3rd time a Charm? Is the V12VS worth it??
 

Some may know my history...1st AM was a Nurburgring Edition V8V in lightning silver which replaced my Lotus Elise. Beautiful car but underpowered, so traded it for a 430 Spider. Later picked up a DBS Casino Royale and kept it for a year as a DD...a bit underpowered so traded for a Final Edition S260 Exige.
I have driven a buddy's V12V and it seemed to have a lot more power to weight compared to my DBS at the time. I was impressed.

So now AM is luring me back as a DD. I'm interested in the V12VS but keep hearing the Sportshift III is a bit slow. I'm wondering how slow? Is it like the SMG on the old M5's? I actually prefer a "good" paddle shifter as I'm getting lazier as I get older lol.

The other thing I can't stomach is the depreciation on these cars. Expectedly, I lost $ on both my previous AM's. I think the wise thing would be to pick up a lightly used V12VS but they are fairly new and hard to find.
I will try to test drive one this weekend in Newport Beach to see how the tranny is. Has anyone else driven one?

EDIT: Detailed Reviews in post #39 and #42.
Pic Heavy and vids: pg 7

Give it another year or so if you are still worried about depreciation. Typically rule is only buy astons 3+ years old if you want to minimize depreciation.

With that said its definitely the king of all astons. Perhaps you can get transmission software to tune out any laggy shifting but nobody currently offers anything for it as of right now.

Would you consider the first-gen V12V (pre-S)? That was offered in a manual and since they're used, someone else has already taken the depreciation hit.

This is a good point and usually wait at least 2 years for the price to come down. But I'm rather impatient now.

The software update is also a good point. I had an 05 430 and the software on the 08's shifting was a lot cleaner and crisper.
I wonder how many generations they will make of the V12V's?

True, I'm normally a staunch manual guy. But the F1 is a lot of fun and makes daily driving a bit "easier."
It really is ironic that I am leaning towards paddle shifting. Guess I'm getting old.
I will have to find out how "good/bad" the transmission really is.

Let us know how it is! I haven't driven it yet.

I'd be surprised if they made another generation. The AMG-based Vantages will have *I assume* a twin-turbo V8. It'll have just as much power as the V12 but in a lighter package and with better fuel economy.

Can't imagine the V12 will stay relevant in the Vantage after that...

That will be too bad...seems everyone is going turbo including Ferrari. The beautiful exhaust note will be sacrificed like current F1.
When is the AMG buyout supposed to take place?

It's not a buyout, it's a partnership

Like Ross said, just a partnership although M-B is getting 5% non-voting. Of course, there are rumors about a buy-out but I have no idea if that'd be the case - it's purely speculation.

The AMG-based cars should be out in a year or two.

The V8 will be naturally aspirated, the V12 fate is unknown but it is entirely possible Mercedes will build that as well. Not sure if the V12 will be NA though because they don't make an NAv12 anymore (unless you count ZONDA, but AMG officially retired the M120 engine because it was over 20 years old.). V8 wil be the naturally aspirated 5.5L out of the current SLK55 which has stop/start and cylinder deactivation technology already in it.

Your source on that? Mine says twin turbo.

And why would AM stick a weaker engine in its cars?

A couple phone calls to gather information in my research. The Sportshift III is a completely different gearbox from the previous Sportshift II with clutch plates. It was stressed that the car should be driven like a manual with a slight breathe/lift throttle during gear change. This will ensure much smoother shifting....kind of like the old SMG's in BMW's.

I'll continue to update as I do further research.

That's the problem. I can't see dropping $200k on a car with a gearbox that everyone compares to a car from the late 90s.

Go figure. This is exactly what I was told not to do by the factory driving instructors while I was driving the V12VS. They specifically said "don't lift during shifts".