Vantage v8 market

[jvr]

Hi guys
Looking into getting a 4.3 Vantage and although I've my eye on one, I've notice the market is very slow .
Is this a worry going forward with values?
Cheers
P

[Calinours]

No. Likely to be quite the opposite in a few years. Just buy the best you can.

[Finding Neutral]

Calinours said:

No. Likely to be quite the opposite in a few years. Just buy the best you can.

Nobody really knows but I’d imagine prices will go up of most cool cars (manuals/rare stuff/v8’s,10’s,12’s etc) will go up as they’re not being produced anymore.

Edit: and I’ve yet to meet a petrol head that likes much of the new stuff being built

Edited by Finding Neutral on Saturday 18th February 11:55

[TheRainMaker]

I've had mine coming up for three years now, prices seem to be around the same as they were back then.

Some cars do hang around for a long time, there is normally a reason and when I was looking a fair few were ropy.

Mine was on sale for around 24 hours before I collected it.

[john ryan]

I've had my 4.3 for 10 years. Dealers are charging about the same as I paid (from a dealer). My car is still in about the same cosmetic and mechanical condition; what's to worry.

[Nigel_O]

I’ve had mine for 18 months now, so I probably bought at the top of the market. I paid £30k and I reckon I could get £25k really quickly or £27-£28k if I was prepared to hang on for a little while. The eternal optimist in me thinks it might still be worth what I paid for it, due to the non-black interior.

Regardless, as long as the car is straight, with good history AND you don’t pay silly money, I don’t think it’s possible to lose out massively on a V8V - they are always going to be worth £20-£25k at the very worst. They way things are going, we might find they don’t drop any further

Just do it…. ;-)

[reddiesel]

I cant understand anyone worrying about values on a 4.3 Vantage , I suspect like the Jaguar X150 they are already close to their depreciation limit . Like the chap before said , do your homework buy the best you can afford and enjoy .

[jvr]

At the moment it's a 57 plate £30500 dealer with full history, mostly Aston, quite a few receipts 8 owners ,silver over black 58000mls
Condition and I'm picky is absolutely spot on.
Clutch feels fine ,easy to move off line but there is no evidence of a clutch change though.
Not too bad part exchange as well

P

[BiggaJ]

I personally wouldn't worry about residuals on a Vantage. I can't see how they could get lower and with ICE engines being outlawed in a few years (especially high capacity ones) good examples of the VH platformed cars will most likely go up in value.

As always it's buyer beware, once you have found the right colour/spec for you, make sure you have it inspected. There are some large time/cost items, timing cover seal, clutch, rear subframe, leaking shocks that dealers will not point out to you. The timing seal and rear subframe are both items you can't see without getting the car on a ramp and removing the under trays.

[john ryan]

You can see the timing cover (on a coupe) without removing any undertrays.

[jvr]

It was up on a lift, it totally dry underneath, for what I could see of the rear subframe with the tray innplace was the leading arms were fine so the outer edges was some surface rust due to the I presume the powder coating flaking off.

[olv]

jvr said:

no evidence of a clutch change

Then definitely budget for one. I don’t think a 60k mile car is worth >£30k in the current market. I bought a 70k mile car in good condition in July last year when things were still inflated for 27k (with a documented clutch change at 50k miles).

These cars are generally really solid and won’t necessarily cost a lot to run year on year but they are 16 years old now and depending on how they’ve been maintained and whether or not big jobs have been deferred and your approach to running it I think depreciation is the smallest of the costs.

[Nigel_O]

Mine is on 64k and has had a clutch at some point in its life, but I still bought it with the expectation that it will need another at some point (in fact I think I may be wanting the clutch to go so I can have a twin-plate jobbie fitted…)

Is the car anywhere near one of the recognised independent specialists? Maybe the selling dealer would be prepared to allow it to be inspected as part of the deal.

Vantage buyers aren’t exactly flocking to dealers at the moment, so I reckon a £30,500 screen price is a good starting point for some bargaining, especially if there’s a potential for a £4k bill for a clutch on the horizon. I reckon you’d get that for £28-£29k with some robust haggling. The fact they are giving a strong PX suggests they are keen for a sale.

Good luck

[jvr]

Nigel_O said:

Mine is on 64k and has had a clutch at some point in its life, but I still bought it with the expectation that it will need another at some point (in fact I think I may be wanting the clutch to go so I can have a twin-plate jobbie fitted…)

Is the car anywhere near one of the recognised independent specialists? Maybe the selling dealer would be prepared to allow it to be inspected as part of the deal.

Vantage buyers aren’t exactly flocking to dealers at the moment, so I reckon a £30,500 screen price is a good starting point for some bargaining, especially if there’s a potential for a £4k bill for a clutch on the horizon. I reckon you’d get that for £28-£29k with some robust haggling. The fact they are giving a strong PX suggests they are keen for a sale.

Good luck

It started off at 32 and quickly down to 31, they've had since October, they know the car from a previous sale.probably get it down to 30 this week, but I think will be that though.

[AdamV12V]

I homestly think if you are down to haggling over £1-2k on the price and worrying about as much depreciation then these are not the cars for you! You can drop £1000 on a trivial repair overnight on them, and most likely will do given the age of the cars you are talking about.

Either just get it bought if its a good one, and stop worrying over the last grand or move on to something different.

That said owning an Aston is worth every penny of the odd grand here or there, so i say the former option of just buying it is the best route

[Calinours]

AdamV12V said:

I homestly think if you are down to haggling over £1-2k on the price and worrying about as much depreciation then these are not the cars for you! You can drop £1000 on a trivial repair overnight on them, and most likely will do given the age of the cars you are talking about.

Either just get it bought if its a good one, and stop worrying over the last grand or move on to something different.

That said owning an Aston is worth every penny of the odd grand here or there, so i say the former option of just buying it is the best route

+1

It is important to be realistic about the costs of running and properly maintaining a 15yr old Aston Martin. For example, if there’s no evidence of a clutch change, there is a reasonable chance one may be required fairly quickly. That alone would be £3k, and it will not be the only bill or indeed even the only moderate (yes, moderate) bill you would see during ownership.

There can be a very significant difference between cars that have been really well looked after by long-time owners and cars with numerous developing issues that have been ‘lived with’.

It’s why it is advisable to buy the best condition you can afford - this means cars that have demonstrably been properly maintained. Look for lots of history and evidence of real maintenance spending correcting issues, not just routine oil changes/service.

Even then, for any Aston of that age that you are planning on actually using, you should always have a minimum £2k annual budget for servicing, tyres, brakes and the inevitable minor repairs, even if you can do some stuff yourself. You also need a £3-4k pot in reserve for the more costly item that can happen anytime (like a clutch).

I have to admit I am one who learned the hard way. Despite all past experience I was absolutely dazzled by the fist Vantage S I saw. I bought an accident damaged, poorly repaired and poorly maintained car. It has subsequently cost me more than I paid for the car, after 7 years I’m now on the verge of having £100k in it, but don’t care as I have no intention of selling my ‘rescue animal’.

Edited by Calinours on Sunday 19th February 12:01

[jvr]

Thanks for all your replies., I suppose how much can go at once and although replacement items are expensive they are not weighed down with electronic gubbins of modern cars which can throw big bills.

[Simpo Two]

Calinours said:

It has subsequently cost me more than I paid for the car, after 7 years I’m now on the verge of having £100k in it, but don’t care as I have no intention of selling my ‘rescue animal’

I quite like the idea of an 'Aston rescue centre'. Like a cat rescue centre, you pick the one you like most, hand over £40 and take it home. And yes, my cat has cost me much more to run than I paid for it too!

[milu]

Had mine 4 years next month. Longest I’ve had a car!
Cost me very little
I’m not sure ‘ just oil service and maintenance’ is necessarily bad. If the car doesn’t require anything then so be it.
I have replaced shocks and springs out of choice, so that’s an extra and I have cleaned and titivated underneath a couple of times. But my actual paperwork won’t show a great deal.
It’s been a good car up to now.
On 54k miles

[Calinours]

milu said:

Had mine 4 years next month. Longest I’ve had a car!
Cost me very little
I’m not sure ‘ just oil service and maintenance’ is necessarily bad. If the car doesn’t require anything then so be it.
I have replaced shocks and springs out of choice, so that’s an extra and I have cleaned and titivated underneath a couple of times. But my actual paperwork won’t show a great deal.
It’s been a good car up to now.
On 54k miles

Maybe you’ve been lucky Mike. OP is thinking of a 4.3 which would be a 15-18yr old car by now, maybe yours is a tad younger? Even if so, to get away with nothing in four years is nice to hear, let’s hope it continues for you.

I remember your posts on the racing coil overs you fitted. It was interesting for me as I had done the same with mine (Nitron) after discovering it had DB9 suspension on it (!), sadly I couldn’t get used to the clunking from the solid mounts - ended up replacing again, that time with switchable Bilstein, all of which contributed to the insane spending.