Newish owner (with pics and a couple of questions)
Discussion
Evening all! Long time lurker, first time poster!
I purchased my first Aston in April last year. I'd always said I'd have an Aston by the time I was 30, but with three weeks to go until my 31st birthday I thought it was a lost dream. To my amazement my wife said that would never do, and so I went shopping! Originally I wanted Meteorite with a Kestrel Tan interior, but the two that were on the market at the time were both dogs. I looked at both Sportshift and Manuals, coupes and roadsters. Then I found her! She's a 2006 V8V manual coupe, meteorite grey with iron ore leather. I knew the second I saw the car that it was the one I'd end up buying. I'd driven a Sportshift Roadster earlier in the day and I just wasn't a fan of the gearbox, but as soon as I sat in my car I knew I'd be driving her away that evening. At the time it had 54,000 miles on the clock, I've added another 8k since then as it's my daily drive. She drives flawlessly and I enjoy the challenge of becoming a better driver that the car presents. The clutch is still the original and with a full service history the car drives and performs better than some of the cars I tested with 10-20k on the clock. Here are a few pics:
Over the summer of last year I called James Hawkes-Reed and had iPhone mirroring and Bluetooth fitted. It worked seamlessly with my old iPhone 7 Plus, but since I've upgraded to an iPhone X the mirroring doesn't seem to work any more. I now just get a dodgy input like the one in the photo below. I've tried to contact James three or four times now, but I've not had a reply from any of his various email addresses. Does anyone have any good fixes for this issue?
I've also noticed the paint peeling from the rear passenger side alloy (see pic below) any suggestions?
It's my intention to upgrade to a twin plate clutch at some point soon. Other small projects include doing the Jag key swap to avoid the truly horrendous Volvo fob! I intend to do as much of the servicing on the car as I can myself.
Really looking forward to getting stuck in here too, and hopefully I'll make it along to one of the meets at some point.
I purchased my first Aston in April last year. I'd always said I'd have an Aston by the time I was 30, but with three weeks to go until my 31st birthday I thought it was a lost dream. To my amazement my wife said that would never do, and so I went shopping! Originally I wanted Meteorite with a Kestrel Tan interior, but the two that were on the market at the time were both dogs. I looked at both Sportshift and Manuals, coupes and roadsters. Then I found her! She's a 2006 V8V manual coupe, meteorite grey with iron ore leather. I knew the second I saw the car that it was the one I'd end up buying. I'd driven a Sportshift Roadster earlier in the day and I just wasn't a fan of the gearbox, but as soon as I sat in my car I knew I'd be driving her away that evening. At the time it had 54,000 miles on the clock, I've added another 8k since then as it's my daily drive. She drives flawlessly and I enjoy the challenge of becoming a better driver that the car presents. The clutch is still the original and with a full service history the car drives and performs better than some of the cars I tested with 10-20k on the clock. Here are a few pics:
Over the summer of last year I called James Hawkes-Reed and had iPhone mirroring and Bluetooth fitted. It worked seamlessly with my old iPhone 7 Plus, but since I've upgraded to an iPhone X the mirroring doesn't seem to work any more. I now just get a dodgy input like the one in the photo below. I've tried to contact James three or four times now, but I've not had a reply from any of his various email addresses. Does anyone have any good fixes for this issue?
I've also noticed the paint peeling from the rear passenger side alloy (see pic below) any suggestions?
It's my intention to upgrade to a twin plate clutch at some point soon. Other small projects include doing the Jag key swap to avoid the truly horrendous Volvo fob! I intend to do as much of the servicing on the car as I can myself.
Really looking forward to getting stuck in here too, and hopefully I'll make it along to one of the meets at some point.
Thanks for the very warm welcome everybody! James got in touch last night with a possible solution to the iPhone mirroring issue.
Mark! What are the chances?! I've enabled the email option, so drop me a line. What a small world!
Project for today is to try and sort out the drivers side headlamp washer. The cover went missing on a drive last month, so I recently bought a replacement from astonmartinbits.com. The only issue is that the whole washer unit now seems to have come loose. Bugger.
Any recommendations for wheel refurb specialists in Oxfordshire? I've also managed to curb two of them in the last ten months!
Mark! What are the chances?! I've enabled the email option, so drop me a line. What a small world!
Project for today is to try and sort out the drivers side headlamp washer. The cover went missing on a drive last month, so I recently bought a replacement from astonmartinbits.com. The only issue is that the whole washer unit now seems to have come loose. Bugger.
Any recommendations for wheel refurb specialists in Oxfordshire? I've also managed to curb two of them in the last ten months!
Edited by A320martin on Thursday 15th March 10:06
Shnozz, an idea of the price you paid would be great, but please don't go to any trouble.
The key is a major disappointment. I had thought about spending the extra to get a 4.7 with the ECU, but we were buying a new place and moving at the same time as shopping for the car, so the wife couldn't be convinced!
The iPhone mirroring worked really well previously. It's much better than the female prison officer barking instructions at you from the OEM/Volvo unit. I think I paid about £1,200 to get it installed, along with Bluetooth and a reversing camera. It was working flawlessly, but James seems to think it's the link cable that's causing the current issue. Should be an easy fix. I can't recommend James highly enough though. He did an excellent job installing it all and the car was spotless when he finished. He's a proper enthusiast too!
The key is a major disappointment. I had thought about spending the extra to get a 4.7 with the ECU, but we were buying a new place and moving at the same time as shopping for the car, so the wife couldn't be convinced!
The iPhone mirroring worked really well previously. It's much better than the female prison officer barking instructions at you from the OEM/Volvo unit. I think I paid about £1,200 to get it installed, along with Bluetooth and a reversing camera. It was working flawlessly, but James seems to think it's the link cable that's causing the current issue. Should be an easy fix. I can't recommend James highly enough though. He did an excellent job installing it all and the car was spotless when he finished. He's a proper enthusiast too!
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