Aston struggling
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 620
From: saratoga
Rep Power: 39
Why would anyone buy an Aston Martin for 'performance?' You can buy a 850HP Mustang from Shelby in Vegas for same money if that's your thing - I've been in one of those and nothing can stay with them. But I gave up street racing a long time ago and where I live (Wash DC 'burb) there is so much traffic, one cannot use a 380HP car to full advantage much less a 500 HP one. Go to the track? OK, I do that too - and I dare say a stock Vantage V8V early model with zero mods can't be driven 10/10ths by 80 % of the people on this forum. Put R-Compound tires on it and I'll put that number at 97%. It's a fast car, and extremely capable. But I get the HP number wars.
I know my friend that owns the 850 HP Mustang isn't ever going to drive it like it was made to go - ever - but he can brag about it, and that's OK, too. Here's his car, he's never ran it once wide open (he paid $ 93,000 for this)
The only thing I find 'dated' on my 07 Vantage is some of the electronics - like lack of a USB port and a crude TPS system. But unlike my new 'modern' BMW that is in the space next to it, my Vantage doesn't safety niggle me to no end and will let me move the car with the door open or cracked. The BMW won't and refuses to budge.
As for updating the look....how does one improve on a near-perfect design? It's not easy. I actually prefer the panels on my 07 to the new ones, the more subtle rear spoiler, the red tail lamps, the smooth rocker panels....
I bought an Aston for something I call "the art of the build". I could get a Porsche 991 easily enough (I've had four Porsches) but I know when I take it apart that its got the same plastic push pins holding cheap plastic trim as a Toyota. The Aston has metal screws and metal parts and that's very, very cool. Orange peel is rampant on most cars, but not on the wet-sanded Aston - its a factory 'World of Wheels' paint job, and only Bentley and Rolls do it like that as far as I can tell. When you take this car apart, up the jackstands, and go into places few owners do - you see the quality of the components and art of the build. That's what I get a kick out of, and why I own an Aston. And I hope they keep the production that way and not bow to mass produced methods.
My only real gripe with the car is the cheezy Ford Turn Signal am made of plastic. I mean COME ON....never use an out-of-the bin part that the owner's hand touches every day on every drive. Those should always be custom and feel special on an exotic.
I know my friend that owns the 850 HP Mustang isn't ever going to drive it like it was made to go - ever - but he can brag about it, and that's OK, too. Here's his car, he's never ran it once wide open (he paid $ 93,000 for this)
The only thing I find 'dated' on my 07 Vantage is some of the electronics - like lack of a USB port and a crude TPS system. But unlike my new 'modern' BMW that is in the space next to it, my Vantage doesn't safety niggle me to no end and will let me move the car with the door open or cracked. The BMW won't and refuses to budge.
As for updating the look....how does one improve on a near-perfect design? It's not easy. I actually prefer the panels on my 07 to the new ones, the more subtle rear spoiler, the red tail lamps, the smooth rocker panels....
I bought an Aston for something I call "the art of the build". I could get a Porsche 991 easily enough (I've had four Porsches) but I know when I take it apart that its got the same plastic push pins holding cheap plastic trim as a Toyota. The Aston has metal screws and metal parts and that's very, very cool. Orange peel is rampant on most cars, but not on the wet-sanded Aston - its a factory 'World of Wheels' paint job, and only Bentley and Rolls do it like that as far as I can tell. When you take this car apart, up the jackstands, and go into places few owners do - you see the quality of the components and art of the build. That's what I get a kick out of, and why I own an Aston. And I hope they keep the production that way and not bow to mass produced methods.
My only real gripe with the car is the cheezy Ford Turn Signal am made of plastic. I mean COME ON....never use an out-of-the bin part that the owner's hand touches every day on every drive. Those should always be custom and feel special on an exotic.
Registered User
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 2,358
From: Melbourne
Rep Power: 214
Interestingly, I just rented a 2013 Ford Edge for a week and I was really impressed by how much better the turn signal stalk felt than the one on the Aston. I wish my car had the newer Ford part.
Registered User
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 509
From: pa
Rep Power: 37
^^^ with you there! However, for me, the way my right hand falls naturally to the center console controls and can easily differentiate, without looking, (unlike touchscreens), what controls I am operating, makes it easy to forgive the incommensurate stalks. Also the unblocked line of sight from the sweep of the windscreen, for my driving position, makes it easier to forgive some short comings like the armrest extrusion that scratches and gets nicked faster than it's zero to sixty times.
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 137
From: Atlanta
Rep Power: 18
Lol. I agree. However, I think it would be fair to say that there are precious few topics discussed on this forum that are not 1st world problems. I mean, if you own an AM all your problems are probably 1st world problems...
Registered User
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 652
From: Pasadena, CA
Rep Power: 55
Fold your cup holder divider back under the console and the cup holder well is perfect unless you have a Galaxy or similarly huge phone.
Thread Starter
|
Registered User
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 2,266
From: whereabouts unknown
Rep Power: 120
Yep, and if that's true, that's not so bad! Another one that ranks right up there with me are the annoying fuel level messages that knock out the speedo and are inconvenient to clear. Believe this one has been fixed on the newer MYs.
Registered User
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 1,031
From: MD
Rep Power: 80
I hated that! I had to read the owners manual to figure out how to clear it.