I finally drove the supercharged AMV8 from ESXMotorsports

[rmrmd1956]

I was in LA last week for a medical conference and took the opportunity to contact Ali Afshar at esxmotorsports.com. He was a real gentleman and spent the day showing me his cars, shop and fabrication plant. Thank you Ali Afshar!
Now to the car:
What a huge difference! The kit transforms the car into a real beast. The car was a 2008 roadster with sportshift. I must say I was not impressed with the sportshift driven in auto mode. There were huge "pregnant pauses" between shifts. Compared to the 2006 E-gear Gallardo I drove, the Aston Martin's transmission was inferior. The new power and torque released by the supercharger improved performance of the car dramatically. Seat of the pants acceleration felt similar to my unmodified 996 GT2. It also felt similar to the 2006 E-gear Gallardo. Around town it purred like a kitten or perhaps a young tiger. I saw no CEL or low-speed drivability problems. The kit has over a hundred pieces, many custom-made. I am certainly a novice in such things but the fit and finish looked fantastic and befitting an Aston Martin. I have nothing but praise for the kit. We did take a crappy night video which I have uploaded to http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Xaa4XLC9tQ8

[Grant3]

The trouble with modified cars is they just don't hold their value, so what ever you spend on the supercharger (which no doubt isn't cheap!) goes out the window come re-sale. The other problem is power to handling balance, the AMV8 is very well balanced as standard, take it over 500 horses (at the flywheel) & without chassis mods alla the latest sports pack (& more expense) I'm not sure how it would gel as a package before we discuss reliability & warranty.

The guy who produces this kit sounds like a top guy from the very brief video & I wish him every success, it is also very appealing to think of an AMV8 running with a 996GT2....AWESOME , so for those who are addicted to modifying their cars & have deep fearless pockets could be great..... but not for me I'm afraid

[jus]

Yeah, I'm taking the cheaper, less depreciating route and just upgrading to a V12 DBS... oh, wait...

[anonymous-user]

The bit i'd worry about is how they have bypassed the Throttle Plausibility Checker in the ecu, because tbh, in a 500bhp car i really would like to have some assurance that the throttle is doing what i want it too!!

[bogie]

the only thing Id worry about is longetivity ! I actually use my car daily, and it does the odd trackday. So 20K miles a year +

Id just like to hear about a demo car or 2 having actually done 20K miles or at least have a 1 year, unlimited mileage warranty on the engine as per other UK conversion companies on other cars.

Im sure it transforms the car and is a top quality install, If I was parting with £15K Id just like a bit of piece of mind thats all.

[Murph7355]

With an extra 120+bhp you'd be a bit worried if it didn't transform it.

But then girls pumping iron transforms them. OK if you need someone to carry the shopping, but perhaps not for other reasons

Would like to try one though.

[rmrmd1956]

Clearly you will reduce the life of your engine and risk CEL's, damage etc.
Not for everyone, just the torque hungry lunatic fringe I belong to!

[ESX Motorsports]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for the posts.

Unfortunately I do not read the forums on a consistent basis, however I'd like to give my thoughts and experience with respect to the resale value concern.

From our past experience with our line of ESX vehicles, including the ESX STI Subaru vehicles, we have actually found that the resale value are far greater then that of the standard STI.

I believe it's because our line of ESX vehicles, the ESX STI, and the new 2008 ESX EVO X Mitsubishi and 2008 ESX Super Vantage Aston Martin are all limited production, certified and tracked.

These ESX vehicles are created and sold only thru their respective manufacturer dealerships. They are usually sold for much higher then the suggested MSRP and retain their value due to their unique nature. The owners of the ESX vehicles maintain their cars in pristine condition and do not sell them inexpensively. Therefore keeping the resale value high as well.

Our primary goal is to build complete ESX vehicles, including the ESX Super Vantage, however due to it's popularity, we have been requested to add our Supercharger system to clients pre-owned Vantages as a kit and/or upgrade.

We build only a limited number of these vehicles. We have only built 33 ESX STI's and will not make more then 100. The same applies to our ESX Super Vantages.

I can not guarantee the resale value, however I wanted to share our experience.


Please visit www.ESXMotorsports.com for more information or feel free to contact us directly at

661.257.7572

Thanks,

Ali Afshar
ESX Motorsports