ive been lucky so far. no issues, but the first issues of the mirror control computer (door computers.... yes, you need both to match so that's $1500) .change the oil myself, and put on some new EBC brake pads now the car seems to be perfect. driven 10k miles and no issues. (even a few track days!) gorgeous car and a blast to drive!
im really worried about one thing..... the antifreeze. I know this can eat the car's engine up inside... haven't been changed since new I imagine.
anyone change theirs out?

 

A number of members have posted their DIY antifreeze changes. This is truly a DIY home project. I believe it should be changed every 5 years

 

yikes! isn't that like a $4k job?

 

Mine was covered under warranty, but yes it's $3-4k if you're out of warranty.
I haven't heard of the leak returning after the job has been done, so I'm going to be sure to confirm oil is coming from the timing cover gasket before I say it's definitely the case. Oh the fun of being the first to encounter (or re-encounter) a problem! The last 32k miles have been from me (first 23k were the original owner), and they've been rather abusive, so we'll see...

 

Just had mine replaced last month:
http://bernardembden.com/am/timingcover/index.htm

I went to the Aston Martin dealer in Orlando Florida. Could not have been happier with the tech, one of the best in North America. Cost, less than $3K

 

interesting, what warranty do you have?

 

I got back under the car and it's definitely the timing cover gasket. *Le sigh*


I think you might be on to something here:


If so, the updated gasket helps cover the problem (high pressure) but doesn't actually fix it. With the way I drive my car, it's likely seeing much higher pressures than most will see. So for a normally-driven car, the fix might be permanent. But if you drive it more aggressively, the fix may only last 50k miles like mine. I'll have to poke around and see what I can find out about it.


It was covered under the original new-car warranty the first time. I don't have a warranty now.

 

I bought a 2009 AMV8 Coupe Manual on 1 Feb 2016 but before buying it a few things needed to be fixed by the Used Car Dealership. First off, I went and look at the car in person and test drove it and yes the car had some issues but the seller was going to have them fixed. I requested that the car be send to the AM Dealership in Toronto for a PSI (Pre-Sale Inspection) which they found a few things like Module for driver seat was not working, Ambient temperature sensor need replacing, TPMS sensors batteries were dead, 3rd brake light didn't work but that was all gravy as there was a check engine P0016 which was originally diagnose as crank sensor, cam sensor, possibly the wiring, then finally timing chain. AM Mechanic took her apart and replaced the chain and tensioners, put everything back together and.... P0016 is back on the AM Dealer talked to the factory in UK and that went on for a while and finally the seller got tired of them not being able to fix her and possibly loosing the sale of the car to me. He took her to a master mechanic in Toronto that works on Ferrari, Lambo, etc and asked him to fix it. To make the story short $8,000 later and it was the cam gear that was ever so slightly off when the cam were lock with the tool and the timing chain and tensioner were in placed, he reset everything back to factory and closed her up. He also bypassed the TPMS at my request and fixed all the other stuff mentioned above. I drove her for 500km in Feb 2016 and she runs like a dream, I am very happy that I stuck with it. And as you can suspect I probably got the cheapest 2009 AMV8 but don't ask how much I paid

I bought it to be able to work on it and learn what makes these car tic and this is the perfect car for me. I am sure I will ask some of you for help as the knowledge here is soooo good.

 

Owned a 2012 Rapide sold it a month ago. There was one recall for the accelerator pedal - other than that just the annual services. I did just 14,000 km in the car though.

 

what a great thread, thanks everyone for chiming in over the years. I'm currently shopping for a v8v, preferably 08. I'm coming from bunches of early to mid 2000's Audis, Volkswagens, and Mercedes, the v8 vantage has always been the prettiest car on earth to me. Might not be the quickest, (my Audi's over 400awhp, my E55 was over 500,) but nothing is prettier than a Vantage, except maybe the same era's DBS.


I hope to have more to say here in the Aston forum soon.

 

I'll chime in with my ownership experience:

2012 Rapide, bought used with about 12k miles in Fall 2014, was under factory warranty until early 2015.

In my ownership time with the car I've had

- 3 annual services (to the tune of just under $2k each)
- replaced the rear tires at the end of 2015 (with around 16,000 miles on them) for just under $1k total
- had both fuel pumps replaced at the beginning of 2016 (a bit over 16,000 miles on the car) because the car was failing to start sometimes. The car was out of warranty at this point, and the explanation from the dealer was that the left fuel pump had failed due to a "burnt connection". They recommended due to the labor that they might as well replace both of them while they were at it. Even though the car was out of warranty at this point, I asked them to talk to Aston Martin about covering some of the cost because this shouldn't be failing this early in the car's life. Aston Martin agreed and covered parts while I covered labor to the tine of roughly $850.

That's about it -- the car now has about 19k miles, so I've really only put 7k or so miles on it in 2.5 years, but it generally is rock solid, and I couldn't be happier with it.

 

3 vantages - 2007, 2009 and 2015 - all no real issues.

3 Lagonda's - 50% chance of something going wrong each drive.

Aston's come a loooong way on reliability!

 

Always loved the Lagonda despite the reliability issues. Do you still have one?

 

I WISH I still had one - The first one (1985 series III) I paid $60K (they were asking 90K) and after a decade I sold it for $36K - Probably worth $150K today. The next one, a 1984 Series II, I actually bought on E-Bay for $14K - sold it a few years later for $18K - probably worth $90K+ today - the last one was a pristine showroom condition 8,000 mile 1988 Series IV I bought for $32K, sold it to a dealer for $46K who sold it the next day for $89K - could be worth $250K today, possibly a million in a few years! Shoulda, coulda!

 

I feel that way about a bunch of cars I have sold before their time. I always seem to sell at the bottom of the market! '68 E-type, first-year Elise, DeLorean, three different Esprits...all have gone up since I sold the ones I had...and don't get me started on the cars I have passed up that are now going for way more than I could have had them for...Espada, Z8, Countach, etc.

I still want an original Lagonda some day. That's why I have a Rapide now -- love the idea of a 4-door Aston Martin. I've had a couple of chances to buy a Lagonda but have shied away due to the unknowns of maintenance and repair bills to be had, but my guess is appreciation on them now will more than make up for such expenses.