http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,12529-1783736_1,00.html
We had our Vantage tour last night, and had 3 of them at the dealership. A couple of our sales guys got to drive them and Mr. Clarkson summed up most of thier thoughts. The car is dead sexy in person. It is so nice to look at from all angles and the extension of the side strakes into the body lines just looks so smooth.
i love the quote," it looks better than it drives"..this sums up aston martin over the years and now...he admits that the 911 is faster, handles better, steers better, shifts better and has better materials inside and out....and i suspect the porsche will be more reliable and hold up better over time...and for 30k dollars less!!!! the reason to get the am???? style and exclusivity....to me its all style and not enough substance.....for a 120k $$, you can buy a used 911 coupe and a c6vette conv. , or a 355 spider and vette coupe or a lotus,....
Just attended the Marin County showing of the car. Agreed a gorgeous item, and certainly the most sensible of the new AMs to buy. I am afraid that the $300K Vanquish-S is going to find itself on an increasingly unsellable plateau! One amusing comment: In the AMV8 you sit quite a ways back from the windscreen. The sensation is much like sitting in the driver's seat of a New Beetle. We understand that the selling price for a fully-loaded AMV8 will be about $125K plus tax. That's better than a DB9 or Vanquish; but you can still get some pretty good alternatives (including from Ferrari & Maserati) for significantly less. And of course no one yet knows how well the AMV8's value on the secondary market will hold up.
If past is prologue, I think I have a pretty good idea! But I agree it's yet another absolutely stunning design from Fisker. He has mastered the art of designing with understated elegance.
all three am are a great design, but they all seem to be derivations of each other...that is, they each are hard to tell from each other , except for the size difference...
Well every dealer in the US claims they have roughly 2 years worth of deposits.. so thats a good sign.
That's what the Lotus dealers said about the Elise and now they're piling up on their lots at the beginning of Year 2! Deposits come and go. Especially when we all have so many interesting choices.
I think we can all agree this is not some "$40,000 Lotus". And with only 20 Aston Martin dealers, I dont think they will have any "open spots" anytime soon. (not 100% on the 20)
well, i know there is a dealer here in vegas that is a licensed aston martin, porsche, and jaguar dealer... so for them, either way, they have both the 911 and the amv8, and they win either way.
I just placed my deposit last week for a spring '07 delivery. I agree the price on the AMV8 would seem a little more "reasonable" if the car had about 50 more hp. waldo
They should have left it forced induction. Look at it this way. They supercharge a Jaguar 3.2L engine and obtain over 300bhp and nearly as much torque. They could have taken the 4.2L engine putting out 400bhp and 410lbs torque already and tweaked that for the manual gearbox. Its not the Viper's bhp that makes it such a monster, its the torque and a manual gearbox. When I read the specifications on the power train, I truly thought they missed the mark with the AMV8. The Jaguar XKR is going to be more powerful. Sad day indeed.
I expect Aston Martin will increase the power of the AMV8 once they increase the power of the Vanquish and DB9. With only 380hp, the AMV8 is nearly at the performance levels of the Vanquish and DB9. I will be very interested to see if any aftermarket tuners can easily fix the detuned nature of the 4.3L AMV8. If I'm still not sold by the time comes to place my order, I'm sure I could find a nice F355 instead. waldo
A 500hp AMV8 sounds nice, but I'm not sure if the AM 4.3L V8 is built to withstand forced induction. I would like to know the compression ratio and the construction of the pistons, piston rings, or connecting rods before I started that upgrade. You could always keep the boost low, but one mistake could be costly. I would be more interested to see what could be done with the intake, exhaust, ECU, or possibly cams. It sure would have been easier if the factory had just tuned it for 425hp from the start. waldo
Waldo, Aston Martin took a naturally aspirated 4.2L Jaguar engine, stroked it to 4.3L, and heavily tweaked it to produce approx 80bhp more without forced induction. In addition, its changing the torque curve of the engine, while it will provide less than it did in its pre-modified state, coupled with gearing, it will not drastically change the power band or seat of the pants feel. Jaguar has already taken this same naturally aspirated 4.2L engine that Aston Martin tweaked and built it to withstand 15-16psi for 200k+ miles reliably. Thats the supercharged engine found in the XKR and XJR. It produces 400bhp/400tq. Compare numbers to Aston Martin's engine. So I ask again, which engine would you prefer. The Aston Martin N/A engine strung out or a proven forced induction variant that provides 20hp and 100tq more? Aston Martin made a brilliant move and took a Jaguar 3.2L engine and supercharged it for the DB7. Therefore, in my opinion, Aston Martin completely missed the boat by not further tweaking a proven supercharged variant. This same naturally aspirated 4.2L engine that Aston Martin tweaked is the same engine Rocketsports Racing stroked to 4.5L, strengthened, and it provides 650hp for the Trans-Am racing series. This same naturally aspirated 4.2L engine is what was stroked and installed in the new Range Rover. This same naturally aspirated 4.2L engine is what was stroked to 5.0L by Rocketsports Racing to make 550hp and 500tq to be a 200mph Jaguar concept. This same forced induction 4.2L engine variant is what was installed in the new Range Rover Sport. Trust me, I'm an expert with Jaguar and modern Aston Martin power trains. Aston Martin completely developed this model to not produce more power so it wouldn't overshadow its engine lineup of its more expensive models. Therefore, in my eyes, they completely missed the mark. Who wants an Aston thats less powerful than a Jaguar for more money? In other words, its not going to steal XKR sales. In fact, the XKR that will come out will probably be a better car than the Aston for the first time in 10 years. Sunny
Sorry to come off so strongly. I just had the first meal of the day and am much better now, accept my apologies if I've offended anyone! Sunny
I was excited about this car, but he certainly dampened the joy with reality. Entry-level V8 Ferraris made 380hp ten years ago.
Sunny, No need to apologize. I appreciate the information. My concern was based on my uncertainty of how much of Ford's engine building practices have been incorporated by Aston Martin. Ford's supercharged 5.4L GT and '03/04 4.6L DOHC Cobra engines have proven their durability and potential to make to large amounts of power. The '96-'01 naturally aspirated 4.6L DOHC Cobra motors have very stout blocks and cranks, but the stock pistons, rings, and rods tended to fail beyond about 8psi of boost. I realize the AM 4.3L is a different engine from the Ford 4.6L DOHC, and I am not trying to imply the AM V8 is just another car in the Ford model line. My point was a good naturally aspirated engine doesn't necessarily make for a good, durable supercharged engine. I completely agree that Aston Martin kept the power low as to not overshadow the DB9 and Vanquish. Sounds very similar to Porsche and their decision to keep the power down on the Boxster. Do you have any more links with data on the 4.3L Aston Martin or 4.2L Jaguar V8's? Thanks again. waldo
When the DB7 first came out, the press was quick to compare it to the XK8 (not even the XKR!) and award the Jag first place. Later on it was the DB7 Vantage vs the XKR; same result. The Jag is a more powerful car for much less $. But I think the point is that an Aston Martin devotee just doesn't care. He wants an Aston, for whatever heritage or 007-fantasy reason, and if lots of other cars can out-this or out-that it, so what? Presumably this is much the same with almost any exotic these days. You can probably find a ricer, or Pontiac GTO, or Mustang, that will eat it for lunch. But it ain't a, you know, Ferrari/Aston/Maserati/Lamborghini/etc. I think the AMV8 is a beautiful little car, and I would like to eventually get one if I can afford it. Now and then an XKR will probably blast by me. O.K.
i guess they couldn't make the economics work on a baby aston. 125 plus tax just won't fly. the wait lists will evaporate. most dealers have DB9s on the lot - they'll have company soon. VERY sad. this car coulda been a contenda! nay, it SHOULDA been a contender. if they could have hit the price point, they could compete. but at that price point, and at that much over the competition, i don't see the win. the QP has the same problem: originally Maser slated it to come in about the same price as a fully tricked S500 - less than an S55. but in the end the price dwarfed the S55. they'd sell a lot more QPs if they were price competitive with the S class, imo. the six figure number is a big conceptual marketing hurdle. there's a reason that 98% of 911s tap out in the 90s and not in the 100s. once you cross that you're grossly limiting the number of people who'll even pay attention. and if you can't wow those folks' shorts off (and the AMV8 does not appaer to do that) you're SOL. doody.
I agree with Doody. It was supposed to be a $90-100k car I thought. They went over by a little, but in terms of classifying the car to buyers, that is a lot. People will compare this car in price to the new 997 Turbo, not the S, and the Turbo will destroy it.
If it has enough of the intangible "magic" some associate w/Ferrari, like Ferrari, it won't necessarily require the #'s to make sense to succeed. Clarkson's take implies some of this. Would suspect most'd think it's a pretty car. Uniquely so, maybe. And it sounds like it sounds good. In the 911 zip code performance wise. That it's priced just out of "rational purchase" range will keep it from being seen as frequently as a 911, which is decent strategy if you're trading on magic. Gran Sport competitor? Like the Aston's chances.
