Yikes...

Wondering, as an owner, what are your feelings towards the brand and the vehicle after that happened? Would this make you not get another Aston? Have you thought about selling the vehicle? Cause those thoughts have crossed my mind more than once lately...

 

Wow, Aston Martin sounds like a class act. Keep me posted. This is making me think twice about getting that DBS I want if this is how they will support their customers outside the dealer network.

 

As a returning customer that wanted to buy a V12V roadster (and was told they won't be made!) and wanted to put a deposit on a V12VS roadster (and was told no) the number of issues with my car from new and the ASM2 failure tipped me over the edge. I won't buy another new Aston
I do love the performance of mine now it is rebuilt and doubt if I will sell it in the near future
I'm now looking at other makes to add to it in the long term, its between Mclaren and Ferrari

 

Wow if a dedicated fan like mikey_k won't buy another one, AM is in trouble...
If only they can put an AM body on top of your new McLaren.

Is there any truth in that double clutch gear box can handle launch controls no problem? I don't see how mechanically it would be less stress.

 

Back on the lunch control issue ... I recall the first generation Nissan GTR had a warning that using "launch control" would automatically void the warranty.

Good luck with the repair, sounds like you found an inexpensive way around the AM/Graziano issue.

 

It's in fact this issue that's making me second guess my prior decision to keep the car for a while... Not so sure anymore...

 

So after a few weeks, it's back home and running. John as always did a great job and went 110%. He mentioned this was the first time he saw something like this happen.

BUT I know somebody that was pretty high up in AM, that had a big hand in engineering the car. I showed him the picture of the gear, without context... and he knew exactly what it was, and how it broke. Meaning they friggin KNOW about this issue!

Looking back I was extremely lucky that:

1 - Only one gear broke
2 - I found said gear for $300 on Ebay the same day

Had I pushed the car a bit more, the connecting gear/rod would have been sheared off. Good luck finding that one too.
Aston/Graziano won't support their customers so the only other things I could have done would have been:

A - Buy a $20000 transmission
B - Fabricate the part/s

Getting back the car provoked mixed feelings.
On one hand I am grateful how lucky I was, and to have a mechanic I can trust. I also wanted to open it up on the freeway, which I did on the way back home.

On the other hand, once I was back in town and had to drive slow in the streets, I kept hearing all those mechanical noises the transmission does, and getting worried in the process. "Was that sound normal? Was that click there before? What if something else breaks?".

I thought about selling the car but I'm not one to act on impulse. I will keep it for a while, and (hopefully) enjoy it.

I'm debating to go ahead with me mods I had in mind...

 

I feel very disappointed to hear that AM would not sell proper parts and won't even let you buy from manufacturer.

I think we all from all forum should send a signed petition to AM that they need to change this behavior and support their customers.

I for sure will never buy another aston again.

 

So your still not willing to concede the action you took was outside the designed limitations of the car.

 

Obviously it was...

 

I'm saddened to hear so many people deciding that this single issue turns them away from the brand altogether. While I agree that making such parts available should be the policy, I understand that it just isn't how Aston's deal with their supplier works.

Meanwhile, the part was replaceable and the user has overcome the consequence of a risky behavior. Under all of the sanctioned driving scenarios, contemporary Aston Martin cars are very reliable and predictable. As with any manufacturer, the dealer's shop may not be the lowest price option and may not be willing/able to preform all the work you can think up.

I hope that Aston Martin makes it to the next generation where I expect that they will deliver at or above class product, service and overall experience.

 

Bleen..sorry this happened to you!

Glad its all better now. BTW where do you take your car for repairs?

 

I think a car manufacturer should sell you any part of any of their cars... I don't feel comfortable knowing that if something else in the gearbox breaks, I'll be SOL or in for 20k.

Risky behavior... A Porsche or BMW can do many launches no problem. To me, this is not considered risky behavior, not more than driving the car at 7/10 in a canyon road.

Like yankee04 said a few posts up, this is outside the designed limitations of the car!

And this is one of my issues now with this car. I feel like it's not designed as a sports car, it should be able to be pushed a bit. It's true that as a used car I don't know how it was treated before, but it only took one launch for my car to break.

Reliable and predictable, this has been written in these and other forums time and time again, and I don't find it so. One of the reasons I purchased this car was that it seemed like it shouldn't cost a lot more than an M3 to maintain... according to Aston owners. This is simply not true.

It has left me stranded twice in 4 months. The first time I knew the clutch would go, back when I bought it, but it leaving me stranded with no options other than to be towed is also, bad design.

There is something very wrong at being happy to drop around 2k (as opposed to 20k) to solve an issue that shouldn't been there to begin with, in a car with less than 29k miles.

Come on, I'm not asking the dealer to install a supercharger or do an ECU tune... or even to perform the repairs. I just needed one gear.

Unsure I can say publicly as he's not a sponsor. PM'd you.

 

I think to be fair to Bleen, launch control procedure is well documented in the V8 Sportshift driving guide. After reading it I was also very tempted to at least try it once and see what it can do. Thankfully I never got around to it, now I never will. Thanks for the warning!
As Jay Leno says, "The big question is will is do a burnout?"

 

Gotta agree, I'd do it at least once, too. I drive mine pretty damn hard, so a breaking diff is worrisome.