Larry,
You are very lucky, the Dino and the 3.0 CS, are two cars that my self and my Dad never got to own. He wanted both, he did own a 330 GTC that I learned to drive in for 5 years. It was a great car, he also owned two E-Tyoes new in the 1960's. A 3.8 and a 4.2 both FHC's
Ron

 

Speaking of crazy issues, there are always alot of DB11's in for service, which I thought meant they must have been selling like hotcakes. But the answer was "electrical problems" afflicting alot of them.

 

 

Test drove the new Vantage today and I have to say I like it a lot.

Whatever Matt Becker did, this car has his handling signature. Reminded me of the Lotus Evora I had but with a bigger engine and more blurps through the tail pipes.

Drove mostly in Track mode today, both engine and suspension. And even then, the car absorbed the rather crappy roads of LA.

I just need one in a stick shift asap.

 

I didn't had a chance to drive it, but still can't get over the all the design elements. More I see it, more I don't like it..... Anyhow. what color red is that car? Is it Galpin's car?

 

The West gets a nice color with matched strakes? Sorry, I made no bones about hating China Grey, it's got a much different personality in color. That profile is beautiful.

Same thing I did, as soon as he showed me where the controls were I put it straight into full track and left it there. It's thrice as loud, 10 times as many burbles, and I swear it was far more comfortable on my crappy Jersey roads than my sport pack, and I hit plenty of holes and bumps, but it's also far better handling, which sounds like I drank the coolaid because my car handles like a dream. But the new car is on rails, and is extremely comfortable riding them. It was the drive that was impressive. The balance, the power, the feel, it feels like a race car that's also very comfortable and very streetable.

But they did sacrifice some space, it's not quite as useable a car now. My clubs would have to go in toward the windshild. Seriously? It's not as wide and more pinched in the hatch, I should have taken a picture but it seemed significantly smaller at first glance. And as busy as the interior looks now in 10 years when everything is a long touchpad it'll look ancient, like mine does compared to the new.

And walking up to my car tonight under the perfect parking lot light, I'm still in heaven. It is such a beautiful car.

 

That looks awesome in red, great pics!

 

The license plate frame says Beverly Hills Aston Martin.
Ron

 

If AML removed some of that nonsense on the front and rear, it would actually be an attractive car.

 

I figured in other colors besides the china grey and wild green/yellow it would look better. I like the red, although red is not my choice. The rear end looks even better. Larger diffusers are normal on higher end sport cars now. Maybe not correct for a street car, but looks wise they all are doing it. Aston just a bit late to the table.

I think also the wheels if done in BC Forged RZ 21's or HRE P101's in silver or gunmetal, the car would be great. Hood vents are a must still for me. And the manual tranny

 

The diffuser is nice, just needs to be integrated better into the rest of the body. It looks a little like a growth instead of a natural extension.

 

What issues are you talking about? Aston has a reputation mainly because they're British but in reality, these are very reliable cars as far as I've seen. Especially impressive considering it's a hand built low volume exotic car.

I had way more issues with my Porsche than I do with my Aston.

I'd actually be more worried about the new cars with so much Mercedes leveraged tech. Do you know why 5 year old s-classes are so cheap?

 

Hi blue2000s...thanks for taking a few minutes to read.
While perhaps you and I have had reliable cars so far...clutch and other items will surface sooner then later.
I am sure you have read the many threats here and on other sites that show the crazy issues with our model cars. Yes..Aston improved or tried to correct...some issues have never been solved like the stalling of stick cars...not all but many. The owners answers to this ...drive less so not killed.

These cars cost more to maintain ...which you would expect...but so far I have spent 20 percent of the purchase price on my car...some of it for cameras but most on oil etc...which much of this was performed by my son and I.

i have never spent this much on any American car or truck I have owned. Only an old jag years ago till my wife told me it had to go...lol

As for the 5 year old Benz..my thoughts are different from yours...they manufactured many more then any year of Aston Martin cars. My thinking is too many cars for sale lower pricing. Any issues of problems with these cars does not matter as most were probably fixed over the years.
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I do not get to drive my car much during the summer as working on different job sites. But when able I drive it and enjoy it putting over 11000 miles in 16 months going to Florida twice.

Sorry to hear your other car is a problem and has had issues...

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This message board, like all others, is full of people searching for the solutions to problems with their cars. These boards always make owners nervous and gives a bad impression of the car's quality. But if you look closely you'll see that this board has far less of that than most others, including those of cars that are traditionally thought of as reliable. Check out what a Subaru forum looks like, for example.

It's hardly fair to compare an Aston Martin's maintenance costs to a high volume production American car. Between the lower volume and the luxury brand tax, there is never going to be a chance that an Aston will be cheap to maintain. But maintenance is different from reliability.

My point on my Porsche is that the perception of Aston and other British cars are unreliable, and that the perception of German cars being reliable is also just that, perception.

Aston will never shake the stigma, but I don't believe adding German electronics to the equation will actually help improve the reputation. The German tech may be cool to some people, but it's very complicated and with complication comes additional modes of failure.

I use the S-Class as an example because as they age, repairing failed systems on these cars becomes cost prohibitive, further dropping the value of these cars.

 

It will be interesting as to see what goes wrong with the new Vantage. You would think the drive train would be sorted, but then there are plenty new things that could go wrong.

As far as reliability, my 2007 and 2009 (Ford Years) were bullet proof - hardly anything went wrong, no clutches needed replaced, and even no brake pads in 25,000 miles (2007) and 12,000 miles (2009). Even annual services by Lake Forest were very reasonable for an exotic.

The new era of corporate ownership: (2015) I had about $20,000 in warranty claims on my V8 GT before it hit 10,000 miles, traded for a 2015 V12S which was represented as Timeless Certified but was not disclosed to be tracked with 23,000 miles which I'd guess had about $100K in warranty issues (about a dozen things during my 3 month ownership which would have been about $15,000 in parts and labor) and then I demanded a different car because of the deception, so they traded me into an 8,000 mile V12S (no cost to me) which has no issues so far in the 2,000 miles I put on it. The next buyer of the past V12S within weeks of ownership had his engine blow up - Aston put a new engine, new clutch, and new hoses, among some other stuff, and then there was a seat belt gremlin that replaced 4 computers and required the interior to be dismantled, hence likely approaching at this point $100K in warranty issues.

That said, buyer beware on Aston's new ownership's corporate decision to sell testing and tracked cars as timeless certified to customers (us). If that policy does not change you'll eventually see second generation Vantages and no doubt DB11's with higher than normal repairs.

While they sort of made good by me, I was lucky that I caught it early.
This experience will likely harm my 35 year long Aston Martin loyalty as I no longer respect the company especially as it seems to abandon the history of gentleman's sports car of elegance, my next exotic may be another brand if I ever trade my V12S.