Blinded by the White - 2013 Aston V8 Vantage
Discussion
Almost my entire car history, three trip reports from Euro road trips and and a tale of love and heartbreak featuring a black R8 can be found in this previous thread:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Then we bought a black Porsche Cayman 981 GTS and did another Euro trip:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
But...I got bored and started idly searching for alternatives. I've gone into details in that thread; the Porsche was lovely but just not putting the sauce on my chips. So once again in order of importance, must haves were:
And then her step father passed away. He was a massive petrolhead and huge influence on our lives but had always poo-pooed the Lotus idea. He often asked "what about an Aston?". I hung out with his son a lot during the aftermath and he was also asking "why not Aston". One of my petrolhead mates also chimed in with the same question after a quick trip in one.
I had in the past discounted them. The "accountant obsessed with James Bond" image I'd built up in my head was a massive turn off and they always came 2nd in various group tests. And they all seemed to be silver or black. But they are riotously pretty and another manual V8 was incredibly attractive. I started watching some Jayemm youtubes and he had tested a few with the Bamford Rose (BR) exhaust and oh my, what a noise!
We had a week off in South Africa on holidays after the funeral and given some free time I found one that wasn't black, silver or grey and had all of the BR stuff already done (at a cost of £10k!!!), so the day we flew in overnight from Cape Town I somehow managed to convince the ever patient BBB to come look at it as we didn't have anything on...
So it's a non-"S", 4.7L. This is one of the catchilly named 2012.25 upgrades where there were they applied a bunch of "S" stuff to the cooking version, including the duck tail (yummy), wider wheels, faster steering and better dampers. The engine was still 10bhp down on the the S and the springs weren't as stiff, but the "S" was said to be a little too stiff in contemporary road tests.
The BR upgrades consisted of some sexy manifolds, sports cats and a switch to turn it from soft to louder than grumpy-Thor. It also has a tune to take advantage of the reduced constriction and is purported to be running up around 465bhp (from a standard 420bhp) and is said to get better MPG to (due to not having to cool the now non-existent primary cat with fuel during cruise). The clutch and flywheel were also replaced with the V12 Vantage items of a twin disk clutch and much lighter flywheel. Ten Thousand Pounds. If you started off modifying Japanese cars, this price is rather amusing, but also....SHINY!
More to come...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Then we bought a black Porsche Cayman 981 GTS and did another Euro trip:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
But...I got bored and started idly searching for alternatives. I've gone into details in that thread; the Porsche was lovely but just not putting the sauce on my chips. So once again in order of importance, must haves were:
- Not another furking black car!
- 6+ cylinders.
- N/A or supercharged.
- Manual.
- Luggage space and comfortable enough for 7 days.
- Able to deal with the ubiquitous Surrey speed bumps.
- ULEZ compliant.
And then her step father passed away. He was a massive petrolhead and huge influence on our lives but had always poo-pooed the Lotus idea. He often asked "what about an Aston?". I hung out with his son a lot during the aftermath and he was also asking "why not Aston". One of my petrolhead mates also chimed in with the same question after a quick trip in one.
I had in the past discounted them. The "accountant obsessed with James Bond" image I'd built up in my head was a massive turn off and they always came 2nd in various group tests. And they all seemed to be silver or black. But they are riotously pretty and another manual V8 was incredibly attractive. I started watching some Jayemm youtubes and he had tested a few with the Bamford Rose (BR) exhaust and oh my, what a noise!
We had a week off in South Africa on holidays after the funeral and given some free time I found one that wasn't black, silver or grey and had all of the BR stuff already done (at a cost of £10k!!!), so the day we flew in overnight from Cape Town I somehow managed to convince the ever patient BBB to come look at it as we didn't have anything on...
So it's a non-"S", 4.7L. This is one of the catchilly named 2012.25 upgrades where there were they applied a bunch of "S" stuff to the cooking version, including the duck tail (yummy), wider wheels, faster steering and better dampers. The engine was still 10bhp down on the the S and the springs weren't as stiff, but the "S" was said to be a little too stiff in contemporary road tests.
The BR upgrades consisted of some sexy manifolds, sports cats and a switch to turn it from soft to louder than grumpy-Thor. It also has a tune to take advantage of the reduced constriction and is purported to be running up around 465bhp (from a standard 420bhp) and is said to get better MPG to (due to not having to cool the now non-existent primary cat with fuel during cruise). The clutch and flywheel were also replaced with the V12 Vantage items of a twin disk clutch and much lighter flywheel. Ten Thousand Pounds. If you started off modifying Japanese cars, this price is rather amusing, but also....SHINY!
More to come...
seefarr said:
BBB (The Beautiful Blond Ballast, my financial controller) was once again wonderfully supportive in accepting my random car chat nonsense and "ooooh, look at this one" during this process.
I've long wondered what BBB stood for - I knew it was a reference to your better half but never worked how it referred to her and never wanted to ask - thank you 
Thanks everyone for the kind words! 
The buying experience was largely pain free apart from my wallet - it turns out 981 Cayman GTSs have fallen a fair amount in the last 18 months.
The dealer sent the Aston off for a full service and inspection with Bamford Rose before purchase. It has a very small amount of bubbling on the top of the passenger door and drivers door handle which is very common on these, but apart from that it had a clean bill of health. I got him to fill the tank for me so I didn't have to stress about that on the drive, but then his water was off and I had to find a services on the way home anyway to use the bathroom! I only stalled it once leaving his drive way (remember that lightened flywheel?).
The noise on the (5pm) drive home was as amusing as the test drive. I was playing with the 3 way switch for the exhaust which seem to be:
1) Silent.
2) Loudest car in the universe.
3) Silent until 5k rpm, then suddenly loudest car in the universe, which in some ways was even more shocking.
I also discovered that the inbuilt Garmin took an age to find the car for some reason but worked OK once I was up and running. It does have bluetooth but it only works for phone calls which is kind of hilarious
. I settled down to some ClassicFM and enjoyed the drive.
I managed one onramp where I took it through 2nd to explore the location of the limiter and it seemed shockingly fast! Noise builds up to earth shattering by 6k rpm, thrust seems to just keep increasing and I mistook the little red change-up lights for traction control warning which added to the experience! I pulled in the drive and BBB and I sat in there for half an hour chattering away like kids.
It was at this point that I noticed a clattering noise coming from the back of the engine bay. I could make it go away by pushing the clutch in and my mind went straight to throwout bearing.
edyedy
By this stage it's 7pm - I called the trader and to his credit he picked up on the 2nd ring. "Thanks for picking up - you know those calls you don't want to get just after a customer picks up a car from you? This is one of those." He sounds sad. I describe the issue and he says "oh thank god, that's the twin plate clutch, the early ones can do that when they get warm." So that was a relief!
It's not a wonderful noise and it's a shame I didn't realise this before I bought it. It sounds like it can be resolved with different parts but it's 10 hours of labour to do a clutch change and 10 hours of Aston Martin labour is going to be rather a lot. I'll just have to leave it in noisy mode to drown it out!
RS Grant said:
Lovely car.. one which made it to my ‘Saved’ list on Autotrader!!
Look forward to reading your updates and seeing how you get on with it.
And thank you Grant for not buying it!!!Look forward to reading your updates and seeing how you get on with it.
The buying experience was largely pain free apart from my wallet - it turns out 981 Cayman GTSs have fallen a fair amount in the last 18 months.
The dealer sent the Aston off for a full service and inspection with Bamford Rose before purchase. It has a very small amount of bubbling on the top of the passenger door and drivers door handle which is very common on these, but apart from that it had a clean bill of health. I got him to fill the tank for me so I didn't have to stress about that on the drive, but then his water was off and I had to find a services on the way home anyway to use the bathroom! I only stalled it once leaving his drive way (remember that lightened flywheel?).The noise on the (5pm) drive home was as amusing as the test drive. I was playing with the 3 way switch for the exhaust which seem to be:
1) Silent.
2) Loudest car in the universe.
3) Silent until 5k rpm, then suddenly loudest car in the universe, which in some ways was even more shocking.
I also discovered that the inbuilt Garmin took an age to find the car for some reason but worked OK once I was up and running. It does have bluetooth but it only works for phone calls which is kind of hilarious
. I settled down to some ClassicFM and enjoyed the drive. I managed one onramp where I took it through 2nd to explore the location of the limiter and it seemed shockingly fast! Noise builds up to earth shattering by 6k rpm, thrust seems to just keep increasing and I mistook the little red change-up lights for traction control warning which added to the experience!
I pulled in the drive and BBB and I sat in there for half an hour chattering away like kids.It was at this point that I noticed a clattering noise coming from the back of the engine bay. I could make it go away by pushing the clutch in and my mind went straight to throwout bearing.
edyedyBy this stage it's 7pm - I called the trader and to his credit he picked up on the 2nd ring. "Thanks for picking up - you know those calls you don't want to get just after a customer picks up a car from you? This is one of those." He sounds sad. I describe the issue and he says "oh thank god, that's the twin plate clutch, the early ones can do that when they get warm." So that was a relief!
It's not a wonderful noise and it's a shame I didn't realise this before I bought it. It sounds like it can be resolved with different parts but it's 10 hours of labour to do a clutch change and 10 hours of Aston Martin labour is going to be rather a lot. I'll just have to leave it in noisy mode to drown it out!
DBA086 said:
Lovely car. What seats does it have?
I’m not sure that the clutch noise is “normal” - my V12V doesn’t have that…
I've got the "Sports Seats"... which I think are the standard ones.I’m not sure that the clutch noise is “normal” - my V12V doesn’t have that…
I believe it's to do with fitting the clutch as an aftermarket unit to the V8. There's a lengthy thread on 6speedonline where a very pissed off Mike from Bamford Rose has gone full Internet warrior on a competitor. In it he does state the below - he also says they can normally cure it by setting the idle higher. I emailed them for more info but received no reply.
"Some cars we fit a BR lightweight flywheel and twinplate clutch to have no chatter and no stall. Some cars develop a small amount of chatter and have tendency to stall if driven badly."
So I guess I'm driving badly.
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/aston-martin/4...
Cheers guys! It's a very, very pretty thing and I've been spending way more time admiring it than I ever did with the Porsche although this may be new car fancy. 
The Porsche didn't have Android Auto (when I bought it) and the maps were old but the screen was much nicer / bigger. I've been looking at Android Auto solutions for the Aston but they're all £1000+ and the screen would still be small. One of the installers came back to me and flat out refused to install one of them as he said the Android Auto was pants. So for now I'm going with an ipod cable --> Bluetooth adapter thing to take care of audio linky. And a more solid phone holder - I've had issues with them in the past during spirited driving where my phone self-ejected and flung itself round the car at 1 million miles per hour so I've sprung for an expensive one at £16.
We'll see how this works this weekend when we're off to Wales!.
The Porsche didn't have Android Auto (when I bought it) and the maps were old but the screen was much nicer / bigger. I've been looking at Android Auto solutions for the Aston but they're all £1000+ and the screen would still be small. One of the installers came back to me and flat out refused to install one of them as he said the Android Auto was pants. So for now I'm going with an ipod cable --> Bluetooth adapter thing to take care of audio linky. And a more solid phone holder - I've had issues with them in the past during spirited driving where my phone self-ejected and flung itself round the car at 1 million miles per hour so I've sprung for an expensive one at £16.
We'll see how this works this weekend when we're off to Wales!.
As with any car I buy too quickly, there are things that come with a modified car that may be to your taste or not.
I'm pretty sure the there is an aftermarket tint on the side and rear windows. It's been done really well and I think it helps break up the white well but I know PH hates a tint!!! I may still have to change the wheel to the factory grey once the credit cards recover from insurance and £700+ road tax. Don't tell BBB.
There is also a smattering of extra carbon fibre stuff. The side strakes on the front quarters are carbon:
And there are carbon kick plates on the doors. Both pieces seem good quality so I'm ok with it as it stands.
The above photo also shows the handbrake lever on the wrong side of the driver, that finishes in the stowed position if it's applied or not. The manual makes it seem really complicated but you just lift like normal to apply and it just drops down. To release you lift until you get tension then press and hold the button and drop it back. Does this count as a fly off handbrake?
I'm pretty sure the there is an aftermarket tint on the side and rear windows. It's been done really well and I think it helps break up the white well but I know PH hates a tint!!! I may still have to change the wheel to the factory grey once the credit cards recover from insurance and £700+ road tax. Don't tell BBB.
There is also a smattering of extra carbon fibre stuff. The side strakes on the front quarters are carbon:
And there are carbon kick plates on the doors. Both pieces seem good quality so I'm ok with it as it stands.
The above photo also shows the handbrake lever on the wrong side of the driver, that finishes in the stowed position if it's applied or not. The manual makes it seem really complicated but you just lift like normal to apply and it just drops down. To release you lift until you get tension then press and hold the button and drop it back. Does this count as a fly off handbrake?
Edited by seefarr on Monday 23 September 21:53
Edited by seefarr on Monday 23 September 21:54
The first weekend with the new car, we decided on a name. Which is Reg (or maybe Reggie) named after Reg Parnell driver (including finishing in 5th at Mille Miglia on the ignition after the throttle jammed open) and team manager for Aston Martin. He also won the first race sanctioned as Formula 1 and a whole heap of other cool stuff. Legend.
I took it out for an early morning blat but didn't really get too far. I also filled up my first £100 - thank you 80L tank. We then drive down to Arundel for a birthday. I had planned to drive past the bar on the high street to show off the fruity exhaust to my petrol head mate but there was a vintage fayre in town so all the roads were shut. We lost all signal and ended up driving by feel round the other side of town, which was more stress than I needed in a brand new car that I didn't really now the corners of. We found a nice park in a carpark and I proceeded to reverse in ....
Or attempt to reverse in. The car has a very tall reverse gear and a light flywheel which meant it wants to stall really easily. I duly obliged and seeing we had people waiting for me on the third stall, I gave a "for fks sake!". The guy standing out holding a park for his missus said "no need to swear at such a beautiful car, take your time mate" which was lovely. I had a good chat to him afterwards and explained i hadn't owned it a week!
BBB drove home and was grinning the whole way on her maiden drive. It should be pointed out that this hasn't really happened with the Audi and the Porsche. She was giving a bit of welly out of roundabouts grinning at the V8 noises by the end which is again, unique.
I took it out for an early morning blat but didn't really get too far. I also filled up my first £100 - thank you 80L tank. We then drive down to Arundel for a birthday. I had planned to drive past the bar on the high street to show off the fruity exhaust to my petrol head mate but there was a vintage fayre in town so all the roads were shut. We lost all signal and ended up driving by feel round the other side of town, which was more stress than I needed in a brand new car that I didn't really now the corners of. We found a nice park in a carpark and I proceeded to reverse in ....
Or attempt to reverse in. The car has a very tall reverse gear and a light flywheel which meant it wants to stall really easily. I duly obliged and seeing we had people waiting for me on the third stall, I gave a "for f
ks sake!". The guy standing out holding a park for his missus said "no need to swear at such a beautiful car, take your time mate" which was lovely. I had a good chat to him afterwards and explained i hadn't owned it a week!BBB drove home and was grinning the whole way on her maiden drive. It should be pointed out that this hasn't really happened with the Audi and the Porsche. She was giving a bit of welly out of roundabouts grinning at the V8 noises by the end which is again, unique.
Edited by seefarr on Friday 27th September 21:58
Don’t worry about the low speed manoeuvres, parking and negotiating unfamiliar streets. It’s all part of the initial magic and stress of ownership. I joke but it does take a while to get a sense of the proportions, and especially of where the front left corner is, it feels miles away from the driver’s seat. I remember being especially petrified of width restrictions.
And while you’ve mentioned the very long reverse ratio, never bother attempting to reverse up a hill, it’s not pretty!
But once you’re more familiar they’re really not bad at all and are quite compact overall, it’s just takes a little while to adjust, especially as the cayman and r8 are so good for visibility and manoeuvrability by comparison.
It looks great keep us updated with the trips.
And while you’ve mentioned the very long reverse ratio, never bother attempting to reverse up a hill, it’s not pretty!
But once you’re more familiar they’re really not bad at all and are quite compact overall, it’s just takes a little while to adjust, especially as the cayman and r8 are so good for visibility and manoeuvrability by comparison.
It looks great
keep us updated with the trips. seefarr said:
And thank you Grant for not buying it!!!
The buying experience was largely pain free apart from my wallet - it turns out 981 Cayman GTSs have fallen a fair amount in the last 18 months. The dealer sent the Aston off for a full service and inspection with Bamford Rose before purchase. It has a very small amount of bubbling on the top of the passenger door and drivers door handle which is very common on these, but apart from that it had a clean bill of health. I got him to fill the tank for me so I didn't have to stress about that on the drive, but then his water was off and I had to find a services on the way home anyway to use the bathroom! I only stalled it once leaving his drive way (remember that lightened flywheel?).
The noise on the (5pm) drive home was as amusing as the test drive. I was playing with the 3 way switch for the exhaust which seem to be:
1) Silent.
2) Loudest car in the universe.
3) Silent until 5k rpm, then suddenly loudest car in the universe, which in some ways was even more shocking.
I also discovered that the inbuilt Garmin took an age to find the car for some reason but worked OK once I was up and running. It does have bluetooth but it only works for phone calls which is kind of hilarious. I settled down to some ClassicFM and enjoyed the drive.
I managed one onramp where I took it through 2nd to explore the location of the limiter and it seemed shockingly fast! Noise builds up to earth shattering by 6k rpm, thrust seems to just keep increasing and I mistook the little red change-up lights for traction control warning which added to the experience! I pulled in the drive and BBB and I sat in there for half an hour chattering away like kids.
It was at this point that I noticed a clattering noise coming from the back of the engine bay. I could make it go away by pushing the clutch in and my mind went straight to throwout bearing.edyedy
By this stage it's 7pm - I called the trader and to his credit he picked up on the 2nd ring. "Thanks for picking up - you know those calls you don't want to get just after a customer picks up a car from you? This is one of those." He sounds sad. I describe the issue and he says "oh thank god, that's the twin plate clutch, the early ones can do that when they get warm." So that was a relief!
It's not a wonderful noise and it's a shame I didn't realise this before I bought it. It sounds like it can be resolved with different parts but it's 10 hours of labour to do a clutch change and 10 hours of Aston Martin labour is going to be rather a lot. I'll just have to leave it in noisy mode to drown it out!
I’d speak to Mike at BR ref the rattling noise before worrying about a clutch change, as whilst it may be the dual plate clutch, it’s just as/more likely to be the gearbox itself, which is noisy because of the lightweight flywheel. The buying experience was largely pain free apart from my wallet - it turns out 981 Cayman GTSs have fallen a fair amount in the last 18 months.
The dealer sent the Aston off for a full service and inspection with Bamford Rose before purchase. It has a very small amount of bubbling on the top of the passenger door and drivers door handle which is very common on these, but apart from that it had a clean bill of health. I got him to fill the tank for me so I didn't have to stress about that on the drive, but then his water was off and I had to find a services on the way home anyway to use the bathroom! I only stalled it once leaving his drive way (remember that lightened flywheel?).The noise on the (5pm) drive home was as amusing as the test drive. I was playing with the 3 way switch for the exhaust which seem to be:
1) Silent.
2) Loudest car in the universe.
3) Silent until 5k rpm, then suddenly loudest car in the universe, which in some ways was even more shocking.
I also discovered that the inbuilt Garmin took an age to find the car for some reason but worked OK once I was up and running. It does have bluetooth but it only works for phone calls which is kind of hilarious
. I settled down to some ClassicFM and enjoyed the drive. I managed one onramp where I took it through 2nd to explore the location of the limiter and it seemed shockingly fast! Noise builds up to earth shattering by 6k rpm, thrust seems to just keep increasing and I mistook the little red change-up lights for traction control warning which added to the experience!
I pulled in the drive and BBB and I sat in there for half an hour chattering away like kids.It was at this point that I noticed a clattering noise coming from the back of the engine bay. I could make it go away by pushing the clutch in and my mind went straight to throwout bearing.
edyedyBy this stage it's 7pm - I called the trader and to his credit he picked up on the 2nd ring. "Thanks for picking up - you know those calls you don't want to get just after a customer picks up a car from you? This is one of those." He sounds sad. I describe the issue and he says "oh thank god, that's the twin plate clutch, the early ones can do that when they get warm." So that was a relief!
It's not a wonderful noise and it's a shame I didn't realise this before I bought it. It sounds like it can be resolved with different parts but it's 10 hours of labour to do a clutch change and 10 hours of Aston Martin labour is going to be rather a lot. I'll just have to leave it in noisy mode to drown it out!
The noise you’re hearing is basically the gears, specifically those on the mainshaft and layshaft within the gearbox chattering and rattling because the resonances they’re subject to, would normally be damped out by the heavier mass of the OE flywheel (which may be a dual mass item)
With the car using a transaxle and torque tube, the rattling noise from the gears is exacerbated and amplified by the torque tube and transferred into cabin.
The hotter the gearbox oil, the more the gears chatter and rattle. It’ll probably be quieter or even silent when the gearbox is cold and the oil thicker.
Raising the idle speed a little may reduce the resonances that create the gear chatter.
Thanks guys, that's awesome info!
Thursday we drove out to Wales for a long weekend of family "fun" crashing a 60ft narrow boat into other narrow boats / walls / bridges / ducks. The drive was generally uneventful but underlined how lovely the Aston is on the motorway. We stopped at a services and I thought I parked a good distance away from the kerb but walking back I noticed the car is a lot longer than I thought! One to keep an eye on...
And we stopped for some background interest.
Then on to a proper drive! The B4235 was recommended on here by someone as the perfect gateway road into Wales after coming in via the M4 and it was great! Wide enough, not too much traffic and not too bad a surface. The Aston was riding the lumps and bumps with aplomb at BBB-as-a-passenger speed.
It was drizzling by this stage so speeds were restrained - BBB hates oversteer. Also, no photos! But the B4521 was a cracker with no traffic.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/vpeeEGXGsueRJPdm6?g_st=ac
We finished at the Skerrid Inn - the oldest in Wales from 1100. The front door has been carbon dated to be 1500 years old.
BBB then drove to our accommodation in Hereford and parked like a boss. Quote:
"The Audi felt like something you needed to treat with respect. The Porsche felt like a pair of comfy shoes. The Aston is like a good friend, on your side who you're always happy to see."
Thursday we drove out to Wales for a long weekend of family "fun" crashing a 60ft narrow boat into other narrow boats / walls / bridges / ducks. The drive was generally uneventful but underlined how lovely the Aston is on the motorway. We stopped at a services and I thought I parked a good distance away from the kerb but walking back I noticed the car is a lot longer than I thought! One to keep an eye on...
And we stopped for some background interest.
Then on to a proper drive! The B4235 was recommended on here by someone as the perfect gateway road into Wales after coming in via the M4 and it was great! Wide enough, not too much traffic and not too bad a surface. The Aston was riding the lumps and bumps with aplomb at BBB-as-a-passenger speed.
It was drizzling by this stage so speeds were restrained - BBB hates oversteer. Also, no photos! But the B4521 was a cracker with no traffic.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/vpeeEGXGsueRJPdm6?g_st=ac
We finished at the Skerrid Inn - the oldest in Wales from 1100. The front door has been carbon dated to be 1500 years old.
BBB then drove to our accommodation in Hereford and parked like a boss. Quote:
"The Audi felt like something you needed to treat with respect. The Porsche felt like a pair of comfy shoes. The Aston is like a good friend, on your side who you're always happy to see."
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