I have never done a one year ownership report as it's about this time that I've usually sold my car and am looking for what's next, but seeing as I have no plans to sell my Vantage I thought I would do a run down of what it's been like to own for a year.
For me, the 4.3 V8 Vantage is the best value of the affordable sports cars that are a bit more special. My budget was to be as close to £30k as I could and the obvious direct comparisons are 997s and R8s but with the engine issues of gen 1 997s costing up to £10k to fix and good R8s being about £10k more expensive, the Vantage felt like a safer bet for me. I'd already had a 987 Boxster and 981 Boxsters and Caymans were too expensive. An E92 M3 Competition was tempting but the horrible fuel range put me off and I'm more of a sports car kind of person.
It is my only car but not used regularly, I do not need it to commute and practicality is not a large concern but it does still need to be able to do the boring supermarket runs, trips to Ikea and enough room for a weekend away (and more recently a dog). The Vantage weirdly fits all these requirements whilst comfortably exceeding 400 miles range on its 80 litre tank and having the looks and driving dynamics I was looking for.
I actually bought my car unseen which was equally brave and stupid but it was keenly priced at the time so after multiple lengthy chats with the seller, I sent my Uncle to check it out and make sure I wasn't sending my deposit into a blackhole. Fortunately the car is/was meticulously owned and cared for by the enthusiastic previous owner who was a great chap.
A quick Vantage timeline of the early cars for context:
2005-2006 - The first two years of production, 4.3 V8, they had different seats and a few different interior bits £25-£33k depending on condition and mileage.
2007 - The interior was facelift with nicer seats and centre arm rest and a few other bits. More desirable over early cars £29-£35k.
2008 - A final tweak dropped the external aerial, added an iPod connection and a few minor tweaks similar price to 2007 cars but slightly more desirable but very few were made.
Late 2008 - 4.7 engine introduced, nice bump in power over the 4.3 engine (380bhp up to 420bhp).
There were various special editions, N400 (and N420 and N430 later on), the 4.7 was further tweaked later in its life in the S models and there are of course the V12 models too. The big facelift came in 2012 with different bumpers and sills, the design of the dash centre console was updated significantly and the dated Volvo navigation upgraded too. Anyway, this is going to be about the early cars. Mine is a January 2008 4.3 so almost 11 years old and is late on in the 4.3 life.
So, what's it like to own? I bought it with 45300 miles and it's now nudging 52000 miles so I've covered 6700 in a year (2700 of those in two weeks). Overall, it's brilliant and I find myself grinning when I'm in it but you need to go in to it with the right expectations. Whilst it is the most popular Aston Martin ever made, it's still a relatively low volume, largely hand built British car and that brings some flaws (or character). Mechanically they are really strong cars, the engine is robust and likes to be revved and to me sounds like a Nascar when you're gunning it. The steering is fantastic in feel and weight on the move but incredibly heavy at low speeds. The clutch is heavy AF, it's ridiculous and tiresome in traffic but you do not give it a second thought when you're moving. The gearbox is equally physically, it's grumpy and notchy when cold but once warm is direct. The brakes have great feel, not overly assisted and I have not had them fade on the road but I'll see how they cope at Silverstone next week.
I love the details of the car, the shapes and curves and the way it is sculptured, I'm always taking a second look and taking pictures.
The interior is a gorgeous place to be. Almost every surface is covered in leather and save for the naff Ford indicator stalks, everything you touch feels of the quality you would expect.
The seats are very adjustable, allow you to sit low in the car with the wheel close to you. I like cars that feel like they're wrapped around you with high doors and scuttles.
I've driven it in all conditions, once you're used to its size and proportions, the nose of the car seems miles away at first, but it's not a big car at all and is good fun to chuck it down a B road. It's not a light car but the balance and levels of grip mean that you don't feel like you're battling the weight. One of my favourite roads is the coast road to Beach Head near Eastbourne and it feels at home through those tighter and sweeping corners.
It's been out in the snow, a lot actually.
A particularly treacherous drive to Wales in March was hairy but it made it.
The practicality side of things is great and is why it will eventually be very difficult to replace. The hatch is really useful, you can get loads in it.
The above was 2 weeks worth of luggage for a trip to Switzerland, Italy and France and the car was just superb for the whole thing. Comfortable for the 500 miles a did in a day, spacious enough, frugal enough, the optional premium stereo sounds great too which makes up for the Volvo navigation being horse ****.
Costs wise it has not been cheap but I also do not think it has been too bad for what you get and I have had a cheap year on the scale of things. I had an oil service at an official Aston dealer which was £711 and definitely did not feel like value for money so I'll be using a specialist for its annual service in future. The door and boot struts failed and were £100 in parts to replace but DIYable.
I had a door ding removed for £90 but it could have been much worse, if you get them on the ridge that runs down the door or on the rear three quarter they are almost impossible to remove cleanly. Most panels are aluminium too so they don't have quite the same metal memory as steel.
It passed its MOT with no advisories.
But I did spend to have the wheels refurbished as they'd had a bodged job in the past and were looking a mess. It turns out that three wheels were slightly bent and there was some heavy corrosion in places so well worth getting them done properly.
There are some potential big bills with these cars but with some planning there's no reason why they should hit you all at once. The clutch is the big consumable and is around £3k at a dealer or £1500-2000 at a specialist. With the engine in the front and the gearbox in the back, there's a lot of labour to get to it. They can last 80k miles or as few as 15k depending on how they are treated and there are upgrade options to twin plate clutches that improve the clutch pedal effort massively. It's something I want to get done but it's not a priority at around £3.5k all in. Odd bits can be horribly expensive (wheel bearings are £500 each) and you can expect a number of common failures at some point. The central locking motors are notoriously flakey a £500 a side to fix. The rear light seals fail and kills the electrics when they fill with water and they are £1000 to replace. Electric mirror motors go funny, petrol filler caps get stuck, thermostats fail, the gears in the nav screen break. Overall nothing major and nothing that would leave you stranded but can become expensive to keep on top of.
Sorry if I've bored you to tears, hopefully anyone thinking about getting one now or in the future will find it a little helpful. I really think that given how inflated some Porsche and Ferraris have become, these represent excellent value. I'm not sure that they are the best of anything, but as a package, the looks, the noise, the experience of driving it and throw in the solid reliability and decent practicality, to me that makes it brilliant.
And the dog approves.
For me, the 4.3 V8 Vantage is the best value of the affordable sports cars that are a bit more special. My budget was to be as close to £30k as I could and the obvious direct comparisons are 997s and R8s but with the engine issues of gen 1 997s costing up to £10k to fix and good R8s being about £10k more expensive, the Vantage felt like a safer bet for me. I'd already had a 987 Boxster and 981 Boxsters and Caymans were too expensive. An E92 M3 Competition was tempting but the horrible fuel range put me off and I'm more of a sports car kind of person.
It is my only car but not used regularly, I do not need it to commute and practicality is not a large concern but it does still need to be able to do the boring supermarket runs, trips to Ikea and enough room for a weekend away (and more recently a dog). The Vantage weirdly fits all these requirements whilst comfortably exceeding 400 miles range on its 80 litre tank and having the looks and driving dynamics I was looking for.
I actually bought my car unseen which was equally brave and stupid but it was keenly priced at the time so after multiple lengthy chats with the seller, I sent my Uncle to check it out and make sure I wasn't sending my deposit into a blackhole. Fortunately the car is/was meticulously owned and cared for by the enthusiastic previous owner who was a great chap.
A quick Vantage timeline of the early cars for context:
2005-2006 - The first two years of production, 4.3 V8, they had different seats and a few different interior bits £25-£33k depending on condition and mileage.
2007 - The interior was facelift with nicer seats and centre arm rest and a few other bits. More desirable over early cars £29-£35k.
2008 - A final tweak dropped the external aerial, added an iPod connection and a few minor tweaks similar price to 2007 cars but slightly more desirable but very few were made.
Late 2008 - 4.7 engine introduced, nice bump in power over the 4.3 engine (380bhp up to 420bhp).
There were various special editions, N400 (and N420 and N430 later on), the 4.7 was further tweaked later in its life in the S models and there are of course the V12 models too. The big facelift came in 2012 with different bumpers and sills, the design of the dash centre console was updated significantly and the dated Volvo navigation upgraded too. Anyway, this is going to be about the early cars. Mine is a January 2008 4.3 so almost 11 years old and is late on in the 4.3 life.
So, what's it like to own? I bought it with 45300 miles and it's now nudging 52000 miles so I've covered 6700 in a year (2700 of those in two weeks). Overall, it's brilliant and I find myself grinning when I'm in it but you need to go in to it with the right expectations. Whilst it is the most popular Aston Martin ever made, it's still a relatively low volume, largely hand built British car and that brings some flaws (or character). Mechanically they are really strong cars, the engine is robust and likes to be revved and to me sounds like a Nascar when you're gunning it. The steering is fantastic in feel and weight on the move but incredibly heavy at low speeds. The clutch is heavy AF, it's ridiculous and tiresome in traffic but you do not give it a second thought when you're moving. The gearbox is equally physically, it's grumpy and notchy when cold but once warm is direct. The brakes have great feel, not overly assisted and I have not had them fade on the road but I'll see how they cope at Silverstone next week.
I love the details of the car, the shapes and curves and the way it is sculptured, I'm always taking a second look and taking pictures.
The interior is a gorgeous place to be. Almost every surface is covered in leather and save for the naff Ford indicator stalks, everything you touch feels of the quality you would expect.
The seats are very adjustable, allow you to sit low in the car with the wheel close to you. I like cars that feel like they're wrapped around you with high doors and scuttles.
I've driven it in all conditions, once you're used to its size and proportions, the nose of the car seems miles away at first, but it's not a big car at all and is good fun to chuck it down a B road. It's not a light car but the balance and levels of grip mean that you don't feel like you're battling the weight. One of my favourite roads is the coast road to Beach Head near Eastbourne and it feels at home through those tighter and sweeping corners.
It's been out in the snow, a lot actually.
A particularly treacherous drive to Wales in March was hairy but it made it.
The practicality side of things is great and is why it will eventually be very difficult to replace. The hatch is really useful, you can get loads in it.
The above was 2 weeks worth of luggage for a trip to Switzerland, Italy and France and the car was just superb for the whole thing. Comfortable for the 500 miles a did in a day, spacious enough, frugal enough, the optional premium stereo sounds great too which makes up for the Volvo navigation being horse ****.
Costs wise it has not been cheap but I also do not think it has been too bad for what you get and I have had a cheap year on the scale of things. I had an oil service at an official Aston dealer which was £711 and definitely did not feel like value for money so I'll be using a specialist for its annual service in future. The door and boot struts failed and were £100 in parts to replace but DIYable.
I had a door ding removed for £90 but it could have been much worse, if you get them on the ridge that runs down the door or on the rear three quarter they are almost impossible to remove cleanly. Most panels are aluminium too so they don't have quite the same metal memory as steel.
It passed its MOT with no advisories.
But I did spend to have the wheels refurbished as they'd had a bodged job in the past and were looking a mess. It turns out that three wheels were slightly bent and there was some heavy corrosion in places so well worth getting them done properly.
There are some potential big bills with these cars but with some planning there's no reason why they should hit you all at once. The clutch is the big consumable and is around £3k at a dealer or £1500-2000 at a specialist. With the engine in the front and the gearbox in the back, there's a lot of labour to get to it. They can last 80k miles or as few as 15k depending on how they are treated and there are upgrade options to twin plate clutches that improve the clutch pedal effort massively. It's something I want to get done but it's not a priority at around £3.5k all in. Odd bits can be horribly expensive (wheel bearings are £500 each) and you can expect a number of common failures at some point. The central locking motors are notoriously flakey a £500 a side to fix. The rear light seals fail and kills the electrics when they fill with water and they are £1000 to replace. Electric mirror motors go funny, petrol filler caps get stuck, thermostats fail, the gears in the nav screen break. Overall nothing major and nothing that would leave you stranded but can become expensive to keep on top of.
Sorry if I've bored you to tears, hopefully anyone thinking about getting one now or in the future will find it a little helpful. I really think that given how inflated some Porsche and Ferraris have become, these represent excellent value. I'm not sure that they are the best of anything, but as a package, the looks, the noise, the experience of driving it and throw in the solid reliability and decent practicality, to me that makes it brilliant.
And the dog approves.
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