Aston Martin V8 Vantage after one year

[olv]

It was my first time on track on Sunday and I loved it. The car was great and I had no issues to report thankfully. Silverstone was fun and probably suited the car better than something tight and slower and there’s a lot of run off and space which helped build confidence.

Would love to do Spa or the Nurburgring next year.

 

[HummuH1]

It was my first time on track on Sunday and I loved it. The car was great and I had no issues to report thankfully. Silverstone was fun and probably suited the car better than something tight and slower and there’s a lot of run off and space which helped build confidence.

Would love to do Spa or the Nurburgring next year.

Take spare pads and discs with you if you go to Spa. We put fresh pads and discs in along with race spec fluid and they had warped after 2 laps. Didn't spoil the fun though, the electrics going nuts and turning on the heated seats for no reason did though!

We've had a 2007 4.3 Vantage for 6 years now. One of the most beautiful cars ever made IMO, let down by use of some questionable parts from the bin, terrible steering, overly harsh suspension and standard brakes that really are not up to the job. Despite that, I still completely love it.

 

[olv]

terrible steering, overly harsh suspension and standard brakes that really are not up to the job.

I could not disagree more with those three statements. The steering is fantastic, one of the highlights, it's overly heavy at slow speeds but once moving it's direct, full of feel and accurate. I came from a 987 Boxster and one of my biggest concerns in the change was to something with worse steering but the Vantage is its equal and has a nicer physical wheel to boot. The suspension I find very compliant and not harsh at all so no idea where you're coming from and the tyres went off long before the brakes did on Sunday so I don't have any complaints there. It's the same brakes they use on the DB9 which must have another 300kg over a Vantage.

 

[Gibbo]

I could not disagree more with those three statements. The steering is fantastic, one of the highlights, it's overly heavy at slow speeds but once moving it's direct, full of feel and accurate. I came from a 987 Boxster and one of my biggest concerns in the change was to something with worse steering but the Vantage is its equal and has a nicer physical wheel to boot. The suspension I find very compliant and not harsh at all so no idea where you're coming from and the tyres went off long before the brakes did on Sunday so I don't have any complaints there. It's the same brakes they use on the DB9 which must have another 300kg over a Vantage.

I have to somewhat agree, driving the one I've got ownership in around some of my favourite country roads I found it well balanced, direct steering with good feedback, but I think it might be a hydraulic rack still?
I would however say that in some situations it is maybe a little harsh, but certainly nothing thats a major issue, it is end of the day a sports GT car and the suspension technology is not the most modern and its still a near 1700kg car end of the day, so I guess to some it may feel harsh, to others OK.

My biggest complaint with the car is the heavy clutch and the notchy gearbox, though the oil change has gone some way to improving the gearbox.

Am contemplating changing the wheel colour to black chrome, namely because of a miss hap, but also because just like my Mustang, the wheel colour is a bit flat silver, no real depth to it, though black chrome is a bit of risk, one of those see how it turns out and hope the best.

 

[olv]

Yep, hydraulic rack.

I have heard that the sports pack suspension can be very firm but it wasn't available as an option until the much later cars. I don't drive on a lot of broken road surfaces so maybe there's where it falls down but day to day dealing with speed bumps and pot holes I think it rides really well.

The only real solution to the clutch is to go twin plate and light flywheel. It's a lot of of money but it makes it much lighter and improves the gearbox with it. The standard clutch is allegedly pretty light when brand new but once a bit worn they go heavy very quickly and can stay like that for tens of thousands of miles. The action and feel of my clutch is heavy but the bit point and weight has not changed at all in my ownership and I think the clutch likely has a lot of life in it. I'll only upgrade it when it is worn out.

For me the weakest part of the car from a driving perspective is the throttle, it is way too lazy, the engine's standard flywheel must weigh a million tonnes but the mapping of the throttle pedal is so slow. It really needs a sport button like the E46 M3 to make the throttle more responsive.

 

[Gibbo]

Yep, hydraulic rack.

I have heard that the sports pack suspension can be very firm but it wasn't available as an option until the much later cars. I don't drive on a lot of broken road surfaces so maybe there's where it falls down but day to day dealing with speed bumps and pot holes I think it rides really well.

The only real solution to the clutch is to go twin plate and light flywheel. It's a lot of of money but it makes it much lighter and improves the gearbox with it. The standard clutch is allegedly pretty light when brand new but once a bit worn they go heavy very quickly and can stay like that for tens of thousands of miles. The action and feel of my clutch is heavy but the bit point and weight has not changed at all in my ownership and I think the clutch likely has a lot of life in it. I'll only upgrade it when it is worn out.

For me the weakest part of the car from a driving perspective is the throttle, it is way too lazy, the engine's standard flywheel must weigh a million tonnes but the mapping of the throttle pedal is so slow. It really needs a sport button like the E46 M3 to make the throttle more responsive.

I shall just wait until clutch fails, at which point twin setup can go in, whole idea is to not really modify it at all, unless of course its the kind of mod that is a must do, like the gearbox oil and like removing fuse 22, of course which are reversible.

Yes compared to my E46 M3 the car feels lazy and slow, but it is totally unfair to compare it to my M3 which is heavily weight reduced, but my M3 feels like a close to 500HP car, whereas the Aston feels around 300HP, simply down to weight and the huge amounts of leather throughout the interior, of course give it beans for a few seconds and your well north of 100mph without even realising, but I do find it really is an engine that wants you to rev it, not sure how the 4.3 is as its so long since I've driven one but the 4.7 has response everywhere but really gets in its stride as the revs climb.

 

[mrk]

An elegant looking machine and best wheels NickX

 

[mccarf]

These age so well. Definitely on my "get it when I'm loaded" list

 

[Gibbo]

These age so well. Definitely on my "get it when I'm loaded" list

Spotted a 4.3 for sale earlier for 27k, was a real bargain, looked completely stock but it had nitron suspension coilovers for its under pinnings so suspect it handled pretty amazingly and ride better, a great buy for someone that, downside was it was close to 100k miles.

 

[mccarf]

Spotted a 4.3 for sale earlier for 27k, was a real bargain, looked completely stock but it had nitron suspension coilovers for its under pinnings so suspect it handled pretty amazingly and ride better, a great buy for someone that, downside was it was close to 100k miles.

That does seem like a really good price for such a beautiful car, but I drive a £1000 civic at the moment. That list is far away in the future after I've graduated .

 

[HummuH1]

I could not disagree more with those three statements. The steering is fantastic, one of the highlights, it's overly heavy at slow speeds but once moving it's direct, full of feel and accurate. I came from a 987 Boxster and one of my biggest concerns in the change was to something with worse steering but the Vantage is its equal and has a nicer physical wheel to boot. The suspension I find very compliant and not harsh at all so no idea where you're coming from and the tyres went off long before the brakes did on Sunday so I don't have any complaints there. It's the same brakes they use on the DB9 which must have another 300kg over a Vantage.

Each to their own I guess. In general, I find if you drive it like a fast cruiser, it's fine, great even. If you try and drive it like "a small sports car" it just doesn't quite deliver for me.

My dislike of the steering starts with the steering wheel itself, ends with a slightly numb feel from the front end. Maybe I'm being a bit fussy.

Perhaps you benefit from better road surfaces than I do but it's crashy on anything less than smooth surfaces. Annoying as when you get it to track, there's just a bit too much body roll for my liking on the std set-up.

Brakes, we'll just have to disagree on that, I'll assume we drive them differently. Doesn't take me that long to get them smoking when pushing along.

Ultimately, we have differing opinions on the car but both still like them.

 

[Gibbo]

Each to their own I guess. In general, I find if you drive it like a fast cruiser, it's fine, great even. If you try and drive it like "a small sports car" it just doesn't quite deliver for me.

My dislike of the steering starts with the steering wheel itself, ends with a slightly numb feel from the front end. Maybe I'm being a bit fussy.

Perhaps you benefit from better road surfaces than I do but it's crashy on anything less than smooth surfaces. Annoying as when you get it to track, there's just a bit too much body roll for my liking on the std set-up.

Brakes, we'll just have to disagree on that, I'll assume we drive them differently. Doesn't take me that long to get them smoking when pushing along.

Ultimately, we have differing opinions on the car but both still like them.

From that point of view then yes I can't drive this like say the Clio, but in many ways its a very similar car to what my Mustang was, both GT's, both 1700kg, both V8's, both front engine, both RWD. The Aston for sure has more feedback and road feel in the steering, however the Mustang had a better front-end, more direct. On the flip side the Mustang had a far worse rear end, felt way more rubberised in the rear, also not as well balanced, but put that down to the Aston been trans axle setup. Mustang's engine though also lazy felt more punchy in mid-range, but less up top, not sure how the engines tune up on Aston but gonna assuming they extracted what they could considering the special editions are only 10HP greater at 430HP. Whereas once the Mustang was tuned its engine felt a lot more explosive, still the Aston feels more linear and sounds better stock for stock and has a unique tone.

Quite fortunate with roads around my way, over rougher surfaces it can feel a touch crashy but nothing bad, but out of curiosity what miles is your car on, maybe it needs a refresh or has yours got the sports suspension option from factory?

 

[olv]

Ultimately, we have differing opinions on the car but both still like them.

Yep! I absolutely love mine as a package and for the money I don’t know what else offers all this does. I had a short tuition session on Sunday and was told I don’t use the brakes hard enough so chances are I just drive more gently.

My most recent frame of reference are S2000, E46 M3 and 987 Boxster and liked different things about each of them, the Vantage feels like a good amalgamation of them all.

 

[djshauny1]

Lovely looking car that.

 

[HummuH1]

Quite fortunate with roads around my way, over rougher surfaces it can feel a touch crashy but nothing bad, but out of curiosity what miles is your car on, maybe it needs a refresh or has yours got the sports suspension option from factory?

It's a 2007 car with 42k on the clock. Standard suspension but had a refresh of all but dampers and springs about 4k ago so it's pretty tight. It's not really a complaint, just kinda feels like it did when we whacked shorter stiffer springs on to cars that deserve better.