S2Krazy_uk

I was having a couple of drinks with a friend of mine who has an Aston Martin Vantage and we were talking through what are the alternative cars - I thought a GT3 or a 355. He said the 355 was too twitchy and the GT3 was bland.

What other cars are competitors for the Vantage and what would you buy ?

Cheers

alex.stanley

If I had that sort of budget I'd only ever get an Aston Martin

Boab01

Jeez, not a small question. Answer is go and test drive everything in his budget and see what he likes. Most things are going to seem a little pants in comparison to an AMV8. With that budget I'd probably buy 3 cars

gaddafi

Any more pearls of wisdom?

He clearly has some 'interesting' opinions on cars

The 355 is one of the sweetest handling Ferrais ever made

A GT3 one of the most exciting Porsches

Which Vantage are we talking about anyway?

Moggy

Agreed - not obvious from the post.

IMO the new one, as a whole package, there is little in comparison.

Dracoro

I'm not convinced a proper "enthusiast" would be looking at all the cars in this class in this way and making a "rational" decision weighing up all the pro's and cons. You buy the car you love or are passionate about. i.e. you buy the one you like the most.

The same goes for most sports cars. Which is best out of the s2000, boxster, z4 and 350z? Well, who cares, you buy your 'favourite'. I can understand the rational comparison when comparing hatches or family saloons and so on as the point of these is to make an informed decision, but even then most people buy the one the "like" the most anyway.

For this reason, which car "wins" these car mag tests is largely irrelevant.

Anyway, I suppose the most "rational" choice I guess would be the 911 but that's not the point is it.

Personally, I believe (archaic view admitably) that the only people who should own Astons (and ferraris for that matter) are ones that love them and have hankered after them all their lives. Problem is that now (and for a while I think) they've been a status thing and this devalues the brand, Astons image is plummeting unfortunately as they're now a status thing, just look how many have cheesy personalised numberplates, a very UN-Aston thing to do. Aston owners used to be a discreet, discerning, understated bunch, sad what has become (prob due to Aston making many more cars than they used to). Same thing has happened to Bentley. I will concede my views on this are out of date maybe and so on, doesn't make them wrong tho

Dracoro

Right, that's my weekend rant off my chest, I'm set for the weekend now!

Moggy

Agreed.

Apart from the AM image. It depends how you define image.

In many ways it is improving.

Dracoro

The cars are better, for sure.

Problem is, image is often dictated by those that buy them.

Astons seem to be bought nowadays by footballers and nouveau riche wanting to play at being "james bond".

Old & classic are different, the above don't buy these. So get a recent shape Aston in 5/10+ years time and that's a different matter.

Don't get me wrong tho, I love Astons but if I won the lottery then (apart from suddenly becoming the nouveau riche ) I'd get the 70/80s Vantage (a la timothy dalton bond era) as I'm very much drawn to them. Would get a DB9 but probably when they cease to be the "current" model. Love the older ones too. Not that keen on the DB7 although my pick would be the DB7 Zagato! It's got a proper front grille!!!

Boab01

Actually I would be more inclined to say that image is dictated primarily by those who cannot afford them.