Aston Martin V8 Vantage | The Brave Pill
What's gone around has come around
This being Pistonheads, we know that many powerful and high-ranking company directors start their weekends with Brave Pill. But few can rank higher than one of this column’s proven fans. Or, at least, readers: none other than Henrik Fisker.
That’s because shortly after we last featured a V8 Vantage, all the way back in 2019, the editor received a very polite email from a PR person sent on behalf of Fisker. This said that Aston’s former design boss was delighted to be mentioned in the story, but that he also wanted to make clear that the finished car was entirely his work, rather than a co-production with his predecessor in the role, Ian Callum.
[Shuffling of e-papers].
Here you go: “It’s a fact that Henrik Fisker joined Aston Martin in the year 2000. While there was a prior design proposal for the Aston Martin Vantage as mid-engine vehicle, Henrik Fisker totally redesigned the Vantage as a front engine GT, and was 100% responsible for the design.”
So I’m delighted to finally have the chance to clear that one up. And Ian – if you’re reading and your memory differs - then get in touch and I’ll share your thoughts next time we run a Vantage.
Lots has happened in the last four years since that Pill, not least Fisker’s re-establishment of his eponymous EV company. But closer to home V8 Vantage values have also enjoyed an impressive resurgence. The last example was a 2005 car sporting a serious 117,000 mileage and had an interior in a bracing shade of maroon. But it was also being offered for just under £22,000 – a figure that made it the cheapest in the country at that time.
This week’s is a 2008 car, so a year older than the last one was when Pill’d, but the facelifted example with the plus point of the much more desirable 4.7-litre engine and only having done 70,000 miles, but the minuses of the snappy Sportshift gearbox that the market has increasingly turned against and five previous owners. Yet being up for a very exact £32,989 this one is also slightly over 40 percent more expensive (for reference the very cheapest is now a £24,950 100,000-miler.) When are used Aston Martins going to be put into the basket of goods used to calculate the official inflation figures?
Knowledgeable Aston types should feel free to pick over the exact spec in the comments, but this one certainly looks great in the pictures. Double black is hardly the most imaginative colour choice, but the Onyx metallic paint scheme suits the baby Aston particularly well, and the matching Obsidian leather trim is similarly lustrous in the pictures, although likely to feel a bit gloomy on darker days. It seems to have been well-optioned too, with the memory seats and sat nav which the database hamsters reckon were both options at the time, as well as the extra cost Speedshift.
Okay, so the very old school Volvo-sourced navigation system was infamously terrible in period, and will now feel about as visually adept as a game of Pong. But although the automated gearbox never won much love from reviewers when new, many owners seem to have built up a appreciation for its slightly dull-witted talents based on experience and sympathetic use. My abiding memory of Speedshift will always be of the smell of burning clutch that often accompanied the sort of low-speed manoeuvring common on magazine photo shoots, most specifically the time the gearbox of a Vantage very similar to this one overheated and left the car blocking the Stelvio Pass for several minutes while attempting a five-point turn between two scenic hairpins.
The dealer selling this one promises a full service history that mixes main dealer and specialist, although the exact percentages of each aren’t disclosed. Given many Aston dealers have hourly rates to rival those of a Fixed Odds Betting Terminal there’s no reason to look down on one that’s spent most of its life in the care of suitably experienced non-franchise experts. What’s most important for the next buyer will be confirming the scale of the care and attention that has been lavished. No Aston is cheap to run, so a fat wodge of bills will provide welcome reassurance that corners haven’t been cut.
A sneak peek at the MOT history behind the obscured plates shows that the last one ran out last November; possibly explaining Ken Bruce still being attributed to BBC Radio 2 on the data display in the pictures. But the buyer will undoubtedly get a fresh ticket screwed on. The recent record is as green as Greta Thunberg’s hopes for our collective future, with three straight passes separated by less than 3,000 miles a time. Further back it failed for a binding handbrake in 2019, and picked up an advisory for an oil leak in 2013. But that’s everything of note.
Does it look like good value? By 2023 standards, absolutely. But is it also brave? That’s a ‘hell yes’ too; our last Pill’s debut comment came from well-known Victorian philanderer and keen PHer Harry Flashman, a former 4.3 Coupe owner who warned that “absolutely every part on these cars costs an absolute fortune – more than Ferraris for some stuff” and that “the electronics are made of chocolate.”
But then he said he fancied another. How about this one, Flashy?
Yes they can be expensive however, there is a huge amount of info on parts available at very reasonable cost if you shop around. The Aston section on the PH forum has a plethora of info to help owners.
Of course if you rely on the dealer network and pay their prices then you will pay heavily ... The Aston tax is very much alive and kicking in this regard.
Many owners of cars such as this that don't have the 'timeless warranty' still running will often get their cars sorted by the independent network and on this front prospective owners are very well catered for.
I'm sure a 4.3 and maybe a 4.7 will feel old on a track but these cars weren't built with a track in mind, they are A and B road cruisers with more than enough power for our pot holed roads.
When used in the environment they were designed, they excell and while they can't launch like a modern Audi at the traffic light GP, once moving they can more than keep up with the RS brigade etc. as I've proved more than enough times.
Boot capacity is reasonable, easily fitting a full set of golf clubs in plus some bags on top.
Mpg on a cruise will return around 22mpg and the tank is big enough to see a near 400 mile range.
Then there's the noise and the way the car still looks fresh ... It has aged better than any other car from the same design period in my view.
Won’t be cheap to run, but who cares when it looks that good.
In the market for a weekend car, this ticks every single
Box…. However I’m just not brave enough. The chocolate clutches put me off. Oh and the £7k ECU replacement a friend has just suffered on his 2012 V8V…. Maybe not.
AHM in Hartley Witney take care of the car and not at main dealer prices.
Like any car of this age you have to keep on top of maintenance but they are very reliable, sound amazing and are a brilliant GT car that handles extremely well. A 997 S will get off the line quicker but on mixed driving roads there is nothing in it, you need a big jump in power before the difference is extreme, but I do concede that you will be working harder in the Aston as all the power and torque is higher up the rev range. An ECU upgrade can also improve this.
There are loads of performance cars out there that are so similar, the Aston is old school V8 and manual box and I think are a bargain. It’s not the fastest but it is plenty quick enough on B roads and sounds fantastic. Go for it!
Prices seem to have been as low as high £20k/low£30k for a long time - we have never been brave enough though.
Visited McGurk a couple of times and yes running costs will be higher than the m4 but they sure are a great looking car - especially compared to current m4 and that might just convince us to try it for 12 months and see how it goes.
I do think though I would have to make space in the garage for it though - not sure it would handle the ‘neglect’ her current car sometimes gets and always left on the drive whatever the weather.
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