I want an Aston

[mmmmdonuts]

I am leaving the Uk to travel the world for a year shortly, and when I get back I will have the joy of searching for a new car.

I have always said that one day I will get an Aston, probably when I'm in my 50s and the kids have left home (I'm currently 27 with no kids!).

I was just wondering:
1) what is the cheapest I could get an Aston for, that doesn't need a lot of restoration work? I have seen some tidy looking V8s for under £15k.

2) What would the running costs be like? I know mpg won't be good, but not that bothered about that. What about servicing? Will it cost a fortune?

3) Insurance. Anyone got any idea what sort of price I would be looking at for a limited mileage policy? Are there any Aston specialist insurers that will be a lot cheaper than 'normal' insurers?

4) How reliable is an old Aston?

I was thinking of getting a Chimeara, but my cousin's experience of the reliability/service costs etc (on top of the £1500+ to insure it) has put me off slightly.

I'm guessing that provided you keep a car like a V8 in good running order, it isn't going to depreciate much.

And before anyone asks, I did watch dream machines last night, and will be phoning up.

Thanks,

Stuart

>>> Edited by mmmmdonuts on Thursday 20th March 11:19

[alfa dave]

I'd suggest you post this question on the AMOC website:

www.amoc.org

[Alanq]

Hi Stuart,
I’ll try my best as follows;

1) what is the cheapest I could get an Aston for, that doesn't need a lot of restoration work? I have seen some tidy looking V8s for under £15k.
Like anything else you generally get what you pay for. A lot of Astons were tarted up in the late 80’s to sell to the yuppies and one that was bodged then would be very expensive to put right now. There aren’t too many for sale you’ll have to be patient and travel a bit to find a decent one. Make sure its got some recent service history re the engine and make sure that the chassis work has been done properly. If it hasn’t had any chassis work then it will need it soon so walk away.

2) What would the running costs be like? I know mpg won't be good, but not that bothered about that. What about servicing? Will it cost a fortune?
So far I’m getting between 10-15mpg. Servicing costs are pretty high – a full service at an Aston specialist is about £1K but you can save on this depending on how handy you are yourself – a lot of AMOC member do their own routine servicing for the mundane stuff and involve the garage for the more specialist things. You can buy a workshop manual for about £80 – generally money well spent. Parts are scarily expensive but you can get most things from www.puddleduck.uk.com – they specialise in breaking Astons

3) Insurance. Anyone got any idea what sort of price I would be looking at for a limited mileage policy? Are there any Aston specialist insurers that will be a lot cheaper than 'normal' insurers?
I pay £250 fully comp for 3,000 miles, insured through the AMOC members scheme.

4) How reliable is an old Aston?
Pretty much impossible to answer that one. Mine’s never let me down but I don’t use it as every day transport. I guess it’ll be as reliable as any other old car that’s been regularly serviced.

>I was thinking of getting a Chimeara, but my cousin's experience of the reliability/service >costs etc (on top of the £1500+ to insure it) has put me off slightly.
>I'm guessing that provided you keep a car like a V8 in good running order, it isn't going to >depreciate much.
I used to have a BMW then a Cerbera. I loved the Cerbie but the wife hated it and I loved the Beemer but it cost me 12K in depreciation. That set me thinking about what doesn’t depreciate, that got me thinking classic cars and once gone that route there was only one that interested me!

If you’re serious about it join the AMOC – there are lots of members who don’t actually own an Aston and if you go to a meet you can find out more about the cars and any problems.

Go for it - its only money!

[kevinday]

I would say that IMHO if the costs of a Chimaera put you off then an Aston is not for you, in general I would expect an old V8 Aston to cost around twice as much to run as a 5.0 Chimaera, and its slower.

[david_f]

I owned a Virage V8 Volante, ex prince of wales.
It was quite the worst handling car ive ever driven. Sold after 2 weeks! I cant tell you how much money i lost...my biggest mistake ever.

Id say get a DB7 if you can, otherwise get a TVR, even though im not a fan of them in the slightest.