Hello,

I picked up an 08 Vantage yesterday. I couldn't be happier. I need a little shifting advise.

I have been driving the AM all day. Is it just me or is the AM a little tricky to get a clean transition from 1st to 2nd gear w/o 2nd revving a little before it kicks in? it could be just me giving too much gas when I shift from 1st to second. Going from 1st to 3rd doesn't seem to be a problem if I keep it in first a little longer. Any suggestions? I could just stay off the gas completely and just engage the clutch when going from 1st to second. Been 20 some years since I drove a manual

Thanks in advance.

 

Congrats on the new car!

The Aston clutches are a little tricky to get used to and are certainly not like any other clutch you have probably driven. They require very little throttle to engage to get rolling or go from 1st to 2nd gear. The stock transmission fluid was known for being rather notchy and unpleasant when cold (a known issue and even admitted to by Aston). Practice releasing the clutch from a stand still completely without using any throttle at all, just slowly release gradually the entire way until the gear is fully engaged. Once you try that then repeat for the other gears and you will really get a feel for just how little throttle is really required, you can then try the same between the all other gears.

If there are no service records of the transmission fluid being changed I highly recommend doing the upgraded transmission fluid service to the Mobil1 75W-90LS Full synthetic transmission fluid. It makes the 1-2 shift much smoother when cold and I makes the transmission an absolute joy to drive. This honestly needs to be done every 4-5 years anyways so yours is probably long overdue regardless so you might as well do the fluid service just to be safe. This can be done at any independent high end exotic service shop.

Until you do the transmission fluid one temporary trick you can do is double clutching into second when cold (1st to nuetral, release clutch, push clutch back in then shift to second). This will make it somewhat easier but ultimately the fluid needs to probably be replaced to fix the issue completely. I highly doubt your clutch is slipping when gingerly shifting from 1-2 so it's probably just a driver adjustment more so than anything mechanical (other than the fluid of course)

Hope that helps