Sorry, got this subject off track... the Lagonda's were essentially Aston Martin V8 Vantages of their day running gear wise - no running gear problems in all three, just electrical and minor system problems. They were hand made and Aston's of old had none of the automation or technology cars today had. Never had a drop of engine oil on the floor of these old school Astons. All English cars of this era were problematic - with that comes this stigma that destroy initial resale value. Even F-Type Jag's void of past problems I see plummet in value with no justification (there's one down the street for me at about 40% off retail new list, used).

If your considering used - 09 or newer - they are 90%+ same as new and took the resale hit.

 

Just from the way you've approached this topic I think your expectations are reasonable. Yes, you can turn off the DSC. I haven't seen any major suspension issues other than regular replacement of dampers, bushes, regular type of stuff. There's no "oh all the control arms wear out at X miles" that I have heard of.

A later V12 will be fine but the earlier ones had a dipstick replacement as it wouldn't pick up low oil levels correctly. The V12 does consume a bit of oil and the middle cylinders get oiled last so you want a car that hasn't been ragged from cold and has had regular oil changes.

It will be more expensive to maintain than a V8, but not by orders of magnitude, on the whole. Always exceptions to the rule but by and large these are pretty robust cars.

I would expect it to cost a little less than an equivalent mileage bi-turbo V12 Merc to keep on the road.

 

I bought my 06 V8 Vantage (manual) used almost 2 years ago.

Immediately my car needed all new brakes and rotors. (last owner ditched the car right before these needed to be done). So I did that.

Drove the car for 6 months and noticed the passenger side headlight was not working properly, turned out the entire headlight assembly needed to be replaced.

Since then I needed to replace the rear brakes and rear rotors again (just recently).

Now finally, just over the holiday weekend my clutch has decided to fail.

-----In summary, apart from the headlight failure, everything else is regular maintenance that would happen to any car that gets driven. Do the parts cost more? yes. But thats also to be expected. So in my opinion other than the headlight assembly, this car has been great! Very reliable.

 

I've got a 2012 V8V-S. 60K miles and hardly any issues worth mentioning. I will say that I had some clunky shift issues (sport shift) at 10k miles, the dealership suggested a new clutch. I decided to try and smooth out the clutch plates with some calculated downshifting, which worked in about 1500 miles. It still has the original clutch in it now. - I still can't believe that they felt like 10-12k miles was an acceptable mileage for the clutch?!?!

Just recently the vacuum lines around the manifold became brittle and are being replaced under warranty. Tech said he has seen this on cars from time to time and it seems very random. Some have the issue brand new, some never show any signs the problem at all. I suspect it is a material sourcing issue.

60k miles of fairly aggressive driving with no real problems... bulletproof, I agree.

 

08 V8V - no issues
09 DBS - 16k miles replaced door hinges, recharged freon for AC, had the OBD to reset the silly error code for the emissions thingy, dreaded gas cap being stuck
15 V12VS - had to fix the dreaded gas cap being stuck

 

2006 DB9 39K
Has the infamous "tick" in the engine. Runs fantastic but when the ticking start, it's quite embarrassing

 

Hi..

I just bought a DB9... after 15 min of driving it has very LOUD tick noise!! extremely embarrassing...

Is this common? do you know where it comes from?

 

Hello. Does it sound like this?

http://api.viglink.com/api/click?for...%3DTAaT5nSDfTI

 

.. No,, it the sound on my car comes once every 10 minutes.. like somebody tapping the body with a hammer...

The sound on the video sounds like a leaky exhaust manifold,,,

 

Oh wow! I'm not sure what yours may be. Hopefully someone will chime in. Also, you might want to create a new thread just for that.

 

Lately just minor annoyances in electronics, i.e., alarm went off when I opened the pass side door, it was not locked. Battery is fresh...its lives with trickle charger plugged in. But the car has been in hibernation over the winter.

Dealer has a spring, visit our service dept meeting, coming up. They will read any captured fault codes then.

 

I'd be very interested to know more about 07-08 DB9 reliability as I've been considering one in the next couple years. My daily driver is an Audi RS6 which needs brakes every 25-30k, t-belt service every 35k, and is receiving all new shocks and control arms at its current mileage (85k) so I'm not expecting it to be a Honda Civic in terms of upkeep, but perhaps better than the Audi if for no reason other than I'll be driving it half as much?

I assume that unless I get really lucky I'll be buying a DB9 with the automatic transaxle. In keeping with my "buy a 10-yr-old semi-exotic every two years" theme it would most likely be a 2007 model year.

 

I turned over 50k miles a couple weeks ago, should be turning over 51k on my way out of the office tonight - forgot to take the obligatory 50k odometer pic

A couple updates... my belts are squeaking faintly at startup and my thermostat is shot (well, has been shot for a long, long time). So I think I'm still on the normal end of things.

 

I truly believe I am fortunate by the fact that I have dealt with the niggling but not Earth-shattering annoyances of living with a 928S for 30 yrs. Ignition locks falling apart, yearly wheel bearing repacks, a couple of cambelt replacements, rubber fuel flappers eaten through by fuel system cleaner, lost vacuum to a headlight flipper, driver's window switch EVERY year(Gaak?), bonnet lifts, replacing the rear bumper shocks after every "kissing" the garage back wall, fresh Conti's 2x yr, $150/hr service and an average visit to Gary at Dave White Motorsports costing $1,200.
I plunge into AMville with jaded eyes and a large tin of Castrol.

 

I'll add another data point from another thread. Looks like my timing cover gasket leak has returned. It's been 50k miles since the repair job was performed.



I went through that with a '93 RX7. Loved the car, but I had two of everything just in case!