Is The Cheapest Aston Martin V8 Vantage The Best?

My friend Charles just bought an Aston. An early manual, 4.3 V8 Vantage - it's half the price of the V8 S I drove last year. But could this actually be a better car?

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[rad]

Just Purchased 4.3 Vantage absolutely bloody LOVE IT, it Looks like nothing else on the road even today and its 11 years old, it drives amazing and it sounds flipping AWESOME.

[RumblestripDotNet]

The key to keeping repair costs in line with an Aston according to Matt Farah is finding a good independent shop and then check which parts are the same as a Ford, just with different part numbers.

[nathanenglish]

I'll always remember the Clarkson review on Top Gear (IIRC) when these were new! He said something along the lines of "you wouldn't need to phone the missus to stick the kettle on...she'd hear you coming from about two miles away" and that resonated with me, the noise these things make is immense.

[whatevernevermind]

One of the prettiest modern cars ever made

[blakebias]

I love these Astons their so timeless this one looks like came off the showroom floor today

[johnromero]

I have a 2007, and they respond remarkably well to exhaust mods. Headers, cats and the like wake up the engine considerably. Torque especially is improved.

[jimturner]

Coming up to 12 months ownership of a 2007 4.3 Manual in Onyx Black after buying mine through the Approved “Timeless” Pre Owned scheme last year. The car had previously only covered circa 28k miles in 11 years, but I’ve loved driving it so much I’ve added 8k in 11 months! By all accounts driving them regularly is key to keeping the car in good order. Warranty has covered a faulty headlight jet washer, LED headlight strip failure and worn door jams. Other than that it’s been faultless.

Agree there’s just enough performance to avoid license losing speeds, and the sound with the fuse removed is epic. One word of caution, if the fuse isn’t reinstalled for a while, the valves effectively fuse (no pun intended!) themselves and stop working. Not a major issue if you never want to re-install the fuse, but worth looking out for if you do.

You mentioned in the video, the car was circa £80k new, obviously worth taking into consideration inflation. Mine was £91k with options in 2007, which factoring in inflation takes it up to circa £124k in today’s money, much the same as the new Vantage. If you consider the new price in that context, the running costs don’t seem extreme by any stretch. Sure it’s not cheap to run, although on a long run at steady speeds, 23-25mpg is achievable, around town you’re looking at mid teens. However, I just renewed my insurance for 12 months for example, and fully comprehensive, with protected no claims, came in at £321 which I thought was great value for a 31 year old man, and freed up funds for the £570 or so tax bill! Just had the car serviced by the main dealer in Bristol, and came in at circa £770 for the annual service. Not Fiesta cheap, but not horrendous either, and only a couple of hundred quid more than an annual service on my 2.0 diesel Land Rover.

Echo your thoughts on the manual, the clutch can be quite heavy around town, but working your way through the gears (and revs) suits the analogue nature of the car much more than an automated manual.

Above all I love the character of the car, and it seems the general public enjoy seeing (and hearing it!) as well. You can sometimes face a degree of animosity with a Porsche’s or M BMW, but most people seem to appreciate an Aston. I think it treads the line nicely between being a relatively modern and useable car, but with a hint of being a classic. It’s not perfect by any stretch, the key is from a Ford Orion, the sat nav from a first generation XC90 and you’ll spend more time in petrol stations than Alan Partridge, but on a country road on a sunny day, second gear, windows down, it just makes you smile.

Finally it’s also absolutely gorgeous...

[bambychoi]

Well balanced review. Really enjoying your content. Keep up the good work.

Ps, in answer to your question as to why people spend £30-40k on a fast hatch instead of an Aston is largely because most new cars are bought on some sort of finance plan. Sure you could get private finance on a used Aston, but the monthlies would be much higher and it wouldn’t come with warranty. I’m sure if you gave most petrolheads £30k cash to spend on a car, 9 of 10 times it’d be something interesting and used.

[bladerunner]

found one for 48, 000 with 11, 000 miles (middling to fair deal). west coast car, never driven in the rain. the very next day i put gas in it and started a 6000 mile trip. combined city/highway... 23mpg (with defective thermostat that didn't close properly). fixed the thermostat issue afterward for 15 dollars and an afternoon's work.

[Dr.TJ_Eckleburg]

Just bought one of these, a 2008 Sportshift with relatively high miles, but well taken care of. I'm thrilled with the car. I've owned a few other supercars in the past (Lotus Esprit, Ferrari 348) as well as more pedestrian sports cars, and this is by far my favorite purchase ever. It's unbelievably enjoyable to drive. It looks great and sounds great, and I got it for a very reasonable price. People who don't know cars assume it's easily $200k because of the Aston badge and the looks. And people who do know cars understand what a good value it represents.

Two things -- first, I actually enjoy the Sportshift. Yes it has its issues and if this was my daily driver it would not be practical. But I enjoy it for the theater of it. It lets you know that you're not driving something ordinary. I'm not trying to have the fastests shifts down to the millisecond or navigate parking lots at 1mph. I want something different and entertaining, and that's what it is. And when it comes time to replace the clutch, I'm going to have my existing components rebuilt and the friction disc relined with Kevlar -- thus saving about three grand in parts AND giving me a clutch that I'll basically never have to worry about again.

Yes, service costs are huge. I took my car for its first major service at a specialist indy shortly after buying it, and did all the fluids, spark plugs, accessory belt and pulleys, some minor deferred maintenance and replaced a wheel bearing/hub, and it cost nearly $6000 all-in. That's part of the deal. I don't expect to spend that sum too frequently though. If the car costs me $2k a year to operate, I'll be very happy.

One thing I will say I also noticed was that the mileage is better than expected. When I got my car fuse 22 was already pulled. I was expecting 13mpg tops based on everything I read before purchase, and while I never did an actual calculation, my mental math says I must be getting far better than that.

[supersonicmixes]

These early Vantage’s are really beautiful cars, and keep up the Great Content, This is one of the best Channels on the site! Keep it up Guys!

[meierb]

Nice video. It is really speaking to me right now. I have been away from being a car guy for the last 7 years and have recently gotten the itch back. Especially since I got my old job back and my finances have recovered and then some. I started looking at older “sporty” cars, but then started realizing what I could afford. I went from, “I’ll get an old XK8”, to “why not get a XKR, a second gen XKR, a DB7, a DB7 Vantage, a DB9”. Now that I am doing some serious research, I am finding that V8 Vantage is actually affordable, and more of a sports car like my Vette was than a slightly bigger grand tourer. I am seeing people get the same old Mustangs, Corvettes, and Jeeps that cost more and appreciate fast. Yes, I could get a car that has an edge on the track, but I want something with a little more elegance and sophistication, and also something a little more exotic. I want to have the Aston Martin experience. This video was the last gram that pushed me over. So my plan is get a XKR (X150) for a couple of years and try that experience, pay it off, then go for Aston. I’m going British! Thanks again for this video!

[grahamhgraham]

The engine is based on the 4.2L V8 from a 2006 XK but they're bullet proof. Early Jags were built with plastic chain tensioners and a water pump impeller i believe which of course fell apart. Once these two weaknesses were fixed, the engine became highly reliable. A common low cost fix was the throttle body position sensor so you just replaced the whole thing with a cheap scrap yard copy. and that's about it. I drove one of these when i lived in Vegas and for most roads in Scotland to where I returned, the HP of these cars is plenty. My supercharged XKR of the same period has better low down grunt and a flatter torque curve which make driving effortless but for most urban/rural driving, anything over 400HP is sort of wasted. Lastly, a car like this looks desirable because it's gorgeous. Porsche may well build "better" cars but not one of them looks or sounds better than this Vantage. Thanks for making these in depth reviews.

[danwright]

Had the pleasure of driving one of these today and it was absolutely brilliant! Definitely on my dream car list.

[Harvb]

5:56 This episode has been brought to you by a random hay seller.

[DaveSimmo]

Modern classic car. That will only appreciate in value. Great balanced review Jay. Pleasure to watch.

[fastamv.]

You should hear it with a supercharger and sport cats, thats what i did to mine and it was awesome.
Servicing was fine at £700 a pop and in 15000 supercharged mls it never needed anything doing apart from a regular 12 month service.

[markjohnson]

"I'd rather just go around doing this."

Agreed. 👍

[markstevenson]

I own an 07 Vantage. This car is truly a joy to drive. I use it as my daily driver and have just gone over 80k miles on it. It is beginning to act like an old man gettin out of bed if I let it sit awhile. But, once I get it rolling, it loostens up nicely. It really needs to be driven regularly to stay in shape. My mechanic/dealership says its the best of the old Astons they service and has the most miles. As for service costs, need alot of extra cash compared to other cars. I expect to pay $1500 to $2000 every six months. That includes 10000k service, complete check-up, and average of fix-its, tires, breaks, etc. Intereresting is that Im still using the original rotors. Thats going to hurt for its next visit to the shop. Best long wear tires have been the Contenental's. They have outlived the protenza's and pirelli's tires x2.

[Hali]

drove one of these at a track alongside a 360, 911, and a little lambo, it was the slowest of the 4 by some distance, but still more than powerful enough for road driving and the only one of those 4 that I would consider using everyday.