2011 V8 Vantage as a daily driver - a really crazy idea?

[Ari]

I've been looking for a 'new' (used) car. Usual thing, started with a mid £20K budget, wanted a convertible but not a soft top, looked at a SLC AMG 43, liked it very much then made the mistake of looking at an SL which is a totally different league.

An appropriate amount of Man Maths later and I'm now looking at £35K - £40K for a 3 year old 20K miles SL from Mercedes main dealer so decent 12m warranty.

It suits me perfectly, I don't do many miles but once or twice a month I have a 7 hour round trip for work so a car that can waft away the miles but a bit of fun with the roof down is perfect.

Also, the car lives on the drive (no garage) and I live in a not great area (albeit a fairly quiet bit of a not great area) and Mercedes are so common that no one takes much notice (have an SLK at the moment and have had for years). An Aston would stick out like the proverbial sore thumb around here. (It would be a talking point at least!)

The problem is that I've realised that I could, technically, buy something like this for the same money.

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

Cons:

Manual gearbox (and I don't think I'd want an auto Aston)
Not a convertible
Won't be as comfortable, refined or restful
No quicker (apart from irrelevant top speed)
Nearest dealer 2 hours away!
Going to worry about leaving it on show on the drive

Pro:

It's a flipping Aston Martin!

Is it a really dumb idea, or should I get one, rumble about in it for 12 months just so I've done it, and then buy something more sensible?

I know nothing about the reality of owning an Aston Martin, please talk me out of it or into it, as appropriate.

Edit: I've realised that I've put 2011 in the title and then linked to a 2010 car, but you get the idea.

[whoami]

Perfectly useable as an everyday car.

I did it with 1 x 4.3, 2 x 4.7 and then a DBS.

[Ari]

How about reliability? I always got the idea that Astons were a bit fragile (which might be total nonsense, I've no idea, hence asking you guys who have them).

[Ari]

This was the 2011 car I originally saw.

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

It looks incredible, almost too good to be true for Merc SL money.

[whoami]

Very reliable overall. Yes, a few issues here and there but I had much worse on an SL and a couple of 911s.

That said, 2 hours away from a dealer (of any marque) would make me think twice if I needed the car every day.

[bogie]

Very reliable, did 83k miles in my first one from 2007 as a daily doing 10-15K miles a year for a few years. Have put 30K miles on latest 2012 Roadster, just with weekend use

With fixed price servicing my Vantage cost less to run than my previous hot Audi I ran as a daily. Consumables are no different to any other premium car with big wheels/brakes. Its only really the clutch that seem to go at random giving a £3500 bill. Ive had one last 70k miles and another go at 30K...

Get one to run for a year, if you buy private with good consumables, dont double the mileage, probably not much to lose at all.

[Manx V8V]

whoami said:

Very reliable overall. Yes, a few issues here and there but I had much worse on an SL and a couple of 911s.

That said, 2 hours away from a dealer (of any marque) would make me think twice if I needed the car every day.

+1 on the reliability aspect, and most of the problems you do read about seem to be on cars which are 'garage queens' and not cars used regularly, this lack of use problem affects all cars not just Aston's.

Service-wise, on a 9 - 10 year old car why not look for a good local independent specialist?

[Thorburn]

Whats your day to day use like? I test drove a manual V8 last month and was really surprised how heavy the clutch was having just driven one of the manual V12 7-speed cars before hand.

If you daily commute with lots of stop-start driving I think it would get quite wearing.

[ilikeAstons]

... I bought a DB9 from Simon Abbott.

It gave me nothing but pleasure. The car was absolutely sublime in every way.

[Speedraser]

The car can handle daily use. But... to me, an Aston is too special a thing to subject to daily use, at least the kind of daily use where I live. But that's a personal thing. It won't "waft" like an SL, but it will be a much sharper, sportier, involving drive. Which is great -- if you want that. You may prefer a car with the standard suspension rather than the Sports Pack, which handles even better but rides more firmly. The 2010 N420 you linked would have the Sports Pack. Try it -- you may love it. Or not. I've had my '09 (Coupe, manual, Sports Pack) from new. It's wonderful, and has been completely reliable.

[V8V Pete]

You can definitely daily a Vantage if fuel bills don't matter and you go for a pre-2012 model that will have considerably cheaper front brake consumables.

Ari said:

This was the 2011 car I originally saw.

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

It looks incredible, almost too good to be true for Merc SL money.

The advert for that car is inaccurate (it doesn't have the carbon fibre lightweight seats for a start). I live a short distance from that dealer and it's not somewhere I would buy a car from.

[Manners79]

I use a MY2010 V8V Convertible on a sort of daily basis. As in 3-4 days per week on my 20 mile round commute. 8 months in and no issues at all apart from the change in fuel consumption compared to its predecessor (Jag XE!). I do get the 'keep it special' and / or 'keep the miles off' arguments but I'm not personally programmed to think like that.

To me that is a bit like not $%@&&ing your girlfriend / missus because you're keeping her fresh for the next guy! With apologies for the crassness of that comment in our PC world.

[Graze01]

I had an 07 V8V for three and a half years, did 60,000km (started at 30,000, sold it at close to 90,000km) as a daily driver which was a lot of highway driving, some round town trips and a few 2-4,000km holidays.

As someone else said cheaper than an RS4 to maintain, only thing I replaced was a throttle body at about 80,000km and normal pads and rotors at about 60,000km, plus got 45,000km out of the Michelin super sport tyres which included two days on the track

Just do it - u won't regret it if you get a good one

Graze

[Ursicles]

Its an Aston … that's what you will think every morning as u see it, then as u press start you think 'st...' and smile like an imbecile.

Or maybe that's me?

Get the Aston, use it, enjoy it … one day you'll be 80 in the nursing home thinking about it and smiling again.

I use mine for menial tasks, and why not Sure its a luxury vehicle, but its like having a super model girlfriend and not enjoying her so her next boyfriend can. Pointless.

Plus these cars like being used, and from what ive seen, bar really shockingly bad seat belt material, they are really well put together.

Edited by Ursicles on Friday 10th January 11:02

[murphyaj]

Depending on year the merc SL is not a reliable car at all. I'd be very willing to bet it will give you more trouble than an V8V, which is one of the most reliable cars I have run. If you're getting a 2010 car I woudn't worry about the location of a dealer, get it serviced at an independent. The quality of the work won't be any lower, it won't affect the residuals at that age, and you won't be completely shafted on any additional work.

As for leaving it parked outside; why not? 10 years ago I had a DB7 Vantage that was parked on the road outside a terraced house in central Watford for a year. Life is too short to worry about what might happen to your stuff when you are not there.

Second question, you say you wanted a convertible but not a soft-top. Again, why not? Modern soft-tops supremely quiet and refined. When I have the roof up on my DB9 other than having less headroom you could easily forget you are not in a coupe. I'm of the opinion (and I know not everyone agrees) that hard-top convertibles add cost, weight and complexity, plus they spoil the lines at the back by making the rear deck too high, all for little to no discernible benefit. You're welcome to disagree, but I'd recommend trying a convertible before ruling it out.

Finally, I'll agree with some of the other posters; in 40 years when we're all being ferried about in beige self-driving electric taxis, do you want to be thinking back on the time you *almost* bought a V8 Aston Martin?

[alscar]

Pretty much like most replies I’d say perfectly good idea. I’ve done it with a V8 , V12 and now a new V8.
They are pretty reliable but can be prone to niggles - being 2 hours away ( some dealers offer transportation ) might be an issue if it’s your only car.
I don’t think you would ever regret it though.

[justin220]

I've had two V8V, one coupe and one roadster and used them daily. Very reliable, well certainly nothing that will stop you commuting. You might get the odd niggle but nothing to stop the car being used.

The engine is in fairly low tune so it's not stressed. Fairly bomb proof.

[justin220]

I've had two V8V, one coupe and one roadster and used them daily. Very reliable, well certainly nothing that will stop you commuting. You might get the odd niggle but nothing to stop the car being used.

The engine is in fairly low tune so it's not stressed. Fairly bomb proof.

[chalkyrabbit]

Ari said:

This was the 2011 car I originally saw.

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

It looks incredible, almost too good to be true for Merc SL money.

I'd haggle on that price, I bought an almost identical one 2010 4.7 from main dealer, with one owner and 8000 miles for £44k

[andymadmak]

V8V Pete said:

The advert for that car is inaccurate (it doesn't have the carbon fibre lightweight seats for a start). I live a short distance from that dealer and it's not somewhere I would buy a car from.

Agreed. I also don't live far from Benz Bavarian, and whilst they are not the worst people to deal with, there are other places in that would command my attention first... .