Hilarious review of an Aston Martin Vantage - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi0yXeuqBjU
Tesla Hires Aston Martin's Vehicle Engineering Leader
41–50 of 51 posts
Re: Tesla Hires Aston Martin's Vehicle Engineering Leader
#42As someone who's anything but a greasemonkey, how good are Aston Martin from an engineering standpoint compared to the competition?
The car is brilliant, especially in terms of design and engine, but it's a small scale production and they don't have the means of Porsche, Mercedes, Audi (great but not perfect though) or Ferrari and therefore aren't state of the art when it comes to gearbox, transmission and brakes.
The worst part is the gearbox who is notoriously unreliable and many models have issues around 20,000 km.
It's really upsetting to put 100 k€ in a car to have the reliability of a 80' Lancia.
That being said I love Aston Martin, they make awesome cars. Probably the best car body there is to date.
But if you're looking for engineering perfection, get a Porsche 911 Turbo.
Re: Tesla Hires Aston Martin's Vehicle Engineering Leader
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
So here's the thing - they're not actually that good. Let me preface this by saying that a) my perspective isn't a normal consumer one -- my business has put tens of thousands of miles on various Aston Martin models (we rent them) and b) the last model I've dealt with extensively is an '06 DB9, so things may have changed a lot in the past few years. But that being said, despite being IMHO the most gorgeous cars on th…
The things you don't hear about on Top Gear. Do you think there's anywhere else I can go to read stuff like what you wrote?
I actually just watched those back episodes of Top Gear two days ago. I thought they conveyed most of the things said by your parent fairly well.
They expressed extreme disgust with the gearbox, demonstrating clearly how non-functional it was, and showed comparisons with cars in the same price range in which it had much more body roll and braking distance.
Re: Tesla Hires Aston Martin's Vehicle Engineering Leader
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
> NOW - that all being said, I'm not going to make any judgment about this guy and his work at Tesla and what this means about that. There is far too much that goes into the production of a car to make any real judgment call about things to come -- Astons could have been beautifully engineered and then ruined with bad supplier decisions, that were outside this guy's control. Etc. etc. One encouraging thing: with the…
>Lotus, who hasn't made a reliable car... ever? The US-spec Elise/Exiges were powered by a fairly mundane Toyota engine. Body panel costs aside, it's a cheap, reliable, unpractical, and great vehicle.
> cheap, reliable, unpractical, and great vehicle.
Best description of a Lotus Elise ever. That car was designed purely and simply for driving enjoyment.
Re: Tesla Hires Aston Martin's Vehicle Engineering Leader
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually, Porsche has been #2 in reliability (J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Survey) for two years running (behind Toyota's Lexus brand), #4 in 2011, and was the leader in 2010. However, to be perfectly fair, your average Porsche sees far fewer miles per year than a bread-and-butter mid-size sedan.
They're perfectly usable as daily drivers.
Guy on my block parks his 911 Carerra 4S on the street, drives it every day. It makes me happy that he actually uses it, and also makes me feel better about parking my normal car on the street.
Re: Tesla Hires Aston Martin's Vehicle Engineering Leader
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
So here's the thing - they're not actually that good. Let me preface this by saying that a) my perspective isn't a normal consumer one -- my business has put tens of thousands of miles on various Aston Martin models (we rent them) and b) the last model I've dealt with extensively is an '06 DB9, so things may have changed a lot in the past few years. But that being said, despite being IMHO the most gorgeous cars on th…
Please at least slightly pimp your business, it sounds awesome. (Is it Gotham Dream Cars? that's the only place I know of which rents multiple Aston-Martins in the US)
Two links followed seems to indicate that it is indeed Gotham Dream Cars.
Re: Tesla Hires Aston Martin's Vehicle Engineering Leader
#47Man I wish I had capital now... or a year ago... or 13 years ago when I told my parents they should buy AAPL.
Oh well. The best investment you can make is always yourself.
Re: Tesla Hires Aston Martin's Vehicle Engineering Leader
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
So here's the thing - they're not actually that good. Let me preface this by saying that a) my perspective isn't a normal consumer one -- my business has put tens of thousands of miles on various Aston Martin models (we rent them) and b) the last model I've dealt with extensively is an '06 DB9, so things may have changed a lot in the past few years. But that being said, despite being IMHO the most gorgeous cars on th…
I think you are being a bit unfair. Gearbox wise, they were on the edge of what they knew, but had to keep up with the competition, and well, pointless fashion. It was an optional extra that customers didn't have to have. That gearbox is not typical of the engineering at AML. Yeah, they should have not released it with out more R&D, but equally, the gearbox is not representative of the whole package. Bodyflex wise, o…
>Electrics. Ahhhh, never a good thing on Astons!!
Or European cars in general, in my experience. (VW, Mercedes, MINI, Volvo -- all had bad-to-severe electrical problems for me)
Re: Tesla Hires Aston Martin's Vehicle Engineering Leader
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
So here's the thing - they're not actually that good. Let me preface this by saying that a) my perspective isn't a normal consumer one -- my business has put tens of thousands of miles on various Aston Martin models (we rent them) and b) the last model I've dealt with extensively is an '06 DB9, so things may have changed a lot in the past few years. But that being said, despite being IMHO the most gorgeous cars on th…
Were they any fun to drive? After Ford bought Aston, I always assumed the cars would feel like souped-up Tauruses with Connolly leather interiors, but I've never actually sat behind the wheel of an Aston.
I love how Aston styling has affected Ford.
Re: Tesla Hires Aston Martin's Vehicle Engineering Leader
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
They're perfectly usable as daily drivers.
Guy on my block parks his 911 Carerra 4S on the street, drives it every day. It makes me happy that he actually uses it, and also makes me feel better about parking my normal car on the street.
They're not exactly exotics or anything. If he DD'd a GT3 or something that would be more impressive.