Chuck Z

This past weekend I went and drove a Vantage V8 and all I can say is WOW! It sounds awesome, looks great and goes like a bat out of hell! Most importantly, I fit in the car! Very impressive car. ....I want one!

This is not the car but I love pictures so here is one currently for sale in CA. Currently selling over MSRP if you can find one. I'd have to wait a few years when the newness wears off a bit.

Normy

To respond to your original post Chuck...yes, the Aston Martins are very nice cars. I see them every day in Fort Lauderdale, and I'll add that they sound great and specification-wise they are 928 successors, but looks-wise they aren't. Ford, in my opinion, hasn't done enough to differentiate these cars from the Jaguars that on first glance that they appear to be. It's like the "double-take" thing- its a Jaguar in shape... but the details catch your eye and you look twice.

I haven't driven one of these cars- I suspect they are fantastic to drive and own.

-Los Olas Boulevard is this road in Fort Lauderdale where all the high-end shops and restaurants are located. You park on the street here, and it costs about $1.25 per hour, but the meters are this new type that accepts cards. So you see all SORTS of heavy metal out there: I've seen every Lamborghini in town there, Mclaren/Mercedes SLR's, on two occasions Carerra GT's...and even an Italian registered Ferarri Enzo. On this street your waiter parked his Bentley on the curb! Listen- an Aston would get some stares, but when I park my 928 on this street I always get people stopping and looking in the windows, which I usually leave open if it isn't going to rain. A 928 in decent condition is more impressive visually than those new Astons....



Love your collection!

N!

Chuck Z

Perhaps my fascination with this car is because we do not have a Los Olas Boulevard in Charlotte. I never see Enzos, CGTs or SLRs on the street. I do see an occasional Bentley GT and have never seen an AM on the road. I think the other reason I like the car is because of its price. Its more realistically priced (especially on the used car market given what the DB9 sell for used) then the Enzos, CGTs and SLRs of the world. In this area, its just as exclusive to boot. The car is scary fast, it feels great and the build quality was first rate. And that sound......

The down side, I would have to part with a couple of 928s (probably not the 95 5-speed). ....I can't drive the frog.

cobalt

Around here it is very much the same as Ft Lauderdale. Every car imaginable is around and many drive the streets of NYC with potholes that can swallow a bus. The big difference is that they are mixed in with millions of S-boxes

I am surprised to see you say the car is scary fast. On paper it is no faster than a GTS. Rated at 0-60 in 5.2 sec and a 13.5 1/4.

The sad part about the AM's are their inability to hold value. A 5 year old $250k AM can be purchased today for $60-80K with low mileage. My B-in-law was looking at the Vantage and has decided to pass after all his friends convinced him of how badly they depreciate. So the fool is buying a 360 which will be worth little in a year or 2 when it is easier to pick up a 430.

I will agree it is a pretty car even if it closely resembles the Jaguar at first look. Then again a Chrysler 500 with the mesh grill looks very much like a Bentley Continental in your rear view mirror.

Chuck Z

It felt lighter on its feet and more agile than the 928. The numbers I have seen say 0-60 ranging from 4.5 to 4.9 (from the AM website). It feels every bit that fast. Don't know about 1/4 mile times.

Are you speaking of the Vanquish or a DB7? I haven't seen a Vanquish (this car is way overpriced when new IMO) that low and I do not know what the most expensive DB7 listed for. However, this is exactly why I would buy used should I ever get that far. IMHO the drop seems to slow dramatically after the first couple years.

IcemanG17

Chuck
In two years when you "sell" some 928's to get the AM.....I call first dibs on the blue 95 GTS!!!!!!!!!!!! I would even settle for the black GTS!!

FBIII

I'd say there are very few exotics that are good investments when bought new, unless your talking about something super exclusive with extremely low production numbers. But Astons due to their low production numbers have been pretty good investments. Look at the prices on the DB4 - DB6 series cars. Even the early AMV8's of the seventies are selling for more than 40K. It wasn't that long ago where they could be had for about 15K.

Chuck Z

I doubt I would ever sell the blue GTS. Sadly, if I had to sell something the black GTS would probably be the one to go.

I agree. Exotics have to be super rare or older (like the 928 ) to qualify as any sort of investment. In my opinion when it comes to cars (exotics or others) if you can sell it for what you paid for it (or more if you bought it right) you've done pretty well. I must admit, I do not know much about the earlier AMs and haven't looked at prices on DB7s for quite some time. I was a bit surprised to see prices similar to when I looked last.

cobalt

Interesting, When I was at the NYC auto show a couple of weeks back they had these beautiful etched glass displays with the stats on each car. I was surprised to see they were not closer to the numbers you are quoting. When I spoke to the very attractive girl at the display she assured me the posted numbers were correct. Whos to say what that is worth. I do know I have had a run against a Vanquish in my turbo and I ate it for lunch. The owner was younger than I and he came back for another go but had no interest in showing him up a second time. I do not believe the newer models are much faster.

I was talking the DB7's they were quite pricey when new. 03 Vanquish's can be had in the $130k range used which is still almost a 50% drop in value.

tv

Astons from the 70's thru the 90's until the vanquish were unremarkable and often outright ugly cars. They now have the looks inside and out and sound, but not the super performance or build quality.

I was looking inside a DB5 on saturday in Jbond silver. It was in mint condition and quite a sight. The emblem on the hood was really cool. The vanquish does have presence though.

FBIII

tv, when you are critical of AM's build quality what are you comparing it too?

tv

Comparing it to its peers of today, for example, the F 360/430, and to the quality of a 928 20 years ago when new. 928's even today are exceptionally well built with very few major failures. Thats how we all can floor our cars everytime we drive them and just worry about an electrical connection being our biggest worry.

The vanquish has since its debut had trouble with its tranny and it has not been fixed. Some of its biggest fans that have bought them have sold it back to AM. Don't see that with F cars or new top P cars, gt2, cgt...

Chuck Z

I have not heard of any Porsche buy backs but do know a couple guys who sold their F cars because of poor reliability. One in particular was an F car buy back of a 575.

My initial impression of the build quality of the AM Vantage was very good. Time will tell about the reliability of the new Vantage.

cobalt

Can't help but bring it up again but for the same money I would prefer something old. Maybe in Blue again.

FBIII

tv I guess my idea of build quality is different. I look at fit, materials and finish. And two areas where the 928 suffers is fitment and materials. If you compare the door gaps on an Aston or other exotic to our 928s you'd think we were driving a truck. You can dam near drop a marble thru the leading leading edge of our front doors.