Good things come to those who wait
Discussion
I hope I am forgiven for the somewhat self indulgent step of creating a thread dedicated to the delivery of three regular contributors' cars, namely myself, IanV12VR & Graham (aka Silverspeed)
The good news is if you aren't interested, these posts won't be hijacking other threads !
Aston's stand in Geneva this week was increased in size significantly, to herald the start of their new era. Despite the size of the stand, it is the first time since DB9 was launched at Frankfurt in 2003, Aston showed not one single model from the outgoing platform/s.
Indeed, with the last of outgoing Vantages (the AMRs) & Vanquishes (Ultimates) being finished at Gaydon over the next few weeks and Vanquish Zagatos (Speedsters & Shootingbrakes) presumably to follow shortly thereafter, I think I'm right in saying the only model you can order today that doesn't relate to the '2nd century plan'/new 7 year cycle is Rapide and other than the ltd ed. forthcoming Rapide AMR & RapideE (the latter of which I think is sold out), can you even order a Rapide any more ?
So it was impeccable timing that on the day the Geneva stand was revealed, effectively drawing a final line under the outgoing 15 year cycle of cars, I received a call from Wilmslow to tell me that my 'new' Vantage had just arrived.
There seems to be an amazing raft of new products in the pipeline at AML and I'm sure some will hold great personal appeal, but I wanted the best of the last of the old era and I believe I now have my imperfect, but perfect for me car
Without wanting to sound too mysterious, there's a limit to how much detail the three of us can share about all our conversations with Gaydon over the last few years, but the short version is all three of us had one of the 101 manual V12V Roadsters which we bought from launch and when a manual version of the replacement, V12VS, was first rumoured three years ago in early 2015, we started discussions between ourselves about replacing our roadsters. When the rumours started to become more or less confirmed in early 2016, we approached the factory about ordering replacements for our '101s'
Having already experienced with our original roadsters, via our dealers, a little of what Q could offer, we were keen that our new cars should be 'full Q cars'. We were also keen that our cars should have some common features unique to our cars but we also quickly established we wouldn't be having three identical cars. We were insistent that our cars would be based on the best/last manual V12 n/a roadsters Aston would make. I don't know if the factory had decided at the stage of our first discussions that outgoing Vantage would be an AMR edition, but if they had, they certainly didn't tell us until well into the process. We had a number of meetings at Gaydon, a lot of phone calls and an outrageous number of emails. We have had a huge amount of support & help from a number of departments at Gaydon, who have been brilliant throughout, albeit at times we have been frustrated, often simply through a lack of patience on our part !
It's fascinating to see on a private whatsapp group some of the other Q spec AMRs coming through which show the full range of what Q has to offer - the department is really taking off and there are some truly special cars. I am taking delivery of my car on March 24th and I imagine Ian's, although built slightly later, will be at a not unsimilar time and hopefully, Graham's is not too far behind ....
Our cars are all dogleg manual, V12 Vantage S, AMR roadsters. All are based on one of the AMR schemes, two in Zaffre and mine in Halo. All have a number of both functional & cosmetic Q features that are common to all three of our cars. All have additional Q features that are unique to our individual cars. And all three of us are like children the week before Christmas right now !!!
We don't plan on revealing full details of our cars until they are all finished but here are a few teasers - they include photos whilst in the planning stage, photos of some parts as they were being tested or finished by Q and just a couple of my car at Wilmslow....
Apologies again for the self indulgent nature of this thread
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The good news is if you aren't interested, these posts won't be hijacking other threads !
Aston's stand in Geneva this week was increased in size significantly, to herald the start of their new era. Despite the size of the stand, it is the first time since DB9 was launched at Frankfurt in 2003, Aston showed not one single model from the outgoing platform/s.
Indeed, with the last of outgoing Vantages (the AMRs) & Vanquishes (Ultimates) being finished at Gaydon over the next few weeks and Vanquish Zagatos (Speedsters & Shootingbrakes) presumably to follow shortly thereafter, I think I'm right in saying the only model you can order today that doesn't relate to the '2nd century plan'/new 7 year cycle is Rapide and other than the ltd ed. forthcoming Rapide AMR & RapideE (the latter of which I think is sold out), can you even order a Rapide any more ?
So it was impeccable timing that on the day the Geneva stand was revealed, effectively drawing a final line under the outgoing 15 year cycle of cars, I received a call from Wilmslow to tell me that my 'new' Vantage had just arrived.
There seems to be an amazing raft of new products in the pipeline at AML and I'm sure some will hold great personal appeal, but I wanted the best of the last of the old era and I believe I now have my imperfect, but perfect for me car
Without wanting to sound too mysterious, there's a limit to how much detail the three of us can share about all our conversations with Gaydon over the last few years, but the short version is all three of us had one of the 101 manual V12V Roadsters which we bought from launch and when a manual version of the replacement, V12VS, was first rumoured three years ago in early 2015, we started discussions between ourselves about replacing our roadsters. When the rumours started to become more or less confirmed in early 2016, we approached the factory about ordering replacements for our '101s'
Having already experienced with our original roadsters, via our dealers, a little of what Q could offer, we were keen that our new cars should be 'full Q cars'. We were also keen that our cars should have some common features unique to our cars but we also quickly established we wouldn't be having three identical cars. We were insistent that our cars would be based on the best/last manual V12 n/a roadsters Aston would make. I don't know if the factory had decided at the stage of our first discussions that outgoing Vantage would be an AMR edition, but if they had, they certainly didn't tell us until well into the process. We had a number of meetings at Gaydon, a lot of phone calls and an outrageous number of emails. We have had a huge amount of support & help from a number of departments at Gaydon, who have been brilliant throughout, albeit at times we have been frustrated, often simply through a lack of patience on our part !
It's fascinating to see on a private whatsapp group some of the other Q spec AMRs coming through which show the full range of what Q has to offer - the department is really taking off and there are some truly special cars. I am taking delivery of my car on March 24th and I imagine Ian's, although built slightly later, will be at a not unsimilar time and hopefully, Graham's is not too far behind ....
Our cars are all dogleg manual, V12 Vantage S, AMR roadsters. All are based on one of the AMR schemes, two in Zaffre and mine in Halo. All have a number of both functional & cosmetic Q features that are common to all three of our cars. All have additional Q features that are unique to our individual cars. And all three of us are like children the week before Christmas right now !!!
We don't plan on revealing full details of our cars until they are all finished but here are a few teasers - they include photos whilst in the planning stage, photos of some parts as they were being tested or finished by Q and just a couple of my car at Wilmslow....
Apologies again for the self indulgent nature of this thread
[url][url]Edited by jonby on Thursday 8th March 10:07
Edited by jonby on Thursday 8th March 10:08
Edited by jonby on Thursday 8th March 10:09
Edited by jonby on Thursday 8th March 10:28
C997 said:
Congratulations
I'm also very jealous of your Q experience, yours was vastly different to mine.
thanks !I'm also very jealous of your Q experience, yours was vastly different to mine.
I assume yours was a while ago ?
To tie in with some of what superlightr above alludes to, my first experience which was primarily via the dealer rather than direct with Q, involved a lot of 'can't do that', sucking through teeth, etc. This time round, it was much more a case of 'let's price that up' and then if we get a price that makes us fall of our chair, at least they have given us an answer. It's far from a perfect experience and yes there was some steering away from certain ideas, mainly either because of marketing/branding or sheer practicality, but actually relatively little of that overall
Ian's shown the AMR branding on the side strakes - that was something we came up with and it shed an interesting light on the way Q works - they wouldn't give us exclusivity, but as I understand it, they would then only mention it as an option to AMR owners who specifically asked for AMR exterior branding, rather than bringing it up on an unsolicited basis to anyone speccing an AMR car through Q - I believe there are therefore a small handful of cars with this option in addition to our own
Of course there is also very little that can be described as genuinely unique - everything is to one degree or anther, a take on something that has been done before. For example, Red Bull cars had foil inlays on the sidestrakes before ours
Edited by jonby on Thursday 8th March 11:10
Jon39 said:
I think it was your mention Jonby, of who would be having the very last Vantage.
I understand many people asked for the very last vantage :-)We were told in no uncertain terms that couldn't be done for us !
But Graham may well end up having, if not the very last, certainly one of the last
Mind you, I guess that partly depends on your definition of the last 'vantage'........................
LordBretSinclair said:
Wow !!!!!!!
As a very close friend of Ian's he did let me know about a few of the goodies that your 3 cars were going to have on the condition I kept it totally to myself.
Glad I was able to reward his trust and keep the secrets - so good to see the photos now emerging and can't wait to see the cars in the flesh.
It will be worth the wait !!!!!!!!
Revealing secrets ? That's it - Ian's out of the club ! No longer the three AMRigos !!! (Who coined that catchphrase ? It really is brilliant)As a very close friend of Ian's he did let me know about a few of the goodies that your 3 cars were going to have on the condition I kept it totally to myself.
Glad I was able to reward his trust and keep the secrets - so good to see the photos now emerging and can't wait to see the cars in the flesh.
It will be worth the wait !!!!!!!!
I know a lot of people are keen to hear more about the Q process. One thing we don't really want to go into at all is pricing - partly we don't want to betray confidentiality and also because the pricing of one item in isolation can be misleading. For instance if you want two different parts in a certain colour leather, it might not be much more expensive than just having one done, if they use the same supplier of the part. Conversely, a very small item in a bespoke leather option could be very expensive if they use a different type or thickness of leather on that part and need to have it dyed specially
On paint, there is a huge difference between the cost of Q painting a complete part (eg an entire rear blade/diffuser) in one colour and having them take the CF rear blade (part of the Ti exhaust) as I did (in one of my first photos) and hand masking before painting small parts of the blade. So as I say, we won't be sharing costs and hope people understand why
Going back to the process though (look away now if you're not interested because this is pretty anoraky !), one of the most fascinating aspects for me was seeing how disruptive to the management time is for what on the face of it, might seem a minor request. For example, all three of us went for the 'standard' glass button option (not Q). We had to understand which buttons that included. As that has changed over time for Vantage, we needed to speak to a product specialist to establish which buttons the option included and which it did not. I ended up receiving a complicated diagram about the various buttons in Vantage. The four buttons not included in the glass option are glovebox, fuel flap opener and 2x seat tilt (on the side of the dash when you have lightweight seats). We decided we would like all four buttons to be in glass. When the buttons are in plastic, there are graphics on some of the buttons, but not on others. If we wanted them in glass, we couldn't have graphics on any (unless we paid more again) as they don't ordinarily have them made in glass with graphics. So we went for 4 plain glass buttons. As Q explained to us, how do they actually implement that ? Firstly someone has to order the buttons. Then, who fits them ? Should they fit them in plastic on the line and replace with glass later on ? Should they fit them in glass on the line ? If so, how do they convey that message to the appropriate operative when there is no 'standard option' to tick on the instructions to the shop floor for a glass glovebox button. I'm not saying it's rocket science, but it is terribly disruptive and it's that cost, rather than the cost of the buttons themselves, which they have to account for. You can see why there is now a minimum spend for Q. As I say, it's a very minor request, but given how long winded it is, you can see how for more complicated requests, there are more complicated and lengthy discussions !
To be clear about our cars, we each have two glass button upgrades to our cars, the first being part of the standard order process as a standard option for a set of glass buttons and the second being a Q feature, for a set of additional buttons to also be in glass
I fully understand that for some, the reaction to reading this may well be that life is too short ;-)
For us, having each run at least one or two vantages before, we know what we like, we know the cars pretty well and this was our chance to get our cars absolutely perfect, with no regrets. For all of us, these are proper keepers (I know, famous last words and all that, but I can neither afford the time nor the money to do this again in a hurry !!!!).
On paint, there is a huge difference between the cost of Q painting a complete part (eg an entire rear blade/diffuser) in one colour and having them take the CF rear blade (part of the Ti exhaust) as I did (in one of my first photos) and hand masking before painting small parts of the blade. So as I say, we won't be sharing costs and hope people understand why
Going back to the process though (look away now if you're not interested because this is pretty anoraky !), one of the most fascinating aspects for me was seeing how disruptive to the management time is for what on the face of it, might seem a minor request. For example, all three of us went for the 'standard' glass button option (not Q). We had to understand which buttons that included. As that has changed over time for Vantage, we needed to speak to a product specialist to establish which buttons the option included and which it did not. I ended up receiving a complicated diagram about the various buttons in Vantage. The four buttons not included in the glass option are glovebox, fuel flap opener and 2x seat tilt (on the side of the dash when you have lightweight seats). We decided we would like all four buttons to be in glass. When the buttons are in plastic, there are graphics on some of the buttons, but not on others. If we wanted them in glass, we couldn't have graphics on any (unless we paid more again) as they don't ordinarily have them made in glass with graphics. So we went for 4 plain glass buttons. As Q explained to us, how do they actually implement that ? Firstly someone has to order the buttons. Then, who fits them ? Should they fit them in plastic on the line and replace with glass later on ? Should they fit them in glass on the line ? If so, how do they convey that message to the appropriate operative when there is no 'standard option' to tick on the instructions to the shop floor for a glass glovebox button. I'm not saying it's rocket science, but it is terribly disruptive and it's that cost, rather than the cost of the buttons themselves, which they have to account for. You can see why there is now a minimum spend for Q. As I say, it's a very minor request, but given how long winded it is, you can see how for more complicated requests, there are more complicated and lengthy discussions !
To be clear about our cars, we each have two glass button upgrades to our cars, the first being part of the standard order process as a standard option for a set of glass buttons and the second being a Q feature, for a set of additional buttons to also be in glass
I fully understand that for some, the reaction to reading this may well be that life is too short ;-)
For us, having each run at least one or two vantages before, we know what we like, we know the cars pretty well and this was our chance to get our cars absolutely perfect, with no regrets. For all of us, these are proper keepers (I know, famous last words and all that, but I can neither afford the time nor the money to do this again in a hurry !!!!).
Edited by jonby on Thursday 8th March 14:09
Edited by jonby on Thursday 8th March 14:10
Edited by jonby on Thursday 8th March 14:10
DB9VolanteDriver said:
jonby said:
As Q explained to us, how do they actually implement that ? Firstly someone has to order the buttons. Then, who fits them ? Should they fit them in plastic on the line and replace with glass later on ? Should they fit them in glass on the line ? If so, how do they convey that message to the appropriate operative when there is no 'standard option' to tick on the instructions to the shop floor for a glass glovebox button. I'm not saying it's rocket science, but it is terribly disruptive and it's that cost, rather than the cost of the buttons themselves, which they have to account for.
When my DBS was built, there was no Q, but the process was the same with regard to fitment of bespoke items. Half were able to be accommodated as part of the production line flow, while the other half were completed post-production at Works Service. In some cases the standard part had not been fitted at the factory and WS simply installed the bespoke part, and in other cases they had to remove the standard part and install the new one. All very complicated with lots of e-mails to/from the factory and WS. No wonder it was pricey.If you look at for instance, the gaiter on my gearstick, which is normally only available in black (I've got it in lime on my AMR), it's the same part, made the same way, in the same leather quality, it just happens to be dyed differently. The cost to the factory for me having it in lime is not the cost of the part, it's the timecosts of making it happen. Having said that, may be a poor example as they may go to a different supplier once you don't want it in black, but the principle still stands
I've not quite got my head around the fact that pick up is now just two days away ! Detail complete, PPF complete, wheels & exhaust fitted, tracker subscription filled in, exhaust override switch fitted, nuberplates fitted......it's ready. It's not registered until Saturday so I couldn't collect earlier even if I wanted to, but at least I know there are no possible delays
I enjoyed briefly meeting a couple of forum members this week when I managed to tie in a meeting down South with selling my spare wheels & rear blade, so it's just the original exhaust to sell now and a handful of small goodies still to come from Gaydon
So I guess it's time to share a few more spec details. Those reading the thread will already know the exciting news that we all have special extended glass switches ! ;-)
Staying on the theme of common features for our three cars, we all said very early on that we wanted GT8/12 CF doorcards, which at the time we started talking about them, we hadn't seen on any other car, although since then Spitfire and indeed a handful of the AMR cars have been specced with them, as have a couple of non AMR late production V12 Q coupes
I noticed that the AMR Rapide & Vantage Pro showcars at Geneva had different stitching on the armrests, to match AMR stitching on the seats, so we requested the same on our cars - basically the standard stitch on the CF doorcard armrests is a triple line of parallel stitching but the AMR showcars had 2 lines that start one distance apart then widen to a different distance. It's actually for me, these very small details that I take more pleasure in than some of the more obvious ones.
Ian then came up with the most excellent and incredibly useful idea of zip up bags on the front of the lightweight seats. Again, to others perhaps not one of the most obvious or exciting features, but actually one of the most important. When the lightweight seats were first introduced on Vantage, they had a slim (non-zip) pouch on the front. Around the time of V12VS, this was changed to a deeper zip up bag, but I don't think it lasted more than a couple of years, before being dropped for no seat pocket at all. As we have the CF doorcards, we lose the long door pockets altogether. Our manual gearsticks mean we lose the open tray in the middle that SS cars have. We all tour our cars regularly, so storage is important. Q have in their language, 're-introduced' obsidian zip up storage bags to the fronts of our lightweight seats
It was Graham I think who then brought up the CF centre plate. That's the section behind the gearstick, in front of the armrest. On the AMR cars it's in piano black. As we have full CF doorcards, plus as standard on AMR cars, CF waterfall and gearstick surround, it would be the only piano black section in our cars. We all knew from past experience that Piano black scratches easily and is a nightmare to keep free from dust. Graham (or possibly Ian ?) knew it was a Q option to have all in CF and Graham had ordered it retrospectively on his last roadster, but not one any of us had seen on many cars at all. So that was the next item to order for all our cars - far from cheap, but very important to us
The fact we had three heads working together on this, with one idea from one person leading to a related idea from the next person, really helped get our perfect spec
Ok, that's more than enough for now !
I enjoyed briefly meeting a couple of forum members this week when I managed to tie in a meeting down South with selling my spare wheels & rear blade, so it's just the original exhaust to sell now and a handful of small goodies still to come from Gaydon
So I guess it's time to share a few more spec details. Those reading the thread will already know the exciting news that we all have special extended glass switches ! ;-)
Staying on the theme of common features for our three cars, we all said very early on that we wanted GT8/12 CF doorcards, which at the time we started talking about them, we hadn't seen on any other car, although since then Spitfire and indeed a handful of the AMR cars have been specced with them, as have a couple of non AMR late production V12 Q coupes
I noticed that the AMR Rapide & Vantage Pro showcars at Geneva had different stitching on the armrests, to match AMR stitching on the seats, so we requested the same on our cars - basically the standard stitch on the CF doorcard armrests is a triple line of parallel stitching but the AMR showcars had 2 lines that start one distance apart then widen to a different distance. It's actually for me, these very small details that I take more pleasure in than some of the more obvious ones.
Ian then came up with the most excellent and incredibly useful idea of zip up bags on the front of the lightweight seats. Again, to others perhaps not one of the most obvious or exciting features, but actually one of the most important. When the lightweight seats were first introduced on Vantage, they had a slim (non-zip) pouch on the front. Around the time of V12VS, this was changed to a deeper zip up bag, but I don't think it lasted more than a couple of years, before being dropped for no seat pocket at all. As we have the CF doorcards, we lose the long door pockets altogether. Our manual gearsticks mean we lose the open tray in the middle that SS cars have. We all tour our cars regularly, so storage is important. Q have in their language, 're-introduced' obsidian zip up storage bags to the fronts of our lightweight seats
It was Graham I think who then brought up the CF centre plate. That's the section behind the gearstick, in front of the armrest. On the AMR cars it's in piano black. As we have full CF doorcards, plus as standard on AMR cars, CF waterfall and gearstick surround, it would be the only piano black section in our cars. We all knew from past experience that Piano black scratches easily and is a nightmare to keep free from dust. Graham (or possibly Ian ?) knew it was a Q option to have all in CF and Graham had ordered it retrospectively on his last roadster, but not one any of us had seen on many cars at all. So that was the next item to order for all our cars - far from cheap, but very important to us
The fact we had three heads working together on this, with one idea from one person leading to a related idea from the next person, really helped get our perfect spec
Ok, that's more than enough for now !
callevascm said:
I absolutely agree about pb, it is nightmare and one of the aspects of my car I really do like is the cf central console. Looking forward to seeing your photographs, really impressed by your determination and patience to get so much of the detail right. 
I think with Vantage, having had one (or more) before is really helpful in getting the spec just right - it's those little things that you only learn from living with the car, to get right the next timeHaving said that, the downside to having multiple Vantages is when they remove items from the standard features list, such as the metal fuel cap, if you've been used to it on a previous car it would seem a let down to not have it on your next car whereas if I'd never had it to start with, I'm sure I wouldn't miss it !
Funnily enough we all went for the alternative DIM (instrument surrounds) - something else the three cars have in common
Apart from the common Q features I've mentioned in the last couple of days, the main remaining areas I've not posted about yet that tie our cars together and that are arguably the most unique are the badging/foils inside & out - more about that soon
Spent yesterday doing nothing but driving after picking up the car first thing in the morning. As it should be ! Fab day - car is everything I hoped it would be
Didn't take any photos at all - was far too busy enjoying the car but here's a photo some friends sent me a little earlier - their daughter in the passenger seat who I took for a quick spin was a little photo shy as she wasn't long out of bed ...
Will get some proper photos up soon
Couple of minor niggles to sort but hopefully nothing that won't be easy to fix
Right, sun is out and off for some more driving - that's what the car is for !!!
Apart from the common Q features I've mentioned in the last couple of days, the main remaining areas I've not posted about yet that tie our cars together and that are arguably the most unique are the badging/foils inside & out - more about that soon
Spent yesterday doing nothing but driving after picking up the car first thing in the morning. As it should be ! Fab day - car is everything I hoped it would be
Didn't take any photos at all - was far too busy enjoying the car but here's a photo some friends sent me a little earlier - their daughter in the passenger seat who I took for a quick spin was a little photo shy as she wasn't long out of bed ...
Will get some proper photos up soon
Couple of minor niggles to sort but hopefully nothing that won't be easy to fix
Right, sun is out and off for some more driving - that's what the car is for !!!
Cheers chaps
A small detail I've just picked up on - would appear the hazard warning triangle has been dropped from the standard spec - neither the triangle nor it's bracket are present in the boot. If so, it does really annoy me - it's not on the option list so didn't think to spec it, loads of Aston owners regularly drive their car abroad and it's a legal requirement in most European countries - I wonder when this happened ? It's in the handbook as a standard item, not an option. It's one thing making items like metal fuel cap that were standard a cost option and another just to drop practical (arguably essential) items altogether so very late in the life of a model
A small detail I've just picked up on - would appear the hazard warning triangle has been dropped from the standard spec - neither the triangle nor it's bracket are present in the boot. If so, it does really annoy me - it's not on the option list so didn't think to spec it, loads of Aston owners regularly drive their car abroad and it's a legal requirement in most European countries - I wonder when this happened ? It's in the handbook as a standard item, not an option. It's one thing making items like metal fuel cap that were standard a cost option and another just to drop practical (arguably essential) items altogether so very late in the life of a model
OK, so continuing with the common features to our 3 cars first, on the outside, cutting a very long story short, we decided not to do anything other than Q badges on the front wings & AMR logos on the side strakes
It was, you can guess, a very long series of discussions that led to that decision. We didn't want to overload the cars with badging. I suspect if having vantage and V12 badging was standard and a no cost delete option (which IMO it should be on all Astons), we might have kept it but 'if' is a big word, the cars don't come with it as standards, very few vantages will have such badging and those that need to be told these are V12 Vantages probably wouldn't be much the wiser if the cars did have such badging
We definitely wanted Q badges on the front wings and together with the indicators, could have been too much to have V12 badges too. Our discussions on AMR badges were complicated by the need to not clash with my Halo Union wings badges and what we thought would be black wing badges on Graham & Ian's cars, which were to be part of the AMR spec, then later dropped by the factory to standard Aston wings badges
It is our opinion that the cars should have had AMR branding on the outside. But they didn't. We looked at a number of options and spent the most time on discussing having bespoke boot badges made, which Q did quote for. In the end we came up with the idea of foil inlays to the CF side strakes, a little like the Red Arrows cars and unbeknown to us at the time, Vanquish Ultimate for which the specs were released after we signed off on our cars. So that's what our cars have (pics soon I promise) and I understand that if anyone with a Q AMR asked about AMR branding, they were told about our idea, which was then taken up by at least two and possibly three or four other customers
I'll talk more about the interior branding/badging in another post, before then moving on to the Q bits unique to our individual cars - lets turn to Saturday !
I'd seen my car a couple of times since it had been at Wilmslow, so I knew what to expect. I still needed to examine a couple of bits & pieces but basically, I wanted to get in the car and drive it ! There is a neat little Aston branded presentation box now that fits 2 ECUs and the emergency key which is a nice touch - I think it's fairly new ?
I didn't spend much time with the handover - other than paperwork, we paired the phone, looked at how the suspension & AMR shift works, then I just said I'd read the manual later and spent most of the weekend driving. The car is great !
For all the time spent on custom this and paint sample that, driving is what it's all about. And the car didn't let me down. I'm not really sure how much I can embellish this point - I drove and drove and really enjoyed myself.
Compared to my V12V roadster, I have the following observations. Suspension is incredible - amazed at how it takes ruts & the like so much more smoothly than V12V, even in midway sport mode. Everyone I gave a lift to made an unsolicited comment about how comfortable it is.
Handling if anything, seems even more fluid than my V12V. I thought losing a touch of the rawness of V12V might lead to it being less special, but it doesn't
I deliberately specced zeros (not corsas) - I've normally had corsas and I'm not sure if it's a consequence of tyres or the extra power, but seemed even more difficult than I remembered to get all the power down without breaking traction. I've been planning from the start on Ps4S when these tyres need changing - will be interesting to see the comparison. I've just got the feeling that the corsas, especially on a day like yesterday which was sunny & warm, would be a bit more sticky than the zeros
I really like the new gauge that shows pressures & temperatures for each individual tyre in the infoscreen. In general, I think the whole infotainment system is much cleaner and works much better than the previous tech
I know it's personal, but I just love my ONE 77 wheel. It works really well for where I hold the wheel but I get that it's not for every style (just as highline with manual isn't for everyone) and I also get that it's fashionable to slate square steering wheels in the same way that it's fashionable to hate Coldplay. But I'm delighted with the way it works
I wasn't sure how I'd find AM shift. I still can't, however hard I try, make myself lift off the throttle when changing gear. But the noises AM shift makes are great ! Combined with sport mode and valves open, it's just a magical sound
Perhaps daft but I don't think I realised just what a head turner this colour scheme would be. It's the identical shape to my last car, but the attention it draws is staggering. I'm sure as many who turn their heads think t***t as there are who think great, but either way, it's not subtle ! I had friend who know my last car well who couldn't quite believe it is the same shape as my last car. The most commented upon items are the wheels, the union wings badges and 'I didn't want to tell you but when you said green with lime stripes I was concerned - in the flesh it looks great'
Negatives ? I'm struggling. I've mentioned that I find the removal of the warning triangle a real cheap move. There are one or two other areas evidencing the same. The centre wheel caps now have a transfer print type wings badge rather than a raised one. Now as it happens, us 3 AMRigos sourced old style centre caps (thanks Graham !) as the newer ones have a silver edge and we wanted all matt black, along with black wheel nut caps, to give the wheels a stealth look. But if you're on your 2nd/3rd/4th vantage, any cost savings the factory made are wiped out if just one or two customers decide not to change car because of cost savings that give the wrong image. Of course being generous, there are possible plausible explanations not connected to cost - the triangles may not meet EU regs any more, there may have been some customer complaints that they get damaged easily, etc. But in the absence of any other info, the perception is cheap cost cutting and it does them no favours. On the flip side, the flap in the boot where the tyre compressor/sealant is stored has a leather tab to open it and I can;t be sure but I don't remember it being there before ? Together with the new key box, evidence they aren't only cutting but are adding as well
Any regrets ? I suppose being super picky, the 'matched' lime stitch on the gaiter which is in lime isn't quite as much a match as I might have liked. I could have gone even more stupid with carbon (tread plates, handbrake lever, engine brace, I could go on...) but where do you stop ?!!? So basically no.
Faults ? A couple of minor trim alignment bits, a slightly sticky hood. That's about it
Right, back to work and then home for some more driving !
It was, you can guess, a very long series of discussions that led to that decision. We didn't want to overload the cars with badging. I suspect if having vantage and V12 badging was standard and a no cost delete option (which IMO it should be on all Astons), we might have kept it but 'if' is a big word, the cars don't come with it as standards, very few vantages will have such badging and those that need to be told these are V12 Vantages probably wouldn't be much the wiser if the cars did have such badging
We definitely wanted Q badges on the front wings and together with the indicators, could have been too much to have V12 badges too. Our discussions on AMR badges were complicated by the need to not clash with my Halo Union wings badges and what we thought would be black wing badges on Graham & Ian's cars, which were to be part of the AMR spec, then later dropped by the factory to standard Aston wings badges
It is our opinion that the cars should have had AMR branding on the outside. But they didn't. We looked at a number of options and spent the most time on discussing having bespoke boot badges made, which Q did quote for. In the end we came up with the idea of foil inlays to the CF side strakes, a little like the Red Arrows cars and unbeknown to us at the time, Vanquish Ultimate for which the specs were released after we signed off on our cars. So that's what our cars have (pics soon I promise) and I understand that if anyone with a Q AMR asked about AMR branding, they were told about our idea, which was then taken up by at least two and possibly three or four other customers
I'll talk more about the interior branding/badging in another post, before then moving on to the Q bits unique to our individual cars - lets turn to Saturday !
I'd seen my car a couple of times since it had been at Wilmslow, so I knew what to expect. I still needed to examine a couple of bits & pieces but basically, I wanted to get in the car and drive it ! There is a neat little Aston branded presentation box now that fits 2 ECUs and the emergency key which is a nice touch - I think it's fairly new ?
I didn't spend much time with the handover - other than paperwork, we paired the phone, looked at how the suspension & AMR shift works, then I just said I'd read the manual later and spent most of the weekend driving. The car is great !
For all the time spent on custom this and paint sample that, driving is what it's all about. And the car didn't let me down. I'm not really sure how much I can embellish this point - I drove and drove and really enjoyed myself.
Compared to my V12V roadster, I have the following observations. Suspension is incredible - amazed at how it takes ruts & the like so much more smoothly than V12V, even in midway sport mode. Everyone I gave a lift to made an unsolicited comment about how comfortable it is.
Handling if anything, seems even more fluid than my V12V. I thought losing a touch of the rawness of V12V might lead to it being less special, but it doesn't
I deliberately specced zeros (not corsas) - I've normally had corsas and I'm not sure if it's a consequence of tyres or the extra power, but seemed even more difficult than I remembered to get all the power down without breaking traction. I've been planning from the start on Ps4S when these tyres need changing - will be interesting to see the comparison. I've just got the feeling that the corsas, especially on a day like yesterday which was sunny & warm, would be a bit more sticky than the zeros
I really like the new gauge that shows pressures & temperatures for each individual tyre in the infoscreen. In general, I think the whole infotainment system is much cleaner and works much better than the previous tech
I know it's personal, but I just love my ONE 77 wheel. It works really well for where I hold the wheel but I get that it's not for every style (just as highline with manual isn't for everyone) and I also get that it's fashionable to slate square steering wheels in the same way that it's fashionable to hate Coldplay. But I'm delighted with the way it works
I wasn't sure how I'd find AM shift. I still can't, however hard I try, make myself lift off the throttle when changing gear. But the noises AM shift makes are great ! Combined with sport mode and valves open, it's just a magical sound
Perhaps daft but I don't think I realised just what a head turner this colour scheme would be. It's the identical shape to my last car, but the attention it draws is staggering. I'm sure as many who turn their heads think t***t as there are who think great, but either way, it's not subtle ! I had friend who know my last car well who couldn't quite believe it is the same shape as my last car. The most commented upon items are the wheels, the union wings badges and 'I didn't want to tell you but when you said green with lime stripes I was concerned - in the flesh it looks great'
Negatives ? I'm struggling. I've mentioned that I find the removal of the warning triangle a real cheap move. There are one or two other areas evidencing the same. The centre wheel caps now have a transfer print type wings badge rather than a raised one. Now as it happens, us 3 AMRigos sourced old style centre caps (thanks Graham !) as the newer ones have a silver edge and we wanted all matt black, along with black wheel nut caps, to give the wheels a stealth look. But if you're on your 2nd/3rd/4th vantage, any cost savings the factory made are wiped out if just one or two customers decide not to change car because of cost savings that give the wrong image. Of course being generous, there are possible plausible explanations not connected to cost - the triangles may not meet EU regs any more, there may have been some customer complaints that they get damaged easily, etc. But in the absence of any other info, the perception is cheap cost cutting and it does them no favours. On the flip side, the flap in the boot where the tyre compressor/sealant is stored has a leather tab to open it and I can;t be sure but I don't remember it being there before ? Together with the new key box, evidence they aren't only cutting but are adding as well
Any regrets ? I suppose being super picky, the 'matched' lime stitch on the gaiter which is in lime isn't quite as much a match as I might have liked. I could have gone even more stupid with carbon (tread plates, handbrake lever, engine brace, I could go on...) but where do you stop ?!!? So basically no.
Faults ? A couple of minor trim alignment bits, a slightly sticky hood. That's about it
Right, back to work and then home for some more driving !
callevascm said:
For what it is worth, when I raised the same issue on the lack of warning triangle, HR Owen produced one for me, I sourced similar Velcro tapes and viola! Thank you Adam, I am away from the car but happy to help if useful.
Thanks - funnily enough my dealer has already done the same in exactly the same way - he confirmed it the moment I raised it. I'm sure I should be more concerned about my car than Astons in general - I shouldn't get so hung up on principle, but I do !having said all that, it says how happy I am overall when that's one of the very few niggles
Praise indeed sir coming from the master ! I'm sure we'll all take it happily :-)
So bar a few goodies still to arrive which we will post about at an appropriate time, the last of the common themes is the interior 'badging'
We all kept the AMR logos stitched in the headrests - me with the standard colour match black stitch and the other two in contrast stitch (I think !)
We talked long and hard about sill plaques possibly incorporating something common to the three of us, but ultimately decided we didn't really want to lose the 1 of 100 AMR plaques. We talked about having plaques or embroidery in the glove boxes, centre consoles, on the centre consoles - we really talked through every possible idea. We were also talking about what text to put on there. We came up with a few phrases & slogans, made-up model names & so on - nothing quite worked.
The we finally came up with 'good things come to those who wait' - it seemed so appropriate to our long wait for the cars. We still didn't know how we were going to incorporate it, but then suggested to Q a foil inlay to the ashtray (utility) lid that incorporated Q branding, 'edition numbers' and the slogan. Q came back to us to say they couldn't fit it all on. They came up with a few ideas and then we countered with the idea of the top of the slogan going on the carbon gear knob surround - bear in mind that we have full CF centreplate as it's called, so the whole plate on which the gearstick surround is mounted, the utility lid, etc
By then one of us had roped in AP to the general discussion and between us & Q, we signed off on a scheme with Q by Aston Martin on the utility lid, the 'good things come to those who wait' around the bottom of the gear surround, AP's signature in the top right corner and edition numbers 1 of 3, 2 of etc in the top centre. All to be in silver foil inlay on the CF.
You can see a good chunk of this in one of the photos on the first page which in includes the Q logo. This pic I've just posted which was taken by dealer shows the AP signature but you can't see the edition number as it's hidden by the gearstick
We let Q randomly assign the numbers - I'm number 2
So as Simon says, all very personal, especially this last bit. A real joint effort - the 'we' I use above describing the decision making process is all very much joint input from the three of us
I've been ridiculously busy with work the last few weeks so not had as much chance to exchange emails with Graham & Ian (sorry guys !) but their cars are not very far behind. I'm not sure what I'll do with myself now it's all (almost) finished ! I've even sold the original wheels & rear blade so just the exhaust to go. I think I'll need a new, much much cheaper project to find
Full photos and details of my personal spec to follow....
EDIT: Just found a pic showing the whole of the central graphics including the numbering
So bar a few goodies still to arrive which we will post about at an appropriate time, the last of the common themes is the interior 'badging'
We all kept the AMR logos stitched in the headrests - me with the standard colour match black stitch and the other two in contrast stitch (I think !)
We talked long and hard about sill plaques possibly incorporating something common to the three of us, but ultimately decided we didn't really want to lose the 1 of 100 AMR plaques. We talked about having plaques or embroidery in the glove boxes, centre consoles, on the centre consoles - we really talked through every possible idea. We were also talking about what text to put on there. We came up with a few phrases & slogans, made-up model names & so on - nothing quite worked.
The we finally came up with 'good things come to those who wait' - it seemed so appropriate to our long wait for the cars. We still didn't know how we were going to incorporate it, but then suggested to Q a foil inlay to the ashtray (utility) lid that incorporated Q branding, 'edition numbers' and the slogan. Q came back to us to say they couldn't fit it all on. They came up with a few ideas and then we countered with the idea of the top of the slogan going on the carbon gear knob surround - bear in mind that we have full CF centreplate as it's called, so the whole plate on which the gearstick surround is mounted, the utility lid, etc
By then one of us had roped in AP to the general discussion and between us & Q, we signed off on a scheme with Q by Aston Martin on the utility lid, the 'good things come to those who wait' around the bottom of the gear surround, AP's signature in the top right corner and edition numbers 1 of 3, 2 of etc in the top centre. All to be in silver foil inlay on the CF.
You can see a good chunk of this in one of the photos on the first page which in includes the Q logo. This pic I've just posted which was taken by dealer shows the AP signature but you can't see the edition number as it's hidden by the gearstick
We let Q randomly assign the numbers - I'm number 2
So as Simon says, all very personal, especially this last bit. A real joint effort - the 'we' I use above describing the decision making process is all very much joint input from the three of us
I've been ridiculously busy with work the last few weeks so not had as much chance to exchange emails with Graham & Ian (sorry guys !) but their cars are not very far behind. I'm not sure what I'll do with myself now it's all (almost) finished ! I've even sold the original wheels & rear blade so just the exhaust to go. I think I'll need a new, much much cheaper project to find
Full photos and details of my personal spec to follow....
EDIT: Just found a pic showing the whole of the central graphics including the numbering
Edited by jonby on Monday 26th March 21:42
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