996 reliability/Aston Martin

Mr Range Rover Sport let me down (again) so I had Land Rover Assist around (again) and I got talking to the mechanic who has been with LR for 12 years, so he also supported Aston Martin whilst both LR & AM were owned by Ford. He clocked my old 996 and asked about its value/price/driving etc. Turns out he delivered new AM's to owners and a few were changing from 911's. He reckoned that when he saw customers again (Aston breaking down? Surely not!) most regreted losing their 911's and did not like the baby AM although some changed their minds after proplonged ownership. He also told me that firms like Porsche & AM give each other their cars for comparative testing, saves each company having to buy; well AM put it about that every Porsche "borrowed" had to be returned with some catastrophic failure. It was believed that this was deliberate scare mongering!! Anyhow in his experience the only porsche engines to fail were two, a GT3 & TT!! Cracked blocks apparently...

In a way the fact that AM are not reliable - that is part of the sports car image of the last decade, although there is no reason for modern cars to break when you can buy a Toyota for 15k that will last for 20 years without breakage IMHO. I think it is totally less forgiveable that Landrover products are not reliable - whichever model. Worst is that I admit to hankering for one, but I will never buy them while they prop up the bottom of the JDPower survey year after year... Touareg? LOJO

Stories from mates and owners I know would suggest DB9 "unreliable" perhaps due to "handbuilt" nature; Vantage "more reliable" but still prone to stupid faults (perhaps due to its more factory/production line nature); 997 "very few faults"...but mass-produced and "common" as a result. Other themes did include AM going back for the same faults....997 usually fixed first time. Occassionally major 997 issues though, e.g. 2 chaps with (manual) gearbox problems. I have no idea of the "care" all these owners took of their cars...obviously redline from cold is unhelpful. This is all open to the usual serious statistical analysis and validation as the facts have been gleaned in the pub/office chit chat...but are an indication of a theme. LR...no experience but as previous posters say, not great JD Power positioning.

I got my 996 cab from a guy who bought a AM for 103k!! He had owned the 996 from new and has recently emailed me to say if I ever sell it he will buy it back!!! He still loves the Aston but I guess that is the measure of how the 996 impacted on him. If I was fortunate enough to have that sort of cash would not choose the AM tho.

I was speaking to Robin Bartholomew at AutoFarm re: Nikasil and 997 IMS for 996. We discussed various instances of Porsche engine failures, his view was that if you want ZERO issues buy a Honda VTEC. Interesting comment from one of the leading Porker indys The other interesting fact was that they upgrade 996/997/986/987 RMS with Cayenne PTFE seal. Apparently much more beefy.

I've owned a number of Aston Martins upto the early 90's, and providing you serviced them properly and looked after them, they were reliable. The latest generations I believe have had problems, as has Porsche. However expectations of owners for reliability of all cars have gone up exponentially, while the general knowledge of the mechanics of car systems and foilbles has decreased in the general public at large as reliability has improved :roll: In the end I have always found that the ownership of iconic cars :worship: is also about the aura of the vehicles not just their absolute reliability. Regards Big Bob :bye:

Apart from one thing I noted when I test drive my car which has been rectified, my AM has been perfectly reliable in the 2.5 months I've had it thus far Then again, my 996 was ultra reliable too, only failing when the battery gave up and that was in almost 3.5 years of ownership :thumb: I think it is very difficult to compare the 2 cars since the AM is far more a GT IMO than the 911....... :dont know:

AM are lovely cars but you always hear stories that are not very reliable or when you have a failure of any kind is very difficult to troubleshoot and rectify. Also I remember few years ago at 5th gear that they had many issues while they were testing them But hey... AM are loverly cars but overall reliability might not be as good as a Porsche but for sure better than the Italian cars (or TVR ; on the way back this morning I saw another one broken down near J17 on M25)

I can not see where Porsche and AM align for comparison They both do a different job unless you are in your car for status only. AM have never lit a fire for me by way of looks where as Porshe was my childhood dream. I can remember Top Gear stating "Never meet your idle" Well they were so wrong in my case, High powered cars engineered to the level that a Porsche is will never be ulta reliable due to the resraint of weight and required performance formula.Engineered to be just enough for the expected loads with "fat"for upgrades.E.G.X50 I say if you want to follow fashion and the footballers try an AM. Landrover? Been there and left alot of my salary on the trail. Bag of white!! If you want a car "where there really is no substitute" then for me there is only one place to be. :worship: Pork on bretheren, Pork on!!! Enter AM owners on here!:gunfire:

I'll second that. Indeed, you never hear how good a certain car is running until it stops doing so. By way of comparison, if you look at the threads in 911uk reporting a major problematic issue, it still tiny in comparison to the threads with none or minor problematic issues. ~ Maxie

Part of the problem also of reliability these days is the amount of diagnostic and micro computer interface needed to use and run the car. Eg a friend of mine with a Ferrari 599 had a flat battery. That required a full diagnostic, re programme to get the car running again :nooo: . In the old days you would have re-charged the battery or put a new one in and problem solved :grin: Alas no longer - but you can't stop progress can you :?: Big Bob :bye: