How to make owning a supercar affordable(ish)
How to make owning a supercar affordable(ish) GQ contributor Alex Goy is a working car journalist, but he drives an Aston Martin Vantage. Jealous? You shouldn't be. Here's how he bought his dream machine… and how you could do it, too Alex Goy In 2019 I needed a sensible car to get around in, but I needed something more exciting than a Golf because I'm a bit of a tart. A lifelong obsessive of silly cars, I had the kind of moment that few get to see through to the end. Coming out of a Lotus Elise, in this case "sensible" meant it had to have solid doors, a proper roof, and a boot that didn't need to be propped open with a stick.
With a budget in mind I decided that I'd try and find myself a Jaguar F-Type R, a 997 Generation Porsche 911, or an Aston Martin Vantage. The challenge was to find one of these on freelance journalist money, not by dipping into a Smaug-esque pile 'o cash. This makes thing tricky… but not impossible.
As with any used-car search, you have to plan for these things: figure out what year, spec, engine, colour, etc, you want, then investigate what insurance will be like, see if servicing will bankrupt you once a year, and check to see how fragile the thing is.
The Aston was the dream car. Yeah, the Bond DB5 was a constant in my childhood, but the Vanquish in the (criminally underrated) Die Another Day was what got me into Astons and, partly, cars in the first place. After much soul searching I realised that the Aston itch needed to be scratched sooner rather than later: an F-Type will be worth peanuts in a few years anyway, and a man who writes about cars for a living buying a Porsche 911 is a hideous cliché that I wasn't quite ready to adhere to (but will one day).
The budget was roughly £40,000, as much more would be ruinous. I'd need to find one that didn't seem on the edge of death, too, because it may be a £40k car now, but the bills are those of a car that was £80-90,000 a decade ago.
Being a Callum/Fisker-era Aston Martin, colour wasn't a huge concern because they all look perfect from any angle in any hue. A dark interior was a must, though – cream seats are a recipe for disaster if you have friends like mine.
The age, engine, and gearbox, however, were important. I was after as recent a car as possible, one with the bigger 4.7-litre engine. The 4.7-litre cars are marginally more fuel efficient and have a smidge more grunt than earlier 4.3-litre cars. More power is always good. Those later cars also came with Aston's fancy "Emotional Control Unit" key that slots into the dash and acts as a starter button. It adds theatre to the journey, feels suitably chunky, and looks good on a table. As I said, I'm a tart.
While some would think that living in London means an automatic is the way to go, when it comes to old Vantages… that is a lie. They came with Aston's Sportshift automated manual gearbox – the same 'box as the manual, but with a robot badly mangling each change. They're slow, unpleasant, and have a habit of eating clutches. The six-speed manual may be heavy and a bit tricky, but it's leagues better than the lazy option.
What about bills? A friend has a name for anything associated with Astons: the Aston Tax. Take what you think would be sensible and add a bit. Thankfully it's not as mad as you'd expect. A service and MOT comes in at pleasingly less than £1000, for example. A clutch, however, knocks on £3000, as they're a pain to change. Sportshift fanciers beware…
Insurance for outdoor, gated parking in London is sub-£1000 as well. It sits in the highest VED band, which is £600. Not small amounts of money, but with some smart budgeting (and nothing too catastrophic occurring) entirely manageable. At this point it's probably wise to point out that I have no dependents.
The problem with posh motors around that price point is that plenty of people are having the same itch as you at the same time, which means as soon as a suitable car pops up on Auto Trader it's pretty much gone. I managed to grab a couple of test drives in cars that seemed decent, but by the time I'd entertained the idea of pulling the trigger they were gone. Then, while living my best freelance life working in a café, a black 2012 car appeared. Not wanting to lose it before I saw it, I got in touch with the dealer – a German car specialist outside Bishop's Stortford. "Is anyone coming to see it on Saturday?... Someone's coming at 12:00?... I'll be there at 09:00." It drove well and didn't appear to be falling apart at the seams, I popped the cash down, and a week later I drove home in my very own Aston Martin. With, I'll add, the smuggest grin I've ever mustered.
As a way to travel I adore it. Mine isn't perfect by any means. Its front bumper is chipped thanks to grit, the driver's seat has some scuffs here and there, and the fuel filler flap doesn't always open when you ask it to. OK, the instrument binnacle may be pretty but 70mph is less visible than 150mph on the dial, I'm lucky if I see more than 22mpg out of it, it occasionally makes noises that sound both expensive and scary, its black paint is a nightmare to keep clean, and compared to modern cars it feels quite old, but… who cares? Oh, and if a bird decides it'll make a decent bog, the turd will eat through and stain the paint (something I've found out the hard way and am terrified to find the cost of fixing). However, it eats motorways with smooth V8 torque, country lanes are a blast, and it's comfy in town.
If you're looking to do something similar, whether with a Vantage, 911, or… whatever, find yourself a decent, trusted garage (I use HWM in Walton-on-Thames) to look after it. It'll make the world of difference to your experience.
The plan was to keep it for a couple of years, use it as a daily driver, then shift it before anything goes pop. The two-year cut off was March 2021 and it's still on my drive. I suspect it'll be there for a while. A quick look at used prices, even at cars around the 47,000 miles mine's on, shows I've not lost much on it either, so keeping it makes, erm, sense? Life is short. Buy the car.
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