluid, I suppose.
When I washed the car last weekend, I noticed some liquid staining on one of the (newly-refurbished) rear wheels. I thought it was some of the white grease that had been applied to the hubs to prevent corrosion.
It wouldn't clean off with any of the usual wheel cleaning products, so I took the wheel off to have a better go at cleaning it. Even a fairly coarse polishing mop and some cutting compound wouldn't shift it, but then I noticed where the fluid was coming from....
Looks like it has taken some paint off the caliper too - one of the downsides of using DOT4 fluid, I suppose.
Another relief yesterday - passed its MOT at just short of 64,000 miles.
Annoyingly, the EML light came on as I was driving to the MOT station - the usual “emissions service required” message. I’ve had it half a dozen times in my 10 months ownership and it always goes away after 5 (or is it 10?) restarts.
I also got a sympathetic MOT tester - apparently, both side repeaters weren’t working, but he gave them a little tap and they started working again - it would have been annoying to get a fail for those, although it would have given me an excuse to replace them with something a bit better looking - the originals are going yellow and look a bit rubbish.
In other news, it’s still going very well and the ceramic coating my son and I did in May is looking great. Cleaning it is soooo easy now. Still haven’t got the wheel refurbed, but the garage that did the brake bleeding immediately offered to pay for the refurb, so I’m happy enough - I’ve always said that the sign of a good garage is not whether they make mistakes, but how they behave when they do.
I’ve still been looking at 4.7s, but I haven’t seen anything with an interior like mine. I didn’t realise when I bought the car just how many Vantages have black interiors and how unusual a full sandstone interior is. I’ve seen lots of 4.7s within my budget that I’d like but all have dark interiors. Perhaps a twin-plate clutch and a modest remap will be enough to allow me to keep the 4.3. Or maybe I’ll drive a 4.7 and realise that tolerating a dark interior is a worthwhile swap for the extra grunt.
Finally, now I’ve sold the Westfield, I can (just) get the Aston in the garage with about 2” to spare at each end. I might think about getting a shed for winter driving duties. I quite like a bit of winter landscape photography and I have an irrational itch for a Panda 4x4 that I might have to scratch. I actually looked at Audi A6 Allroads for a while, but realised they were so good that the Aston would hardly get driven. At least the Panda would be slow and rattly, which would mean driving the Aston would be something to look forward to. Bit of a first-world problem, but I imagine one that many Aston owners face. What do other owners use as their daily drivers?
Annoyingly, the EML light came on as I was driving to the MOT station - the usual “emissions service required” message. I’ve had it half a dozen times in my 10 months ownership and it always goes away after 5 (or is it 10?) restarts.
I also got a sympathetic MOT tester - apparently, both side repeaters weren’t working, but he gave them a little tap and they started working again - it would have been annoying to get a fail for those, although it would have given me an excuse to replace them with something a bit better looking - the originals are going yellow and look a bit rubbish.
In other news, it’s still going very well and the ceramic coating my son and I did in May is looking great. Cleaning it is soooo easy now. Still haven’t got the wheel refurbed, but the garage that did the brake bleeding immediately offered to pay for the refurb, so I’m happy enough - I’ve always said that the sign of a good garage is not whether they make mistakes, but how they behave when they do.
I’ve still been looking at 4.7s, but I haven’t seen anything with an interior like mine. I didn’t realise when I bought the car just how many Vantages have black interiors and how unusual a full sandstone interior is. I’ve seen lots of 4.7s within my budget that I’d like but all have dark interiors. Perhaps a twin-plate clutch and a modest remap will be enough to allow me to keep the 4.3. Or maybe I’ll drive a 4.7 and realise that tolerating a dark interior is a worthwhile swap for the extra grunt.
Finally, now I’ve sold the Westfield, I can (just) get the Aston in the garage with about 2” to spare at each end. I might think about getting a shed for winter driving duties. I quite like a bit of winter landscape photography and I have an irrational itch for a Panda 4x4 that I might have to scratch. I actually looked at Audi A6 Allroads for a while, but realised they were so good that the Aston would hardly get driven. At least the Panda would be slow and rattly, which would mean driving the Aston would be something to look forward to. Bit of a first-world problem, but I imagine one that many Aston owners face. What do other owners use as their daily drivers?
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....
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.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!
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 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 billhttps://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…)
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….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 ?
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.
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
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
A long time since the last update, but mainly because I haven't used it very much. The Aston is sometimes kept in my small garage and sometimes on the drive under a cover. It's usually easier to take SWMBO's Volvo XC60, rather than faff about getting the Aston out....
Anyway - one recent improvement. The grille has a few light scratches which have always irritated me. To be honest, they can't really be seen from a couple of yards away, but I knew they were there. I tried to get the grille apart to polish the slats a year or so ago, but it didn't co-operate. At the time, I didn't want to force it and break something.
After the very nice people at Aston Martin Bits relieved me of yet another chunk of my reserve fund, a shiny new grille arrived and was very quickly fitted.
This left me with a slightly scruffy, but intact grille. I know that the slats sell for a few quid on Ebay (as they have a habit of falling out). So - I thought I'd have a crack at polishing them. A bit of assistance from a rubber mallet had eight slats and seven intact uprights on my bench, which I then polished up with a mop in a bench grinder.
Before:
After:
There's still some scratches, but it's a lot cleaner than it was. To be honest, if I'd known I could get the old grille cleaned up this well, I probably wouldn't have bought a new one... Still, the old one is on Ebay now so I might recoup a bit of the outlay.
Anyway - one recent improvement. The grille has a few light scratches which have always irritated me. To be honest, they can't really be seen from a couple of yards away, but I knew they were there. I tried to get the grille apart to polish the slats a year or so ago, but it didn't co-operate. At the time, I didn't want to force it and break something.
After the very nice people at Aston Martin Bits relieved me of yet another chunk of my reserve fund, a shiny new grille arrived and was very quickly fitted.
This left me with a slightly scruffy, but intact grille. I know that the slats sell for a few quid on Ebay (as they have a habit of falling out). So - I thought I'd have a crack at polishing them. A bit of assistance from a rubber mallet had eight slats and seven intact uprights on my bench, which I then polished up with a mop in a bench grinder.
Before:
After:
There's still some scratches, but it's a lot cleaner than it was. To be honest, if I'd known I could get the old grille cleaned up this well, I probably wouldn't have bought a new one... Still, the old one is on Ebay now so I might recoup a bit of the outlay.
Long overdue update....
Absolutely nothing has gone wrong. It's behaving perfectly. I've driven it quite a bit and enjoyed every mile. Not much of an update, I'll grant you, but the utter relaibility is extremely welcome.
Only three bits of maintenance:
1) New HID bulbs, as one of them was going yellow and dim. Should have been an easy job, but one of the riv-nuts for the wheelarch liner spun in the chassis, so it turned into a three-hour task. I have a riv-nut tool from my kit car days, so once the knackered old one was out, replacement was easy.
2) The doors would only just stay open on level ground on a warm day. Throw in a bit of a slope or some cold temperatures and they would close themselves. £56 on a pair of genuine Aston door gas struts and an hour fiddling in the wheelarches had that fixed. Doors now stay open even when facing uphill.
3) I also did a precautionary battery swap. The old one was appeared to be fine and had never given any problems, but on checking, I found it was dated 2015. Hailing from Yorkshire, I'd normally wait for a battery to exhibit signs of tiredness before replacing. However, SWMBO needed a battery to power her electric fence to keep her horse in its field. We were going to buy a cheap car battery from Halfords, when I twigged I use the horse fence as an excuse to get a new battery for the Aston and donate the old Aston battery to the wife. I know - all heart.... Callum / Fisker should be applauded for the timless body design, but whoever designed those f****ing battery clamps needs to be beaten to a pulp with a knobbly stick full of rusty nails - what a rubbish bit of engineering....
Other than that, its just been a case of driving it, which I did a lot of last weekend.... entertaining 240 mile round trip into North Wales and back - used a whole tank of Super U/L and averaged just over 19mpg
V8 Vantage on Hirnant Pass by Nigel Ogram, on Flickr
Absolutely nothing has gone wrong. It's behaving perfectly. I've driven it quite a bit and enjoyed every mile. Not much of an update, I'll grant you, but the utter relaibility is extremely welcome.
Only three bits of maintenance:
1) New HID bulbs, as one of them was going yellow and dim. Should have been an easy job, but one of the riv-nuts for the wheelarch liner spun in the chassis, so it turned into a three-hour task. I have a riv-nut tool from my kit car days, so once the knackered old one was out, replacement was easy.
2) The doors would only just stay open on level ground on a warm day. Throw in a bit of a slope or some cold temperatures and they would close themselves. £56 on a pair of genuine Aston door gas struts and an hour fiddling in the wheelarches had that fixed. Doors now stay open even when facing uphill.
3) I also did a precautionary battery swap. The old one was appeared to be fine and had never given any problems, but on checking, I found it was dated 2015. Hailing from Yorkshire, I'd normally wait for a battery to exhibit signs of tiredness before replacing. However, SWMBO needed a battery to power her electric fence to keep her horse in its field. We were going to buy a cheap car battery from Halfords, when I twigged I use the horse fence as an excuse to get a new battery for the Aston and donate the old Aston battery to the wife. I know - all heart.... Callum / Fisker should be applauded for the timless body design, but whoever designed those f****ing battery clamps needs to be beaten to a pulp with a knobbly stick full of rusty nails - what a rubbish bit of engineering....
Other than that, its just been a case of driving it, which I did a lot of last weekend.... entertaining 240 mile round trip into North Wales and back - used a whole tank of Super U/L and averaged just over 19mpg
V8 Vantage on Hirnant Pass by Nigel Ogram, on FlickrMegaflow said:
Stop it.
I have a really bad hankering for one of these and your stories of bullet proof reliability and the prospect of zero depreciation are not helping!
LOL - I waited slightly too long and prices firmed while I was prevaricating. In the end, I paid £30k, rather than the £25k that entry-level cars were fetching pre-Covid.I have a really bad hankering for one of these and your stories of bullet proof reliability and the prospect of zero depreciation are not helping!
I was worried about the lack of performance often mentioned for the 4.3. Sure, it’s not ballistic, but it’s still a quick car and with less than 400bhp more of the performance can be used more of the time. It also sounds like it has 1000bhp - the noise is truly addictive at any speed.
Just do it - there probably isn’t a better time…
therealsamdailly said:
Saw you cruising through Uttoxeter a couple of weeks ago, looking/sounding absolutely lovely. I'm such a nerd a noted the reg in my phone
LOL - thanks! Whilst it sounds epic as it closes in on 7,000rpm, I also like the ‘lazy’ V8 burble at <30mph. It’s almost as enjoyable driving it at 2/10 as it is at 9/10 and clearly, the ‘lack of power’ of the 4.3 ceases to be an issue.I suppose it was an inevitable consequence of buying a 'cheap' Aston Martin...
The car has gone in for a service and MOT. Because its the 70,000 mile service, it will have gearbox oil and spark plugs, on top of all the usual filters and 10 litres of oil. That is going to be the thick end of £1,400.
On top of this, I've OK'd aux belts and tensioners, for another £375. There's also a couple of other bits to do, so I reckon it'll be around £2k by the time we're done.
That's the good news.... (it worries me that I've got tto the point of treating a £2k service as 'good news'...)
When I bought the car, I knew the rear subframe was looking a bit brown. For some reason, in the last two years it hasn't got any better, so it now looks like this:
So - it needs removing, shotblasting and powder coating. It's almost inevitable that some fixings will be rusted solid, so it will need other bits as well.
It will also need new suspension fairly soon. The (in)famous Aston Dynamics shocks were fairly poor when they were new and 17 years and 65,000 miles haven't been kind to them. It is now fairly under-damped, which is not an issue when cruising around at 'normal' speeds, but it gets a bit unruly when pressing on. Again, something I was aware of when I bought the car, so no great surprise there.
Other than that, there's a mention of clutch being towards the end of its life (which might be another 5+ years with the mileage I'm doing) and it also needs rear discs and pads (I class these as DIY, as they really aren't difficult.
So - the next 12 months will probably see a £5k dent in my emergency fund, but the money has been sitting there for two years without being touched, so I count myself fairly lucky.
Most importantly however, it's still a joy to look at, listen to and drive around.
The car has gone in for a service and MOT. Because its the 70,000 mile service, it will have gearbox oil and spark plugs, on top of all the usual filters and 10 litres of oil. That is going to be the thick end of £1,400.
On top of this, I've OK'd aux belts and tensioners, for another £375. There's also a couple of other bits to do, so I reckon it'll be around £2k by the time we're done.
That's the good news.... (it worries me that I've got tto the point of treating a £2k service as 'good news'...)
When I bought the car, I knew the rear subframe was looking a bit brown. For some reason, in the last two years it hasn't got any better, so it now looks like this:
So - it needs removing, shotblasting and powder coating. It's almost inevitable that some fixings will be rusted solid, so it will need other bits as well.
It will also need new suspension fairly soon. The (in)famous Aston Dynamics shocks were fairly poor when they were new and 17 years and 65,000 miles haven't been kind to them. It is now fairly under-damped, which is not an issue when cruising around at 'normal' speeds, but it gets a bit unruly when pressing on. Again, something I was aware of when I bought the car, so no great surprise there.
Other than that, there's a mention of clutch being towards the end of its life (which might be another 5+ years with the mileage I'm doing) and it also needs rear discs and pads (I class these as DIY, as they really aren't difficult.
So - the next 12 months will probably see a £5k dent in my emergency fund, but the money has been sitting there for two years without being touched, so I count myself fairly lucky.
Most importantly however, it's still a joy to look at, listen to and drive around.
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