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Sold my 2014 manual vantage, looking at a 2020, a few questions...
Hi all! I had a beautiful 2014 lightning silver manual v8 Vantage for about 5 years and sold it last year. My main reasons for selling were (1) I'm 6'6'' and just didn't fit in it well (solved by new model, much more interior space) and (2) the sports suspension was the roughest riding car I ever had (makes my GT350R feel like a Oldsmobile ride) and (3) I needed garage space and 5 years was enough, ready for a change. My Vantage was tuned by Velocity AP (and had cat deletes and their muffler), and perhaps something got screwy with the dampers setting with the tune, I'm not sure, but the ride was so rough my wife refused to ride in it and Michigan roads are not known for their smoothness (although they are getting generally pretty good by me now). I'm going to test drive a local 2020 tomorrow, but have a few questions:
1. Is there a way to keep the exhaust valves open so I can keep the car in Sport mode and not have to go Track for the loudest sound, ala old Fuse 22 trick? I guess you can keep the dampers soft at least while having it in Track mode is my main priority for a road car.
2. Is the secondary cat delete easier to do than the prior gen? I recall having a hell of a time taking the rear muffler off to do the old muffler swap, but the cat's were not easy by themselves either if I recall correctly as there wasn't enough space to just pull the old ones off and put new on without moving the downpipe/muffler anyway. There is a good chance I keep it stock, but always like more exhaust sound...
3. I'll survive with the old Merc infotainment, will be nice to at least have bluetooth to be able to use Spotify on my phone, but I'm not sure the apple car play mod is worth it for that price. Any other mods worth looking into?
Anything in particular I should look for during a PPI? The car (2020) only has 9k miles, original tires with 2018 dates with good tread and pads have lots of thickness (so it wasn't driven too hard or tracked obviously), but I only see a single maintenance record at a dealer for an oil change at 5100 miles) which is fine, but it's probably due for oil that I'll do myself. It has a decent chunk in a front rim (and some normal/small hood rock chips) which doesn't bother me much but it might a future buyer. I'll probably have the local Aston dealership do the PPI and figure they know what to look for.
Used to have a 2009 Vantage and just got a 2020 Vantage a couple of weeks ago. Can't answer your specific questions, but overall:
- Make sure the car has everything that's supposed to go with it, including both key fobs, emergency key, owners manual, tow hook, etc...
- A 2020 might have some warranty left, find out if/when it expires.
- Make sure you know exactly what options the car has, I was amazed how some highly optioned cars were missing some basic things like the premium audio system (the base audio is horrible).
- Check for any customization the original owner may have done, some could make the car illegal in your state while other may be costly to undo if you don't want them.
1) Sport+ opens the valves and keeping the suspension in Sport is my go-to, I have never found a need for a stiffer suspension setting; no fuse 22 trick to my knowledge, but Sport+ is quite effective
2) No comment, but I moved to the Velocity AP valved exhaust for a more aggressive note, couldn't be happier
3) I lived with the old infotainment for a year and added Aston Installations CarPlay, never looked back. That said, I effectively used the stock BT audio integration with great results prior to the upgrade
Option list they posted (have not seen window sticker). Stereo sounds good, how can I tell if it’s the premium without window sticker since I don’t see it listed on the ad?
Optional Equipment Comfort Collection $2,595.00 Stitching/Welt Contrast Colour $570.00 Exterior Black Collection $4,000.00 Sports Plus Collection $3,785.00 Leather Colour - Contemporary $1,828.00 Paint - Contemporary $1,828.00 Headrest Embroidery - Aston Martin Wings $750.00 Black Hood Mesh $1,695.00 10 Spkr Directional Gloss Black DT $3,190.00
fwiw, they are at $115k asking on a 9100 mile 2020. I think the price is reasonable for the options and a unique “dark knight” blue interior with white stitch I like over a standard black interior, but not a great asking price considering there are a lot of cars in the $95-$105 range. I also am currently doing an addition on my house and won’t have enough garage parking until late fall, so getting this now means my Shelby gt350r gets kicked outside for awhile, which is fine (it doesn’t have leather wrapped dash and door cards that will mess up the glue and come undone when sitting in the hot sun), but it’s not preferable. I’m probably going to offer $100k even and maybe come up to $105k, but if it doesn’t work out that’s fine as the the timing is not ideal for me…it’s just I’m a car nut and it’s spring time in Michigan and a local car is always so much nicer than shipping…
Last edited by MikeR397; Apr 14, 2023 at 10:05 PM.
I'll tackle #1 - On these models, the exhaust flaps are no longer vacuum operated (so, no fuse #22). Instead they are completely controlled by the ECU. The flaps use servo type motors and there are numerous variable %s of opening based on numerous conditions, one of which is sport selection. To my knowledge, nothing is going to keep it is sport when ign. is off. It should always revert to normal shift.
There are a couple of products out there that will keep the exhaust flaps 100% open, even on startup. One is Renntech's EVM product. Don't think I can post it here BC of forum rules, but if you google "renntech EVM" should come right up. It might take a little creativity to install it on a Vantage, but I'm pretty sure the "platform" will be the same as AMG. I do know there is a CANBUS intervention on these modules, so when they install they appear as a node and that's how it works to intervene on the startup flaps.
rambling review as I’m sitting in some store while my wife shops for something or other…
Drove that Aston with my wife today for 30 min. It was awesome! She said it’s probably her favorite car she’s ever ridden in (and she generally could care less). The leather wrapped everything, big custom stitching, and cockpit design felt very special and unique. I had tons of space, massive improvement inside from my 2014 given in 6’6”. The ride was perfect for a road car, relaxed and no tram lining but quick steering and nimble. I hated the ride in my 2014 with sport suspension, this was night and day better. You can control the magnetic suspension independently from the engine/throttle/trans setting, and even track mode rode way more compliant than my old on in normal mode. O and it’s fast as hell, feels faster due to way more torque before you are at go to jail speeds, despite similar hp to my tuned/exhaust 2014. I still prefer NA engines, but the AMG 4.0 turbo is the most responsive turbo I’ve ever driven.
the engine startup sound was just ok, bc I think it starts with valves closed. However it does remember what drive setting you left it in (as it should, this is a major pet peeve I have with cars), and with valves open in sport plus or track it sounds fantastic, classic amg, but VERY different than my last one. My old one with an X pipe sounded very European exotic /lambo even at high rpm, where as this is just brutal amg deep muscle car sound. I like it. I’ll delete secondary cats for $1k and maybe get a valve controller for $800 to keep valves open always bc even though I usually hate auto start stop (and you can keep it off in this) I get tingles thinking of getting stuck in traffic with auto start stop on and with valves stuck open lol!
Now the bad, this car was perfect mechanically, but the leather on the seats looked strangely heavily worn for a 9100 mile car (this came from Glen view IL so maybe a lot of Chicago traffic riding idk), there is a rim gouge (they said they would fix), a 4” scratch in the driver door, and the worst issue is the front part of both rear wheel arches have a 2 foot diameter area that is absolutely destroyed from being peppered with rocks. It looks horrible there and ppf is a must beforehand, not sure how that would be fixed. It’s not a deal breaker for me bc the look, BUT having sold an Aston before, I know I’ll get ripped apart by a future buyer on this.
We loved the car though so am going to be looking for other options. I’m not against this one, but I really don’t see them coming down $20k on their $115k ask, and there are like 200 vantages listed between $90k and $200k on auto trader to choose from, so I’m not overly motivated on this one. The only really unique part is the blue leather, but there are other cool specs too. Damn I wish I could custom design one of these with all the options, but that depreciation drop at first is brutal!
Good luck, it sounds like you have some fun explorations ahead - It's a great car and glad you are keeping your wits about you during purchase-time . . . I always struggle, HaHa KH
I’m back in the Aston world! Pick up this beautiful lightning silver over chestnut brown 2k mile 2020 next week. This car has really fantastic options list, my favorite perhaps being the “Bodypack Black” which adds gloss black to the front splitter, side skirts, rear diffuser, and bumperettes which really elevates the exterior of the car from the exposed grey plastics of these standard trim components.
My wife and I were blown away how much nicer the 2020 rode as a daily road car vs my 2014 with sport suspension. It’s also funny how 4 years after seeing the new design, I finally think it’s also just as beautiful as the prior gen (perhaps sans the hood/front which my dream would be to have a DBS front end on this car!). It’s not as classically beautiful design, but a modern classic design and that rear end design is just, wow!
Last edited by MikeR397; Apr 16, 2023 at 05:51 AM.
