Scared to put miles on an Aston ?
Discussion
This might just be me but I really don't let the cost of fuel factor in whether I use my Aston or one of my DDs. My Aston was never purchased on economic arguments and so considering the cost of fuel somehow takes the fun out of it. I am very conscious however that a full tank would cost me a tenner if I lived in the mid east and that I'm bring ripped of but that's another issue.
For me the default thought is to take the Aston.
That will sometimes however be overturned because:-
1. Getting the Aston out of the garage is more hassle than it's worth when going into the village to grab a pint of milk or caviar.
2. I can't get the stuff for the tip run in the Aston.
3. I can't get two bikes in the Aston (but I can get one!)
3. I can't get the umpteen lengths of 4x2 or whatever in the Aston
4. It's snowing and the option of 4 wheel drive is appealing
5. There are more than 2 of us.
Other than that I would almost always use it.
I know far too many people who have shuffled off this planet long before they should have. To my mind, live life well and stop counting pennies! You bought into an Aston presumably because you love them. Use the thing and be damned with the consequences! The moment I look at it and think "can I afford the petrol" it's time to realise I can't afford the car.
Ours goes to the supermarket be it Waitrose or wherever. It gets parked in multi-storey car parks at airports, or in town. It's been parked up for weeks in the salty air near Salcombe while we've been sailing. It's been parked up for numerous nights on the roadside in one of the less desirable areas of Leeds.
One day it'll get dinged, scratched or whatever and we'll be hacked off, but better that than squirelling it away under a cover scared to bring it out or dwelling on the financial implications of doing so.
That will sometimes however be overturned because:-
1. Getting the Aston out of the garage is more hassle than it's worth when going into the village to grab a pint of milk or caviar.
2. I can't get the stuff for the tip run in the Aston.
3. I can't get two bikes in the Aston (but I can get one!)
3. I can't get the umpteen lengths of 4x2 or whatever in the Aston
4. It's snowing and the option of 4 wheel drive is appealing
5. There are more than 2 of us.
Other than that I would almost always use it.
I know far too many people who have shuffled off this planet long before they should have. To my mind, live life well and stop counting pennies! You bought into an Aston presumably because you love them. Use the thing and be damned with the consequences! The moment I look at it and think "can I afford the petrol" it's time to realise I can't afford the car.
Ours goes to the supermarket be it Waitrose or wherever. It gets parked in multi-storey car parks at airports, or in town. It's been parked up for weeks in the salty air near Salcombe while we've been sailing. It's been parked up for numerous nights on the roadside in one of the less desirable areas of Leeds.
One day it'll get dinged, scratched or whatever and we'll be hacked off, but better that than squirelling it away under a cover scared to bring it out or dwelling on the financial implications of doing so.
AdamV8V said:
Yeti - the only man who has a sports car for when his main sports car is being modified.
I managed to justify a second Breitling for when the first was away for service. The OH was impressed with the logic, but I doubt will be receptive to any further timepiece acquisitions!How Yeti managed to amass his collection defeats me!
AdamV8V said:
Starting and finishing your day in an Aston reminds us why we work so hard in-between-times 
Agreed. I drive mine almost every day, and it's still very special every time. My commute to work is a short one, so I also have to take it out on weekends to work it a bit harder .CPBRI said:
Hmmm...not sure where you're coming from. Thought we were having a bit of fun, but now not sure?
No matter. I'll exit gracefully.
Did I come across all super serious?? Sorry. I was actually thinking about it quite seriously as I typed and I think that rare moment of deep thought might have influenced my writing style! No matter. I'll exit gracefully.
my enemy is time for pleasure use, when I do have time I drive it
in the early days i drove a lot on business, long trips, and soon did 20K in the first year, but in recent years thats been as low as 4-5K miles a year
if I got below 2-3K miles a year, I couldnt justify owning it....I could do that in a month if I used it daily, and do in other vehicles (rangey)
depreciation is terrible regardless of mileage...sure you dont want yours to stick out in the market like a hire car if you ever intend to sell ...but the way I look at it, is that the more miles I do in it, the cheaper it gets on a £ pound per mile running cost
/when ive done 100k miles in it, I will feel Ive got value for money...then probably its worthless, so not worth selling at that point
in the early days i drove a lot on business, long trips, and soon did 20K in the first year, but in recent years thats been as low as 4-5K miles a year
if I got below 2-3K miles a year, I couldnt justify owning it....I could do that in a month if I used it daily, and do in other vehicles (rangey)
depreciation is terrible regardless of mileage...sure you dont want yours to stick out in the market like a hire car if you ever intend to sell ...but the way I look at it, is that the more miles I do in it, the cheaper it gets on a £ pound per mile running cost
/when ive done 100k miles in it, I will feel Ive got value for money...then probably its worthless, so not worth selling at that point
Tyrewrecker said:
George H said:
Daily driver - as in a car to drive to work etc to keep the miles off the expensive toy
Doh. If you have an expensive toy you should drive it all the time. No?So driving it ALL the time would dilute that.
I had to stop driving my last one as I hit the 10k annual limit.
I reckon on 10k miles per annum every year.
I specced my current one from new so know I will take a BIG first year hit.
But I am happy to do that for the enjoyment I get from it.
I'm not rolling in it but having committed to a new one I intend to get maximum enjoyment from it.
10k miles a year of "interesting" drives and maybe a few tweaks.
Lunablack said:
I love using my Vantage as much as possible, but I'm selective about the type of use it gets...
I refuse to get it out of the garage just to nip into town for example... If I can't do a minimum of 50 miles, I go in the DD..
As for putting miles on the clock, I'm not bothered one bit... I'd love to think ill still have it with 100k on the clock
This is pretty much my logic as well, I like to do "Quality" miles where everything gets properly warmed up.I refuse to get it out of the garage just to nip into town for example... If I can't do a minimum of 50 miles, I go in the DD..
As for putting miles on the clock, I'm not bothered one bit... I'd love to think ill still have it with 100k on the clock
As a second car I'm averaging about 6k per annum in the V8V but reckon it will drop slightly as I bought a Caterham to have fun in as well
My annual mileage is low -- only about 2K per year on the Aston. I'd love to use it more, but I love every mile that I'm in it. For me, the low annual mileage is more due to circumstances than an effort to keep the mileage down. I commute to the big city by train, so my daily drive is under 10 minutes to the train station. That short drive isn't any fun, and there is no way I'd park the Aston at the train station, so that basically leaves weekends. I have two small kids, so we can't go anywhere as a family in the V8V, so that leaves pleasure use when time permits. Refer to aforementioned two small kids ( I do take them in the Aston, but only one at a time...). While I LOVE driving it, I HATE parking it -- sadly, far too many bad things happen in parking lots as people are so careless it's hard to believe. So, my driving is restricted to fun driving (not a bad thing IMO), which is split between my V8V and my 993 -- I probably do close to 5K miles per year in them combined. Yes, I wish I had more time to drive them more, but I cherish every mile.
I've only had my car since last October, so obviously my view isn't as long term as some of you that have had years of use. However, I drive mine everywhere and anywhere. I've done 6000 over the winter (probably would have done more if I had winter tyres..) and up to now and that's pretty much DD use. Only a couple of long runs. Will be doing much more mileage heavy weekend drives in the coming months. Personally I'm not scared of mileage if it's reflected in the price. I bought mine with 76k already on it. 07 model 56 reg. 1 owner, full history with one dealer and with new warranty on it the week before it's 5th birthday. First clutch lasted til 63k, so it's had a gentle up and down the motorway commuting life.
Upshot of this is it was (very) cheap and I'm looking forward to running it well past the 100k mark and when I get an V12V, I'll probably sell it to a family member even cheaper. Of course you could argue that those of you with a lower mileage car have more to lose relatively when you put more miles on, but I wouldn't buy something if I was worried by how much I'd lose by using it for purpose. Hence why I bought one I was comfortable with.
I look forward to sitting in traffic in mine(though of course on open road is even more enjoyable!), don't think it dilutes my enjoyment in the slightest.
just my 2 pence.
Upshot of this is it was (very) cheap and I'm looking forward to running it well past the 100k mark and when I get an V12V, I'll probably sell it to a family member even cheaper. Of course you could argue that those of you with a lower mileage car have more to lose relatively when you put more miles on, but I wouldn't buy something if I was worried by how much I'd lose by using it for purpose. Hence why I bought one I was comfortable with.
I look forward to sitting in traffic in mine(though of course on open road is even more enjoyable!), don't think it dilutes my enjoyment in the slightest.
just my 2 pence.
outofstepuk said:
...I look forward to sitting in traffic in mine(though of course on open road is even more enjoyable!), don't think it dilutes my enjoyment in the slightest.
just my 2 pence.
Very well put !!just my 2 pence.
In my Beamer I plough through amber lights post haste.
In the DB9 I'm quite happy to slow down. If they turn to red I stop...and wait
It seems that the normal pattern of use on AM's, Ferarris, and R8s it to use less frequently and keep miles low. Reasons include their high sensitivity to milage for value retention which some people care about, high fuel usage, limited practicality, the fact that many owners have families or are very busy, or work in central London & other such non car-friendly areas.
Porsches seem to be a bit cheaper & more economical to use & therefore it is more common to see them for sale with high milages. You rarely see AMs, Ferarris & the more 'exotic' cars on motorways these days; Porsches more so but still not that common to see. The reality is they don't make sense as daily drivers unless you are lucky to be extremely wealthy; if you are extremely wealthy it is a travesty to not use frequently.
I only have one car & do 15,000 miles a year, currently drive a Boxster. I bought 2 years old for 19.5k and will sell after about 5 years, having put 75k miles on it. In that time I will have lost about 13-15k in depreciation and spent 25k on running costs
The car I really want next is a 4 year old V8V Roadster for about £45k which I can afford to buy and run but for the same usage pattern would cost closer to £25-28k in depreciation and £45k in running costs
At 33p a mile excluding depreciation the Boxster is pretty cheap
At 60p a mile excluding depreciation on the Aston you can see why people would avoid putting thousands of miles on especially when you consider the ridiculous price of petrol and the sensitivity to mileage on pricing
If fuel was as cheap as chips the depreciation wouldn't bother me as much. I also think it would be annoying having to refuel every 3-4 days. My milage of 15k is in the twilight zone of not being high enough to make running 2 cars worthwhile, as once I factor in insurance, maintenance, tax and depreciation, the extra cost almost negates the benefit- it saves £150 a month but then what's the point of paying out all that money to walk past a V8V & get into a diesel Polo every day!
But on the other hand, life is short so enjoy if you can!!
Porsches seem to be a bit cheaper & more economical to use & therefore it is more common to see them for sale with high milages. You rarely see AMs, Ferarris & the more 'exotic' cars on motorways these days; Porsches more so but still not that common to see. The reality is they don't make sense as daily drivers unless you are lucky to be extremely wealthy; if you are extremely wealthy it is a travesty to not use frequently.
I only have one car & do 15,000 miles a year, currently drive a Boxster. I bought 2 years old for 19.5k and will sell after about 5 years, having put 75k miles on it. In that time I will have lost about 13-15k in depreciation and spent 25k on running costs
The car I really want next is a 4 year old V8V Roadster for about £45k which I can afford to buy and run but for the same usage pattern would cost closer to £25-28k in depreciation and £45k in running costs
At 33p a mile excluding depreciation the Boxster is pretty cheap
At 60p a mile excluding depreciation on the Aston you can see why people would avoid putting thousands of miles on especially when you consider the ridiculous price of petrol and the sensitivity to mileage on pricing
If fuel was as cheap as chips the depreciation wouldn't bother me as much. I also think it would be annoying having to refuel every 3-4 days. My milage of 15k is in the twilight zone of not being high enough to make running 2 cars worthwhile, as once I factor in insurance, maintenance, tax and depreciation, the extra cost almost negates the benefit- it saves £150 a month but then what's the point of paying out all that money to walk past a V8V & get into a diesel Polo every day!
But on the other hand, life is short so enjoy if you can!!
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