Aston. cons of owning one?

[leon7788]

Hello all. As you can see i am new to piston heads came across the site when looking for information about astons and this popped up and seemed a good place to start!

However my questions to owners of the db9 or the new vantage is what the obvious cons or problems of owning one of these cars if any! Have finally made my father contemplate buying one of these beautiful cars however has asked me to find out information on them. Previous car is an sl which has been ultra reliable and has mounted the miles.. without any problems. Many thanks!

[Murph7355]

Buy a later car and it shouldn't have the reliability niggles.

Biggest downside for him will be wondering why he drove an SL so long!

Oh, and people constantly reminding him how slow they are

[DB56]

I have an 07 DB9 which has now covered 9,000 miles in 10 months. The car is as reliable as any I've ever owned, never failed to peform and is a joy to own and drive. No real issues at all.

My top tip.....buy one asap and go on Aston's Performance Driving Course to really find out what you've bought !

[jus]

Can't think of any cons, really

Other than perhaps depreciation, or minor noise niggles, both of which are par for the course in the exotic league anyhow...

[f328nvl]

V8 -
Seats gave me backache on long journeys
Needs much more power


DB9 -
Useless rear seats
build quality variable
The paint finish isn't the best (Aston's used to famous for the finish)
Not as quick as you might think, but extremely relaxing at high speed.
A mercedes will have more toys and better technology

And above all they are not as exclusive as they used to be, but what is?

[leon7788]

f328nvl said:

DB9 -
The paint finish isn't the best (Aston's used to famous for the finish)

Isnt that due to the fact that car manufacturers now have to use organic paint rather than the solvent based paint they used years ago or am i totally wrong?

[stanwan]

f328nvl said:

V8 -
Seats gave me backache on long journeys
Needs much more power


DB9 -
Useless rear seats
build quality variable
The paint finish isn't the best (Aston's used to famous for the finish)
Not as quick as you might think, but extremely relaxing at high speed.
A mercedes will have more toys and better technology

And above all they are not as exclusive as they used to be, but what is?

Paint finish on my V8 is excellent _ I must be one of the luckier ones....

[friscorays]

All of the smiling hurts my facial muscles.

[F355spider]

V8

Handbrake mechanism quite annoying, cabin storage quite poor, sun visor poor, brake hubs can rust. Could do with more power, cars seem fond of stone chips. Key fobs unnecessarily bulky.

on the pros side...

Awesome looking car, very well balanced in its handling, brakes pretty good and build quality pretty good. Alot of car for the money if you buy one right and will make every time you use it feel like a special occasion, however frequent.

[sadlerj]

Suppose it is all personal, I actually like the handbrake and the sun visor (any bigger and I would not be able to see what is infront of me), also I feel the interior storage excellent, esp when you can chuck things behind the seats, my brake hubs have not rusted (she is kept in a garage that I built especially for her)

My cons are, the sticky fuel flap, the stone chips, and the fuel consumption, but I should get the fuel flap fixed (keep forgetting, and as nothing else seems to go wrong it is never at the dealer), I should have armourfended the front from day 1, and if I really cared about fuel consumption then I should not have an Aston, I just get annoyed having to find a Shell station every 250 miles or so.

Unfortunately I don't have time to write the pro's as I would be here all day!

Edited by sadlerj on Friday 12th October 15:23

[leon7788]

Do all the new astons need high octane fuel?

[stanwan]

F355spider said:

V8

Handbrake mechanism quite annoying, cabin storage quite poor, sun visor poor, brake hubs can rust. Could do with more power, cars seem fond of stone chips. Key fobs unnecessarily bulky.

on the pros side...

Awesome looking car, very well balanced in its handling, brakes pretty good and build quality pretty good. Alot of car for the money if you buy one right and will make every time you use it feel like a special occasion, however frequent.

Handbrake becomes second nature after a few weeks - I find its positioning ideal as i can pop it into gear at the lights and disengage the brake at the same time.

The hubs haven't rusted on mine, but as they are single piece cast iron keeping them dry will help. It's not a big issue tough if they do rust....

[JohnG1]

V8 - rusting brake hubs.

This is a known issue and is subject to a recall - my V8V had them replaced under warranty. Ask yer dealer to check it up!

[AstonZagato]

leon7788 said:

Do all the new astons need high octane fuel?

Nope - standard 95 octane is fine

[F355spider]

stanwan said:

F355spider said:

V8

Handbrake mechanism quite annoying, cabin storage quite poor, sun visor poor, brake hubs can rust. Could do with more power, cars seem fond of stone chips. Key fobs unnecessarily bulky.

on the pros side...

Awesome looking car, very well balanced in its handling, brakes pretty good and build quality pretty good. Alot of car for the money if you buy one right and will make every time you use it feel like a special occasion, however frequent.

Handbrake becomes second nature after a few weeks - I find its positioning ideal as i can pop it into gear at the lights and disengage the brake at the same time.

The hubs haven't rusted on mine, but as they are single piece cast iron keeping them dry will help. It's not a big issue tough if they do rust....

Positioning is fine, its just the mechanism thats annoying. More often than not, on my car, it will not disengage properly.

As said previously, my hubs were replaced under warranty

[stanwan]

F355spider said:

stanwan said:

F355spider said:

V8

Handbrake mechanism quite annoying, cabin storage quite poor, sun visor poor, brake hubs can rust. Could do with more power, cars seem fond of stone chips. Key fobs unnecessarily bulky.

on the pros side...

Awesome looking car, very well balanced in its handling, brakes pretty good and build quality pretty good. Alot of car for the money if you buy one right and will make every time you use it feel like a special occasion, however frequent.

Handbrake becomes second nature after a few weeks - I find its positioning ideal as i can pop it into gear at the lights and disengage the brake at the same time.

The hubs haven't rusted on mine, but as they are single piece cast iron keeping them dry will help. It's not a big issue tough if they do rust....

Positioning is fine, its just the mechanism thats annoying. More often than not, on my car, it will not disengage properly.

As said previously, my hubs were replaced under warranty

You must get it seen to - after a bit of acclimatisation it's never played up. Do you disengage it by pushing the button in and then lifting it slightly before lowering it all the way down (whilst keeping the button depressed)?

[Ian67]

My handbrake is similarly dodgy. My dealer has looked at it twice: the first time was just after I bought it, when it wouldn't disengage fully (the light was permanently on), and the second time was at the 1K service. They improved it both times (just as well the first time!), but I still have problems with it every 3rd or 4th stop. Generally I just have to raise it very slightly and lower it again. At first I thought I wasn't lowering it enough when disengaging, but I've got into the habit of ensuring that it can't go any lower, so I don't think it's that.

I've been waiting for another issue in order to give me a reason to take the car back and give them a 3rd go at fixing it, but the car has been otherwise faultless since the service.

[AstonZagato]

There are some dodgy warning light contacts. Fiddling with the handbrake when it is down can get the light to go out.

[F355spider]

stanwan said:

F355spider said:

stanwan said:

F355spider said:

V8

Handbrake mechanism quite annoying, cabin storage quite poor, sun visor poor, brake hubs can rust. Could do with more power, cars seem fond of stone chips. Key fobs unnecessarily bulky.

on the pros side...

Awesome looking car, very well balanced in its handling, brakes pretty good and build quality pretty good. Alot of car for the money if you buy one right and will make every time you use it feel like a special occasion, however frequent.

Handbrake becomes second nature after a few weeks - I find its positioning ideal as i can pop it into gear at the lights and disengage the brake at the same time.

The hubs haven't rusted on mine, but as they are single piece cast iron keeping them dry will help. It's not a big issue tough if they do rust....

Positioning is fine, its just the mechanism thats annoying. More often than not, on my car, it will not disengage properly.

As said previously, my hubs were replaced under warranty

You must get it seen to - after a bit of acclimatisation it's never played up. Do you disengage it by pushing the button in and then lifting it slightly before lowering it all the way down (whilst keeping the button depressed)?

Yes exactly that. Its probably just dodgy contacts as the others say, just a minor niggle really.