Winter - to drive or not to drive..
Discussion
Picking my Vantage up this Friday with new brakes, service and MOT… very excited not been on the road for three years.. I’m agonising over wether to use it over the winter or garage it until Spring… my head says wait till Spring, my heart says just drive the damn thing it’s what it was built for…. Opinions chaps?
Great question, particularly in light of the recent weather. My car is parked up on a driveway with a suitable cover over it as I have no garage, but I intend to use it whenever I can all year round. This has equated to once a week since I took ownership of the car in mid January of this year. It was my lifelong dream of owning an Aston Martin one day and having waited 47 years for one that was affordable for me, I want to use it and enjoy it whenever I can.
This means driving it or even just taking the cover off the car, so I can look at it from my home office/man cave window. Taking the car off the road for a period, would save some money in car tax and miles on the clock, but I am of the view that you don't know how long you will be in a position to keep the car, so enjoy it, and enjoy seeing others admiring it as much as possible while you can.
This means driving it or even just taking the cover off the car, so I can look at it from my home office/man cave window. Taking the car off the road for a period, would save some money in car tax and miles on the clock, but I am of the view that you don't know how long you will be in a position to keep the car, so enjoy it, and enjoy seeing others admiring it as much as possible while you can.
Astonmannow said:
Great question, particularly in light of the recent weather. My car is parked up on a driveway with a suitable cover over it as I have no garage, but I intend to use it whenever I can all year round. This has equated to once a week since I took ownership of the car in mid January of this year. It was my lifelong dream of owning an Aston Martin one day and having waited 47 years for one that was affordable for me, I want to use it and enjoy it whenever I can.
This means driving it or even just taking the cover off the car, so I can look at it from my home office/man cave window. Taking the car off the road for a period, would save some money in car tax and miles on the clock, but I am of the view that you don't know how long you will be in a position to keep the car, so enjoy it, and enjoy seeing others admiring it as much as possible while you can.
Great post This means driving it or even just taking the cover off the car, so I can look at it from my home office/man cave window. Taking the car off the road for a period, would save some money in car tax and miles on the clock, but I am of the view that you don't know how long you will be in a position to keep the car, so enjoy it, and enjoy seeing others admiring it as much as possible while you can.
My cars have always been insured to drive over winter months, its sods law I would SORN and then it would be a mild winter with lots of nice sunny days. I do put a cover on it during prolonged periods of rain/snow/ice ....which in recent years has rarely been more than 2-3 weeks.
Its made of aluminium and composites mostly, it wont rot away due to corrosion. During development it went through all weather endurance testing that far exceeds what 99% of owners will ever do with it, so I just enjoy driving it at every opportunity
Its made of aluminium and composites mostly, it wont rot away due to corrosion. During development it went through all weather endurance testing that far exceeds what 99% of owners will ever do with it, so I just enjoy driving it at every opportunity
Super Sonic said:
Drive unless roads are salted, iwc taxi.
This. (not the taxi bit)Mine is not a daily (I have a Volvo V60 CC for that) but I try to drive it at least every 2 weeks whenever the weather is good and as long as there isn't any ice.
(as we all know; 420 bhp + RWD + cold SportContact 6's + ice = unintended "excitement") .
If they've been gritting then I'll wait until there's been some rain to wash it away. As I've written before, when I've taken mine out in the winter I'll run a finger across the tailgate by the reg plate and taste it
- if it tastes salty then I'll wash off the underside of the car by connecting a lawn sprinkler to a hosepipe, turn on the water and drag that along the underside several times to rinse it offLTP said:
This. (not the taxi bit)
Mine is not a daily (I have a Volvo V60 CC for that) but I try to drive it at least every 2 weeks whenever the weather is good and as long as there isn't any ice.
(as we all know; 420 bhp + RWD + cold SportContact 6's + ice = unintended "excitement") .
If they've been gritting then I'll wait until there's been some rain to wash it away. As I've written before, when I've taken mine out in the winter I'll run a finger across the tailgate by the reg plate and taste it - if it tastes salty then I'll wash off the underside of the car by connecting a lawn sprinkler to a hosepipe, turn on the water and drag that along the underside several times to rinse it off
Loving the salty finger test Mine is not a daily (I have a Volvo V60 CC for that) but I try to drive it at least every 2 weeks whenever the weather is good and as long as there isn't any ice.
(as we all know; 420 bhp + RWD + cold SportContact 6's + ice = unintended "excitement") .
If they've been gritting then I'll wait until there's been some rain to wash it away. As I've written before, when I've taken mine out in the winter I'll run a finger across the tailgate by the reg plate and taste it
- if it tastes salty then I'll wash off the underside of the car by connecting a lawn sprinkler to a hosepipe, turn on the water and drag that along the underside several times to rinse it off
I used to leave the hose by my garage and hose off the underside of my car after using it on salted roads - give the underside a good soaking - let it drip dry for a bit then put it in the garage.
I never used to do this until I rode my old Harley on salted roads and just put it straight back in the garage - 1 month later and all the chrome was pitted. Worth trying to keep these cars as rust free as possible for a long as possible especially if you hang on to a car for more than a year or 2
I never used to do this until I rode my old Harley on salted roads and just put it straight back in the garage - 1 month later and all the chrome was pitted. Worth trying to keep these cars as rust free as possible for a long as possible especially if you hang on to a car for more than a year or 2
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