Aston Martin · The Gaydon Era

The dossiers

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  DB7 3.2 Supercharged — the car that saved Aston Martin; Ford-era inline-six, known failure modes, and what to budget before buying one

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  DB7 Vantage V12 — the same body, a wholly different car; the all-new V12, superior reliability, and the clear market mispricing relative to the six

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  V12 Vanquish and Vanquish S — the bonded aluminium and carbon-fibre flagship; the Magneti Marelli gearbox explained, what failure looks like, and the four questions to ask at viewing

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  DB9 — the VH platform arrives; bonded aluminium, the Touchtronic 2, and why this is the most usable Aston Martin ever made

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  V8 Vantage — the buying case in four arguments: driving experience, reliability relative to V12 models, the premium on manuals, and shrinking supply of unmolested examples

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  DBS — the Vanquish successor done properly; 510 bhp, carbon ceramic brakes, the Volante as the scarcer body, and the Bond connection

The era

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  Ford ownership (1987–2007): what platform-sharing with Jaguar meant for parts, reliability, and the collector's maintenance bill — and the cases where it was a genuine advantage

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  The VH platform: bonded aluminium extrusion, the implications for accident repair costs, and the structural inspection priorities every buyer must run

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  Ulrich Bez and the post-Ford era: the engineering decisions that separated the DB9 generation from its predecessors and why they matter to long-term ownership economics

Buying & ownership

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  Electrical systems: the known gremlins across the range, and why a specialist with the right experience matters

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  Per-model inspection priorities: DB7 head gaskets and sill corrosion, Vanquish gearbox actuators, DB9 electrics and window regulators, V8 Vantage rear subframe and wiring

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  Ownership cost structures: annual budgets by model, the major service intervals, the specialist network and the gap between main-dealer and independent pricing

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  Configuration premiums: colour, gearbox, options — which choices move the needle and which are irrelevant to the collector market