New Vantage Announced - an opportunity to reminisce

[Jon39]

I had not realised this forum existed in 2003, but recently came across a topic, where PHers were talking about the launch of the V8 Vantage Concept.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Interesting to compare with the recent 'new' Vantage topic.
In 2003, the topic only ran for three pages, but much of the talk was about placing orders.

Even spotted a couple of present day (AM) PH members. One of whom has told us, he did order a Vantage before production began, but during the long wait, bought an historic Aston Martin instead.

Edited by Jon39 on Thursday 6th September 20:32

[V8LM]

A nice reminder that the car was built to compete with the 911 on price at £60k, and then sold for (I think) £82k when launched. The 911 was still in the 60s.

[bogie]

V8LM said:

A nice reminder that the car was built to compete with the 911 on price at £60k, and then sold for (I think) £82k when launched. The 911 was still in the 60s.

Yeah...it gained a few grand by the time it got specced up too ....but saying that, adjusted for inflation, the new Vantage is pretty much the same price as it was in 2006

[AlexT]

I'm not suprised by the reactions Jon. The 2003 concept design was just pure class. Especially in the early 2000's. I don't think the 911's design could come close.

Fast forward to 2017, the new Vantage has a radical design focused on being young and sporty. A definite attempt has been made to appeal to female buyers too in my opinion. AM didn't do themselves any favours launching in that daring yellow. And it doesn't appear to be the easiest car to photograph well. I certainly had my doubts which were mostly dispelled only after seeing it in person.

HOWEVER, let's examine the competition in the new Vantage's price bracket: Ftype SVR, Porsche 911, Audi R8 RWS (limited numbers) and the AMG GTx coupe. None of these cars have the brand cachet of AM for starters but I'd venture to say that the competition is a little stiffer than in 2003 in terms of design alone. AM certainly designed a very special-looking car in the DB10 and continued much of that design to the new Vantage but did they underestimate the competition and their current buyers expectations?

Personally, I think its design is sensational.

[quench]

AlexT said:

HOWEVER, let's examine the competition in the new Vantage's price bracket: Ftype SVR, Porsche 911, Audi R8 RWS (limited numbers) and the AMG GTx coupe.

Aston has priced the new Vantage above the F Type SVR and (non-GT3 etc.) 911, at least in my neck of the woods. I could get a fully optioned SVR (including CCM brakes) for the price of a stripper Vantage, so not really a valid comparison, although the Vantage is certainly a newer platform. As for the 911, well obviously as with any Porsche and options, the sky's the limit, but comparing base prices, again it is quite bit cheaper.

[AstonV]

quench said:

Aston has priced the new Vantage above the F Type SVR and (non-GT3 etc.) 911, at least in my neck of the woods. I could get a fully optioned SVR (including CCM brakes) for the price of a stripper Vantage, so not really a valid comparison, although the Vantage is certainly a newer platform. As for the 911, well obviously as with any Porsche and options, the sky's the limit, but comparing base prices, again it is quite bit cheaper.

In 3 years time the SVR will be worth much less than the Vantage. Jaguars don't hold their value very well.

[macdeb]

Crikey, same month and year I joined PH, where the hell did that go? The Vantage though has aged considerably better than myself.

[KevinBird]

It was just under £80K when launched but that was with 18" wheels which weren't available at launch so you had to have 19" wheels which were an extra and pushed the price to £82K, I still bought one because it looked so good

[quench]

AstonV said:

In 3 years time the SVR will be worth much less than the Vantage. Jaguars don't hold their value very well.

Mmmm.. OK. I can't say I have found Astons to hold their value very well, either, and judging by the amount of griping over the years on various boards such as this one, neither do others. It's all relative, when put up against the 911, which was also mentioned.