Musing on a change to suit my age group..

[The Cakes]

Good decision 👌

When are you selling me the S2? 🤷‍♂️ 😊

[Dr H]

S2 is up at the moment if anyone is interested. Add on SELOC, will put one on here too.

Such a difficult thing to price but agreed value for insurance is £40k, SELOC told me it was worth over £30k so It's up at £33 and inviting offers. Had 2 inquiries so far.

Sure I'll regret selling it at some point.

[Alex B]

3 hours ago, Dr H said:

S2 is up at the moment if anyone is interested. Add on SELOC, will put one on here too.

Such a difficult thing to price but agreed value for insurance is £40k, SELOC told me it was worth over £30k so It's up at £33 and inviting offers. Had 2 inquiries so far.

Sure I'll regret selling it at some point.

If I was in a position to buy i would. Unfortunately I'd need to sell mine and then find roughly another 3k 😔

 

Good luck with the sale Dr H, it truly is a stunning car. 

[Dr H]

Awww go on!

[M@r]{]

So did you buy the Vantage?!   

[Dr H]

Mentioned it on Pg 2 - I collect it tomorrow!

But it goes straight to the specialist that checked it over for me to be serviced, MOT'd and a couple of small issues sorted. Will probably bring it home after another week or so.

 

 

 

[kieranexige]

Congratulations Leigh. 

 

Lovely purchase, jealous of that noise. 

[stockhome]

Beautiful Car Leigh 

[Dr H]

Collected this morning. Well I say collected. I drove over in my car, filled the back with he spare wheels, cover and battery charger. Then the current owner got in the Aston and drove it to the specialist down the road and I followed. Got there and took the owner straight back home before returning and discussing the service etc.

All I can say is that it's going to be a whole new level of spend compared to the Lotus 🙄

Mine is at a specialist for oil, filter, air filters and coolant and a new MOT. They knocked me £150 off as I'd paid them to do an inspection on the car before I bought it (£275). And I'll still be in for a £750 bill........

Just and Oil and filter change at Aston is £650 😯. That's 10 litres of synth 10/60 oil, a filter and a replacement sump pug (as it has a built in washer). I could source the parts for £150 tops and that would be better oil and OEM filter and sump plug.

Then there's 16-18mpg and £555 a year road tax and insurance.

 

 

 

[jako999]

I know this post has been around for a bit but I just thought I wold drop in my thoughts.

I've done both of them and many others like 911 Turbo but nothing is as much fun as my little SC but if you so go for one it has to be the Aston the reason for this is simple if you buy a Porsche Boxted it's a poor man's 911 well when you drive R8 it always feels like a poor man's Lambo but the R8 is a good car.

[Dr H]

But the V8 Vantage feels like a poor man's V12

I collected it a bit less than 2 weeks ago. Here's my thoughts from the first drive when I brought it back home.....

Drove it from Macclesfield to Buxton over the 'Cat and Fiddle' and then down the A515 to Ashbourne and then back home. So about 55 miles. Initial thoughts:

Ride quality is brilliant. Looking through the paperwork I've found out it actually has the 'sport pack' fitted which was an AM aftermarket upgrade. I knew it has the lightweight forged N400 wheels on but didn't realise it also had uprated Bilstein shocks and springs. OK on really bad surfaces it's a little bit harsh but otherwise it's great. Apparently the new(ish) Pilot Sport 4S tyres it has on also help a lot.

Steering is pretty direct. It's no Lotus but it goes where you point it and doesn't feel as heavy as it actually is - 1600kg!! Bit heavy at parking speeds but fine once you are rolling along.

Very quiet inside the cabin and comfortable too. I have the earlier seats as it's a 2006 MY car. The later ones were supposed to be an improvement but I like mine. I think they are slimmer which for someone skinny like me actually means they grip you better. Good driving position and very good visibility all round I reckon.

How you get it to do 0-60 in 4.9 secs I have no idea. It feels dead slow when you are starting off and the long accelerator and heavy flywheel mean it seems to take an age to wind up. It's actually very docile and easy to drive slowly. To get it to feel fast you need to get it over 3.5-4k revs and it then comes alive and starts feeling fast(ish).

Gearbox is pretty nice. A tiny bit notchy but overall it's good. Feels like it will get a bit smoother with technique as you get used to it. Clutch is heavy and hill starts are difficult - the smell of burning clutch was testament to this! The fact mine is biting quite high didn't help. I know it will wear eventually, just a matter of time.

Reverse gear is a nightmare! Far too high, why they set it up like this I have no idea! Apparently the technique it so not use the accelerator at all and let the idle control deal with the small amount of throttle needed. Having now tired the no accelerator approach I can say it does work.

I think the interior might have been worked on by someone from Lotus . A few creaks (moving leather) and a few rattles. On the way back the TPMS box fell out from behind the glove box and is now hanging down in the passenger footwell. . Airbag on the steering wheel rattles but you can buy some bushes to fit to the screws that hold it on and this sorts it. In fact I have a copy of the official AM workshop manual and the 'squeaks and rattles remedy' section is massive!

Oh and it is very thirsty. Speed limits were all 50mph on the way back, lots of cameras (some average speed), lots of other traffic, artics and the like. So it was really an economy run and it did an average of 23mpg . After a bit more driving it's now 20mpg.

Overall it's a great GT car that looks and sounds awesome and feels pretty well screwed together. A lighter flywheel and a smidge more power would make it feel a lot quicker......... There are not to many upgrades for these cars but what is available is insanely expensive. Already planning some exhaust work.

Today I fitted a remote controlled relay for the exhaust valve fuse. When there is a fuse in slot '22' the exhaust valves are closed until you hit about 4k rpm and then they open and the sound become glorious. By fitting a relay setup connected to the fuse slot you can control it at will.

Fitted one of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01A6VO79M/ref... wired up as Option 3 shown in this article http://www.55five.co.uk/amv2.htm

Looked like this before I put it all back in it's box and made it nice and tidy:



Works great. Resets to standard when ignition is turned off. When running press remote to open valves and press again to close. Open valves sound