# The Joys of Aston Martin ownership



## garyc (May 7, 2002)

So my mate got 2 valve caps nicked from his new DB9.

"That'll be Â£210 for the replacements Sir...."       

He's now scared to leave it anywhere.

Who said owning an Aston could be fun?


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## W7 PMC (May 6, 2002)

garyc said:


> So my mate got 2 valve caps nicked from his new DB9.
> 
> "That'll be Â£210 for the replacements Sir...."
> 
> ...


Holy moley. That's criminal 

I bet he just replaces them with regular plastic caps. I know i would.


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## paulb (May 6, 2002)

I'm sure Focus ones will fit - most Ford parts are interchangeable :roll:


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## Kell (May 28, 2002)

I'm not sure who would be more stupid in this instance.

Them for expecting someone to pay it, or the person that pays it.


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

Well obviously my pal is very stupid as he bought a new DB9 in the first place and he is not even a footballer. :roll:


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## Carlos (May 6, 2002)

As they are prestige items I'd gladly pay Â£210 for a couple of Aston dust caps, dunno what you're going on about.

However I would be expecting an alloy wheel and tyre to be attached to each one.


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## jampott (Sep 6, 2003)

I'll sell him his original ones back for Â£150... :lol:


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## Steve_Mc (May 6, 2002)

Friend of mine just sold his DB9 after constant problems, most commonly the battery running flat in 3 days. Also an ex-RS4 owner on rs246 who switched to a DB9 had this to say:



> I am going to cut a whole in the roof and use it as a skip or fill it up with water and use it as a fish tank Joking aside the DB9 has been the most problematic car I have ever owned and I will be glad when its gone. In the 7 1/2 months that I have owned it the car has been in the work shop on various occasions for a total of 5 months having warranty work carried out.


Goes to show as much as one can profit financially from being an early adopter of a desirable model, you'll still be a beta tester :?


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

Steve_Mc said:


> Friend of mine just sold his DB9 after constant problems, most commonly the battery running flat in 3 days. Also an ex-RS4 owner on rs246 who switched to a DB9 had this to say:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Ouch. That would really hurt - having spent that much on a 'prestige supercar' to have those problems. Deffo not funny. You'd hope that Ford stewardship would actually improve quality (not to be confused with craftsmanship)

I hope the V8 Vantage is more reliable for AMs sake. It's supposed nemesis, the 997, _you just know _ is going to be more reliable.


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## jampott (Sep 6, 2003)

garyc said:


> Steve_Mc said:
> 
> 
> > Friend of mine just sold his DB9 after constant problems, most commonly the battery running flat in 3 days. Also an ex-RS4 owner on rs246 who switched to a DB9 had this to say:
> ...


Apart from Porsche engines having a knack of going bang?


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## Kell (May 28, 2002)

No that's BMW 330D engines.

Though not all of them eh Gary?


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

jampott said:


> garyc said:
> 
> 
> > Steve_Mc said:
> ...


That must be why Porsche are so crap at endurance racing and are generally considered to be amongst the _least_ reliable sports cars available.
:roll:

Relative to the number of flat six Porkers out there, and relative to the high miles they generally achieve, I'd have thought the relative % of catastrophic oil seal failiures on some 996 and Boxsters leading to engine failiure, would be very small.

But I have no figures to back this, and am probably just blindly following the Porsche Myth. Or is that Legend? :-*


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

Kell said:


> No that's BMW 330D engines.
> 
> Though not all of them eh Gary?


And your point is?

I probably have a different take on reliability to many. For example my engine failed at 50K miles, but only after I had driven it 40 miles foot to floor with failed turbo. It was replaced no questions by the manufacturer. That's the only problem I have had with 4*e46s covering 250,000 hard miles over 6 years, and was down to a turbo seal failing and my will to get home at 2 am.

I consider that good reliability. You may not.

There's even someone here proud of a years MR2 problem free motoring. But that's only 5500 miles. Not that I would question toyotas reliability fyi.

Whereas I consider a catelogue of electrical snags, flat batteries, switch failiures, dash pod problems, DV outages, coil pack failiures -you know the sort of stuff that has you always at the dealer - as SteveMc describes his colleauges DB9, or in fact many TT owners and ex owners here, as unreliable.

I hope AM dont fall into that.


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## DXN (May 18, 2002)

some kiddy has got two valuable caps 

Thats outragous, what do they look like?

Guess an ebay search will come up fruitful soon


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## Jac-in-a-Box (Nov 9, 2002)

garyc said:


> jampott said:
> 
> 
> > garyc said:
> ...


Oil seals are the least of the water cooled flat 6's problems - and there are reliable reports of 987's/997's suffering the same problem. Porsche seem unwilling or unable to engineer this problem out.

Plenty of catastrophic engine failures occuring (been there at 13k miles) Liners splitting, auxilliary drive shaft failure, dropped valves.

Pictures on one Porker forum of 18 failed engines at the back of one OPC awaiting return to the Fatherland.
Rumour has it that they're put on a ship and dumped in the North Sea - upmarket artificial reefs :roll:

Simply factor in an additional Â£725 per year to your running costs for the Porsche warranty and I don't suppose it's a "problem"
Buys a nice blanket of security considering the cost of a replacement engine - but still sticks in my throat that I have to.

Could be why 993 (air cooled) prices are so strong?

But...to stay on topic - Â£210 for dust caps has ruled out AM as the next car!

Dave


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## Karcsi (Mar 6, 2003)

Clarkson's Ford GT. Can you really expect anything different from a Ford half it's price?

Dave, noticed that today. Looking through second hand Porsches today, and found that a 993 is about the same price as a 996 2 years its junior. Hmm. I know the water cooled engines were not quite so bullet proof as the air cooled, but didn't realise the problem was so common.


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## Carlos (May 6, 2002)

Jac-in-a-Box said:


> But...to stay on topic - Â£210 for dust caps has ruled out AM as the next car!


Agree with that - my writing hand was just hovering over the deposit cheque as well! :lol:


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## Carlos (May 6, 2002)

Karcsi said:


> Clarkson's Ford GT. Can you really expect anything different from a Ford half it's price?


Well I recently completed 3 years and 36k miles driving in a Ford that was 15% of the GT price...though it wasn't too sporty I have to admit :wink:


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## Kell (May 28, 2002)

garyc said:


> Kell said:
> 
> 
> > No that's BMW 330D engines.
> ...


My point was that not all of them fail - just those that have tuning boxes fitted to them and are then driven 50 miles despite the driver 'suspecting' there was something wrong but making the decision to carry on regardless.

Besides, it was off-handed jibe because you started the thread and someone else mentioned blown up engines. I hadn't realised you'd spout facts and figures to disprove my 'point', but perhaps I should have. :roll:

I apologise profusely for any confusion I may have caused and, as ever, acquiesce to your greater intellect.

I would tug at my forelock, but as you know, I don't have one to tug at.


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

[smiley=stupid.gif] And mine was a post about reliability and what that means to me. I dont give a toss about your silly jibes Kell. If you want to think all engines fitted with TBs and driven 50 miles without oil will fail, then its a reasonable assumption. And do take a dig any time you fancy.

I consider my 250K miles to have been generally reliable, even with an engine failiure. And as one of the higher mileage drivers around here (35K-45K miles per year), I'd say I am reasonably qualified to comment.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*ON TOPIC CLARIFICATION.*

So, the reason the cost was so high is:

Each Valve and cap is hand milled with an Aston Martin emblem on the top. Within the cap is a microchip which is there to sense tyre pressure drops. Without caps, the low tyre pressure warning gets confused and issues false warnings.

Not having had a car with low tyre pressure warning, this sounds like a cumbersome approach - are they all in the valves? And are the caps generally integral to the system?

I'd still say that is expensive thoough at Â£210. But service revenue is vital to AM, so they must want prices as high as their customers will bear. I guess not too many of their customers worry about "How much?" rather "How Soon?"


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## Kell (May 28, 2002)

http://www.********.co.uk/gallery/kell/serious.jpg


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

Kell said:


> http://www.********.co.uk/gallery/kell/serious.jpg


Soz, missed the smilies in yer previous posts. 



Kell said:


> I'm not sure who would be more stupid in this instance.
> 
> Them for expecting someone to pay it, or the person that pays it.





Kell said:


> No that's BMW 330D engines.
> 
> Though not all of them eh Gary?





Kell said:


> My point was that not all of them fail - just those that have tuning boxes fitted to them and are then driven 50 miles despite the driver 'suspecting' there was something wrong but making the decision to carry on regardless.
> 
> Besides, it was off-handed jibe because you started the thread and someone else mentioned blown up engines. I hadn't realised you'd spout facts and figures to disprove my 'point', but perhaps I should have. :roll:
> 
> ...


....and I got a minion to tug on their forelock on your behalf.


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## Kell (May 28, 2002)

I hope they shined your shoes for you too.


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

Sure.

Shall we try and stay on topic from now? Ta.


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## jonno (May 7, 2002)

garyc said:


> ....Within the cap is a microchip which is there to sense tyre pressure drops. Without caps, the low tyre pressure warning gets confused and issues false warnings....


Sounds like they need to update to some not-so-state-of-the-art technology Munich has been using for a while - using the data from the ABS sensors to detect the revolutions of each wheel and sensing when they differ. No expensive additional equipment or expensive valve caps to worry about :?

I'm sure you'll convince him that at least in this regard the "old" 1990's designed e46 has some superior features to his new Aston :wink:


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

I'd have thought AM would be state of art with the DB9:?:

On gen ownership of DB9 I spoke to Nick, who just left HP to join Symantec. Turns out that he has also bought a new A4 for 'field sales stuff' as turning up in new DB9 at new co and then customer sites, may give wrong impression that the saleman is doing too well.

What do we think about turning up at customer premises in flash car?

2 schools of thought:

1. He's doing far too well, no wonder they are so expensive to deal with. We wont but from his org.

or,

2. I'll buy from him, he's obviously sucessful and you dont sustain that sucess by giving poor customer business value?

I turn up in a diesel est, so noone bats an eyelid. :wink:


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## DXN (May 18, 2002)

do look nice though 8)


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## jonno (May 7, 2002)

Ouch - so he's paying Â£1+/litre to fill the Aston?
Clearly doing far too well.

Re co. cars - I think there is some acceptable "middle ground" - successful but not shouting about it too much (which is where an AM for client visits whould fall down for me, unless your clients are Premiership players :wink: )

Thankfully, no client visits for me. 8)


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## head_ed (Dec 10, 2002)

garyc said:


> I'd have thought AM would be state of art with the DB9:?:
> 
> On gen ownership of DB9 I spoke to Nick, who just left HP to join Symantec. Turns out that he has also bought a new A4 for 'field sales stuff' as turning up in new DB9 at new co and then customer sites, may give wrong impression that the saleman is doing too well.
> 
> ...


I have had only one negative comment from a customer when turning up in the TT about how they were obviously paying me too much. However he did drive an MX3 so was understandably annoyed at most of the other motorists on the road.


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## Kell (May 28, 2002)

No offence though Mart, but turning up in a TT is NOT the same as turning up in a DB9.


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