Aston Martin DB8/V8 Vantage

As a former Aston owner (98 DB7) & longtime AMOC member, I would go for the AMV8 before either the DB9 or the Vanquish.

Much of what one buys a new Aston for is simply its marque mystique, and the AMV8 has as much of that as the other two. But it costs significantly less. And because it is so close to them in usable performance, it will probably undercut their secondary market values and liquidity.

My experience with V12s (Ferrari, Jaguar, Aston) is that you're paying more for the fantasy, such as it is, rather than the usable (that word again) reality. V12s are sluggish until you get them into the higher RPMs, while V8s are lively right off the line - all the more so if you super/turbocharge them.

I think another strong plus for the AMV8 is its stick shift. I think that paddle-shift systems (apparently an attempt to bring a F1 fantasy to everyday drivers) are atrocious. Once the novelty wears off, I predict there will be a return to sticks/state-of-the-art automatics - just as in 1958 it was all the rage to have push-button automatics on the dash or in the center of your steering wheel!

 

I placed a deposit last month for a V8 Vantage. The dealer said I should be looking at a spring 2007 delivery at the latest.

That should give me plenty of time to determine if the car is worth the money. So many nice cars, so little money and garage space...

cheers,
waldo

 

Perfect. Just what we need: real-time data. Seems like the bogey's at 1.5 years of wait time.

Thanks for weighing in.

 

When I said the doors kind of kicked up when they opened this is what I meant...

Also they don't have those ratchet stops most doors have, they will stay in place where ever you leave them...
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the upswinging doors are officially named as 'swan doors'.

i have driven the DB9 and find it to be an excellent GT. amazing lines and interior. went to the preview for the V8 Vantage.

the excellent thing is, the V8 Vantage (not DB8 as others pointed out), has very very similar design. you lose those almost useless rear seats and you get a more compact package. the interior is virtually identical.

a volante is in the works for MY 2007. not sure how well it handles compare to the coupe. i think it is likely a more powerful version of the coupe will be offered within 2 years (MY 2008).

remember this is a limited production car (compare to porsche).
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Watch out F430? I suspect the F430 will be miles ahead in terms of performance, but this new Aston looks absolutely gorgeous..

http://www.pistonheads.com/doc.asp?c=113&i=11966
http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=9&article_id=2836

Regards,
Bruckner

 

WRONG section.........

 

I would say that Aston is effectively exploiting the low $100K range market niche that is where a new Ferrari Dino would/should be positioned. With production of the AMV8 limited to 3000 along with a multi-year waiting list, AM is rapidly becoming the English Ferrari.

 

Will it be offered with touchtronic? I've only seen 6-speeds in the tested cars in the magazines.

 

sorry, but who in this thread mentioned anything about the F430?

 

his thread was merged into this thread because he started it in the wrong section. It had to do with the 430

 

First of all, a couple of points...

Vantage is not supercharged. It is a NA 4.3L V8 producing 380 bhp.

Based price is $110K, but nicely equipped it will be near $120K.

Interior layout is similar to DB9, but features aluminum and PLASTIC in lieu of birdseye maple, bamboo, etc. I believe woods are available as an added cost option. I have also heard that the seats may have cloth inserts, although the initial production runs will be all leather.

I have not seen the car in person yet, but will be attending the intro at the local dealer in a few weeks. I've had a deposit in place for almost a year and a half, but am leaning toward getting it back since I bought a 550 in the intervening period.

While this car looks beautiful in photos, I am hugely disappointed by the 380 hp. I think Aston has screwed the pooch by introducing a 911 alternative that costs $30K more, is likely to be slower (based on the initial impressions I have read in Winding Road and C/D), and is almost certainly going to be less reliable.

I really wanted to fall in love with this car, but how could they have not gotten at least 400 hp out of this thing?

 

By choice, thats why.

There are plenty of variants of this power plant that between Aston Martin, Jaguar, Range Rover, Rocketsports Racing, and the various (though limited) tuners of the supercharged AJ27 engine, Aston Martin cut a few corners to maximize their profit and keep it N/A for engine resposnsiveness and keep the RPM threshold high.

As someone put, its so 1995... and they're right.

Sunny

 

Saw 3 V8 Vantages (or would that be "Vanti" in plural?) yesterday at the FCI launch event. Say what you will -- I thought it was the prettiest car in the whole building. In the flesh, it looks far more aggressive than a DB9 in my opinion. The shorter stance just seems like it's ready to pounce. The cars had doorsill plates marked "Handmade for Pebble Beach", so these were clearly demo/roadshow cars.

Front bumper clearance is pretty low, but the door swing mechanism works quite well. I suppose it actually could be a daily driver.

Maybe I'm easily impressed... but I did talk with Mrs. JRR this morning about how we could use one. He first question? "Can it fit a baby seat?"


Gawd... these women always look for the practical side of everything.

 

good point vik...the performance tests always has the car rated below the carrera S...but the car is going to cost 30k dollars more, plus, i trust a porsche to hold up long term more than an aston martin..so people are buying this car mostly on the basis of its styling and the AM name-not that there is anything wrong with this!!!

 

To a certain extent, that is why the Z06 and F430 (or whatever other higher-priced exotic) don't compete. There are always better performance deals out there, but numbers aren't the only reason to buy a car.

 

I went to the launch of the Vantage in DC at our local dealer the other night and I thought it is a great looking car. I also agree with others that loaded up you are in DB9 territory and that is much more car for the money. Also, they told me the waitting list is 1000.00 refundable deposits so I would bet many are "flippers" that will bail and cars will be available to someone that looks around. I think when used very low mile DB9's can be had for the same price as a new V8 it might be a better alternative to many.

 

good point...ferraris and lambos have a certain visceral feel and passion to them that none exotics cant match and you cant quantify with 0-60 times and ring lap times...the db7 and more recently the db9 that i have driven never seemed to give the same feel as the other two exotic makes...perhaps the amv8 will be different but road tests in several mags picked the carrera s over the aston in terms of sporty feel and performance.............

 

I saw one of these cars earlier this week. Talk about a home run! I'd take one in a hart beat over any other car in its class. Actually compared to the two Vanquishes I've seen here on the lot I'd take it over them as well and just pocket the money.