Pretty sure there's a thread about this in the FAQ.

I'm one of those guys that's had to pour a ton of money on their cars.

First month: clutch went out, oil leak
Seventh month: Differential cracked

Probably around 5 or 6k in maintenance in my first year of use.

It's now relegated to weekend / occasional car.

 

I seem to get the short end of the stick a bit. I'm currently financed through a cu. My rates are good at 2.9% but they aren't willing to stretch out the payments longer than 36 months.
I knew I was going to get the advice to wait until I can afford it fully in cash.
I'm going to re locate at the end of the year. And I'm sure with a new job it will be very hard to get financed with no longevity.
So I feel this is the year to go for it. At least I can drop 20k as a down payment. And still keep 5 digits in the bank as an emergency fund.
I don't think I'm being too ridiculous going for this car.
But hearing about 5k worth of repairs in a year doesn't sound appealing to me either.
It's nice to hear everyone's thoughts about this.

 

Don't let the worse case scenario horror stories scare you off.

I know people who have had BMW's, and even Honda's which have had the occasional maintenance nightmare story.

My .02 cents:

No one understands your personal finance situation better than you do.
If you feel you can justify financing the car, disciplined enough to set aside savings, plus a "car maintenance" fund, and have enough money to enjoy a night or two out per week, plus weekend events - go for it!

Most cars do not appreciate in value, but they are also not very difficult to sell should the need ever arise.

Some people say never finance a car, others say never lease a car, and I know some that would live in a rented shack if they could drive an Aston.... but none of these pople are you.

Know your situation. Know your future goals. Know your TCO. Will this car/maintenance impact your wife or girlfriend? Kids? Parents?

Only you know your situation, and you've asked some good questions that at least suggests that you aren't the typical "kid" looking to buy a "hot rod." Listen to your gut, and drive away in a Aston with a HUGE smile on your face... or wait a couple years and have more to put down, resulting in smaller payments and increased cash flow for misc expenses.

(I'll step off my soap box now...)

 

I've had over 50 cars in my lifetime and Aston is one of those few that continue to make me feel special everytime I look at it or drive it. It's also one of my wife's favorite cars too

 

This was said brilliantly. Don't financially stress yourself but I don't think financing is an ill advised move provided you get a fair rate and have a cushion in case something major happens. From my research Bleen seems to be the worst case scenario. IMHO most importantly make sure there are some additional funds aside to explore the world. Best of luck!

 

Good evening,
I have a 2009 DB9. I bought the car in December of 2011 with 2021 miles on it, I now have 7950 miles.

0) Prior to my ownership the convertible top mechanism stopped working. The root cause was a bad ground and it was repaired under warranty by the original owner.

1) The AM radio band was dead when I bought the car (a common problem) which I fixed with a new stereo under warranty.

2) The outside temp sensor in the front grill died, which I replaced myself. The part was $47.68 shipped. This is an easy repair, but if that part goes bad it can keep the convertible top from going down because it may tell the computer that it is something like 140 degrees outside.

3) One side repeater lens fell off (Texas summer heat) and had to be replaced, and a headlight squirter nozzle came off which also required a headlight component replacement. Those two items were something like $900 for parts and installation which I had done during my 2014 annual service. I know my bill for that visit was $2651, and the annual service is normally 1600-1800 depending on what is needed so without digging up my invoice to see the itemized breakdown, I estimate those 2 items at $900 parts/labor.

4) My original battery from June of 2008 died in the Fall of 2009. The car would run rough at stop lights, one symptom of a weak battery. In spite of it being fully charged, I had this behavior. I replaced the battery and haven't had a rough running condition since.

5) I replaced my original tires this month with about 7500 miles on them. The tires had plenty of tread left but 1 tire had a puncture in a non-repairable spot, and all 4 tires were manufactured from late 2007 to mid 2008, making them approach or exceed the 7 year target for healthy tires. So I replaced them all, $1400 from Tire Rack, shipped.

All told, in the 3.5 years and almost 6,000 miles I've owned my DB9, I've spent about $950 on repairs. I've got about $3600 in annual service charges, and $1600 in new tires and battery

Jeff

 

Here is my list in the past 24 months of ownership. mine is 2006 manual bought used with 39k miles on on her

Year one: 10k miles produced the following repairs
1. 4 new Rotors
2. 4 new pads
3. Replace entire emergency brake assembly
4. very small leak fixed
5. 4 new tires
6. Replaced passenger side headlight assembly (my auto dip motor broke)
7. Replaced all side markers (2 of mine failed one in front and one in back)

Cost was about $7,500 year one

Year two: 9k miles produced the following repairs
1. Rear pads replaced
2. Rear rotors replaced (again) Why? have no idea why but they needed it.
3. Rear tires
4. Replace clutch plate, flywheel, master cyl.
5. Replace 1 shifter cable
6. replaced rear trunk gas struts
7. Replaced door gas struts
8. Replace 4 of the leather dash panels that have some unglued

Cost is about $7,000 year two

So… My car has needed some serious work over the past 20k miles. I don't track it. I don't abuse it. I don't dump the clutch to make pretty tire marks on the pavement. In fairness getting it to go nearly 60k miles on the original clutch I can't complain too much. Rotors, tires, pads… Those are just regular things you gotta do. So really my issues have been headlight assembly, side markers, emergency brake, shifter cable, and the damn leather dash.

I still LOVE this car.