Man Maths: Aston Martin V8 Vantage

Today prices are properly tempting: look on PistonHeads and you’ll find leggy 4.3-litre cars for less than £23,000 which is about the same as you’ll pay for a mid-spec petrol Vauxhall Corsa. And so the cogs start turning as the Man Maths starts to grind into gear. It’ll be fine, very simple engine really, ally body and structure so it won’t corrode, Aston were building cars properly by then, what could possibly go wrong…?

Well there’s someone I know, highly intelligent and very well informed, who bought a V8 Vantage and shortly thereafter found himself looking down the wrong end of a bill for a brand new engine. So don’t say you haven’t been warned.

And yet, I love ’em. Not the convertibles so much, nor the majority which come fitted with the rather unsatisfactory robotised paddleshift transmission, but the simple, straightforward, unadorned, manual coupés. I’d say that even today they are underrated, and as it is almost (but as Ford will remind you, not quite) impossible to buy any manual coupé with a naturally aspirated V8 today, I think that as time goes by they’re only going to be missed even more.

I always promised myself that when I retired from this game, I’d buy myself the best Porsche 911 I could or, if I couldn’t afford the one I wanted, a BMW i8 instead. And that’s partly because I love driving them, but also because I think if chosen carefully there’s a good chance they won’t bleed you white.

But really a V8 Vantage should be on the list too. And when I look at the lovely, low mileage, manual, 4.7-litre examples quite a lot less than £40,000 will buy, I find myself tempted even more. And is that not what Man Maths is all about? A triumph of don’t-blind-me-with-the-facts faith over cold, calculated knowledge? Makes sense to me…

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