vegascomedy

Friday, I drove both the Aston and the 997.

Aston is a beautiful car. Throaty exhaust, sexy lines and very different feel when driving.

I bought the 997. Porsche is my choice for dependability, driveability and durabilty. I will never take a chance on another "exotic".

gota911

Michael - let me make sure I have this straight... you bought a '02 996... sold it at the end of April to get a Gallardo... two months later bought your old '02 996 back... and three months after that you sold (or traded) the 996 on a 997?.... Priceless!

Congrats on getting the 997. How about posting some pics!

gota911

Fraser - nice write-up.

Two general things that stand out from your write-up with which I totally agree: 1) The British DO know how to do excellent car interiors (i.e. AM, Jag), and 2) the Germans DO know how to produce great powerplants and mechanicals. Now, if we could just get a car company (a.k.a. Brit-man or Germ-tish) to blend what each of them does best, we would the best of both worlds......

vegascomedy

Hey Tim!

Im an idiot who makes a lot of poor choices, but i will never be without a P Car in the garage again!

After driving the 997, I had to have it. Wish I would have driven it before I bought the Lamb. Live and learn.

Eggplant Cab

I'd go further and add italian styling(ok Pininfarina and Giugaro only) to the interior and exterior game. The Maserati Quattroporte and coupe are just beautiful inside and out. But we can definitely leave out the british and italian reliability and get the japanese in on QC.

MarkPcar

OK, so I'm a bit late to this thread - I've been out clicking the miles up on my V8 Vantage, just turned 3,000 and I love it.

We are a long time Porsche family, but after my GT3 I decided it was time to try something new and a V8 Vantage is the car.

I agree with most of what jfraser said, bu twill add a few comments -

Gear box - Shifting DOES loosen up with time and when the car is warm. I don't think it is any notchier that my wifes 997 sports shifter.

Performance - agree and disagree. The Vantage is different than the 997, I think the gas pedal travel is longer than the 997 which is great for traffic and cruising around town because its easy to control your speed. If you want to throw down the horses you have to put your foot all the way into the pedal and build some RPM's. The it really goes, and sounds GREAT. Of course it doesn't have that rear end crouch of mecahnical grip we're used to in a Pcar, so it feels different. Cornering - the 50/50 balance is awesome!

To those who commented on the reliability and daily driverness, remember who developed this car - Aston Martin chief executive Ulrich Bez was responsible for developing the 1994 Porsche 911 (the 993). The V8 Vantage was developed to compete with the 997 line.

Any new model car will have clitches but for the most part V8 Vanatge owners are reporting solid reliability and performance. I've had mine on two 500+ mile road trips and it has been completely trouble free. It is my nice weather daily driver and is way more comfortable in that role than my 996 GT3 was.

One down side - I live 350 miles from the dealer!

Owners forums here:
http://www.amoc.org/index.php?option...moc.org/forum/

jason1st

I've had my V8 Vantage for a few months now and love it. I also have an A8 Audi which is my daily driver. I've had many Porsche's. I have a 997TT on order but may end up cancelling it and getting a C4S for my DD when I turn in the A8 this spring.

My reason for telling you this is so you have a refrence point as to why I bought the AM.

The AMV8 is my weekend car. It is different from the 997 I had. I would say that the 997 is probaby an all around better driving, more usable car. This is why I am getting one for my daily driver and keeping the AMV8.

The biggest difference between the AMV8 and the 997 is straight up exclusivity. I've learned that this is an aspect of a sports car that I really enjoy. Everywhere I go people ask about and check out the car. P-cars are always trying to race me and drive around me when I'm on the freeway. It' a lot of fun.

I love the way the 997 looks. Some claim it's not agressive enough. I think it is. I just think it's that you see so many of them nowadays. Therefore, that's the only reason I no longer like the Porsche. I will get one as my daily driver because my daily driver gets pretty beat up. I do not feel the desire to coddle and take care of the 997 the way I do the AMV8.

If you put both cars side by side and had never seen either before in your entire life, you'd take the Porsche. But, since that's not the case, when parked side by side, everyone wants to dive my AMV8. My blood boils when driving the AMV8. It does not when driving the Porsche. To me, that has everything to do with exclusivity.

Here's a couple pics....

caf

Jason,
Beautiful car. These cars all have slightly different niches, and while I love Porsche for the driving experience, I could definitely see having an AM for the aesthetic experience. The Porsche is sort of a victim of its own success, in that they have stuck with similar styling for so long that the visual impact is somewhat blunted.

jason1st

"Victim of it's own success" is a perfect description.

Say what you want about Porsche. They sure do sell a lot of cars. That's a fact. Hard to knock their success.

brownie

The AM is a beautiful car and I wish I could justify having one but the 997S is perfect for me. It has a small but useful back seat and it was shy of $100,000. It appears to me that the 997TT is priced more in-line with the AM and delivery times are about the same.

jason1st

Granted, list for list the price on the AMV8 is high. But, I bought mine with 800 miles.

Didn't pay list.

clutchplate

The only dealer in my area has a $20,000 added markup which put the car around $140,000. That made the 997S a pretty easy choice.

devon7

I turned down my slot for the AM at launch and went for the C2S.

I do have to agree with the other comments - the AM is beautiful; but after seeing one parked next to my 997 I was surprised how much smaller the AM looks. Too small for my taste, I even thought it looked a bit too pretty to be honest, if you know what I mean.

Now if only I could run to a Vanquish, that'd be a different story!

YellowC4S

I haven't been here for a while and I really miss my P car, (1996 Carrera 4S, Speed Yellow/Black). She was the victim of a tow truck driver. I was mulling around on another P car. Never liked the 996 and I feel that the 997 is what the 996 should have been. I feel that the 997 is the evolution of the 993. Anyway, I am in love with the AMV8 Vantage and am currently reasearching the car. There is not too much of a difference in price between a loaded 997 C4S and and AMV8. Its just that I'm curious whether or not I will have the same reliability in the Aston that I had with the Porsche. The other concern is depreciation/resale value. I'm wondering if I should just go and get the Audi RS4 now and wait a year or so the the AMV8. For the time being, I miss having a Pcar in my driveway.

Happy Holidays All!!

MarkPcar

Here is the owners forum. I still love mine, but not getting many miles this time of year.

http://www.amoc.org/index.php?option...moc.org/forum/