Imagine the situation, it's 2001 and you are Vice President of a UK wide company, you’ve risen through the ranks. Eight years ago you were driving a ford Mondeo Mk1, now even your BMW isn’t enough, so you go and splash £160k on a brand new sports car. But even in this elevated status you are reminded where you came from, the electric window switches are exactly the same as that Mondeo all those years ago. The car that offers this experience? That’ll be the Aston Martin Vanquish, which could now be yours for less than £50,000.
Photo from 'RGT3'
If it seems odd to you that I started an article that is supposed to inform you of the virtues of said car with a reference to it’s parts bin raiding, let me explain. Recent Aston’s have lost some of their appeal in my opinion, not only because there are a lot more of them but also because they’re better. Their largely bespoke interiors and exteriors are all meticulously built by robots to high standards at high speed. Sounds great, but what is true luxury if not a hand built car, and that’s what the Vanquish is, it took twice the time to build as it's replacement, the DBS. Yes the switchgear is largely cobbled together from lesser products in the Ford portfolio, yes it’s much harder to drive quickly than more modern cars and yes the automated manual gearbox isn’t that great by today's standards but in my opinion, that’s all great; things like this give a car true character.
That's not the only thing it has going for it either. You see a Vantage or DB9 and say, ‘mm, nice car’, see a Vanquish and that becomes more like ‘wow, nice car’ partly because of it’s rarity and partly because of it’s sheer road presence. Ian Callum's interpretation of a big Aston Martin GT is spot on from every angle, blending the strong lines of past cars like the V8’s with the more modern design language from the DB7 perfectly. Under the hood is the well known V12 feeding 460bhp through a transaxle automated manual. You may remember Mr Clarksons strong hate of the gearbox, but despite it’s early generation jerkiness it still makes good progress on the move. You’ll see 60mph in 5 seconds if you shift right and if that’s not enough there's the Vanquish S. This appeared in 2004 and while you’ll pay a premium for one, you do get a stiffened chassis and a 60bhp power increase, dropping 0-60 to 4.6 seconds.
A 2006 onwards car brings you an updated interior which looses much of it’s Ford switchgear for a more DB9 style interior. At the top of the pile is the Vanquish S ‘Ultimate’ edition; the last 50 cars built. It came only in black, and for the first time with the option of a manual gearbox, which is said to improve the car no end. Aston also offers the Manual as a retrofit, costing £15,000, so you can look out for a car that has had it done, or do it yourself if you have deep pockets. After the ultimate edition that was it, not only for the Vanquish but also the hand built cars of Newport Pagnell.
Owning the car you’ll find yourself appreciating it’s fantastic ride, making it a great motorway or A-road cruiser, while on twistier roads the Vanquish becomes involving yet rather hairy in an old school way, just as it should be. The S performs measurably better here, and there are a host of other drive improving options that Aston can fit to improve it further. Reliability wise your main concern is that gearbox, clutches can last up to 40,000 miles if looked after, but will cost you £2,500 to replace when the time comes. Corrosion on the inside of the aluminum bonnet can reveal the car has seen a lot of Great British weather, this could affect the electrics so make double sure to check these should you find it. For the most it’s like all fast cars, service history should be impeccable, and consumables such as discs and tyres will wear relatively quickly and cost a fair bit to replace.
At the end of the day this is a truly beautiful Aston Martin in any specification, it is relatively reliable one with modern underpinnings too. It also has the hand built exclusivity you can find few other places at this price point, keep it long enough and this exclusivity is likely to mean you’ll make money on it too. If you can afford it, it’s very easy to make a case for this car.
Here’s some I found
The cheapest one currently available is on Pistonheads, has 50k miles, a full service history and comes in Black Metallic with grey interior. Yours for £45,000.
Just over 3 grand more gets you a grey metallic with black interior model. 35,700 miles and a full service history make it appealing, as does the fact it’s the same colour as James Bonds.
This metallic green Vanquish has the 2+2 option, so you can cram some people in the back, as well as Sat Nav, power-fold wing mirrors and the low low mileage of 9,500 accompanied by a full Aston service history. £64,950.
£74,500 will buy you a Vanquish S, complete with Black exterior and contrasting Red interior, again you’ll get a full Aston service history and the car has done 31,500 miles.
This one owner Vanquish S 2+2 has 25,584 miles on the clock. The brief description fails to mention Service History, but you’d hope this one owner has bothered to get it serviced! The car does look super fresh in Silver, along with the face lift interior. Don’t worry, you still get Mondeo electric window switches.
If only the best will do this ultimate edition Vanquish S fits the bill. It’s one of two of the 50 made currently available. Both have around 1,500 miles on the clock, and cost either £150k or £165k. Either way a brand new DBS will cost you similar money, and neither have the manual option, but it might be a long wait for one that does!
Specs
Vanquish
0-60 5 seconds
0-100 10.3 seconds
Top Speed 190mph
Power 454bhp @ 6500rpm
Torque 401 lb ft @ 5000rpm
Weight 1882kg
Insurance Group 20
MPG 16.9
Vanquish S
0-60 4.6 seconds
0-100 10.2 seconds
Top Speed 199mph
Power 513bhp @ 7000rpm
Torque 427 lb ft @ 5800rpm
Weight 1875kg
Insurance Group 20
MPG 14.9
Warrenty Direct Reliablilty Index N/A
How many left 342(Vanquish) / 236 (Vanquish S) / 578 total
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