Howdy,

I know this is a Porsche board but I'm looking for feedback from people who own or have owned a Aston V8 and the 997 Turbo. I own a 996 Turbo and a 996 Cab and am somewhat bored with the new Turbo. I drove and love the AM but I hate the fact that the performance is not up to par with the Turbo. Any positive or negative comments would be great! Thanks in advance.

Roy

ps. If anyone knows of unsold Turbos at a local dealer, please post! I'd love to have Cobalt

 

Two different animals, no comparison!

 

I had been on the waiting list for the AMV8 for 18 months when the 997tt was reviewed in MT. I called to put in a deposit, and was given a production slot 3 weeks later. Needless to say, I dropped out of the AM list. The AMV8 is beautiful, but there are a number of quirks to the car besides the shortage of power. The most annoying is the crummy paintwork (50+ hours my ***) these cars have. There is a high end body shop near my house and there are always 2-3 AM's in there getting factory defects fixed. I was offered a nice Sapphire AMV8 when the list was long but I found 3 fisheyes in the paint on the nose alone.

 

Which is why I don't understand the cachet of "hand made".

 

Roy, Have you driven a 997 Turbo ? (I haven't, wondering where your "bored" comments are from...looks or driving).

As far as AM V8, Neil had 2 at his shop last time I was there. You may want to ask him or Andy their thoughts on the AM.

Bill

 

The Aston sounds and looks amazing. The Turbo is better at pretty much everything else!

 

Ive driven the AMV8, soundtrack is astonishing, and looks too, but for thrill of driving, go with the 997tt

 

AMV8 doesn't look very good - way too rounded... 997TT no doubt, but then if you can, that upcoming DBS kills any Porsche save for the GT.

 

A good aftermarket exhaust on the Turbo will fix the sound issue.

 

The AMV8 will still sound better imo

the porsche sound is very... motorsport and needs to be appreciated

the amv8 is a universally pleasurable sound easily "Understood'

 

sell the 996 cab and buy the am v8 dude. I dont like the transmission on the aston - even its from ferrari - and its very small from inside and from outside.... like the db9 as a cruiser much much more.. v8 is neither a cruiser nor a racer... thats why they call it baby aston I suppose

 

Thanks for eveyones feedback! Bill, my comment was on the "looks" front, I have not driven a 997 Turbo. I'm sure it's amazing but how different could it be from my upgraded 996 Turbo... I love the round lights and the adjustable suspension but it looks a lot like my car now...

Thanks again!
Roy

 

The AM V8 will turn many more heads and is appreciated by the majority of humanity. The sound is better than a turbo will ever sound(IMHO). The fit and finish is excellent - no plastic sh*t. Power-wise there is no comparison, the AM is gutless. You have to like being noticed and not care about its gutless nature to be happy with the AM. My personal opinion after owning modded 996tt and GT2.

 

I have to disagree about the lack of plastic in the V8. The door handle and console fascia have the same cheap grey/silver splatter finish as the 997's. The only decent finishes were with the platinum accent options that came on the very early production AMV8's, along with the wood console option. These two options were quickly deleted because they helped separate the V8 and the DB9.

I was also very concerned about the "rushing waterfall" interior noise complaints that V8 owners have almost universally reported, and the rear hatch gelcoat defects that were in a batch of V8's and DB9s - the composite (fiberglass) rear deck lids had inadequate layers of the gelcoat and the weave of the composite could be seen and felt in the corners of the lids. The part that really disturbed me is that the dealerships are not disclosing the paintwork (on new undelivered cars) to potential buyers.

 

i dunno...but I had a friggin BLAST in a AM v8 vantage at limerock...that thing is WAY, WAYYYYY more capable of performance than most people think...it just takes a really skilled driver to unleash it...and the sound the aston makes...just straight up kicks the pcars out to the corner...that being said...I LOVE both cars and honestly couldnt decide what I would do in that scenario...