One thing I noticed so far is this one is very quiet. The original was a little clackety in the valvetrain, I was told it was about average. This one seems much quieter from the couple seconds I listened. I'll spend a little more time tomorrow listening, washing, and wax on/wax off, it'll be almost 70!

I would love to get 45,000 out of it without hiccups, I'd like to get 450 without a hiccup! I definitely won't be able to see if the bogging is still there until I can smash my foot on the floor, but it was rock solid on idle today, and in stop and go gridlock that usually fluctuates a bit.

The stress was alleviated once they approved the replacement, the absolute worst part was the week it took them to decide to cover it. But I'm still not in love with losing the original block. And the new oil reservoir does not have the oil temperature sensor on the bottom of it with the wiring, which plugged into a now open plug right on the front left side you see very easily which makes it look like something is missing. It took them a day to get an answer from England, it was designed into the package but never activated in the Vantage, so on any replacement tank it's just not there.

How much does it matter these days if an engine has been replaced? I know what it means if the car is 50 years old!
Considering the size of the marque and the relative difficulty to get parts fast in the US, it really wasn't that long a wait. Just a hair over 6 weeks. Long enough to run up a $2000 rental tab. It's amazing how complicated it is to to replace though!

 

$2000 rental charge isn't chump change... did Aston cover it?

When my daughter's BMW had the recent airbag recall, i jumped on it quick and arranged for BWM to provide a replacement car... granted her car is only a 2013 X1 35i, but BMW put us in a brand new 5 series rental from Enterprise for about 7 to 8 weeks... the bill was about $3200 a month!

Needless to say, it forced BMW to get her car fixed sooner rather than later. .i know folks who waited 12 months for replacement airbags...

 

I would say, go on your trip to Florida, just very your speed and gear. Don't use cruise control. I have done that with new cars in the past. Drive at 70 mph for a bit, then 80 mph for a while, or just drop down to 5 th at same speed. It will all work just fine.
Ron

 

Interesting... mine goes clackity clack too at idle, sounds like a pickup truck sort of lol

Isn't bogging when smashing the gas just the clutch or the traction control going off?

btw glad to see your beautiful blue ride is back on the streets!

 

They didn't, it was a "I'm not sure they'll cover the rental on this" right after she told me they were covering the engine and at that time I really didn't care about the rental because of the elephant that had just fallen off my chest. After learning more, they should have covered it but I'm not going to press the point. I still need them to get the hiccup cured so in good faith and appreciation I'll graciously eat it.
That was a bit tongue in cheek. They've been bugging me to come down, I also need to make a trip to OK, but now isn't a good time, I'm not sure there ever is good timing when you're a sole proprietor. I haven't had a vacation in 5 years, which was meeting my grandkids at Disney for a day. Although it was 3 overall as I got a round of golf in with my sister and one with my best friend.
I just started it to listen only, and it's much closer to Singer than Mack!

Normally that sudden brake feel would be TC but I never, [maybe a trip around the corner once a month], drive with TC on. The first thing I do after I put it in reverse is push the button to turn it off. I wouldn't recommend it for everybody, but I would recommend it

 

Good deal. Glad you got it back on the road. Curious to see how the motor behaves over the next few months.