First day of Aston ownership
Discussion
So, after my first day of ownership, I thought i'd do a write up of my thoughts and feelings. A few pictures courtesy of Mrs HRD and more will be posted up after the Brooklands meet tomorrow.
Looks
Oh my! It's beautiful. It's aggressive looking but it screams class. It's an aspirational car and has a commanding presence on the road without shouting "look at me". And most of all, it gets under your skin; you want to look at it, to sit in it and most of all, to drive it and hear that engine note howling in your ears.
I am amazed at the courtesy other road users have given me today, dropping back to let me in, stopping to allow me out of junctions even just pulling alongside me on the motorway and looking for a few seconds. I haven't caned the car today, i've just taken it easy and spent a few hundred miles getting used to it. It's a beast and very easy to not notice the speed you are doing.
The dealer took the plinth off and lowered the plate so as not to obscure the distinctive grille. I'd like to remove the front plate completely but the law-abiding part of me absolutely will not allow it.
Engine
The sound... the sound is like the gates of hell have opened. Easily the most beautiful, groin-achingly brutal sound which far and away outstrips the other performance cars I have owned/driven in the past. The torque is feels good and the power delivery is pretty instant (especially in comparison to my cumbersome XF). The engine in the Aston feels like it has a lot more to give and I felt like I was only using the car to about 30% of its potential today. The road noise is louder than in my Jag, but then I always expected it to and was under no illusions otherwise. This does help the road feel though, which was lost in the big wafting Jag. And yes, I got the dealer to pop Fuse 22 straight away, which is now sitting in my study.
Sportshift
I love the 'flappy paddle gearbox' when driving about town or on the motorway. I don't love it when doing any kind of reversing at all. I feel sure i'm doing something wrong here but when I put the car into reverse, it instantly wants to spring back at a far too fast rate. Reverse should really be about low speed manoeuvring. Blipping the brakes to bring the speed into check doesn't feel like it's doing much good to the clutch. What am I doing wrong? Is there a way of not making the move until I apply throttle?
Sports Pack
I love this. Makes the car feel firmly planted on the road. I took the car to my usual benchmark road earlier (Devil's Dyke to Poynings) and gave it a good go round the twists, turns, bumps and hills and there was no body roll whatsoever. I've taken a few cars down this road that have had minimal body roll but this is the first car that stayed completed planted on the road. Funnily enough, I took a non-Sports Pack V8V down this road a couple of months back and there was body roll, so it's definitely down to the Sports Pack. I love the Sports Pack wheels too, really good looking.
Broughtons
I dealt with Howard Ganderton and I can say he is a lovely chap. Very professional and friendly and seems to have a passion for the cars he sells. The handover was excellent and he spent about an hour showing me how everything works and making sure I understood this and that. Very thorough and patient with my damn-fool questions. Oh, and the coffee was good too. Very professional dealer with very friendly staff and I can thoroughly recommend them to anyone wanting to buy an Aston Martin. A complete departure from when I bought my Jag from the dealer network situated next door (albeit another branch) where they basically threw me the keys and said "I won't come outside as it's raining, the car's parked round the side."
Summary
I'm grinning from ear to ear. I've fulfilled a childhood dream and I now own an Aston Martin. I don't think this year could get any better (but it will). As I posted in another thread, leading on from a comment Lady Topaz made in a different thread, when I saw the car on Broughton's website, it literally jumped out of the page at me and said "buy me." It has every single options I wanted on a car, all my 'must-haves' and all my 'would like g=but not essential' options. It has a beautiful Obsidian/Iron Ore interior and the Iron Ore is really subtle but offsets the harshness of the black perfectly. I absolutely love it! The Tungsten Silver is perfect. Such a deep finish to the paint and as the car is very curvy, the paint takes on different notes from different angles. Beautiful.
The only downside is the glass key has a chip out of it, which is a real shame. Broughton's did say that a new key is only about £400 now, which is marked difference from the £1500-odd they were originally. I think I shall wait until I have one of those lovely pouches from HWM that Mikey posted up in the Aston Christmas gifts thread before I get a new key though. Clear rears are next on my list I think.
The free AM umbrella mounted in the boot is a nice touch too.
I can't describe how happy and grateful this car makes me feel. Those of you lucky enough to own an Aston of any vintage will know exactly what I mean. I can't wait to get out in the car again.
In fact, I think I may just...
Congrats Damien - Barry Griffin did many of our Final Inspections.
V8 engine looks awesome - get one of the V12 lot to show you their engine tomorrow !!
Also, have a look at the personalised sill plaques on show. You know you want to.
No harm in ordering the ECU protective pouch sooner rather than later. It may not fix the key, but it may stop it getting worse
V8 engine looks awesome - get one of the V12 lot to show you their engine tomorrow !!
Also, have a look at the personalised sill plaques on show. You know you want to.
No harm in ordering the ECU protective pouch sooner rather than later. It may not fix the key, but it may stop it getting worse
What a fantastic post! You have bought a beautiful car. You will find that the magic of ownership will never go away.
When reversing try no throttle at all, you will find that there is so much grunt in that engine that it will just trickle back on its own.
After 1 year of ownership my paronoia has diminished but my sheer delight, pride and respect remains constant.
Regarding Broughtons, I would award them a consistent 10 out of 10!
When reversing try no throttle at all, you will find that there is so much grunt in that engine that it will just trickle back on its own.
After 1 year of ownership my paronoia has diminished but my sheer delight, pride and respect remains constant.
Regarding Broughtons, I would award them a consistent 10 out of 10!
ShortTimers said:
Great post really good to read your thought after just one day, I’m sure you will have many more days like this one. Great looking car, any pics of the interior?
robgt said:
When reversing try no throttle at all, you will find that there is so much grunt in that engine that it will just trickle back on its own.
Thanks everyone. No pics of the interior yet but I will ensure Mrs HRD get some at Brooklands tomorrow. I love it, the dark Iron Ore Red sits really well with the Obsidian Black.I have to admit, I tried reversing without throttle and it roars backwards at some considerable speed. Much too fast when manoeuvring in a car park at night. I was hoping it would just sit there and wait for me to engage throttle before moving back, but noooo, it leaps into life and tears back of its own volition. It's much too fast on its own and I know it was mentioned in another thread about the issue.
Highrisedrifter said:
Summary
I'm grinning from ear to ear.
It is just over 3 years since I took delivery of my DB9. After a month of ownership, I was amazed that the "grin factor" was as big as the day that I took delivery. I wondered how long it would last.I'm grinning from ear to ear.
3 years on, I am still amazed by the "grin factor". It fades very, very slowly indeed.
Don
--
I have to admit, I tried reversing without throttle and it roars backwards at some considerable speed. Much too fast when manoeuvring in a car park at night. I was hoping it would just sit there and wait for me to engage throttle before moving back, but noooo, it leaps into life and tears back of its own volition. It's much too fast on its own and I know it was mentioned in another thread about the issue.
[/quote]
Reversing in the sport shift is an art... one I never managed to fully master, I used to use the brake..... a lot of break!!! to control the speed... my car space was next to a wall and every time I reversed it my heart was in my mouth but the break always did the trick... can’t comment about wear but I had no problem during the 18+ months of ownership. My other half hated reversing so much that i’d often get the call please come and park this b**dy thing, it was the surging sensation when reversing that she really hated.
But ignore the reversing issue and just enjoy going forward... rapidly ;_)
Lunablack said:
Zod said:
Reverse is like that in the manual cars too. It's just the ratio. Nothing much you can do about it.
But at least us manual owners, have the option of controlling it on the clutch"Broughtons
I dealt with Howard Ganderton and I can say he is a lovely chap. Very professional and friendly and seems to have a passion for the cars he sells. The handover was excellent and he spent about an hour showing me how everything works and making sure I understood this and that. Very thorough and patient with my damn-fool questions. Oh, and the coffee was good too. Very professional dealer with very friendly staff and I can thoroughly recommend them to anyone wanting to buy an Aston Martin."
I can wholeheartedly second this. I bought my DB9 from Howard Ganderton just before Christmas. Had a problem with the N/S door lock. He sent an enclosed truck from ARC Recovery Luxury Vehicle Transporters http://www.arcrecovery.co.uk/gallery.html ( Have look at their gallery on the website )to Plymouth on Wednesday. The car was taken back to Cheltenham ,repaired on Thursday and returned to me yesterday Friday. Bear in mind that Plymouth is 150 miles from Cheltenham.
Really first class service. So rare these days.
I dealt with Howard Ganderton and I can say he is a lovely chap. Very professional and friendly and seems to have a passion for the cars he sells. The handover was excellent and he spent about an hour showing me how everything works and making sure I understood this and that. Very thorough and patient with my damn-fool questions. Oh, and the coffee was good too. Very professional dealer with very friendly staff and I can thoroughly recommend them to anyone wanting to buy an Aston Martin."
I can wholeheartedly second this. I bought my DB9 from Howard Ganderton just before Christmas. Had a problem with the N/S door lock. He sent an enclosed truck from ARC Recovery Luxury Vehicle Transporters http://www.arcrecovery.co.uk/gallery.html ( Have look at their gallery on the website )to Plymouth on Wednesday. The car was taken back to Cheltenham ,repaired on Thursday and returned to me yesterday Friday. Bear in mind that Plymouth is 150 miles from Cheltenham.
Really first class service. So rare these days.
Edited by runner911 on Saturday 7th January 22:24
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