AMV8 buying advice,

[petop]

Decided that my 996 C4S has outstayed its welcome Ive decided to enter the AM world!
Love the Porsche and will keep it if I cant find the right car but Vantage V8 will hopefully be my new car.
Now I bought my C4S from well known Porsche indie and been happy with it and had no major dramas with it. And Porsche indies seem to be more in abundance than Aston ones. Of course its a smaller marque but are there well known Aston only indies that I can look at. Porsche have RSJ, 911 Virgin etc but dont know any Aston ones if they exist?
To be fair Aston dealers do very good prices for 07-08 cars compared to equilivant 997's so I dont mind going the main dealer route.
thanks in advance

[Jockman]

Lots of Indies.

Lots of Cowboys too

[bogie]

check the wiki...although Astons are more niche (Porsche sell more in 12 months than Aston in 50 years) there is a network of excellent specialists all over the UK

[Jockman]

Well said Bogie, me old china.

There is an abundance of reliable Indies to remove any doubts on the purchase of a Gaydon Aston.

Just keep on this forum, avoid the weirdos and you may well appreciate why people lust after these car

Vehicular porn

[AMDBSNick]

Worth the drive if they have something you fancy

http://www.mcgurk.com

[AMDBSNick]

Worth the drive if they have something you fancy

http://www.mcgurk.com

[kippax]

AMDBSNick said:

Worth the drive if they have something you fancy

http://www.mcgurk.com

Good to know as I have my eye on a couple of cars from them. Just trying to decide between DB9 Volante & V8 Roadster decisions decisions.

[Jockman]

kippax said:

Good to know as I have my eye on a couple of cars from them. Just trying to decide between DB9 Volante & V8 Roadster decisions decisions.

Yup, Nick may have a 'period' taste in interiors but he doth speaketh the truth (apologies Mr Eubank).

Feel free to pm Token Jock or 897sma (if sober) and they shall verify that, although few things in life are certain, John McGurk is a very well respected 39 year old

[petop]

Cheers for the link.
Now to decide on a manual or sport shift! I have a Tip C4S and I dont mind the whole semi aspect of gear changing (getting lazy in old age!) but as with 996's there are mechanical problems such as IMS and bore scoring. Now it seems the Astons only bad major bad points are weak clutches(?). Seen a few Sportshift ones in the classified but it seems from viewing the forums the sportshifts could suffer more from premature wear. I work away in Afghanistan 3 months at a time so missus will be "looking after" it so need one that isnt going to cause problems!

[Bravo73]

Buy the book:

http://mobile.pistonheads.com/xforums/topic.asp?h=...

This will give you plenty to read when you're away.

[Jon1967x]

Bravo73 said:

Buy the book:

http://mobile.pistonheads.com/xforums/topic.asp?h=...

This will give you plenty to read when you're away.

Def a good read.

The car has changed a lot over the years (the above bible has a table of changes by model year) so the budget you have makes a fair bit of difference to what you'll get, not just on wear and tear but engineering. The 4.7 was probably the single largest upgrade both in terms of engineer etc but also interior.. The earlier cars may well have been updated over the years with better clutches etc so I think it becomes a hunt for the right car pre 4.7.

[divetheworld]

petop said:

Now it seems the Astons only bad major bad points are weak clutches(?). Seen a few Sportshift ones in the classified but it seems from viewing the forums the sportshifts could suffer more from premature wear.

Not really weak, just not resistant to improper use and abuse.
If you know what's good and bad for them, you'll get a good innings from the clutch.

[petop]

My budget max is £40k. Its also cash as well once the C4S goes which I have offers on already. Im leaning towards the manual option and if by Apr a dealer 4.7 comes into the price range then I would be tempted, cash offer may get it to 40k.

[Jockman]

Ross, prices will definitely be firming up by April which may not work to your adVantage (apologies) but good luck with the strategy.

[montecristo]

petop said:

My budget max is £40k. Its also cash as well once the C4S goes which I have offers on already. Im leaning towards the manual option and if by Apr a dealer 4.7 comes into the price range then I would be tempted, cash offer may get it to 40k.

I don't know if dealers go for this 'cash offer' thing. If you were getting a loan yourself instead, it's still cash when they get it; and if you were getting financing from them, surely they prefer that. Regardless, I bought mine at around this price level and three dealers wouldn't move on price (maybe because it's the cheapo end of the AM spectrum). One of them threw in some freebies.

[petop]

I was thinking a dealer may not go too far with cash on the table so to speak but at least there wont be any part ex for them to deal with. I dont do loans so it will be owned by me outright.
I have 3 months in Afghanistan now to ponder the choice, ill start emailing some dealers around March time for when I get back mid April. Agree not the best time to buy but my rotations tend to restrict when im available but saying that I bought my 911 more or less without seeing it but that was from a well known Indie.
In meantime I need to get all over the different options you get and see which ones are worth looking for.

[bogie]

I doubt 4.7 roadsters will be dropping £10-15k in the next 3 months, so Id just get an early 4.3 for a discount now

Sportshift v1 is a bit of an acquired taste, I preferred the manual back in 2007 when I bought mine

have a read of Grants book to decide if there is a particular year with an option you want

There seems to be a £10-13K range on 4.3 Roadsters ...seems like a lot to me for what could be 2 years newer car, different armrest and ipod connection (there are more changes than that, but if you dont need them, no point in paying for them)

Save the cash and get a well looked after early 4.3 car. Then in a year or two the difference to a 4.7 will be smaller

[petop]

bogie said:

I doubt 4.7 roadsters will be dropping £10-15k in the next 3 months, so Id just get an early 4.3 for a discount now

Sportshift v1 is a bit of an acquired taste, I preferred the manual back in 2007 when I bought mine

have a read of Grants book to decide if there is a particular year with an option you want

There seems to be a £10-13K range on 4.3 Roadsters ...seems like a lot to me for what could be 2 years newer car, different armrest and ipod connection (there are more changes than that, but if you dont need them, no point in paying for them)

Save the cash and get a well looked after early 4.3 car. Then in a year or two the difference to a 4.7 will be smaller

Agreed, prefer a better 4.3 than a poor 4.7. I paid top end for a C4S 996 whereas I could of got a ropey but newer 997 or even 996 Turbo.

[Jockman]

petop said:

I was thinking a dealer may not go too far with cash on the table so to speak but at least there wont be any part ex for them to deal with. I dont do loans so it will be owned by me outright.
I have 3 months in Afghanistan now to ponder the choice, ill start emailing some dealers around March time for when I get back mid April. Agree not the best time to buy but my rotations tend to restrict when im available but saying that I bought my 911 more or less without seeing it but that was from a well known Indie.
In meantime I need to get all over the different options you get and see which ones are worth looking for.

[e-mail]

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Be prepared to travel for the right car. Mikey K drove over 200 miles for his V8VSR and my DB9 was from Newcastle

[petop]

Jockman said:

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[e-mail]

Be prepared to travel for the right car. Mikey K drove over 200 miles for his V8VSR and my DB9 was from Newcastle

Jockman, cheers for email addresses. Yes, thats the trouble with a more exclusive marque not having dealers on your doorstep! I would of thought the South Coast (im just outside Bournemouth) would of been ideal Aston main dealer territory?