How risky is a ropey 2014 V8 Vantage S Sportshift?

A friend of a friend is about to part-ex their Vantage on 88,000 miles.

All I know is that he hasn't had it for longer than 6 months, the body work isn't good with corrosion to the mirror stalks which I'm aware isn't an expensive fix, some corrosion under the paintwork I will need to fix and it has done 7,000 miles in 3 years without being serviced (so last service was 2021).

I'm being offered it cheap, around £23k I think.

I'm trying to assess what I'm getting myself in for and what possible outcomes to budget for. Such as it may need a new clutch which is about £3.5k I believe.

I think the engines themselves are quite bulletproof, but is there anything else I should be concerned about when taking on this car?

Thanks

 

Change all the fluids, plugs and do a compression test. If if sounds okay, and the clutch engages, call that a net win.

 

What does Ropey mean, may I ask?

 

Ah it must just be a British term. It means that it's in bad condition, but not terrible. Just been unloved and neglected.

 

Seems very cheap to me. If you have a good local mechanic, you have a lot of wiggle room in the budget to get it sorted.

 

Get a very good pre-purchase inspection as repairs could easily exceed the value of the car. There is a DB9 in Minneapolis (facebook ad) for $14K. There are some body work issues and engine issues - the car looks somewhat neglected. Could be a steal, could easily exceed the $40K value once repaired. Another here (again Facebook) is a 1977 V8 Aston for $66K - which I looked at. It's a driver car (it drives) but I'd estimate about $30K to $40K to get it 100% sorted. You could but a pristine V8 for what it would cost to get everything right and not worry about the work needed. The $66K asking price was his cost of acquiring the car from BAT. If you saw the BAT ad as presented, the price looked great - but in the flesh not so much. On these cars, you really need to be careful. An inspection at an Aston shop would be in order.