Just dropped off my 2011 AM Vantage Roadster at the service department again today. It's in the 30's here where I live and i've found that my car is often nearly impossible to shift into and out of 1st gear. My car has also been dying a lot more at very low speeds and rpms.

This is not the first time i've taken it in for these issues but the cold seems to have accentuated these problems. To top it all off, screws in the driver side door have apparently fallen out again and are rattling throughout my drives. This will be the second time they will need to be screwed back on.

Are these issues common? I've never had a car that I had to take in so frequently. I usually enjoy the driving experience and the v12 vantage is on my very short list of upgrades in the near future but I really don't want to deal with these issues on a second AM.

 

sorry to hear about the issues.

i had my 2007 for a couple of years and only visited the service department once a year for service.

i have now had my v12 for a few weeks and no issues so far, although i haven't driven it too much due to rainy weather.

 

Maybe it was built on a Monday or Friday...

 

My 2007 V8 Vantage (6sp manual) has been trouble free. I have had it for 3 years and it's approaching 20K miles.

 

While my '07 V8v had a few minor niggles (squeaks and rattles in the cabin), there were no major issues. My '11 V12V has been trouble free. Only issue I've noticed is a bit of loose trim on the passenger door.

 

My '09 has been great -- the radio stopped working on AM, that's about the extent of the problems.

 

Shame. My V12 has been great, so was my V8.

 

They all have a problem shifting into 2nd in the cold, be it a manual v8v, or v12 car... Using the rear graziano manual gearbox and the same linkage in the v12 cars they are stiff in the cold until things heat up and then it slides onto second just fine.

 

I have only noticed the first gear sticking on my V12V a couple of times (also only during initial start-up on colder mornings), but I also haven't put many miles on mine.
I had the same trouble with my 08 viper and changing the transmission fluid to amsoil low viscosity ATF versus the factory fill cured the problem.
I haven't checked to see what the factory AM transmission fluid specifications are, but I will probably change to a better fluid in the spring; just to see if it operates better.

 

^^^ I think changing the transaxle fluid might work, amsoil ATF, royal purple, redline, and mobile ATF have worked for me in my race car and other cars, my aston DB is fine in shifting from 1 to 2nd when driven first thing in the morning from the garage even on a very cold day.

 

The only issue I had on my car was the 1st to 2nd thunk. But mine was a grind. I complained and Aston put a brand new tranny in., no drama.

The car shifts like a dream now. Never any issue with the tranny, car or Aston since

I showed them video of the clunk. That was emailed to England. Problem solved. No one wants that video out there.

 

Had problems shifting into 2nd in the cold.
Fix: My mechanic changed the transmission fluid (to what I don't know) and on cold days, I let it warm up for 5 minutes.

After the above two, I didn't have any problems

 

I'd try to let it warm up if possible. I know it's a pain but it is tremendously beneficial to the car (motor in particular). I try to let mine warm up everyday but especially when the temps are sub 50. Get the oil thinned out before you put a load on the metal.

 

I had to call the service department to get a status on my car. It's been in for nearly 5 days. They said it was ready. Said something about the fluid but the tech...get this...said the difficultly shifting from first to second was a characteristic of the transmission. :/

They also said they updated the software to fix the issue of the car dying at low RPM. They also said they couldnt find what was rattling in the door. Guess i'll find out this weekend.

I'm just not happy with this car at all based on the experience I have had so far. I've had it a year now and put 4900 miles on it. I love it in the summer but I didnt expect to hate it during winter months.

Thanks everyone. If the problem persists with the shifter I will get the fluids flushed and replaced.

 

Classic response = TADTS (they all do that sir). Must be in the training manual.