Exclusive automobiles like today’s Nice Price or No Dice Aston Martin will never be paupers’ cars, but some do depreciate into the realm of possibilities for many regular folks. Let’s see if this V8 Vantage represents one such occasion.
Hoo-boy, ask you all to roll up your sleeves and do a little work, and you get all testy with the idea. To be all that it could be, yesterday’s 1990 Jeep Grand Wagoneer needed a replacement engine installed, along with some might-as-wells as long as your hands are already dirty. Otherwise, it looked to be in pretty good shape, and at $10,000, it comes in at about a third of what really nice—and road-worthy—editions are bringing. Unfortunately for its seller, that wasn’t a sufficiently wide margin, according to most of you. The Jeep proved just as unmoving in the vote, ending up with an overwhelming 82% No Dice loss.
Seeing as we’re none-to-keen on the whole yanking engines thing, and because the weekend is looming, today, let’s look at a car that seemingly only needs a butt in the driver’s seat and a stab at the starter switch to enjoy.
Getting a slice of Porsche’s pie
It’s safe to say that Porsche’s 911 is one of the—if not the—most successful sports cars in all of automotive history. In production for over six decades, while surviving attempted external and internal regicide (R.I.P., the 928), Porsche’s evergreen sports car is the envy of many competing car makers.
Other companies have tried to catch that same genie in a bottle. Ferrari attempted the feat with some success in the late ’60s with the Dino. More recently, Mercedes-Benz gave it a go with the AMG GT. One of the most surprising assaults on the 911’s throne came from the small British cottage car maker Aston Martin, which–after literal decades of financial near-death experiences–seemingly had enough cash on hand to develop and bring to production a second line of cars to join its premiere DB series. Well, to be fair, it was mostly then-parent Ford’s cash that made that all possible.
Introduced at the Geneva Motor Show in 2005 for the 2006 model year, the new V8 Vantage leveraged Aston Martin’s innovative VH (Vertical, Horizontal) platform. This bonded aluminum chassis was also used in the larger V12 DB9, allowing Aston considerable cost savings and a significantly quicker speed to market for all the related models.
Bolted to that is a 4.3-liter DOHC V8 sending power back to a rear-mounted transaxle via a torque tube. Independent suspension and Brembo disc brakes feature at each corner.
Parting is such sweet sorrow
The starting point for Aston’s V8 for the new Millennium was Jaguar’s AJ-V8 engine, but Aston made it their own, imbuing the mill with a dry sump to allow it to fit under the Vantage’s low, sloping bonnet. Over the course of the Vantage’s production run, Aston would add a V12 model to the lineup and bumped the V8’s displacement to 4.7 liters.
This 2009 V8 Vantage convertible has that bumped displacement mill. As fitted, it offers a healthy 420 horsepower and 346 lb-ft of torque. It also has the six-speed “Sportshift” automatic in the back. This is a hydraulically-controlled single-clutch sequential gearbox that, in practice, takes some getting used to. Built by Graziano, these transmissions are common on other exotics of the era.
In fact, there are a lot of parts shared with other cars on the Vantage. We already noted the architecture being akin to that of the DB9, but there’s also a lot of evidence of the Ford Family parts bin in here. Many jokes have been made about Aston’s key fobs of this era being nothing more than leather-wrapped Volvo pieces, but less is said about the air vents, navigation screen, and rear-view mirror that were also shared with the Swedish marque. Other contributors to the little Aston’s success included Ford and Jaguar.
In the long run
Fortunately, all those parts blend together in a fairly seamless fashion, and who cares where the pop-up nav screen came from when it’s packaged in a handsome, luxurious interior that’s wrapped in what is arguably one of the best-looking cars ever created? The design and packaging were so well received that the Vantage is, to date, Aston’s most ubiquitous model, enjoying a production run of over 12 years.
Initially offered only as a stunning coupe, the Vantage made a laudably successful transition to topless form. This car sports deep burgundy paint that the seller claims is a custom color, along with a slightly darker hue for the canvas top. Both that paint and top appear to be in excellent condition, which is to be expected in a well-cared-for car of this caliber that rocks a mere 53,000 miles.
The interior—never the poster child for durability on these cars—actually seems to have held up as well. There’s leather everywhere and the two-tone burgundy and cream color palette serves as a good complement to the exterior.
Advantage ours?
According to the ad, this Aston needs nothing, having recently had new tires and brakes (likely just pads) installed, along with a new battery and an “Almost New Service.” It comes with a clean title and a fresh smog certificate, making it easy to transfer that title. The asking price to do so is $28,000.
To be sure, that’s a far cry from the six figures this Aston commanded when new. It’s also way off what a similar-condition Porsche 911 (997.1) of the era might set you back. Plus, when it comes to 911 competitors, they don’t get much prettier than the little Aston. But is this car a good deal? What do you think? Could this V8 Aston prove a value at that $28,000 asking? Or is that too much for what could be considered a parts-bin 911 wannabe?
You decide!
San Francisco Bay Area, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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