V8 Vantage running costs
Discussion
Hi
I have been looking around and the V8 Vantage appears to have fallen into the 'affordable' category, in what I can imagine would be a very slow depreciating ownership. I am looking at the £35-40k range of car with between 30-50k miles.
Are there any ruinous parts to running one of these cars? I use a motorcycle for most day to day tasks, so this would be a weekend toy. I cannot see it doing more than 5k miles a year at all.
I cannot see them getting much cheaper...but then what do i know. Are they extremely expensive insurance wise? I am just approaching my late 20's with a good 8 years no claims.
What are the opinions on this?
I have been looking around and the V8 Vantage appears to have fallen into the 'affordable' category, in what I can imagine would be a very slow depreciating ownership. I am looking at the £35-40k range of car with between 30-50k miles.
Are there any ruinous parts to running one of these cars? I use a motorcycle for most day to day tasks, so this would be a weekend toy. I cannot see it doing more than 5k miles a year at all.
I cannot see them getting much cheaper...but then what do i know. Are they extremely expensive insurance wise? I am just approaching my late 20's with a good 8 years no claims.
What are the opinions on this?
Sorry - i have just found this, so will have a read: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Although I welcome any further comments
Although I welcome any further comments
My thread will give you a summary of my 18 months of ownership (once you get past the 'should I buy one' bit - and even that bit probably has some answers to similar questions :
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Mine has been pretty good, although the service was a shock. But I have 6 years of service records and costs from the previous owner and they were typically normal servicing costing under £1k.
The thing with these cars is that sometimes they can shock you. My service cost did, and weak points like the front light LEDs failing can - as can your clutch wearing out. However, they generally seem fairly solid and are fabulous cars. And as you say, they are pretty much at the bottom of the depreciation curve - even in an expensive year, it's comparable with depreciation on a very average new car.
Insurance is fairly reasonable, at least for me - but I'm old.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Mine has been pretty good, although the service was a shock. But I have 6 years of service records and costs from the previous owner and they were typically normal servicing costing under £1k.
The thing with these cars is that sometimes they can shock you. My service cost did, and weak points like the front light LEDs failing can - as can your clutch wearing out. However, they generally seem fairly solid and are fabulous cars. And as you say, they are pretty much at the bottom of the depreciation curve - even in an expensive year, it's comparable with depreciation on a very average new car.
Insurance is fairly reasonable, at least for me - but I'm old.
I've had my car since Jan 2016. These are my costs to date: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1C1MTXVffVW...
Budget for a new headlight unit for the LED lights which may fail - say £1500 fitted or there is a place apparently that can repair Them for around £300.
Apart from that have a small budget for modules and other "minor" problems, and keep an eye on the clutch.
Other than that they are solid reliable cars that never cease to make you feel,good driving them!
Apart from that have a small budget for modules and other "minor" problems, and keep an eye on the clutch.
Other than that they are solid reliable cars that never cease to make you feel,good driving them!
As above - no more than running a large engine premium German car
In 10 years and 81K miles in my last Vantage (Jan 06 manual coupe) I spent about £2k on non consumable replacement parts. Well documented on here a few times over the years.
Spend £20 on Grants book here for all you want to know about Gaydon era Astons ...some PH members cars are documented in there too.....
http://astonmartinreview.co.uk/
In 10 years and 81K miles in my last Vantage (Jan 06 manual coupe) I spent about £2k on non consumable replacement parts. Well documented on here a few times over the years.
Spend £20 on Grants book here for all you want to know about Gaydon era Astons ...some PH members cars are documented in there too.....
http://astonmartinreview.co.uk/
Thanks guys.
I suspected this might be the case and it does add more weight to the 'buy one' argument. Now it is just justifying the outlay / should i invest my money etc etc!
Tempted to finance one with a bank loan and pay monthly instead of putting a huge chunk of cash into it which I could use as a deposit on a BTL. Nevertheless, a discussion I need to have with myself in a quiet room I think!!
Thanks for your help
I suspected this might be the case and it does add more weight to the 'buy one' argument. Now it is just justifying the outlay / should i invest my money etc etc!
Tempted to finance one with a bank loan and pay monthly instead of putting a huge chunk of cash into it which I could use as a deposit on a BTL. Nevertheless, a discussion I need to have with myself in a quiet room I think!!
Thanks for your help
I researched these thoroughly twice but didn't buy either time. From my research & not tainted with rose tinted spectacles:
- They need an annual service for £600-£1000 depending on which service & where you go
- Then there are a few bits that may or may not fail like door modules & lights, which can be pricey but wouldn't put me off & don't seem to be prolific failures - same on any car really
- The big thing to watch out for are clutches which seem to have varied lifespan depending on usage, if you do mainly longer drive & treat it with sympathy they should be OK for 70-80k but driven badly in heavy traffic & town there are reports of far shorter lifespan. Obviously you can't tell condition on purchase of a manual and you don't know how driven before
- Brake disks & pads are expensive but you don't have to use Aston Martin parts
- There are some issues with paint bubbling especially round door handles on earlier cars and because of the type of car you'd want it to be sorted
- Not good on tax and fuel if these matter, my friend had a 4.3 and got 12-14mpg round town and 18-20 on a run
- Very mileage sensitive, they seem to drop in desirability once mileage is over about 35,000, not a problem if you buy cheap or don't use much
jakesmith said:
I researched these thoroughly twice but didn't buy either time. From my research & not tainted with rose tinted spectacles:
Agree with the comment about the clutch, but there are a number of options for upgrades to twin-plate which, if you're willing to invest, will pay dividends in terms of driving enjoyment, longevity & probably resale value. - They need an annual service for £600-£1000 depending on which service & where you go
- Then there are a few bits that may or may not fail like door modules & lights, which can be pricey but wouldn't put me off & don't seem to be prolific failures - same on any car really
- The big thing to watch out for are clutches which seem to have varied lifespan depending on usage, if you do mainly longer drive & treat it with sympathy they should be OK for 70-80k but driven badly in heavy traffic & town there are reports of far shorter lifespan. Obviously you can't tell condition on purchase of a manual and you don't know how driven before
- Brake disks & pads are expensive but you don't have to use Aston Martin parts
- There are some issues with paint bubbling especially round door handles on earlier cars and because of the type of car you'd want it to be sorted
- Not good on tax and fuel if these matter, my friend had a 4.3 and got 12-14mpg round town and 18-20 on a run
- Very mileage sensitive, they seem to drop in desirability once mileage is over about 35,000, not a problem if you buy cheap or don't use much
As regards mileage, the problem with many V8Vs is that they're not driven enough!! A lack of usage does have a detrimental effect on reliability (Seals dry up, tyres perish etc etc). IMO, better to buy a car with higher mileage & full service history than a lower mileage one that's sat under a car cover for most of its life.
I think a lot of fuss is made about issues that are almost "normal" for this kind of premium performance car. You accept that when you buy such a car. Just because you can buy one for £35k does not mean the running costs have changed proportionally.
A 997 clutch is about £1200 fitted, double that if you need the flywheel too....so not that much different in price. You can find the "gone in 30k mile" horror stories out there on those too.
Can anyone name a £90k car with a v8 engine that costs the same to run as a £30k family saloon?
Perhaps clutches in the Merc V8 will be £500 in future at specialists....do we have that to look forward to on the new Aston models ?
A 997 clutch is about £1200 fitted, double that if you need the flywheel too....so not that much different in price. You can find the "gone in 30k mile" horror stories out there on those too.
Can anyone name a £90k car with a v8 engine that costs the same to run as a £30k family saloon?
Perhaps clutches in the Merc V8 will be £500 in future at specialists....do we have that to look forward to on the new Aston models ?
bogie said:
I think a lot of fuss is made about issues that are almost "normal" for this kind of premium performance car. You accept that when you buy such a car. Just because you can buy one for £35k does not mean the running costs have changed proportionally.
A 997 clutch is about £1200 fitted, double that if you need the flywheel too....so not that much different in price. You can find the "gone in 30k mile" horror stories out there on those too.
Can anyone name a £90k car with a v8 engine that costs the same to run as a £30k family saloon?
Perhaps clutches in the Merc V8 will be £500 in future at specialists....do we have that to look forward to on the new Aston models ?
I agree that things can get hyped somewhat but I researched this very carefully over a long period of time. The OP asked for a realistic view on running costs for this particular model. Neither the Aston or the 911 is cheap to run but I don't think they are in the same league cost wise, and that is based on reading posts on here from owners, owning Porsches for 10 years, reading Grant's book several times, looking at the service invoices for cars that I considered buying, my friend owning one, and by phoning specialist garages such as Bamford Rose & Trinity Engineering as part of my research.A 997 clutch is about £1200 fitted, double that if you need the flywheel too....so not that much different in price. You can find the "gone in 30k mile" horror stories out there on those too.
Can anyone name a £90k car with a v8 engine that costs the same to run as a £30k family saloon?
Perhaps clutches in the Merc V8 will be £500 in future at specialists....do we have that to look forward to on the new Aston models ?
Factors that make them more expensive are the consumables & parts cost, a less-developed indi network than for other marques, annual service frequency - these all make general running costs more expensive than an equivalent Porsche. If you use an indi for 4 years on both cars standard servicing will be at least £2500 on the Aston and more like £750 on the 997
The clutches are a known weak point, you often see them for sale with 30-40k with adverts saying new clutch. Why would someone sell a car with a new clutch? Possibly because they didn't expect such a bill and don't want to shell out another £2500+ for another one in the future! 30,000 miles changes are simply not common on Porsches, I've run 3 up to 70,000 miles with no sign of issues and I haven't read many owners experiencing failure. The flywheel does not double the cost of the job on the Porsche at all, more like £400. Aston sales people are trained to drive Vantages sympathetically to avoid clutch failure on sales cars, the guy who took me out in one at HWM told me that and I read it here too.
I'm not saying that Porsches are better cars as we all know they are less exciting, have engine issues too, and the brand, image, sound and appearance can not compare to Aston, but I didn't see that the running costs were that similar, and that's not even considering that they use loads more fuel.
All performance cars can throw a big bill, but the Aston is expensive either way. I'm not slating the car at all I think they're great for what they are. I would have bought one recently but wanted a proper auto so I bought a Maserati Granturismo but I went in with eyes open.
No-one is going to say that a Porsche is not generally cheaper to run than an Aston Martin, thats not to say RMS failure couldn't cost you a few quid if you are unlucky...
The Vantage clutch IS the single most expensive consumable. Made worse as its not covered by most warranties. You either accept that you could get a £2500 bill during your ownership, or dont buy the car in the first place. No different in that respect to buying a 5 yr old Lambo with clutch life reports between 15k and 50k miles, and bigger bills.
My first Jan 06 Vantage managed 73k miles on original clutch, then when 82k miles old, sold in 2 weeks for £31k ish. Hopefully the new owner will get just as many miles/years of happy motoring out of it as I had.
I have a 2012 Roadster now, it had 39k miles on it, one owner, but already had a clutch at 28k miles...what were they doing with it to go through a clutch in 28k miles ? Actually I was happier that it had a clutch at 28k miles than not one at all by 39k as at least now I have a chance to influence how long it lasts......
Maybe I will get another 40K miles out of the clutch and trade it in before the clutch goes.....maybe not. In the meanwhile I'll just enjoy driving it
The Vantage clutch IS the single most expensive consumable. Made worse as its not covered by most warranties. You either accept that you could get a £2500 bill during your ownership, or dont buy the car in the first place. No different in that respect to buying a 5 yr old Lambo with clutch life reports between 15k and 50k miles, and bigger bills.
My first Jan 06 Vantage managed 73k miles on original clutch, then when 82k miles old, sold in 2 weeks for £31k ish. Hopefully the new owner will get just as many miles/years of happy motoring out of it as I had.
I have a 2012 Roadster now, it had 39k miles on it, one owner, but already had a clutch at 28k miles...what were they doing with it to go through a clutch in 28k miles ? Actually I was happier that it had a clutch at 28k miles than not one at all by 39k as at least now I have a chance to influence how long it lasts......
Maybe I will get another 40K miles out of the clutch and trade it in before the clutch goes.....maybe not. In the meanwhile I'll just enjoy driving it
jakesmith said:
bogie said:
In the meanwhile I'll just enjoy driving it
Unlike the new owners of your last one, who are saving up for a new clutch whilst it sits on their driveway!! Or maybe they sell it and in 3 years they will be out there proclaiming how relatively inexpensive to run their £30k Aston has been during their ownership.....then the next owner has all the consumables need replacing in a 12 month period, it needs £5k spending on it in the first year, so the £25k "cheap" Aston becomes a "nightmare" in running costs.....
Just timing and a bit of luck can make all the difference on the used car experience
I've read a few times on here that prices are creeping up - but I checked the classifieds a few days ago (to make sure the value I'm using for my insurance is correct) and for cars similar to mine (2006, ~45k miles) prices looked about the same as I paid 2 years ago.
I'd assumed I would need to adjust the value with the insurance company but concluded it was already correct. (I assume the cars in the classifieds were decent examples since a couple of them were from McGurks).
I'd assumed I would need to adjust the value with the insurance company but concluded it was already correct. (I assume the cars in the classifieds were decent examples since a couple of them were from McGurks).
jakesmith said:
I'm not slating the car at all I think they're great for what they are. I would have bought one recently but wanted a proper auto so I bought a Maserati Granturismo but I went in with eyes open.
You explained your thinking to us, and I think your decision not to choose an Aston Martin was partly based on potentially high post purchase costs.
Is the total ownership cost of a Maserati, less that an Aston Martin?
In the car park of a local doctor's surgery I have noticed two Maseratis, both black.
One of them has been parked, seemingly not moved for months, near to a pavement displaying a For Sale notice.
If they are difficult to sell, then does it follow that depreciation might be frightening?
After the initial three or so years, Aston Martins really seem to have remarkably low depreciation compared to most other cars.
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