Discussion
What sort of price is the service of an older Aston, say a '90 Virage or a 70's V8 Vantage? Is it TVR esque of £700 or higher (obviously roughly dependent on what needs doing)?
Is the MPG a joke?
Depreciation? Pick up a Virage for around the £29k mark and can you expect most of the depreciation to have gone or will they continue to drop in price? Similarly the older ones again - do they remain fairly static in price (assuming looked after and such), what if you rack the miles up in them?
What "budget" Astons are about? Personally I like the look of the Virage, the Vantage and the like (i.e. the square'r ones).
>>> Edited by docevi1 on Saturday 26th March 18:46
Is the MPG a joke?
Depreciation? Pick up a Virage for around the £29k mark and can you expect most of the depreciation to have gone or will they continue to drop in price? Similarly the older ones again - do they remain fairly static in price (assuming looked after and such), what if you rack the miles up in them?
What "budget" Astons are about? Personally I like the look of the Virage, the Vantage and the like (i.e. the square'r ones).
>>> Edited by docevi1 on Saturday 26th March 18:46
docevi1 said:
What sort of price is the service of an older Aston, say a '90 Virage or a 70's V8 Vantage? Is it TVR esque of £700 or higher (obviously roughly dependent on what needs doing)?
Is the MPG a joke?
Depreciation? Pick up a Virage for around the £29k mark and can you expect most of the depreciation to have gone or will they continue to drop in price? Similarly the older ones again - do they remain fairly static in price (assuming looked after and such), what if you rack the miles up in them?
What "budget" Astons are about? Personally I like the look of the Virage, the Vantage and the like (i.e. the square'r ones).
>>> Edited by docevi1 on Saturday 26th March 18:46
Servicing CAN be a lot more- remember the engine started out as a racing unit in 69, and then was de-tuned for road use. Its also hand built, so things like water pumps, are built by AML. Not bought in.
The cars are also hand-made, which has its pros and cons. From a restoration point of view, it can be easy (if you can weld) as its mostly sheet steel. But there could be an awful lot of it, and you'll need a specialist to repair any aluminum which needs doing. And then respraying the aluminum...
In short, spend a good £300-400 on a specialist view, join the AMOC (they have their own forum, which is probably a better place to start), and for an idea of repair costs have a look at www.gmes.co.uk.
They list whats been done to the cars, and when. It is a fair represnetation of how much the cars cost.
MPG? You dont drive a Virage/ V8 Vantage every day, so its not important. The cheapest Aston you can buy is a DBS Auto, which will feel slow even by hot-hatch standards. A manual Vantage DBS, AMVantage of early V8 are the next cheapest, and great cars, but they will need work doing. And no, you wont find one which "just needs finishing"- I know because I have been looking for years, and am now at the stage of savings where I no longer need to look.
Hope this helps
Will
thats what I was thinking, but then ambition is a powerful thing! docevi1 said:
What sort of price is the service of an older Aston, say a '90 Virage or a 70's V8 Vantage? Is it TVR esque of £700 or higher (obviously roughly dependent on what needs doing)?
Is the MPG a joke?
Depreciation? Pick up a Virage for around the £29k mark and can you expect most of the depreciation to have gone or will they continue to drop in price? Similarly the older ones again - do they remain fairly static in price (assuming looked after and such), what if you rack the miles up in them?
What "budget" Astons are about? Personally I like the look of the Virage, the Vantage and the like (i.e. the square'r ones).
>>> Edited by docevi1 on Saturday 26th March 18:46
Doc Im thinking along the same lines as you currently and can answer your questions.
Was down at Runneymede's today looking over a DB7, a 92 virage and a 6.3 Vantage coachwork Virage. Depreciation is pretty much £0 on the Virages, the 7 will drop another £5k over the next 5yrs. Servicing...£500 at an Indie/dbl it for main dealer, every 6k miles. Mpg is high teens with a light right foot.
500 quid service? hahahahahaha bonk.
My v8 vantage has never managed a service at less than 2 grand.
I reckon that keeping a fully sorted car sorted costs around a pound per mile in servicing, bodywork, engine costs etc if you use a place like RSWilliams or the factory. Its less at a specialist like rikki Cann.
Yes a service is 800 fixed cost from someone like rikki cann (who is excellent and highly recommended, especially for the inspection). But thats the start -- you need to drop 2k or so every 2 years on the bodywork (sill covers off, attention to the superstructure, almost certainly a little bit of alloy corrosion). Suspension bushes dont last much longer than 10k or so, so those need factoring in. tyres are hard to find and expensive and dont last long.
And then getting a car from "mint condition, sir" (ie garage queen) to properly sorted can cost you 10k or more. These are 20yo cars, and sitting around doing nothing is really bad news on them.
And then some years you have really bad wallet emptying time -- my vantage has had front suspension rebuild, rear rebuild (inc new hubs), gearbox out, clutch out, new propshaft, and complete engine rebuild (top and bottom). So thats the entire running gear, including new cooling system, new oil system.
And minor bits like interior out and cleaned, redone woodwork etc. Welding in engine bay. Yes, a lot of work, but a bill running to over 30k in the last 12 months.
Obviously next year will be much much cheaper, having just dont a restoration on the car this year. But you have to be prepared to big expense.
Cant wait to get him back!
My v8 vantage has never managed a service at less than 2 grand.
I reckon that keeping a fully sorted car sorted costs around a pound per mile in servicing, bodywork, engine costs etc if you use a place like RSWilliams or the factory. Its less at a specialist like rikki Cann.
Yes a service is 800 fixed cost from someone like rikki cann (who is excellent and highly recommended, especially for the inspection). But thats the start -- you need to drop 2k or so every 2 years on the bodywork (sill covers off, attention to the superstructure, almost certainly a little bit of alloy corrosion). Suspension bushes dont last much longer than 10k or so, so those need factoring in. tyres are hard to find and expensive and dont last long.
And then getting a car from "mint condition, sir" (ie garage queen) to properly sorted can cost you 10k or more. These are 20yo cars, and sitting around doing nothing is really bad news on them.
And then some years you have really bad wallet emptying time -- my vantage has had front suspension rebuild, rear rebuild (inc new hubs), gearbox out, clutch out, new propshaft, and complete engine rebuild (top and bottom). So thats the entire running gear, including new cooling system, new oil system.
And minor bits like interior out and cleaned, redone woodwork etc. Welding in engine bay. Yes, a lot of work, but a bill running to over 30k in the last 12 months.
Obviously next year will be much much cheaper, having just dont a restoration on the car this year. But you have to be prepared to big expense.
Cant wait to get him back!
lol, only problem is of course the DB7 costs significantly more than the older V8's.
Then again, I'm only looking at the local dealer (www.aston.co.uk) not private ads.
Then again, I'm only looking at the local dealer (www.aston.co.uk) not private ads.
kevinday said:initial buying of a car is the easy part - you can get a loan/save up for a long time, it's the running costs that would kill you.
So the question to ask is: Do I spend more on the initial car and need less for running it, or, do I spend less on the initial car and need more for running it?
Nice question to have!
For instance I bought an old car for £2k which has been fairly reliable for its age (1976 vintage
). I'd been saving pretty much my entire life and blew a bit on the car and insurance and I've managed to continue to run it on a Student budget quite nicely, however a mate owns a Corsa which he bought for peanuts and simply can't afford to repair any more so is carless.
mmmm, Aston would be a possible way forward for me, I don't think they ever made an 'ugly' car. I don't have a Welding M/C & so would go for a DB7, my Cerbera has been 'cost effective' for the Servicing, only because I use an 'Independant' are there AM Indies?
K1 CERB (I'd have to keep my plate though
)
K1 CERB (I'd have to keep my plate though
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