Want A Vantage - Unsure How Deep To Jump In!
Discussion
David87 said:
I still prefer the pure aesthetics of the 4.3 cars ...
A great choice David, but I would say that. You followed my advice.
When you mention 'pure aesthetics', are you referring to the external appearance?
If so, all you need to have done, is swap the sills to the original type.
As you will now know, the car would still be in keeping with it's year, because many were built in that way.
The look of the wheels may 'grow on you'. They are greatly admired by many, as being amongst the best looking Vantage wheel.
I have to clean the alternative of the era (20 spoke), and am thinking of buying a set of 5 spoke.
Enjoy your new car, I know that you will.
Great choice, great write up and enjoy!!! Good decision not to drive the V12, save that for an appropriate time 
Just over 10 years ago I bought my first Aston and it is not only the cars that are special but have made many friends through the marque. Mind you it won’t help your bank balance once you get addicted but you will have some fantastic times
I think you will find the next two weeks take a very, very long time to pass
Just over 10 years ago I bought my first Aston and it is not only the cars that are special but have made many friends through the marque. Mind you it won’t help your bank balance once you get addicted but you will have some fantastic times
I think you will find the next two weeks take a very, very long time to pass
Thank you for the replies so far, chaps. So looking forward to getting the car! Will be very many more pictures when the time comes. 
By the pure aesthetics of the original design, I just think the combination of normal side skirts, the beautiful 19" 7-spoke wheels and red rear lights is stellar. I am still very happy with how mine looks though, so will at most just have a play around with the finish of the wheels.
By the pure aesthetics of the original design, I just think the combination of normal side skirts, the beautiful 19" 7-spoke wheels and red rear lights is stellar. I am still very happy with how mine looks though, so will at most just have a play around with the finish of the wheels.
David87 said:
By the pure aesthetics of the original design, I just think the combination of normal side skirts, the beautiful 19" 7-spoke wheels and red rear lights is stellar.
I think you said your dealer will be replacing the rear lights for you.
If you wanted to, you could ask them to fit red ones. It would not cost them any extra, and your car probably had red lights when it originally left the factory.
Just a thought.
David, big congrats! As I was reading through this thread, I began writing a reply that said, "How about a pre-MY12.25 4.7 Sports Pack? It combines purity of the original design with the 4.7 engine and the Sports Pack suspension. IMO it’s a real sweet spot in the range, and IMO the original Sports Pack setup is superb." I also prefer the original sills, but your car looks stunning. The wheels on your car are my favorite on the Vantage. Mine is a MY09, and after more than 8 years with it, I still absolutely love it (and I have driven the (superb) V12V).
Sadly won't be collecting the car this weekend; it's had to be pushed back to the one after. 
As I mentioned before, the rear lamps could happily provide an excellent home to a couple of goldfish, such was the level of moisture trapped inside (actually, just the one lamp was that wet in reality; the better one could probably only maintain a few Sea-Monkeys). Obviously these were due to be replaced before collection, but unfortunately they were delivered today and one of the units was faulty, meaning it'll take a little extra time to get hold of and fit another one.
What this does mean, however, is that there will be time before collection to apply my new and slightly awful 007 number plate that I just couldn't help myself from buying. I think I hate myself for this, but I am a child at heart and a huge Bond fan, so yeah, that's what I've gone and done.
As I mentioned before, the rear lamps could happily provide an excellent home to a couple of goldfish, such was the level of moisture trapped inside (actually, just the one lamp was that wet in reality; the better one could probably only maintain a few Sea-Monkeys). Obviously these were due to be replaced before collection, but unfortunately they were delivered today and one of the units was faulty, meaning it'll take a little extra time to get hold of and fit another one.
What this does mean, however, is that there will be time before collection to apply my new and slightly awful 007 number plate that I just couldn't help myself from buying. I think I hate myself for this, but I am a child at heart and a huge Bond fan, so yeah, that's what I've gone and done.
Got it.
Collected the car yesterday from a (unfortunately) very wet Newport Pagnell. Service from Simon was as excellent as ever, paperwork completed and we moved onto the handover itself, which was in the main workshop area. As you can see from the pics, my lowly little V8 Vantage was in some amazing company!
The car had been prepared to a fantastic standard - way beyond any other used car I've ever purchased. On top of the previously mentioned remedial work, not only was it spotless, but they had also replaced the PPF on the rear arches as it was a little tatty and found me an old set of mats they had laying about that will be just the ticket for now. The car was brimmed with fuel and ready for the journey home. My terribly excited, button-pushing co-driver was my three-year-old son, who summed the car up as "really fast and noisy". Quite.
We had the most wonderful drive home; I couldn't be happier with the car. It's just such a lovely thing to drive and I'm so happy with it. I also think it feels really quite fast - the extra pull at the top of the rev range is seriously addictive, along with the noise that accompanies it! The V12 must be truly unhinged. First thing I did when I got home was bin the fuse that had seemingly been erroneously placed in slot 22 by the factory.
I'll post more thoughts as I spend more time with the car, but for now I have a few quick questions:
1. WTF is the deal with reverse? It feels like I could keep up with motorway traffic whilst travelling backwards if I so desired. In turn, this means reversing over the lip into my garage is a tricky affair and will likely contribute to as much clutch wear as all other driving combined. I have found not using any throttle helps, but it's still pretty easy to stall.
2. Are the seatbelts supposed to go through the straps on the seats? See pic.
3. What is this thing under the passenger side dashboard? I swapped the 'blue' footwell halogen bulbs out for LED replacements and discovered it whilst doing so. See pic.
4. On the subject of LED bulbs, I also have some for the number plate ones, but felt like I was going to break something when I tried to open them up to fit them. Was I doing it wrong?
5. Mats. It's odd and I've never seen any like this before, as there are mats of sorts fitted from the factory, but they're fixed in place with the seat subframe on top of them! Do people usually just leave it as such or put removable ones over the top? There appear to be no fixing points for them if they do.
This thread is worthless without pics, etc., so here you go:
Collected the car yesterday from a (unfortunately) very wet Newport Pagnell. Service from Simon was as excellent as ever, paperwork completed and we moved onto the handover itself, which was in the main workshop area. As you can see from the pics, my lowly little V8 Vantage was in some amazing company!
The car had been prepared to a fantastic standard - way beyond any other used car I've ever purchased. On top of the previously mentioned remedial work, not only was it spotless, but they had also replaced the PPF on the rear arches as it was a little tatty and found me an old set of mats they had laying about that will be just the ticket for now. The car was brimmed with fuel and ready for the journey home. My terribly excited, button-pushing co-driver was my three-year-old son, who summed the car up as "really fast and noisy". Quite.
We had the most wonderful drive home; I couldn't be happier with the car. It's just such a lovely thing to drive and I'm so happy with it. I also think it feels really quite fast - the extra pull at the top of the rev range is seriously addictive, along with the noise that accompanies it! The V12 must be truly unhinged.
First thing I did when I got home was bin the fuse that had seemingly been erroneously placed in slot 22 by the factory. I'll post more thoughts as I spend more time with the car, but for now I have a few quick questions:
1. WTF is the deal with reverse? It feels like I could keep up with motorway traffic whilst travelling backwards if I so desired. In turn, this means reversing over the lip into my garage is a tricky affair and will likely contribute to as much clutch wear as all other driving combined. I have found not using any throttle helps, but it's still pretty easy to stall.
2. Are the seatbelts supposed to go through the straps on the seats? See pic.
3. What is this thing under the passenger side dashboard? I swapped the 'blue' footwell halogen bulbs out for LED replacements and discovered it whilst doing so. See pic.
4. On the subject of LED bulbs, I also have some for the number plate ones, but felt like I was going to break something when I tried to open them up to fit them. Was I doing it wrong?
5. Mats. It's odd and I've never seen any like this before, as there are mats of sorts fitted from the factory, but they're fixed in place with the seat subframe on top of them! Do people usually just leave it as such or put removable ones over the top? There appear to be no fixing points for them if they do.
This thread is worthless without pics, etc., so here you go:
Edited by David87 on Sunday 4th February 23:30
Congrats on the car - beautiful.
You will want to read the thick User Manual which came with the car, loads of good info in there.
1. WTF is the deal with reverse? It feels like I could keep up with motorway traffic whilst travelling backwards if I so desired. In turn, this means reversing over the lip into my garage is a tricky affair and will likely contribute to as much clutch wear as all other driving combined. I have found not using any throttle helps, but it's still pretty easy to stall.
Yes, high gear ratio. If you slip the clutch slowly with hardly any revs, I find the engine responds well as it seems to know you want to go backwards and adjusts the revs to suit.
2. Are the seatbelts supposed to go through the straps on the seats? See pic.
Yes, they don’t work very well
3. What is this thing under the passenger side dashboard? I swapped the 'blue' footwell halogen bulbs out for LED replacements and discovered it whilst doing so. See pic.
It’s the tyre pressure monitoring system
4. On the subject of LED bulbs, I also have some for the number plate ones, but felt like I was going to break something when I tried to open them up to fit them. Was I doing it wrong?
Can’t help with this one.
You will want to read the thick User Manual which came with the car, loads of good info in there.
1. WTF is the deal with reverse? It feels like I could keep up with motorway traffic whilst travelling backwards if I so desired. In turn, this means reversing over the lip into my garage is a tricky affair and will likely contribute to as much clutch wear as all other driving combined. I have found not using any throttle helps, but it's still pretty easy to stall.
Yes, high gear ratio. If you slip the clutch slowly with hardly any revs, I find the engine responds well as it seems to know you want to go backwards and adjusts the revs to suit.
2. Are the seatbelts supposed to go through the straps on the seats? See pic.
Yes, they don’t work very well
3. What is this thing under the passenger side dashboard? I swapped the 'blue' footwell halogen bulbs out for LED replacements and discovered it whilst doing so. See pic.
It’s the tyre pressure monitoring system
4. On the subject of LED bulbs, I also have some for the number plate ones, but felt like I was going to break something when I tried to open them up to fit them. Was I doing it wrong?
Can’t help with this one.
Big congratulations! Looks wonderful. I'll just add that the reverse gear ratio is between that of 1st and 2nd -- yes, it's tall, but great for those backward runs on the motorway About mats, I have mats over the mats...
These are wonderful cars. After more than 8 years with mine, the novelty hasn't worn off at all.
About mats, I have mats over the mats...These are wonderful cars. After more than 8 years with mine, the novelty hasn't worn off at all.
David87 said:
Got it.
An exciting day.
What great photographs - your own car, within the historic workshop building.
I can only add one point to your questions.
The seat strap for the seatbelt webbing. I try to be very careful, how each belt is pulled through those straps. There has been the occasional reports, of frayed seatbelt webbing edges.
A great looking car for you to enjoy for a long time.
The thrill remains.
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