Aston Martin Vantage is now $99k

Even at $60K I don't see these as a deal. They just look good, and not much else. What's a 997 Turbo Coupe cost now? $70K?

 

chas,

that is my thinking. a reasonably priced and distinctive DD. I want the 6 sp and could care less if it is as fast as my 510hp 930 turbo.

the v-8 appears to be a handsome car that would be more fun than most in the 50-60k range and is not as over the top as some of the other cars I have been contemplating.

now let's have those that know weigh in on the cost to live with these little gems.

pcb

 

I see where you are going and don't disagree with the performance value prop for a 996 or 7 tt but they 996 and 7 are ugly compared to the aston and just as much as a disposable sports car compared to great Astons and porsches of the good ole days.

so it's a bit more attractive to have a <10k mile vantage for 50-60k.

 

Its not all about the performance. At 99k with a 4 year warranty this is a steai for someone who wants a classy day to day driver. You could actaully own one of these as your only car so cannot be compared with things like a used 430.

The main competition for this will be the F type coupe which is also very nice. For me the Aston wins on looks and class.

As for buying used Vantage at 60plus I think I would streach to a new one at this price. If you really can get one this cheap they will have very good residuals. I also don't see the old ones depreciating much more as the styling is timeless and they have good race history. Also there are lots of performance enhancements for the earlier cars.

 

Astons are beautiful cars. But..they do nothing exceptionally well. The DBS sound wonderful, the vantage sounds great to. But that's where it stops. They drive like an sl500. Nice, but nothing to write home about.

I'm not a fan of the interior design at all either. But it is what it is. An expensive mishmash of Volvo, ford, rolled into a nice shape. Enjoy..

 

It's really not $99K though. That's base price and high-end cars have never known to come in anywhere near base price. Based on what I see of the Vantage, it should come fully loaded given how dated some stuff is, but I doubt it.

 

That only holds true if you never experience a higher power car. Once you feel that additional performance, you really become aware of when it's lacking.

It's true that no one needs more than 100hp in the vast majority of driving, but there is always a time when you want to just have some fun and feel some acceleration. And to be fair, you're paying a heck of a lot of money for a V12 AM.

Power/tq are cheap these days. Even Audi S8 already pumps out 500hp/500tq.

For $300K you should really get a heck of a lot more performance for your money, whether you need it or not. Especially out of a V12.

 

I just got off my R1 after a nice morning ride. No car feels like that! Yet my car does what it does perfectly for what that type of car should do, even though it has been eclipsed in the acceleration dept. many moons ago, simialr to the AM's. Maybe it's more of an internet boards thing.

 

I feel the same way. A nice car can still be a pleasure to drive. I honestly enjoy driving a more toned down car at times. I am seldom in need of hyper speed but when I am I have the toys to quench that thirst.

 

I think this is what they should have done initially with the Vantage. Price it at $99,000 (directly in the 911 wheelhouse), make all the options "a la carte" (Porsche is the MASTER of this), and the cars would still end up going out the door at $125,000 or more once folks start checking boxes!

Jimmy

PS. Is it possible to get the Vanquish GT without the "lipstick", I think that looks ridiculous.

 

I for one can't buy a new car that is significantly slower than something else I had, especially if it's the same type of car. Stepping on the gas and feeling like youre not even moving dulls the experience. This is one reason I never wanted to get a TT Gallardo or crazy high powered tuned car.

If you own another very quick car, and one that's much cheaper, it sucks to spend that kind of money for less performance.

The problem is that an AM is really not any different in usages than any other high-end exotic, so you just get short changed for no reason. I'll put every aspect of an AM up against a 12C or upcoming R8, and I'm sure it will lose, including comfort and luxuries. Modern suspension technology has improved massively and unless you're in a RR or some uber-luxury car whose job it is only to cruise in a straight line, you can get equal qualities in much more exotic cars.

It's kind of an illusion that AMs are in a different class of car. They really aren't. It's a classy exotic with a little extra space, but in the vast majority of cases I've seen, it's just one or two people sitting in the front seats. No one is being chauffeured, no dogs or kids, nothing. Never seen kids or dogs, or even adults, in the back of an AM. Never seen them towing anything or off-roading. Never seen them doing anything that a 458 or 12C wouldn't do just as well.

It's not a Flying Spur or RR. It's not an SUV or LWB executive car. It's not even a car full of modern gadgets as you'd think a James Bond car out to be. In reality it's just a car that's underpowered because it can claim it's a classy GT that's not supposed to be about performance. That's kind of bull**** imo because F12 and 911s are proof you can have massive performance in what are perceived and GT cars.]

So I ask, why not in AM? Just because it's classy doesn't mean it shouldn't have to do what others can. AM has and still does mask its technological shortcomings with it's brand. This is why they are partnering with Mercedes and why Mercedes may one day acquire them, imo.

It's a pretty car, but that's about it at this point.

 

Agree with above


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I need to pass this info to my father in law. I've been trying to get him into a Vantage for ages.

 

Qualifier; I am realtively neutral on this, as I like all nice cars and have no special attachment to AM ......Life is about looks .......

And cars are about looks and sound, primarily. Performance is nice but I have driven cars back to back that had 1.3 sec difference in 0-60 perf and my assometer thought the slower one was faster. So a 4.0sec to 60mph Vanquish may feel faster than some of the cars you are thinking of.

Am is different in 'usages' than some other high end exotics. Yes, It is a GT. And that is really a distinction, I think it is for a nice day trip, ride in the country, or going to a classy restaurant at night. You want to be relaxed in a special type of environment. Part of that relaxed feeling is SPACE. Mid-engined cars don't have that same feel with the engine breathing down your neck. It also has a level of insulation that isolates you from the outside in direct contrast to a stradale/scud/speciale, where you can hear every sand particle pelting the floor.

So that does narrow the field quite a bit to cars like the F12, Cali, AMG SL's, 911 turbo's, Maser's, and Bentley speed I guess. In that crowd the only real competition is the Ferrari's and Bentley for interior quality and sound. Then I guess it's a personal preference thing and Image. Up until the 458, I think Aston had the lead in design area's while Ferrari had the lead in the technical area's.

current porsche interiors just not at this level, taken the other day and the One77, one of the best profiles
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I agree, the One 77 is fantastic look, especially in the brown-ish color seen at the Ring. Unfortunately though the squandered the design IMO because the car was over $1M. Should have saved that design until they had a serious competitor technology wise. One 77 with Mercedes under the skin would have been a home run.

I'm not sure an AM has that much more space other than behind the seats. I'm not a huge guy, but I've found there to be plenty of space in most modern exotics. Sound deadening is probably higher.

My problem with the luxury aspect of AM, along with many other high-end luxury cars that lack performance, is that ironically, they also lack luxury. Cushy seats with fancy trim is nice an all, but the technology in the car is seriously lacking as well.

Where's the 360 surround cameras? Where is the ultra-modern nav? Where's the self-parking? Does it have adaptive CC? Modern headlight technology that turns with you? Does it really compare to the high-end cars from Mercedes and Lexus?

I can excuse some of these things when it comes to cars whose mission is performance and excitement, but I can't excuse them with cars whose mission is cushy, classy dinner-mobile or museum opening. I look at a high-end Lexus or Mercedes, and even some low-end cars, and see a ton of modern technology that's really nice and useful, yet is nowhere to be seen on cars 5-10x as much.

The lack of technological amenities is the reason I'll never understand the exotic luxury car market. Technology moves fast and these companies are way too slow to implement. I just can't rationalize these prices for nice leather trim. I can't look at a car like a nice watch. It's too expensive and too interactive. I might only need a watch to tell me roughly what time it is, but I need such a car to do a heck of a lot more.

And personally I'm not a fan of AM interiors and I think the new seats in the vanquish are hideous. That's just my opinion though.

 

I agree with most of that ^^ including wasting the One77 body on a car never to be seen. And yes Merc has incredible electronic features because they are a huge coporation, but their interior ergo's suck and their seats like park benches. Aston is tiny, struggling to survive, so they have to make hard choices, but they do have those cool little speakers that raise up.

All their dough went on engine bay bling - http://justpicture.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/aston-martin-one-77-engine.jpg

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jp9wevWl9Q]Speakers on the Aston Martin DBS - YouTube[/ame]

 

They do look cool, but Audi has had those pop-up speakers since around 2007 I think.

 

I had a db9 that I traded (in part) for an 07 4.2 vantage with a factory 20hp upgrade -I drove it for a year and LOVED it-sounded great, looked beautiful, and was reliable and practical (for a sports car) I live in New York City, so I'm not sure how I'd use more than 400hp for a daily driver, and for 55k, how can you go wrong? Does it have lots of technology? No-does it matter to me? Not at all-not when I'm driving something that sounds so good and looks so amazing...You might be slower than a Porsche, but you'll be a lot more original (this from a guy who's daily driver is now a 93 911 rsa)

 

Hard to argue against that.

 

I recently priced one of the new GT's. You are looking at $105k-$112k OTD for a nicely optioned car with 6 speed manual. Another $6k for the sportshift. You are free to drive the price way up from there on carbon bits, painted this and that, etc. like with Porsche. Limitation of color options is about the only potential negative, otherwise this is a V8S at a significantly reduced price.

Personally I think it is a hell of a car for the money. But to say that, I take into account the very limited production of the car. That exclusivity comes at a cost. I am not sure I can think of a modern car that comes close to the drop dead gorgeous looks and the style has worn well unlike many cars outside of the oil-cooled 911's.

Performance-wise and technologically, they are woefully lacking compared to what else you can buy for the money. But if that is all this is about, buy a 991 or GT-R. If you are on open highway alot and really can use serious horsepower then maybe this is not the car, but if you live in a big city where Porsches and M-B's are commonplace and you want a DD that is a bit different. Maybe the Audi R8 is the nearest competition?

I have an '07 V8. Weak by todays standards at under 400hp, but still a reasonably good car to drive. The car has been very reliable and actually reasonably cheap to maintain if you can find a mechanic. The dealer will gut you like a fish.

I hear the haters. And I would acknowledge the legitamacy of much what has been said. So buy the 991 and talk about all the tech. Or buy the Corvette and talk about all the savings. Or buy the GT-R and fire off into the distance. But if you can live with a 430 hp car and not feel the need to talk about things like direct fuel injection it has its place.

 

Well said. The same reason people buy a Bentely instead of an S-Class. It's not all about the numbers. If it was, there would be no Ferrarichat, only Corvettechat.


There is something to be said for character, exclusivity, and soul. It is not quantifiable with numbers.

In reality, we are all kidding ourselves arguing over the performance of various street cars. They are all compromised, to some degree, by the laws and luxuries of street legal vehicles. None are pure race cars, where arguing about relative performance has more merit. You can make any car faster by spending a weekend stripping out all your nice diamond stitched leather, back up cameras, speakers, sound proofing, and airbags. But nobody does that, so maybe it isn't ALL about performance?

 

Fchat needs a Like button

 

I am putting in an order for one. My CS has no technology in the cabin other than the radio. My 997.2 GT3 has a few gadgets but less than a 991, and I don't care. If I need to carve up a canyon road or take a few hotlaps, my other two cars can handle the job. When I want a nice sedate, comfortable drive to dinner on the town, I think a $99k Aston with the $2000 entertainment pack (I need bluetooth) and no other option puts the Vantage GT at $101k plus a $1300 gas guzzler tax is still a good bargain and nice alternative to the $91k out the door I spent on a CLS550 which was too big to park anywhere in the city! No $6000 carbon chin/rear diffuser package for the Aston, my GT3 has nice low ground effects. No alcantara, my other cars have acres of the stuff. No carbon interior for the Aston, my CS is all carbon inside. No sport exhaust for the Aston, are there any better exhaust than the scream of the CS at 8000rpm? Navigation? Don't even use the one in the GT3. GT stripe option? Nope, will skip that $3000 option, my CS's fake stripe is enough boy-racer graphics for me. I am not even going to option a second sapphire key. The plastic one will be used and the spare sapphire key will sit next to my mint spare CS and GT3 keys.

I can't wait to get this car! The Vantage seats are super comfy. Aston knew they will win over a few people on the fence. I can get a 991 or a Vantage for the price, and Aston managed to get me into their fold!