@yidal8 The Evora is hoot and more sensory than the Vantage. It'ss a tough choice if I had to choose between the two. Vantage is less problematic and easier to get parts for. I like the other comments are trying one with a sports exhaust and/or decats. Adds the sensory feel when driving the Vantage. The car handles great, not magical like Vantage, but impressively flat and can hang with best of them.

 

@@RolexDaytona1: Thanks. Yes, outgrown the S2000, and by now suddenly I'm in my mid 60s...........I understand perfectly how this car can make one feel, and it's never about the numbers for me anyway.
p.s. did you have to replace the clutch in 80kmi?
Interestingly, the v8v I drove yesterday had the clutch replaced at 13,000mi at around first ownership change. Iv'e owned probably dozens of manual cars, and never had a clutch replaced in any of them.

 

Drove the Evora 400 6-speed and was mighty impressed. Brilliant car.

 

Clutch is probably the biggest maintenance issues on these cars. it's not unusual to have a clutch last for only 10k miles or upwards up to 50k

I'd recommend an upgrade to a twin plate clutch as well for an even better driving experience

 

I too have never replaced a clutch.. I am going to say this very quietly so the car doesn't hear... and start getting ideas. Its still the 1st clutch, no slip. And I do occasionally shift hard enough 2nd to 3rd you'd surely notice. I know the day will come.. but there are guys who when driven properly get over 90k on a V8V clutch. (I heard of one guy at least... I may be the 'other' high mile clutch guy) It just seems like a LOT of people don't drive them with clutch preservation in mind. I am late 40s, First owner was a professor at a university probably late 60s.. and middle owner was also late 40s. (Door plaque had 2 names so I figured it out, 2nd owner and I talked.. and he gave me some verbal history of the car.) I dare say none of us drove like we were trying to hit peak 0-60 numbers.

 

It is not a tight country road or town car. I prefer smaller less powerful car for country road drives. The Vantage is perfect for city to city drives that feature a wide variety of surfaces and situations. It is perfect for a road like Rte 55 in New England.

 

Many of us have similar car history on here... Evora 400 seems like a GREAT option. Just different. I have looked, not driven one. If it had 2 more cylinders I'd be in. I'd have kept my NSX and 1995 M3 longer if they sounded like V8s !

 

Echo what other folks said. Get the car out where it can stretch it's legs on the test drive and get the revs up (you say you had a s2000 so that should be second nature). Look at what options are on the car you are test driving. Sport suspension will stiffen the ride up some if you want a little better handling. 2012.5 and up cars got many of the S options as standard - bigger brakes, quicker steering rack. So depending on your budget you may want to look at a later year car.

I wear jeans and a t-shirt and some Cons. I don't think you need a suit and driving shoes to appreciate a Vantage.

 

Actually, the E400 reminded me a lot of the old NSX I test drove many years ago. The NSX was maybe better, even compared to a new Evora.

 

My suit is using a bathing one and shoes are Sperry's... its fun to get out of it in a tux however.

 

Clutch slip is generally first noticeable when trying to accelerate while in a high gear. 6th gear, you press the gas, the RPMs go up but the car doesn't go any faster.

 

This cars talents are not cruising on the highway. There are cars much better suited to that. This is a no-excuses sports car that deserves curves and frequent trips to redline..

 

Sneakers, tee shirt, jeans. Was eating dinner the other night and this couple sat next to me, late 60's, we're BS'n about anything and out of the blue he asked what car was mine? I said the Aston in the corner, and his wife leaned over and loudly whispered to him, I told you that's who owned that car! It was pretty funny.

He swipes up a gallery on his phone and starts talking about this Aston that pulled into the golf course and he said everybody just stopped in their tracks and couldn't stop staring at it. Walking up, taking pictures, he had a whole gallery of them, so he asks what it was as he showed it to me, and I laughed and said, it's the Wolf, the current version of my car. And smiled, pulled out my gallery of mine sitting next to the wolf I drove. Told him it makes my car look old in comparison, then they want to talk about mine for 20 minutes. Nice couple.

There are car people, and there are transportation people, and everywhere in between. You buy an Aston because you want the most beautiful car on the road, and at the same time it's not waving it's hand it the air saying look at me! Most people you will be invisible, some people will notice, a few will have their phones on video, but the ability to stealth with the majority of cars is nice. It will still draw more attention than you may be comfortable with but you get used to it. Anybody driving a Ferrari around here is definitely waving with both hands. Look at these old men fawning over the Wolf, and why I was laughing. I pointed out the vanquish type front splitter and huge grill and said, this hurts it, and he said, yea, I didn't like that part much either LOL You look at it in it's entirety and it's a good looking car, but you can pick apart certain areas that you just don't like. I've yet to find one of those on mine!

The roadsters are beautiful top down, not my thing, I like roofs, but it's definitely about the most beautiful roadster I've ever seen. I looked at an 09 months before mine just because it was local. 6 months later I saw it on the road, but at first it was absolutely invisible. It passed right in front of me first at a light and it hit me a couple seconds later what it was and wrapped my neck around. *I* didn't even recognize an 09' with the top down 20 yards in front of me, side view. They're stealthy beautiful.

I'm not loving my Michelins, I like the ride better, but it's almost killed the fun of the car. They will not spin like the AM9's did, they won't spin at all, Rich, how the hell are you sliding around corners with these things on, or are you breaking lots of stuff too? LOL so drifting turns is on the back burner until these get another winter on and hopefully get a little less sticky! Yes, it's better handling if you're looking for a planted car but I prefer the *** hanging if I get the itch, and now I'm too scared to scratch it. Broke a joint in the axle where I would usually be running the onramp sideways 50 yards leaving the stadium after loosing to the Cowboys, first time I lit into them since I had them put on, and broke the damn car.Violent wheel hop, and it was 25* out. Ends up $6300 because it wasn't found on the way in to the box, so I had the box pulled and checked. Putting it all back together he finds the loose joint............ Still love my mechanic, we all make mistakes, but that wasn't cheap..... Just the axle is $1600 installed, they expressed it out of the UK though.

4500-6000 is the sweet spot driving, if you're not just transportation in 6th gear. Driving the car is it's charm, in all it's predictable shortcomings. it doesn't brake hard enough late but I couldn't take the dust, it's definitely a bit heavy, the earlier slow steering, but it's my daily, you drive the car you have and you become one with it. It's never going to be a GT3 but there is no doubt it is a sports car and it is alot of fun to drive. It used to be more fun....

Rich, Stuart, anybody, please make custom switches [or find replacements] that you can pull up click to close the window. It's nice it goes down with one push, but, who doesn't want one that goes up with one touch also! The last 3 cars I had all did.

 

Great thread, and great advice! Reminded me of why I like my V8V MT so much. For the reasons mentioned above, I would also strongly suggest a 2013+ car if your budget permits.

 

This skill alone is worth the price of taking a driver's skills training course. You get on a wet skidpad and practice until you figure out how to throttle steer, it's fantastic.