I did. And I would disagree with that (just as I would disagree that he really hurt his neck, to the point of needing emergency assistance - when driving a GT-R on a race track).

He speaks in hyperbole. Take anything he says with a grain of salt.

I'll let you know when I feel my car has TOO much power.

 

I didn't read through 11 pages and only read the first post that you took the quote from. Nowhere does he mention the cars are too powerful. If you read up you'll see his mention of cops following him and ticketing him for 5mph over and no front license plate.

Here is the rest of his post to keep the comment in context:
Hardly seems like a too much power complaint and instead is complaining they are too tame.

If you are going to make a snarky comment back, at least back it up with something legit instead of out of context quotes.

 

Well, you're entitled to your opinion, even when it's wrong. And that's okay, you don't need to let me know when you feel your car has too much power.

 

So you're saying that you need to take a car to a race track because it's "too tame"? There are more responses in that thread that allude to power being unusable on everyday roads, if you care to read it.

My quote isn't out of context. His post is predominately a list of independent complaints regarding Ferrari ownership, and that was one of them.

 

And there are those who think the power of a base 997 C2 is too much for everyday roads...

I don't think these Astons/Porsches/Ferraris are built with American everyday roads in mind, or else they wouldn't go more than 70mph.

There are DEFINITELY more cars with 500HP that can use it everyday - everywhere (see: 911 Turbo). I'm so glad Ford didn't share this line of thought 20 years ago ~"Eh, we could put more HP in our Mustangs, but we've found that 205HP is perfect, and any more - it would be impractical."

Today, they have over 660HP, and can somehow get better acceleration times. Can anyone explain this phenomenon? According to people back then, there was MORE than enough power.

 

To this original comment: While an interesting observation, it contains a logical misstep. This thread and its comments are about what we fans of the AM brand feel is necessary for the company to sell more cars moving forward. While on the Ferrari forums, they are discussing their present day reactions to the cars as they are.

I think it's very clear that no one on this forum would be happy with an Aston body over an AMG/Merc car. But would you prefer not to have advanced/contemporary features? Would you prefer to have older and older technology and systems on newer and newer cars? Of course not, and that's all we are saying.

As for the complaints on F forums, I'd imagine that much like Porsche purists, some are concerned that the raw, driving sports car feel is getting lost.

But again, this thread is not about the Aston we might like to have or create, it is about what the Aston Martin corporation needs to produce in order to sell cars/survive.

 

I honestly cannot think of a single technology or 'feature' that I am missing on my Aston. It's got everything I need or want in a car.

 

Excellent! ... and agreed.

I don't think anyone here thinks the current line of Astons are inferior.

And I'm not getting into the Ferrari/Porsche purist thing - as I agree with that as well. Some think the thrill of driving a sports car is the risk of crashing. I like the thrill of going fast. These two should be independent of one another...

 

deleted

 

Take from it what you want. I'm not about to read a 100+ posts to validate your claim. If you are going to troll a thread at least troll it with solid facts instead of assumptions. Actually TheMayor is quite active on the forum, you should ask him if the power is a deterrent to buying a Ferrari over any other exotic.

 

I handed you a source.

He mentions it again on post 367:

" 4) Stop worrying about performance numbers and start worrying about emotion and passion in the driving experience."

Others mention power being unusable as well. But I don't feel like quoting the entire thread just to prove my point.

 

At the risk of wading into this portion of the debate...

I've driven the MP4-12C. It's extraordinary, massively fast, and yes, it is able to put down its 616hp. However, on the road, as opposed to the track, it can only put that power down for a very few seconds before the speed one is traveling is also massive. It is so fast that the speeds reached almost immediately are far too high for almost all roads almost all the time (certainly in the part of the world I live in -- in Germany, it would be awesome). That, to me, isn't really much fun, and there are plenty of people and forum threads that discuss -- and lament -- this.

It's why, IMO, a Lotus Elise/Exige or a Caterham 7 can be more fun more of the time than an Aventador or an F12.

Personally, I have more fun more of the time in my mere 420hp V8V than I would in the 12C because I can use more of its ability more of the time. Truth is, opportunities to really use my car's comparatively meager (an absurd thing to say, really) potential performance on the road are very few and far between -- without acting like a complete idiot. A car may be able to handle its 740hp, but that doesn't mean the road can handle it.

 

Again, grasping at straws. I'm going to ignore your comments in this thread going forward so we can stay more on topic. Your baseless claims aren't even about Aston Martin and have little to no bearing on the topic.

 

That's totally fair, however you could also argue that even 420hp is too much since most of those roads that you are enjoying have speed limits of 25-40mph. Also the top speed of 175mph isn't legal anywhere in the USA or most of the world.

Back to the original proposal. I said 500hp as the minimum for the next Vantage and 600hp for the Vanquish. Those aren't crazy numbers by today's standards. That also doesn't put it into the insane territory of the supercars or F12.

 

Speaking as a middle aged guy who just bought my first AM, my only hesitation was the reputation (earned or not) of maintenance problems. I have never driven any of the other supercars mentioned on this thread, but I agree with the comments that my 07 V8V has more than enough power and performance for me -- adding more power would not be much of an enticement to me.

This thread is about AM struggling financially. I think that if they are to fix that they need to attract more buyers of my age who (finally) have the financial resources to afford them. I personally believe that rather than focusing on more power, they could do that buy (1) countering the reliability issues maybe by expanding the warranty programs including the CPO program, and (2) publicize/advertise the fact that these cars are hand-built. I couldn't believe how many of my german car owning colleagues did not know that the AM is hand made. They were shocked, and I think it could be a huge selling point.