I've owned four Porsches before the Aston and if near bulletproof is what you want then the Porsche is the way to go. They build tough machines. I ran one of my 911's to 265,000 miles before selling it (Short Wheelbase 911S, should have kept it). That's not a mis-print, either.

I bought my Aston with 4,700 miles on it. 2007, manual trans. 1,010 miles and 90 days later it spit the clutch. $ 5,200. The prior owner was an attorney who had a garage full of cars and the dealership did not consider him a 'driver' and as such asked me to pay parts only and the total was $ 1,865 and I thought that fair. I've looked at the parts on these clutches, they don't seem particularly unique or fragile, they look like any other clutch.

When I took my first test drive in an Aston at the dealership here in Washington DC, the General Manager went with me and drove first, then we swapped. As we came back to the store, he said (and I am not making this up):

"You are one of the few people that come in here for a test drive that know how to operate a clutch. Most Aston buyers in America have a very hard time with it. Because I know you won't burn up the clutch, if you want to take it out a little longer I will let you go by yourself." And he did.

The reverse gear on these cars is geared stupidly high. I don't know why they did that - I think the car will easily do 40 mph in reverse (James Bond Movies?) but they should have geared it to be fully released at 3 mph, which its not. So I think a lot of owners slip the clutch drastically while backing up and that's hard on it. When I back the car I make it a habit to clutch/de-clutch as quickly as possible and not slip the pedal.

And I'd probably not do a lot of clutch-drop racing off the stop lights, but other than that I don't see any need to really worry or fret about clutch life. A car is no fun if you can't afford to maintain it, or are always worrying about something happening. If that's the case, you need to switch brands.

Make no mistake, the parts on an Aston are costly. That's what happens when you have a small production run vehicle. Porsche parts are absolutely less, by a wide margin. And BMW parts are less than Porsche. And Ford parts cost less than BMW. And so it goes.

You buy an Aston for the Art of the Automobile. If defines that art in the way that Rolls and Bentley do. Metal instead of plastic. Aluminum instead of steel. Paint that has no orange peel. And a hundred other things. Its not the least bit practical, there are other cars that will give you the same performance for far less money. But few out there will give you the pleasure of owning and driving an Aston, its a unique ownership experience.

 

Manual 'box clutches are more durable than SS by far -- if you know how to drive one.

Bklyn,
Aston clutches are no more fragile or short-lived than any other exotics' clutches. There are always exceptions but, properly driven, you shouldn't have to worry about it.

 

Duane,

Porsches used to be bulletproof, but no longer. The water-cooled 911s suffer from far too many serious engine problems. The rear main seal thing is one, but the real killer is the intermediate shaft failure -- catastrophic engine failure. Also, porous and failed cylinder blocks. Cayenne V8s with disintegrating Nikasil cylinder walls. These things obviously don't happen to most of them, but they happen FAR too often. The newer direct injection engines seem to be better so far, but Porsche still doesn't race that engine. There's a reason I've kept my 993 for 13 years.

Aston problems are miniscule in comparison.

 

that's one of the few things that really bugs me about my V8V. i HATE reversing it. i do the same thing when backing up... lots of footwork.

 

Porsche did have issues with the rear seals and IMS bearing failures in the 996 block (which was in the Boxsters as well) but that was largely from 1999 to early 2006 in the 911's , and was gone altogether by 2009 when the engine was phased out of the 986 chassis with the GEN 2 Boxster / Cayman.

I used to own a beautiful 993 C4S (1996), but I have to tell you, that car was bog slow and pretty primitive, the only Porsche I never did bond with. A BMW M3 could leave me in the dust as well as a Subie WRXi. So it had to go.

There's no perfect car out there or else we would all own it, I guess!

 

My 993 is, IMO, a better drive than a C4S -- it's a standard Carrera. It's lighter -- so it's quicker than a C4S -- and RWD as a 911 should be It needs to be revved, but it's still pretty quick if you do. And I like the "primitiveness"

The post-'09 DI engine does seem to be better than the M96 used in the 996/986/997/987, but they still only race the Mezger engine...

 

Heh. My C4S looked cooler though, because I had those wide hips on the back...and with a set of sticky tires, there was absolutely no one that could stay with me on the Roller Coaster at V.I.R. with that all-wheel drive. Man, that car would stick the corners at speed like no rear wheel drive Carrera ever could. I used to take my fellow Instructors for a ride in that car and as we'd come into that section I'd scare hell outta them by saying "Hold on and Watch This" and they'd get this spooky look in their eyes, and at the bottom we'd all be laughing ourselves silly going down the main straight - until the E46 M3's would blow by us...

 

+1
Backing is one of the hardest things to do in an Aston. The reverse gear is taller than any car I've driven, and you can hardly see what's behind you when backing. Rear backing-sensors are a must.

 

Agreed. OP, I didn't mean to scare you BTW, you most likely have plenty of mileage left!

 

Thanks guys for the help. All I wanted was to know the right technique. I remember when the original vanquish came out hearing horror stories of people blowing clutches after 5k. I keep hearing about the bamford rose flywheel and clutch. When this one finally goes, it sounds like the best bet to me. Any thoughts?

 

Yea reverse. I went to a big parking lot to demonstrate to my wife just how tall reverse is. I think it was doing about 8-10mph at slow idle, warmup idle 10-15mph. We always do the pedal dance reversing, usually get it moving (little or no throttle if possible) just enough and push the clutch in and coast to where we want to end up. The take up is so smooth it is easy to see how one could really slip it a lot unintentionally reversing frequently. It is tempting to try the 45 mph in reverse 180º 2nd gear fly in v8v.... someone else's though, not mine!

 

I was told it was a function of the tight space the gearbox sits in.
It is made worse by creep mode on ASM1
Ironically it is sorted on ASM2 but remains unchanged on manuals

 

Hi Stuart. Was wondering what exactly a clutch check is/does. Are you saying to start the car and leave it in neutral for about 10 seconds before engaging first? Or are you saying to get the car primed for 10 seconds before fully depressing the ignition? Thanks again for your help.

 

What happens when you conduct the learn procedure is that the slave cylinder/release bearing engages until it feels the 'kiss' point on the clutch. It is basically detecting the amount of wear present and calibrating itself so it can engage smoothly and efficiently with the correct amount of travel.

I'm not sure what you mean about 'primed' but the procedure is quite simple. Make sure the A/C is switched to the 'Off' position. Foot on the brake. Start the car, keep your foot on the brake, and 5-6 seconds later you'll hear a 'click.' After that, drive, AC on, whatever you want. You don't HAVE to do this every time you start the car, but IMHO, if you just make it a habit to do this every time you start it, you can't go wrong.

 

Thanks Stuart. I appreciate it. By primed I meant the pressurization of the fuel pump prior to ignition.