Top Gear has sealed my car's fate!!!
Discussion
Murph7355 said:
Darker colours suit the V12V better too IMO.
I suspect "the end" for cars like this will be the reasons why people like Pugs have opted out. Too big a cost to change when you consider everything else that's out there, and on today's roads it's unlikely to be that much of a leap over the V8 in this context.
Good points Murph, £83k vs £135k, whatever happened to "slowly slowly catchy monkey" e.g. gradually taking a product upmarket by tempting the reluctant to catch the next model bug, rather than whacking every known option known to man on a car & then trying to nearly double the price overnight!I suspect "the end" for cars like this will be the reasons why people like Pugs have opted out. Too big a cost to change when you consider everything else that's out there, and on today's roads it's unlikely to be that much of a leap over the V8 in this context.
But on this subject may I have a small rant
one of the things that is really worries me is people are "apparently" buying the Alfa Romeo 8C Spider for £174k (with ceramics), I know they will only sell about two which makes it is "exclusive", but there is absolutely no logic whatsoever to this purchase, unless a/ you absolutely love Alfa's & its looks, b/ you have more money than sense & c/ there is no C The fact that at half the price you can have a car that is better looking, more reliable, just as fast but more of a drivers car with 10x the rigidity & has better breeding.. (ladies & gentleman the vantage V8 Roadster.. take a bow
) means nothing to some, go figure 
Alfa are trading on the rarity thing, and also the take up of the coupe. The car is not meant as a general move upmarket. It's a "one off" halo model (check out the Mito!), which is very different to the Aston IMO.
With so few Alfas leaving the factory, they'll sell them all I would think. Though I would also imagine buyers looking to make a profit over time will be disappointed. Those days are mostly gone now (we'll see what the premium market is like on the 458. I would think healthy for a while, but it will be interesting to watch).
With so few Alfas leaving the factory, they'll sell them all I would think. Though I would also imagine buyers looking to make a profit over time will be disappointed. Those days are mostly gone now (we'll see what the premium market is like on the 458. I would think healthy for a while, but it will be interesting to watch).
Yes the pictures of the 458 are gorgeous, stunningly beautiful, but after a while I just thought, is it not just a cartoon parody of every Ferrari that's ever been made, and not a little like a Maserati GT or even an old Opel GT from the 60's, which isn't that awesome in the flesh? Where's the edge? Is there an edge? Nice car, I'm sure, but is anyone crazy enough to pay a premium when you also know that you will be able to just order one a few months down the line?
Murph7355 said:
I suspect "the end" for cars like this will be the reasons why people like Pugs have opted out. Too big a cost to change when you consider everything else that's out there, and on today's roads it's unlikely to be that much of a leap over the V8 in this context.
Very astute Murph. I know five people who have very early slots for the new Ferrari. ALL of them are saying that at £190k they'll have a used Scud for £130k instead. Similarly another guy who like me had a V12V on order is buying a V8Roadster AND a lightly used Gen1GT3 instead. These are people who can afford to buy pretty much any car they want in a heart beat but no longer see the value in these new cars. And by 'value' they mean how much more does it offer as 'a drive' and will they even ever use that extra 5 or 10%? They are all also genuine car nuts, as opposed to city boy/footballer poesers which tells a story.Jay_Davis said:
Of course, if no one buys a new car, there will be no used ones. So the strategy of getting a good deal on used cars doesn't work if everyone does it.
This is very true. Though I suspect a couple of things are likely to prevent this.1) The aforementioned futblers and celebs won't be able to resist the "must have the next big thing" malarky. So there will still be a reasonable number being bought, and even bought for a premium for a short while (and for a select bunch of cars). How many will depend on how much money these people really have, and how much is unworkable credit I suspect. But these cars will not remain the next big thing for long and so cars will come onto the market soon enough.
2) The car firms must have worked out their business models based upon a certain amount of volume. Now, it may be that they are going to rein in the numbers they build (e.g. Aston are proposing 1,000 V12Vs "only" I think?). But I honestly doubt it.
Ferrari, for example, have constantly built more and more mid-engined V8 cars since the 308 started. Significantly so when they got to the 360 and 430.
I cannot see them building less of the 458. Their accountants must be pressing for at least the same volume as the 430. So despite the massively increased list price, they will still need to shift metal. And I can't see them scaling production numbers back radically.
Similarly, 1,000 V12Vs is still quite a lot of cars in the context of general historic Aston Martin production.
It will be interesting to watch and to see how the public and manufacturers react.
willisit said:
Are these on the road yet because I saw a Toro red one tonight near Warwick (working up that way). It made such a noise I very nearly soiled myself...
Astons staff long term test car is Toro Red, so was probably that one. It has done over 16,000 miles now, and is a real peach.Think that was the one in the TG studio last week too.Edited by sadlerj on Thursday 6th August 10:12
sadlerj said:
willisit said:
Are these on the road yet because I saw a Toro red one tonight near Warwick (working up that way). It made such a noise I very nearly soiled myself...
Astons staff long term test car is Toro Red, so was probably that one. It has done over 16,000 miles now, and is a real peach.Think that was the one in the TG studio last week too.Edited by sadlerj on Thursday 6th August 10:12
Mark2008 said:
Soul Reaver said:
Anyone know what rodas JC was driving along? I am doing a run to John o Groats and then back to the lake district for some fly fishing in Sept and it would be nice to run along those roads.
Mark.
Looked like the Isle of Man to me but I could be wrong.Mark.
I'm hoping it's Scotland as I'm driving around there for a week next month.
I was thinking Scotland then I watched it again and it does seem like the Snowdonia area, the Evo Traingle was defo in one of the shots, the B4501 (the tracking one with the trees either side) to A543, done that may times (fantastic route), all near Betws-y-Coed...probably..! Was not Yorkshire/Cumbria as there was not enough dry stone walls...did not look remote enough to be scotland or peaky enough...
There are loads of places all over the country where you can drive a car like that like that...just pick the right day...fun fun..
There are loads of places all over the country where you can drive a car like that like that...just pick the right day...fun fun..
Edited by sadlerj on Tuesday 11th August 16:43
If you wanted to know what the soundtrack was, its
Aston Martin Vantage V12:
57:37 - 61:51 - Brian Eno - An Ending (Ascent)
how do I know? check this http://forums.finalgear.com/top-gear-episode-songs...
this website lists all the soundtracks for all the episodes.
Aston Martin Vantage V12:
57:37 - 61:51 - Brian Eno - An Ending (Ascent)
how do I know? check this http://forums.finalgear.com/top-gear-episode-songs...
this website lists all the soundtracks for all the episodes.
cardigankid said:
Pugsey said:
Very astute Murph. I know five people who have very early slots for the new Ferrari. ALL of them are saying that at £190k they'll have a used Scud for £130k instead.
Did you order a California in the end? How do you think that will fare?Edited by Pugsey on Wednesday 12th August 12:37
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