Are You Brave Enough To Buy A $17,000 Aston Martin V8 Vantage?

In the 2000s, Aston Martin was arguably the most want-one car brands on the planet, producing style icons like the DB9, DBS, and V8 Vantage. However, because everyone loves the way they look, they never depreciated to the same level as the earlier DB7s did when they hit their bottom. Or at least, most of them didn’t. When I stumbled upon this Aston Martin V8 Vantage listed on Facebook Marketplace for $17,000, my eyes just about leapt out of my skull.

We’re talking about the baby Aston, a cut-down V8-powered sibling to the DB9 thrust into battle against the Porsche 911. Sure, it was more expensive than the 911, not as sharp as its German rival, and didn’t feature rear seats, but with a silhouette like this, the V8 Vantage carved out a niche of its own. After all, Aston Martin took the risky move of having two full years between unveiling the concept and putting it into production, and the design didn’t go stale.

Originally launched with a 4.3-liter V8 pumping out 380 horsepower and 302 lb.-ft. of torque, this British brawler featured a slightly rear-biased weight distribution and could sprint from zero-to-60 mph in 4.8 seconds while pumping out some glorious V8 noise. At the same time, the Ian Callum and Henrik Fisker coachwork endowed the V8 Vantage with the status of being among the most beautiful cars of the 2000s.

Alright, so maybe this open-topped Volante example with 117,000 miles on the clock is a little less fresh than the average V8 Vantage. The front grille situation is a bit more, well, open than when this thing left the factory, it has its share of battle scars, and certain functions aren’t quite optimal. The seller states that the roof only works manually, there’s a phantom battery drain somewhere, and the secondary air injection system isn’t quite operating as intended.

Inside, it’s a similar story, with some mismatched trim on the center stack, unusual wear on the driver’s seat, and what appear to be scratches on the radio screen. However, by dirt-cheap exotic car standards, none of the switchgear is missing, and the dashboard leather on this V8 Vantage seems fairly alright considering it’s a known sore spot with the model.

From the look of things, this Aston has seen a hard 117,000 miles, but these V8 Vantages are generally known for being surprisingly reliable. The big potential pain point would be a timing cover leak, but the internals of the engine are robust and even the SportShift transmission isn’t a complete nightmare so long as fluid changes are done on time. Sure, it’s definitely not the most refined gearbox on the planet, even by single-clutch automated manual standards, but it seems more robust than say, BMW’s SMG transmissions, and it seems to offer longer clutch life than Maserati’s Duoselect single-clutch units. Its primary bugs were largely isolated to software issues, and updated calibrations exist to make owning a SportShift car a pretty painless experience by single-clutch standards.

Actually, painless is a reasonably decent way to describe a V8 Vantage. It’s almost a Camry by exotic car standards, in that it mostly just works. Sure, the dash leather will eventually start to pull away and consumables are expensive, but at the end of the day, it’s an Aston Martin you can theoretically run on a reasonable budget. Plus, this one doesn’t seem like a basketcase, it just looks like a solid project that could use a little love. So, if you’re feeling brave, this one’s up for sale in New Jersey. At $17,000, how can you really go wrong?

Top graphic credit: Facebook Marketplace seller

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