Purchase inspection V8 Vantage S

[DonsDad]

I'm looking at a V8 Vantage S (2017) as a potential purchase and would welcome inputs on what I should check when inspecting the vehicle - particularly any known faults. Many thanks

[Jon39]

Mostly as with any used car - a good one will be spotless inside and outside, indicating careful use by previous owner(s). but no signs of shiny polish on leather surfaces. Look for stone chips, front and lower rear arches.

Astons can suffer from paint bubbles, so look around door handles and mirror stems. It is not rust because alloy, but something to do with original paint preparation.

Clutches have to work hard, so working life is very variable. The solution when failure occurs, is to have a twin plate clutch installed.
Clutch replacement is about £3,000, because of the extra work due to the rear gearbox and torque tube.
Dealers can check clutch wear on Sportshift cars, but not manuals.

Obviously low, so have a look for scraped front bodywork.

A highly regarded Aston Martin specialist (Bamford Rose), have a series of YouTube videos, possibly including one about buying.

Wonderful cars to own and generally trouble free.

Edited by Jon39 on Friday 24th July 07:43

[TheRainMaker]

Having just gone through this myself, my checklist was the following

Service history
Any history of past work carried out (front end respray, wheel refurb etc)
Try and find out where the owners lived, one car I looked at came from Jersey and it looked like it had been left in the sea.
Corrosion around door handles
Corrosion on the bottom of the doors
Corrosion on the wing mirror arms
Are all the panels straight (two out the seven I looked at had been crashed)
Paint chips, the stone guards in front of the rear wheels, if there are no stone chips on the front and no invoice for a front end respray dig deeper.
All Keys, including the glass one, check it for chips

Then it's just the normal second-hand car buying stuff.

If there is anything you don't like just walk away, there will be the right car out there, you just have to keep looking.

[Froomee]

Could always take it to a main dealer and get them to inspect it. Once inspected you can then purchase a warranty which will negate any need to worry about most issues (could negotiate these into the price both are around £2k).

Mine is a 2015 car and Iv had a sticker fuel filler cap, 2x O2 sensors, headlight washer assembly detached from the headlight so check they are working and I have some misting near the timing chain cover (this will be done under warranty as per all the other bits).

Due to the covers under the car, etc its difficult to inspect the car properly without a ramp so either way I’d advise going to a dealer or specialist.

Mainly dealer pricing is a bit steep but from my experience they are thorough with the inspections if they aren’t the supplying dealer.

After a year with warranty you should have a feel for the car. I use mine as a daily driver so I chose to renew the warranty after the initial 12 months.

[Dewi 2]

DonsDad said:

I'm looking at a V8 Vantage S (2017) as a potential purchase and would welcome inputs on what I should check when inspecting the vehicle - particularly any known faults. Many thanks

You mention a 3 year old V8V, so this might be relevant.

I bought mine when it was just under 3 years old from a main dealer. An ideal age car to purchase, because you can find absolutely 'as new' cars with very low mileages, probably at a 40% discount to the original list price.
Dealer warranty provides reassurance for the first year, and as nothing went wrong with mine, I have never had a warranty after that first year.

The car is now 10 years old and during that time, the only non-routine work has been a clutch and one door damper.

Hope you can find exactly what you want.

[DonsDad]

Thanks for all your inputs - really helpful and timely inputs. Had a look at the issues you highlighted which gave me the confidence to buy it!! Great to join the AM owners list - what a driving experience