With around $50k, you could get yourself something like a brand new BMW M2 and be care-free for the next four years, or you could follow Doug DeMuro’s example and get a used Aston Martin V8 Vantage with a factory warranty instead.
DeMuro chose the second route, picking up a nine year old V8 Vantage for $45,500 from Aston Martin, which also offered him a certified pre-owned factory warranty that applies to vehicles up to 10 years old for another $3,800 putting the total pre-tax cost to $49,300, or a couple grand less than that M2 we talked about.
That warranty was money well worth spent, as DeMuro says that in the first five months and 5,000 or so miles, it covered a $738 broken thermostat, an engine fix at $4,409 and a $351 bill for window repairs. He does point out here that these issues may have been related to the fact that the car was sitting at a dealership for seven months.
While all those fixes were covered under the warranty, the clutch replacement, which he split in half with the dealer at $2,450 each, the annual (or every 10,000 miles) service at $1,400 and a punctured front tire replacement for $300, were not. He says that he’ll likely have to change the front brakes in the next couple of months at a cost of around $1,200.
Without insurance, that comes to about $5,300 or $6,700 if he does the second 10k mile service in the coming months and doesn’t have to replace any wear and tear items that are not included in the warranty.
We took a look at AM’s pre-owned offerings in the States, and the cheapest car we found for sale was a significantly more expensive 2006 V8 Vantage N400 at $59,990.
Still think a used Aston Martin is worth it these days?