An Aston..for sooo little....whats the catch?
Discussion
DB7's...
Seen quite a few which look good, not perfect, i.e. little bodywork bits BUT with fully stamped books for around the 15-18k mark..
For a stunning loking car AND an Aston at that it seems a billy bargain!
So whats the catch? I know they are "only" 3.2 sixes at that money and not 12's but even so...want.
With regard to running costs surely there must be tame Indies who can care for them now for sensible money? I was always set on a Maser 3200 as my reslistic goal but now i'm swaying to a DB7 lol.
Seen quite a few which look good, not perfect, i.e. little bodywork bits BUT with fully stamped books for around the 15-18k mark..
For a stunning loking car AND an Aston at that it seems a billy bargain!
So whats the catch? I know they are "only" 3.2 sixes at that money and not 12's but even so...want.
With regard to running costs surely there must be tame Indies who can care for them now for sensible money? I was always set on a Maser 3200 as my reslistic goal but now i'm swaying to a DB7 lol.
With Maserati you can go to 'Italian' car specialists, so they normally cover Maserati, Ferrari, Lamborghini and maybe Alfa Romeo thus giving them a wider audience and reducing labour costs. Whereas with the Aston, it's one make leading to higher labour costs and I've no idea how much interchangeability between equivalent Jag there really is?
theironduke said:
This is the obvious killer but a for a DB7 it's of the age were there must be reputable Indies out there and in contrat to the Maser it hasn't got a delicate Italian V8 
To find an Aston Martin indy Octane magazine may be of help, but from (my admittedly beer reduced saturday night) memory most old Astons go back into official Aston channels. Though I'll have a browse and see.
Next door neighbor has a DB& vantage, told me about a couple of the issues he's had, if it was me i would have dumped it over devon cliffs, Handbrake switch £190 plus fitting was one that comes to mind the other was the heater controls, £1500 plus fitting for a couple of parts that would have been £200 tops on any other car... and IMHO not that great a car to look at, esp in Met gray with gray leather and sh!t wood... image better than reality in my view
Wadeski said:
OK, a friend bought an AM DB7 Vantage.
it was great (he has since bought another) but the running costs are HIGHER than an equivalent age ferrari. Excruciating, eye-popping, wallet-burning costs for what look like very simple maintenance procedures. And god help you if it breaks.
Also rust. They do that a bit apparently. Still stunning cars though, the thick end of 20 years on. A chap I knew once bought a Ferrari 456 for the lower running costs to give you an idea - a car itself not unheard of for generating impressive bouts of open-wallet surgery. it was great (he has since bought another) but the running costs are HIGHER than an equivalent age ferrari. Excruciating, eye-popping, wallet-burning costs for what look like very simple maintenance procedures. And god help you if it breaks.
someone said:
and IMHO not that great a car to look at
Eye of the beholder and all that, but the 7 always looks great to me.I hadn't seen one in years and saw one recently.
I was struck by how lithe it looked, making the cars Aston has made since look rather cartoonish.
Mechanically I'm sure the newer cars are better, but looks wise I don't think you can really find much fault with the DB7.
M.
theironduke said:
So buy it! Ask for Ben when you call. 
Zwoelf said:
theironduke said:
So buy it! Ask for Ben when you call. Whats the score with prices, is the concensus that they have bottomed out yet or still have a bit further to fall?
theironduke said:
These have aged so well. Get on the phone and see it in the flesh. Looks like a top example.Jw Vw said:
theironduke said:
These have aged so well. Get on the phone and see it in the flesh. Looks like a top example.
theironduke said:
Whats the score with prices, is the concensus that they have bottomed out yet or still have a bit further to fall?
I think they bottomed out around £12-14k a couple of years back, now you only see examples with "money pit" writ large over them at such prices, the better cars starting around £18k and overtaking the bottom end of Vantages in the £20-25k bracket, which makes for some awkward decisions at that price point...The H&M one above looks fantastic for the miles which are all I can assume is what puts people off them. I'd rather 100k+ of regular use and throrough maintenance than a low mileage garage queen that gets service every few years and gets run a few times a year, but that's just me and most people are still swayed by low mileage being the panacea to future reliable motoring, when in reality the opposite can often be the case.
Well, that and the XKR problem. £10k less will buy you a more modern chassis with a more powerful engine in a similarly styled car with a fraction of the wallet-bashing maintenance requirements.
The same £18k as a 1995 335bhp DB7 with 117k miles will also buy this 2004 400bhp XKR with 44k miles: http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2681083.htm
..which isn't exactly a swamp-donkey.
Edited by Zwoelf on Sunday 3rd July 13:34
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