It was an exciting day for me one year ago on June 24th, when I took a red eye flight to Atlanta, to pick up my 07 V8V from the Aston dealership. The car had about 16K on the clock, and had been freshly serviced, as I enjoyed a wonderful all day drive back to the midwest. During the past year I've driven the car about 5xxx miles, and it's been a terrific experience, as I've really had no problems with the car. I always kept the fluids topped off, and used the battery tender regulalry, when the car would go longer periods without being driven. I just had the oil changed, and put a new set of wiper blades on, but that's been pretty much it as far as service. The Aston service technician said everything looked good and tight on the car.

What I do know, is one year after buying this car, I still smile everytime I walk into my garage and look at the beautiful Titanium Silver piece of art work parked there. It's hard to believe this car is now 5 years old, but it still looks in perfect condition. I have a tendency to keep my cars a long time, and while I realize my car isn't worth a whole lot these days, I might just hang on to it. Inasmuch as beauty is in the eyes of the individual beholder, I still haven't seen another car as beautiful as an Aston Martin. Those are just my thoughts, and thanks to all the very informed members of this forum who took the time to read this.

 

Congratulations! Nice to hear about a trouble-free example that's well and truly appreciated.

 

Could not agree with you more. When I bought mine, a large part of the decision was what IMO was the timeless beauty of the design. I bought it thinking there was a good chance I might keep it and drive it for decades. Since then, while I am now tempted by an 09+ model (potentially doable in the next year or two) and the V12V (perhaps doable in a few years), I have not changed my intention to hang on to a Vantage for many, many years.

 

Wow, has it been a year already? I remember your first posts after you had just picked up the car. I feel the same way -- hard to get rid of the Aston, unless of course it's to get another Aston.

 

What a spot on comment. I bought my V8 2007 sport shift V8 vantage about 8 months ago. A kid dream. Experienced the typical issues with UK cars ie doors won't lock on the first shot. Signals would light up. Hard visibility when city driving. clutch changed. At some stage, started looking around for other alternatives like Porsche or the Maserati GranTurismo....But no one of them were close to the AM for its unicity, elegance. And finally decided to stick with my car and improve it as much as I could....until I can buy a V8S and ultimately a DBS, which is the real dream. V12 is just simply awesome and the looks of the car is unique

 

This is a wonderful story. Thank you for sharing. I drove my Aston DB9 tonight out to dinner after a couple of weeks not having driving her, very much enjoyed the drive and overall experience. Truly timeless cars and so beautiful for sure!

 

As a relative newbie, I'm interested in hearing more details about how the first year of ownership has gone.

I'm about the pull the trigger on a 2010 AM V8 Vantage (really want the 4.7 vs the 4.3), and it would probably be my principal driver (wife has an X6 for really nasty days, and I might pick up a Fiat 500 for winter duty....depends on the winter).

But I have to wonder....is the AM more likely to handle regular, almost daily driver duty well, or is it like many F-car / L-cars in which they seem to prefer occasional use only?

In the past, BMWs and Porsches have been quite comfortable and competent daily-drivers, and I never worried about reliability (summers OR winters) with them. Heck, a good set of snow tires, and I was quite happy with the performance of both of those brands in winter.

I have a Range Rover Sport now....and while I love it....we really don't need two gas-guzzling SUVs (heck, we don't need one, but my wife loves her X6...).

So, even taking winter use out of the equation....how well does the AM handle regular use? Say 10,000 miles per year use?



Patrick

 

Look around the forum (including AMOC and PH) and I think you'll find that it's the garage queens that cause the most trouble. They like to be driven

I use mine almost daily; about 6K miles/year (10K km). Nothing but regular servicing and consumables so far. My winter is milder than yours so I can easily drive it year round, but I don't take it out on the rare snow day.

 

Patrick B: I drive my 2007 V8V around 7,000 miles per year. So far it has been trouble free. I think it's smart that you held out for a 2010 with the 4.7 engine. Hurry up and "pull the trigger" already!

 

Yeah, I've been scanning through PH for some time now as part of my research, and have checked into AMOC, but I haven't spent the $$$ on AMOC membership until such time as I actually pull the trigger on the car.

I'm not terribly worried about initial maintenance, as the car is still under warranty for another year, so any issues I can resolve before hand.

One more silly question. Has anyone had much in the way of issues with vandalism / outright break-ins with their cars? Again, I was never worried with any BMW / Porsche / Range Rover I ever drove, but a couple of my co-workers have put the idea into my head that suddenly an Aston Martin would be a much bigger target than a 911.

We live in a pretty good neighbourhood, so not worried about that at all. Just wondering about going to local shopping malls, movie theatres etc.

I know it must seem silly, but I do wonder if AM brings a bigger target than more 'pedestrian' luxury brands?


Patrick

 

I've owned my car for just over a year, and put close to 5K on the odometer. I usually drive my car two or three times a week. There was a two week period this past Spring, where I drove the car everyday for about three straight weeks, and enjoyed every minute as a daily driver. There was also a period last winter where my car sat parked in the garage for three weeks due to inclement weather. I've been told the rule of thumb on an Aston, is if your car is going to be parked in the garage for over a week, connect the battery tender/charger, to keep the battery up to a full charge, which is what I did.

I've not heard of any incidents involving theft or vandalism to Aston's, not to say it hasn't happened, but I have not heard of any? There are many members of this forum who claim to use their cars as daily drivers, and their feedback has been very positive about the car being a solid daily driver.

For me personally, I use my car for recreation purposes, as I just enjoy driving it. I don't take it to the grocery or hardware store, as I have those terrible images of a shopping cart slammed or wedged against the door of my V8V. My daily driver is a Toyota Land Cruiser, and my wife has gone green with a Toyota Prius.

 

Patrick,

I've never had any trouble with vandalism, but I have returned to the car to find people taking pictures of it That said, I plan my parking potentials before I take it anywhere and if in doubt I take a different car. At a mall or grocery store you'll find me alone in the most distant parking spot. The Aston doesn't do ramps well (nose grounding issues), so some parking garages are off-limits too.

 

The only acts of vandalism you will find on an Aston Martin are miscellaneous bras and panties strewn all over the car, naughty little handwritted notes, phone numbers written with lipstick...etc...

 

LOL!!! I pulled the trigger about 2 weeks ago on my 2006 V8V and couldn't be more impressed. I sold my 08 M3 to move to the Vantage and have only so far noticed nothing but positive attention (you'll notice parking it valet will become your best friend..they never move the car and usually don't charge you)

Also, I use the car as my daily driver, and I mean DAILY driver, Vantage outside of 7/11? yeah that's me.....parked in the furthest spot possible of course.

 

Well, I do tend to view vehicles the same way.....they're meant to be driven and used. Obviously not abused (though I used to race both in Club Racing and GT / Touring regionally), but well used. In my own, humble opinion, if you're going to buy a nice car, you may as well drive it. Having a nice car buried in the garage for sunny Sundays is akin to buying a Rembrandt or Picasso and storing it in a box in the basement, only to be brought out when you bring home a date to impress.

If it was just transportation, then I'd buy a Nissan Altima like my father-in-law (he's NOT a car guy....).

Honestly, I want a car that I get into every morning to go to work, and just the thought of it waiting to be started gets my own motor running. The notion that the drive to work, or home from work is a thing to enjoy, not something to dread. Heck, I even get some of that feeling from my Range Rover Sport, and it's not exactly a soul-stirring machine by itself (though it is, admittedly, a very nice cabin to spend rush-hour in).

My two concerns about the Vantage thus far has been a fear that it was a fussy exotic (ala 80's or 90's Ferraris or Lamborghinis) in that basic maintenance was horrendous (engine removal belt-changes in most F-cars, for example), and that it's suitability as a daily-driver would suffer (some exotics just don't like regular, high mileage usage on them).

Honestly, I'd probably drive it year-round, with winter tires on it, though any significant snow-days would just see it parked at home (along with me). Typical Toronto winters have maybe 10 days (at worst) which are like that....the last couple of years have had less than 2 days of snow. Many of the British drivers I've spoken to drive their Aston Martins year-round (heck, it has traction-control AND heated seats!)....and often without going the winter tyre route.

Long term I would pick up a proper winter / customer friendly vehicle....but it would certainly be fun to wake up to an AM every AM.



Patrick