Just cancelled my AMV8 order...
Discussion
Had an AMV8 a while back as a loan car for two weeks. At the end of the first week I walked straight into my local dealership and ordered myself one. After the first week I fell in love with the noise, the looks, etc.
However, the second week of ownership brought to the surface all the things that I glossed over the first week:
- The fuel economy is dreadful
- The car actually needs more power
- All the switchgear (and keys, etc) are from a Ford Mondeo
- The Sat Nav is crap and straight out of a Volvo S60
- The interior looks great but the facia is cheap plastic and the buttons feel cheap
- You get a better standard stereo in a VW
- In the heat the centre console buttons all stuck
- Lots of niggle problems (elec windows, window wipers, etc mostly electrical)
- The car rattles like mad
- etc etc
The crunch came after two weeks when I got back into my 911 (a 997 Carrera). The car felt built like a tank, quicker, easier to drive, etc. It may not have the looks but that I can live it. Unfortunately there is no way I can justify paying a £15-£20k premium for the car and so I just traded in for a 997C2S instead.
I can really see how after one test drive people fall in love with the car based on looks, sounds, etc but it will be interesting to see how many people feel the same way after six months. However, for me the car is far from Porsche's build quality, performance and overall performance per pound ownership.
Good luck to all AMV8 owners but it'll be Porsche for me...
However, the second week of ownership brought to the surface all the things that I glossed over the first week:
- The fuel economy is dreadful
- The car actually needs more power
- All the switchgear (and keys, etc) are from a Ford Mondeo
- The Sat Nav is crap and straight out of a Volvo S60
- The interior looks great but the facia is cheap plastic and the buttons feel cheap
- You get a better standard stereo in a VW
- In the heat the centre console buttons all stuck
- Lots of niggle problems (elec windows, window wipers, etc mostly electrical)
- The car rattles like mad
- etc etc
The crunch came after two weeks when I got back into my 911 (a 997 Carrera). The car felt built like a tank, quicker, easier to drive, etc. It may not have the looks but that I can live it. Unfortunately there is no way I can justify paying a £15-£20k premium for the car and so I just traded in for a 997C2S instead.
I can really see how after one test drive people fall in love with the car based on looks, sounds, etc but it will be interesting to see how many people feel the same way after six months. However, for me the car is far from Porsche's build quality, performance and overall performance per pound ownership.
Good luck to all AMV8 owners but it'll be Porsche for me...
Just to clarify..
I had a small prang in my 911. I have a funky insurance policy that means that they have to replace with a similar level of car - they didn't have a 911 so gave me an AMV8 instead for the two weeks that my 911 was being resprayed.
As I said, I'm sure people are very happy in their AMV8s and can see how you'd fall in love with it (I went as far as ordering one..) but ultimately found it too much of a compromise. I therefore cancelled my order and upgraded my 911 for a 997C2S.
It may be that the loan car I had was a bad example but it seems that buying an Aston is a bit too much of a lottery.
In defence of some of my comments:
-Driving styles are driving styles but there is no disputing simple lack of bhp (especially low down power)
-My car had tons of niggly faults again highlighting that buying an Aston is too much of a lottery
-Not the sound but the actual stereo itself I found to be cheap and nasty when compared with the total multifunctionality of Porsche's PCM
-I had a Volvo S60 as a hire car once and opening the SatNav on the AMV8 was just a huge letdown - reminded me of a sh1t diesel Volvo - shouldn't be the case in a £85-90k car
-The interior looks fabulous but on mine tapping the central dash where the stereo sits it was obvious it was nasty cheap plastic
-I like a reassuring 'click' for my buttons/switchgear and Porsche is miles ahead here - gives a general feeling of quality
-If you can afford a 90k car then fuel economy is prob not that important but for the two week period I had the car my digital readout gave an average of 12mpg and that's just piss poor
It may be the case that the car I had was a 'lemon' in which case its a shame as it caused me to cancel an order. However, I don't disagree that its a beautiful car - given my total experience I just can't justify paying the massive premium over a new 911.
As a final dig though :wink: ... just wait till Ford sells AM to Oleg Deripaska.... It'll be a different tune then...!!
I had a small prang in my 911. I have a funky insurance policy that means that they have to replace with a similar level of car - they didn't have a 911 so gave me an AMV8 instead for the two weeks that my 911 was being resprayed.
As I said, I'm sure people are very happy in their AMV8s and can see how you'd fall in love with it (I went as far as ordering one..) but ultimately found it too much of a compromise. I therefore cancelled my order and upgraded my 911 for a 997C2S.
It may be that the loan car I had was a bad example but it seems that buying an Aston is a bit too much of a lottery.
In defence of some of my comments:
-Driving styles are driving styles but there is no disputing simple lack of bhp (especially low down power)
-My car had tons of niggly faults again highlighting that buying an Aston is too much of a lottery
-Not the sound but the actual stereo itself I found to be cheap and nasty when compared with the total multifunctionality of Porsche's PCM
-I had a Volvo S60 as a hire car once and opening the SatNav on the AMV8 was just a huge letdown - reminded me of a sh1t diesel Volvo - shouldn't be the case in a £85-90k car
-The interior looks fabulous but on mine tapping the central dash where the stereo sits it was obvious it was nasty cheap plastic
-I like a reassuring 'click' for my buttons/switchgear and Porsche is miles ahead here - gives a general feeling of quality
-If you can afford a 90k car then fuel economy is prob not that important but for the two week period I had the car my digital readout gave an average of 12mpg and that's just piss poor
It may be the case that the car I had was a 'lemon' in which case its a shame as it caused me to cancel an order. However, I don't disagree that its a beautiful car - given my total experience I just can't justify paying the massive premium over a new 911.
As a final dig though :wink: ... just wait till Ford sells AM to Oleg Deripaska.... It'll be a different tune then...!!
bund said:
v8tvr said:
richb said:
JEBLondon said:
-I had a Volvo S60 as a hire car once and opening the SatNav on the AMV8 was just a huge letdown - reminded me of a shit diesel Volvo - shouldn't be the case in a £85-90k car
Yeah I can see what you mean, just because the Volvo "satnav" is perfect at directing the route doesn't mean it's acceptable in a £85k car 
Actually when i first saw the sat nav i though 'what a bag of crap' but since using it i personally prefer it to the porsche or the BMW system, i was suprised, although entering the street names is a bit dodgy when you are driving
With my 997 i dont think i could enter the postcode to find an address??????? This to me makes the aston slag nav better by far.
There's a 'Plus' version of the SatNav for a 997 that includes postcode entry.
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