Dear, and I do mean dear fellow Aston Martin fans
Discussion
I would like to start off by saying thank you to so many of you, from forums on clutch reset to awww f**k my windows and roof won't close. In many instances over the last five years this forum has answered questions that have saved me not just money, but time in my beloved V8 Vantage away from dealers claws in and especially out of warranty. I apologize to all of you that have helped me for not posting earlier, but along with having two babies, 3 and 4, along with sleep, blogging has gone by the wayside.
That being said, some background pertinent here. I have had the pleasure to drive a Chrysler Shelby, an M3, an R8 V10, a Gallardo, and finally at the ripe age of 30 I acquired a V8 Vantage sport shift. Currently I have V8 Vantage, and S8, a 'slightly' modified F250, and am looking for a replacement to my Range Rover supercharged, aka the beast. It has been five years now with my V8 automotive love (bought two weeks before I found out we were pregnant ... meant to be) and I have not been able to bring myself to sell this baby yet. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and for all its short comings, I am smitten.
I live in Montreal Canada, and this week I was treated to an Aston track day. I am an avid driver, I baby my machine from 1st to 2nd, but after experiencing a track day I can't keep this to myself.
So ... Start drooling, I'll wait.
Five factory 2015 cars, V8 GT Manual, V12 S, V12 S Cab, Vanquish and Rapide. Five track experienced drivers, from Nuremberg instructor to Pescarolo LeMans, to Formula drivers. If your not drooling yet, sell your machine, someone else will love it better. For those of you still on board, I'd like to share this experience from the perspective of an avid amateur driver and a sports car lover, but particularly an AM enthusiast. Ferrari and Lambo enthusiast, yes we know the shortfalls, but somehow it makes these cars better. You wouldn't understand.
We were given the pleasure of fifteen minute in each around the circuit, and no significant down time between cars other than a water break. Here are my humble opinions, and for those of you that own the above, please know that I loved them all but in different ways, the criticisms are only relative to perfetion. Everyone left me with a smile albeit for different reasons.
I started with the Rapide. If you ever need to seat three girlfriends this is the car for you. Surprisingly a nimble car, you do feel the wait but it is quite manageable on the course. Shifting is precise, and the ability to drift this car makes you feel like a hero. Your not going to post a track records, but holy fudge, anybody in the back seat is going to be impressed, and the driver can easily look like a hero.
Vanquish. Its a beast in the straightaways, but you absolutely feel the weight. This is as many have said a touring car. Straight ways are devoured, but the corners are heavy and need much more finesse to navigate. I was very impressed by the sport shift, but the tactile feel was somewhat lacking. Its heavy and you feel it, but straight line its a well fed beast that wants to eat more track than you have. There was no lack of power, torque, or exhilaration, but its a car that doesn't ask for you attention in a corner but demands it.
V8 GT Manual. A lot to think about on a course, but somehow it comes together. I posted my best lap with this car, not because its the fastest, but it had the most feedback. Not sure if I would want a clutch sitting in traffic, but for those of you that are drivers, the peddle feel translates a significant amount of track impression that you don't get with a sport shift.
V12 S Cab/Coupe. Its a beast, Straight line speeds and breaking will blow your mind. Comfort wasn't a priority, but on the track you really don't notice. If your a lawyer and can fight your own tickets, power to you .. and beauty and soul, especially soul. That's not true, nobody appreciates lawyers until you need one. I'm not a lawyer.
After honing my skills over four hours of continuous improvement and finally saying to myself, 'You know what, your the s**t' I was treated to a lap in the passenger seat by my instructor, in a V12 Cab, and although it was better than any rollercoaster ride I have ever been on, it did leave me reconsidering my previous confidence. These cars can do soooooooooooo much more than most of us ever ask of them. I learned more in four hours about driving than everything I knew before, and at the end of my day I realized that I am using a fraction of what this car can do. But damned if I don't look good doing it, and enjoy every second behind the wheel.
Overall, my pick would be a V8 GT over my standard V8, the extra power is manageable and deployable. Unless you are an expert the V12 is just a show in the straightaways, you will never push it through a corner without training the way it deserves to be driven. The Vanquish has too many seats and so does the Rapide. I'm married, and I don't have room in my life for more than two romances.
Again, Thanks to all of you that have been helpful in the past and the hopefully in the future, I greatly appreciate the help in the past, and I am even more in love with my AM, the brand, and the next upgrade. Take the above in context, and hopefully it will help some of you, but I above all wanted to share the joy of being able to drive all of them at track speeds in one day and hopefully some of the above helps you to pick the right one for your garage.
That being said, some background pertinent here. I have had the pleasure to drive a Chrysler Shelby, an M3, an R8 V10, a Gallardo, and finally at the ripe age of 30 I acquired a V8 Vantage sport shift. Currently I have V8 Vantage, and S8, a 'slightly' modified F250, and am looking for a replacement to my Range Rover supercharged, aka the beast. It has been five years now with my V8 automotive love (bought two weeks before I found out we were pregnant ... meant to be) and I have not been able to bring myself to sell this baby yet. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and for all its short comings, I am smitten.
I live in Montreal Canada, and this week I was treated to an Aston track day. I am an avid driver, I baby my machine from 1st to 2nd, but after experiencing a track day I can't keep this to myself.
So ... Start drooling, I'll wait.
Five factory 2015 cars, V8 GT Manual, V12 S, V12 S Cab, Vanquish and Rapide. Five track experienced drivers, from Nuremberg instructor to Pescarolo LeMans, to Formula drivers. If your not drooling yet, sell your machine, someone else will love it better. For those of you still on board, I'd like to share this experience from the perspective of an avid amateur driver and a sports car lover, but particularly an AM enthusiast. Ferrari and Lambo enthusiast, yes we know the shortfalls, but somehow it makes these cars better. You wouldn't understand.
We were given the pleasure of fifteen minute in each around the circuit, and no significant down time between cars other than a water break. Here are my humble opinions, and for those of you that own the above, please know that I loved them all but in different ways, the criticisms are only relative to perfetion. Everyone left me with a smile albeit for different reasons.
I started with the Rapide. If you ever need to seat three girlfriends this is the car for you. Surprisingly a nimble car, you do feel the wait but it is quite manageable on the course. Shifting is precise, and the ability to drift this car makes you feel like a hero. Your not going to post a track records, but holy fudge, anybody in the back seat is going to be impressed, and the driver can easily look like a hero.
Vanquish. Its a beast in the straightaways, but you absolutely feel the weight. This is as many have said a touring car. Straight ways are devoured, but the corners are heavy and need much more finesse to navigate. I was very impressed by the sport shift, but the tactile feel was somewhat lacking. Its heavy and you feel it, but straight line its a well fed beast that wants to eat more track than you have. There was no lack of power, torque, or exhilaration, but its a car that doesn't ask for you attention in a corner but demands it.
V8 GT Manual. A lot to think about on a course, but somehow it comes together. I posted my best lap with this car, not because its the fastest, but it had the most feedback. Not sure if I would want a clutch sitting in traffic, but for those of you that are drivers, the peddle feel translates a significant amount of track impression that you don't get with a sport shift.
V12 S Cab/Coupe. Its a beast, Straight line speeds and breaking will blow your mind. Comfort wasn't a priority, but on the track you really don't notice. If your a lawyer and can fight your own tickets, power to you .. and beauty and soul, especially soul. That's not true, nobody appreciates lawyers until you need one. I'm not a lawyer.
After honing my skills over four hours of continuous improvement and finally saying to myself, 'You know what, your the s**t' I was treated to a lap in the passenger seat by my instructor, in a V12 Cab, and although it was better than any rollercoaster ride I have ever been on, it did leave me reconsidering my previous confidence. These cars can do soooooooooooo much more than most of us ever ask of them. I learned more in four hours about driving than everything I knew before, and at the end of my day I realized that I am using a fraction of what this car can do. But damned if I don't look good doing it, and enjoy every second behind the wheel.
Overall, my pick would be a V8 GT over my standard V8, the extra power is manageable and deployable. Unless you are an expert the V12 is just a show in the straightaways, you will never push it through a corner without training the way it deserves to be driven. The Vanquish has too many seats and so does the Rapide. I'm married, and I don't have room in my life for more than two romances.
Again, Thanks to all of you that have been helpful in the past and the hopefully in the future, I greatly appreciate the help in the past, and I am even more in love with my AM, the brand, and the next upgrade. Take the above in context, and hopefully it will help some of you, but I above all wanted to share the joy of being able to drive all of them at track speeds in one day and hopefully some of the above helps you to pick the right one for your garage.
An excellent assessment, evaluation, and reflection.
I've just left a business meeting (I'm a CEO) in which a committee member, speaking about personnel recruiting practices, said "People hire people who are like themselves." That may not seem like a very deep statement, but I think there's a huge amount of wisdom and truth there. Similarly, I think people drive cars (or perhaps KEEP cars) that are like themselves.
So you're apparently a V8VGT. I used to be that way, but now I'm definitely a DB9 Volante!
I've just left a business meeting (I'm a CEO) in which a committee member, speaking about personnel recruiting practices, said "People hire people who are like themselves." That may not seem like a very deep statement, but I think there's a huge amount of wisdom and truth there. Similarly, I think people drive cars (or perhaps KEEP cars) that are like themselves.
So you're apparently a V8VGT. I used to be that way, but now I'm definitely a DB9 Volante!
V8 Vantage GT said:
While a V12V would be great, for me it's not worth double the price of the V8 GT. There seems to be a bit of arrogance on here about the V12V and a bit of disdain for the "V8 GT" that it's just not quite good enough. 
Well I'll give my view on this for what it's worth. I looked at V12 Vantages for about a year and ended up with an SP10 (which is essentially a high spec manual V8VS/GT) and it is perfect for me. So the V12 has more power & torque and sounds ? better ? just more exclusive. But that is where the advantages effectively end IMHO. The SP10 probably handles better as it is lighter. Mine has lightweight seats and Alcantara so "feels" more "sporty" like similarly specced V12V. It doesn't have CCM brakes and whilst this means I may get fade if I track it really hard I also won't have a bill for many thousands of pounds when I need to change the discs. Personally, I prefer the bonnet vents on the V8 to those on the V12. Maybe not as exclusive & "cool" but more attractive to me. Don't get me wrong, I love the V12V but as my only car (most of my commuting is done on my road bike) my SP10 is spot on right now. When I'm old I suspect a Vanquish might take its place but that's a long way off still!tonyhall38 said:
I'm not old......
No, you're not Tony and your new car is fantastic but I'm just not ready for that move yet.Oh, hang on. maybe I could be …………. https://used.astonmartin.com/en-GB/Search/Details~... Cobalt Blue!
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