What has been your average maintenance/repair costs over the life of ownership of your Aston? Just oil/belt/brake changes?

Any expensive/extensive repairs?

Examples...internal engine repairs, suspension failures, transmission failures/rebuilds?

 

I have an '08 Vantage V8, Manual Transmission. For me it was (1) Clutch came apart (but I think this is rather rare),(2) Thermostat rubber came off (common), (3) Belt Squeak (Replaced pulley and Belt), (4) AM band radio failed (replaced Module). All these things happened within the first 12,000 miles. Now have 26,000 miles and everything is perfect.

First Maintenance at 10,000 miles was $1,700, 2nd at 19,000 miles was $1,300. Third Maintenance at 24,000 miles (Oil and filter change) I did myself.

 

After a bunch of poking my car with a stick, it turns out I have a bad MAF sensor. I'm going to blame the K&N filters used by the original owner

Otherwise, no serious issues yet (knock on wood).

 

$0 spent on repairs. I did have the balky 1-2 shift service bulletin and the faulty door locks repaired under warranty. Astons these days are pretty bulletproof. My Aston tech says that newer cars only come in for annual service and he never sees them otherwise. He also says it's much more common to see 60-70K mile cars coming in for service nowadays.

 

I have had my 2009 Vantage almost 4 years and 15K miles, my only repair was replacing the trunk switch at $50 and about an hours time.

Jack

 

Oh, there's that whole engine-dying-thing. Engine cuts off when coasting in neutral to a stop. Supposedly it's due to a vent line in the fuel tank that sucks up gas. Very rarely happens, though. Not sure if it still occurs these days.

 

That's funny. My clutch died at 10k miles, check engine light twice for emissions issues and oxygen sensors, TPMS failure warning light (not low tire pressure, system failure), traction control system warning light, door computer module failure - twice, second one occurred because my battery drained after 4 days. Dealer said battery was fine and they don't know why it died after 4 days. You have no idea how fun it is to climb into the car and watch the clock spin like it was possessed. All of this occurred within the first 10 months of ownership. Bulletproof my ***. Worst quality control of any car I have ever owned and I've had many. This is my first Aston and will be my last.

That being said, it is beautiful to look at and wonderful to drive when it is functional.

 

^^^^ Sounds like you got a dud. Sorry. Definitely not the norm, though.

 

Some of the stuff he mentioned was fairly common in the first couple years. My car had/has a couple of those issues (TPMS continues, rest fixed under warranty early in the car's life).

 

wow, that tstat looks funky.. what happened? the clutch looks good, but what are we looking for as far as clutch disc coming apart?


Personally for me, the car is pretty bullet , aside from the wear items. (hood , door shocks, ) rear tail light assembly brake lights out, (got a new one on ebay) and of course the door computers, you need two of them, to make the door locks work properly. ($1700 installed at dealer). oil changes, brake pad changes are piece of cake, and next is change out the fluids, like brake and rear end oil...... so, all I worry about now, is any big things going out like a water pump or timing chain.

 

The Rubber around the edge of the T-Stat comes loose on the earlier models, and this holds the T-stat open which keeps the engine from reaching operating temperature.

This is what the clutch looks like from the side. Notice almost no wear after about 10,000 miles, just the plate and clutch separated. Covered under warrantee as a mechanical failure.

 

Other than early model year (an early 07) belt squeal no problems - 25,000 miles. Now I have an 09 - so far a frayed seat belt... no problems other than that.

 

That seems to be a common failure mode for a clutch. The same thing happened to the one in my Esprit and it also had plenty of friction surface left. Unfortunately mine happened on the hairpin turn at Road Atlanta.

 

Talked with the second owner of my car, he owned the car four years and put around 21k miles (original owner about 7k miles). This is an 07 coupe. He said the only problem he ever encountered was a problem with the gas cap which he said he caused, otherwise problem free.

Also, in reading and at least anecdotally, something to be said for cars that are driven as opposed to five - seven year old cars with 6-7k miles. I actually changed my purchase plans and went for a higher mileage car.

Fingers crossed I'll have good luck with this car. I suppose I'll be replacing the clutch as it's the original one but the bulk of the miles are highway and distance driving and was never used for commuting.
Chris

 

- Clutch failed at 25000 miles = $3.4k
- Oil leak from timing chain cover = $500
- Headlight washer nozzle missing
- Start button fell apart (this happened to this previous owner, he glued it in place and looks bad so I'll have to replace it)
- chmsl came off (fixed it myself for .05, new nut)
- Headlights fogging
- Random rattles from the headliner/c pillar and dash/navi
- Mirrors won't auto-fold when locking the car sometimes.
- Both windows got stuck almost-closed. Unstuck themselves when opening and closing the doors.
- USB won't read randomly. Need to unplug and re-plug several times for it to work. Gave up and bought a bluetooth adapter for the iPod cable.
- Belt squeal, went away by itself.
- Differential broke in half, $2k or so.

Not very happy if I'm honest...