V8V sportshift

[SLacKer]

Hi

I was at Graypaul Birmingham today and amongst other things I drove the V8 they had with sportshift and sports exhaust.

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The exhaust was both awesome and a right headache. Pulling away from the lights and it sound like I was doing 150, no conversation is possible with that thing going (fortunately they have the original). The sportshift was a little bit of an acquired taste though. I only had 20 or so minutes with it but with the exhaust blaring could not get comfortable with it in manual or auto. The drive and ride were excellent though and the car has only covered 4k miles so no rattles or squeaks. It made me decide that I need an Aston in my life.

The other thing to get used to would be the looks from other drivers - it's a bit weird and will take some getting used to.

[mikey k]

That looks a bit pricey, plus someone has butchered the interior with some Maserati bits
Go for a 6 month newer car and get a 4.7
The sportshift gets an ECU upgrade and is really very good (in manual )
One of the things I like about mine is the "stealth" sound at low revs.

[silverspeed]

I doubt the Sports Exhaust is an Aston Martin product as these are relatively new to the options list. The standard box with fuse 22 out sounds awesome IMO.

[SLacKer]

silverspeed said:

I doubt the Sports Exhaust is an Aston Martin product as these are relatively new to the options list. The standard box with fuse 22 out sounds awesome IMO.

The dealer didn't know what the exhaust was but does have the original. It has the N400 engine upgrade as well but I would prefer the standard exhaust with the button on the cowl so I can choose when to be loud. The disconcerting thing was the noise did not relate to the position of my right foot. Don't get me wrong the noise was awesome and I was grinning all the way as was the salesman but to live with it everyday maybe not.

The car however was lovely to be in and has made my decision to go AM soon.

The dealership is fairly new to Solihull and is excellent inside with plenty of room to view the cars and also a workshop viewing area. The workshop has a tile floor which I assume is porcelain with a few cars in on the ramps. The trim choice rooms were great with a wall full of seats, steering wheels and various dash items with some alloy choices to finish it off.

The reason for the visit was for Lady S to try out a Maserati Granturismo and I have to say what a great car that is. It is plenty quick enough and with the sport button pressed turns into a growling animal. Got a lot of looks from other drivers in that as well and in fact I have never seen one on the road. So it looks like an AM Maserati future beckons although they don't have anything in at the moment for my budget.

[Siy]

But is the Maser fast enough? I must be honest I think it is one of the very best looking cars on the road, but was disappointed with it's performance.

[SLacKer]

Siy said:

But is the Maser fast enough? I must be honest I think it is one of the very best looking cars on the road, but was disappointed with it's performance.

It seemed fast enough to me. With the sport button pressed it went well and sounded great. I am not sure why people seem to think it is slow. Anyway ultimate performance is not what the GT is about, it delivers a combination of brand, luxury and performance kind of like Aston Martin but with 4 seats (I haven't got £140K+ for a Rapide). If I need performance I take the SL55.

I think an AM, Maserati, AMG future beckons but maybe not all immediately.

[Siy]

Just read my post, and that made it look as though I know what I am talking about... to correct myself, I have not driven one yet - but I meant on paper the 0-60 of 5.3secs seemed to let it down a bit... I would have expected 5.0 or quicker. I know it's not all about 0-60 etc... but was enough to take it out of the list of cars I wanted to buy.