1985 Aston Martin V8 Review - I Drive my Dream Aston 

When I was 7, in 1985, my parents bought a house from this guy who had a 1985 Aston Martin V8 vantage. I asked my dad if he would ask the man if he's let me sit in it, which he did, and took me around the block in it! 2 years later it was in the Living Daylights. I'm 44 now and it still my favourite car! Cannot wait to watch the video 😊

I recall being a passenger in a late 80's manual V8 convertible fitted with a 6.3 Le Mans spec engine producing @ 500bhp. The car was brutal, the sound epic and the bonnet twisted noticeably under hard acceleration. One of those experiences that I will always remember with a huge grin !

Love the imposing styling, kind of reminiscent of the best of American muscle cars of the era

When I was a kid (late 70's) I had a pack of Top Trumps playing cards and the V8 Vantage was one of my favourite cars in the pack

15:40 note that a common issue with many old cars is an uncalibrated throttle. The usual suspect is an old and stretched accelerator cable, which either needs adjustment or replacement. The other culprit might be the carb linkage itself. Either way, it means that putting your foot flat on the pedal, does not actually translate to full wide open throttle. I'm 99% sure that's the case here because even at full throttle, the transmission was short shifting like if it was only partial throttle being applied... that's a telltale sign of bad calibration.

You should definitely try a manual. I owned a 1978 V8 during 1998, so it was 20 years old then. It was a manual with the carburetor engine. All I can say is that the performance was 5 - ish seconds to sixty and it felt like it. My car also didn't have the vibration on idle. It sounds like the engine in your test car may not have been in the best of health. Definitely try a manual if you get the chance. I always regretted selling that car.

Bought a series 3 in 1999 as a divorce present to myself. 2 pumps of the throttle pedal and started everytime, almost shook the tiles off the garage roof ( no back boxes). All the things you say are true, but it didnt matter, it was the way I felt looking at it, sitting in it and driving it, after 30 years in the motor trade and owning many hundreds of cars, its the only one i wish i'd kept, used to stop traffic every time i tried to drive through Norwich, just magic. RKX 700M, where are you now.

I'm with you. Definitely the most beautiful Aston ever built. Well, it has the most character, IMO, for sure.

jay emm, you are bang on - the auto box kills it, even if it is still a nice old thing. Sadly, I no longer have my 1970 DBS V8 which I owned for 20 years, with the amazing Bosch mechanical fuel injection, which, when set up properly, was fab. Mine had the ZF five-speed dog-leg box, and as a result of it being used as a sprint/hillclimb car as well as our long-distance fast car, it acquired various sneaky upgrades - quicker rack, vantage cams, bigger valves, original spec cosworth pistons, forged rods, wide bore exhaust (back box delete), firmer springs, adjustable konis all round, fatter anti-roll bars front and rear, AP front hubs and brakes, larger oil cooler, wider lower profile tyres on 16" wheels. It handled like a Ford Escort on steroids, and went like STINK. AND THE NOISE! I even recommissioned the A/C, which made it much more civilised. 375 bhp, compared to the original 320, which the early manual injection cars had. I met it recently, in the hands of its new owner. He has not changed any of my mechanical upgrades, and he LOVES IT, and uses it as much as he can. Lucky boy. A real bruiser in a Saville Row suit, as someone once said.

In the 1980s I freelanced for an Aston specialist and so got to drive everything from early DB 2/4s through to the Oscar India V8s and Lagondas. The lack of performance you're getting from the car you're testing is most likely down to three things; fueling, ignition timing and and the state of the automatic gearbox. The fuel injection system was often unreliable and many owners opted to change to Webers. Yet the Webers really need to be set up properly with close attention to the linkages - when done correctly it makes a massive difference. My boss at the time, RSW, nearly always suggested quite a bit more static advance than the factory suggested; if, in 3rd gear, from a cruise, the engine did not ping when floored, he would say there's not enough advance. I'm not sure what long-term effect that might have had on wear, though the V8s out of his workshop were always massively faster than when they arrived. The Torque-flight auto gearbox is also often not serviced properly or regularly and for drivers who wanted a more sporty response there were valving options and 'shift-kits' available in which the box would pretty much lock up in 2nd and 3rd (or even in 1st if desired) and that also made a massive difference. There was a chap who raced a lemon yellow V8 in the inter-marque hill climb challenge to huge effect and made the fastest time of the day one year at Wiscombe Park (where I was a marshall at the time) in an automatic using only 2nd gear! So with the right tweaks, the cars could be made to go very well. however, many customers were annoyed at having to pay for work that they thought the factory should have done in the first place. My main criticism of the V8 models was, however, the handling. Yes, they could be made to grip and go very well, but I hated the dead steering feel (compared to a DB4 or 5), the constant feeling of huge weight and the very unprogressive and sudden tendency to understeer - I didn't enjoy driving them. The DB4s and 5s, in spite of being less grippy and and slow in comparison to a sorted V8, were very involving and a real joy to drive.

The British Muscle Icon 💪 Gorgeous thing at launch, further cemented by Living Daylights. Beauty 😍

What boggles my mind about the Aston V8, is when it was used in the Lagonda. If you stand in front of the Lagonda and look down on the bonnet you are looking down on the engine, if you kneel down in front of the Lagonda and look at the bonnet...... you're still looking down on the engine. When you consider the physical dimensions of this engine, it is one of the best packaging exercises I've ever seen.

13 year old me first saw the Aston Martin DBS V8 in 1970 at the cinema in _On Her Majesty's Secret Service,_ (the only film with George Lazenby as James Bond) and it was love at first sight.

The blue Vantage you showed there was actually Victor Gauntlet's presonal car when he was the boss of Aston Martin , it has a 5 speed manual box too . He lent that car out to all the worth while motor journalists of the day , it was also , during the day , Aston's sales demo car (Vantage of course) , a car I lusted over as a teenager , I really wanted it !

The Vantage front-end changes were for aero. The scoop was letting more air out than in, so swapping it round to a bulge made it more efficient. The engine was able to get as much cooling as it needed from the holes in the Vantage's big lower valence, with the grille really not adding anything, so blanking it off lowered drag. The first few cars also had the headlamp nacelles covered with perspex too, but this was dropped.

32:03 - Only that many were sold because that's all they could make in that length of time. As you said before, they are all fully hand built so each car took a long time to make. One of the best days of my childhood was having a guided tour around the factory with my dad in Newport Pagnell at the time when your car was built, thanks to me being a member of AMYSC (Aston Martin Young Supporters Club). What a day! I still treasure the small offcuts of bodywork and chassis I picked up off the floor ;-) .

In 1979, a BRG Vantage manual was my first passenger ride in a Supercar when I was still a kid - a family friend took me out for a spin in his It was like a spaceship, my Dad had an SD Rover V8 at the time but this was completely different level I remember he gave it the full beans from 30-60 in second gear - fantastic noise, the bonnet seemed to rise up, the cream leather interior, the ashtray packed with a mountain of cigarette butts. A sorted one with 7 litre and 400+ hp is really my dream classic, shame they’re exorbitantly priced

I used to have one, a Brooklands Green (like this one) 1979 Manual Oscar India. Very tail happy, and averaged 9mph! All of your issues were due to the Auto box. Remember the suspension needs it's grease nipples topped up every 5000 miles (yes all of them). The "Wobbliness" of the engine is down to the carbs being out of balance. Get a manual airflow meter and some patience, and you can have that engine settled flat with no vibrations. Mind you take it out for a blast for an hour, come back and she'll need doing all over again! I remember when I visited Micheldever Tyres (Hampshire) the mechanics said the front discs were the largest they'd ever come across in a car, of and of course the (left or right - cant remember) wheel nuts are counter clockwise for "safety" so they wouldn't come undone due to wheel rotation. I once had the engine out, even after 85k, the crosshatch pattern was still present from the bore honing. A friend was a Coach mechanic and he leant me his largest portable engine hoist and it only just coped with the massive size and weight! My friend who had a 6 litre Rover V8 from FGR noted how his engine was half the size. I'd check the oil pan strainer to make sure it isn't full of crud and starving the engine - mine was close to that. You also never experienced the sudden and inexplicable fogging up of the windows this model was renown for. Anyway I look back with great fondness, but glad you made the point about how it was essentially a 60's technology car - it was very much that way!

Man what a full fledged documentary. I have been following you for quite some time and I have got to tell you, you match the best OG Top Gear. Kudos to you for the sheer love and hard work you put into every single one of your episodes.

I had a friend who worked in a Jaguar dealership. One day in the mid 80s to early 90s when I was in my twenties, my girlfriend and I went inside. The elder, number one salesman, came over, and told me “you don’t want to look at those”. He then lead us poor, young kids to the other building where the Aston Martins were. He told us to take our time looking around and sitting in the automobiles, and to “dream big!” What a guy he was. He could have ignored me and us, but he could tell I loved cars.

A long time ago my friend had a V8 RS Williams 450 and it certainly didn’t feel slower than my B5 RS4 (new at the time) utterly amazing machine and the noise oh my. I hate to think what it would be worth today.

The Cross Fire injection system on the early V8's was a total nightmare to work on. Good luck getting one started once hot... They used to flood at the drop of a pin. For added owner frustration, AM fitted a Hot Start button, which just flooded the engine even more.... Have driven a V8 like your featured car, and its one of the very few drives over the years that has left a lasting impression on me.

I’ve adored these for years, so when I came up against an Aston V8 in my Jag XJR 4.0 and blew it into the weeds I was gutted - the owner definitely floored it. Meeting and beating your hero was no fun at all.

Not just my dream Aston, this is the car I want more than any other full stop. Ever since first seeing one in "The Living Daylights" I have had an unquenchable thirst for one of these. The stuff of legend as far as I see it. Well done.

I agree 100% on the "POA" front... I have never reacted to nor will I ever even ask the seller what the price is if they put "POA" on an advert

Good review and your analysis of the manual/auto box is spot on. I own a manual V8 Vantage and it is the real deal. The engine loves to rev, throttle response is instant and crisp and its a proper quick super car dynoed to put out more than 430PS. Get your hands on one and there will be no way back!

The V8 in a milk float is not a joke! I remember my surprise as a kid when I stayed with family in NJ and heard the morning milk delivery burbling up the street. 😮

I've just looked up the music and it is 'Bad Cards', by the band White Bones, for anyone else who also thought it was great. Great video!

Yes - these cars really have a presence. I hired one years ago for a weekend wedding in the Cotswolds and will always remember rumbling slowly through a quite busy Cotswold village and absolutely every head turning and conversation ceasing as it went by. Agree with your comment about the steering being hefty and it felt like driving a block of granite, but one that could indeed go round bends. An epic experience

Yes, yes, YES!!!! The ONE I've been waiting for!!!! Please, Guy, make him buy it!!! I've never seem a longterm ownership/review before - I don't even think any exist!

“ Bouncing the moobs”…. Classic. Excellent, review James, as only you are capable of Well done

Early 80’s and in the corner of my dad’s auto business was a brown V8 stored for years and it was the car I always plaid racing driving in. remember it had some fancy radio control ok a flexible stick, good old days

Production quality is outta the park on this one Jay-Emm. Really beautiful work.

I remember reading a car mag (maybe Performance Car?) in the early 90s that featured the then new Vantage 550 (twin supercharged) and a engine converted one of these. They had taken the engine out to 7ltrs and 500bhp and the performance was very nearly exactly the same. So this with that 7ltr engine conversion (and obviously uprated suspension, brakes, anti roll bars, poly bushes) would be heavenly! I'd have to go with a modern aftermarket fuel injection and ignition system, ITBs would sound EPIC!

Great video, James. Back in 1997 or about then, I was lucky enough to get a personal tour of the Aston Martin factory in Newport Pagnell. The DB7 was relatively new and I got the impression that it wasn't really something that they talked about. But it was amazing to see how the Virage, Volante and Vantage were hand made. It was an incredible thing to see. Although I didn't notice many moustaches. I'm not sure if I would have a Virage generation Aston Martin, but I can see why someone would. I would absolutely have a V8 or V8 Vantage.

I love the owners manual, torque settings, how to start it, adjust the valves like this, change the tyres like that....proper stuff, and nowhere does it tell the owner not to drink the battery acid. Great presentation and video, by the way

My favourite Aston too, and my favourite Bond car

Just recently got asked in to awake a race spec DBS 6, fitted with a later V8 (Bosch mechanical injection) from a 10+ year slumber. I'll tag you on Twitter.

Love these cars. A manual gearbox and possibly conversion to Jenvey throttle bodies (look like Webers) would make a huge difference to the performance and would hopefully help the fuel economy too!

Love the video - I had a series 3 with the ZF manual box, similar colour to this one and similar interior. I had it for 10 years - yes i love the shape, too. The manual box of which perhaps only 20 percent were delivered with allows you to stir it up, and its simply far more engaging that the 3 speed auto, 'slush box'. The bonnet scoop on the Series 3 was fitted with a sealing bung, initially on the early Vantage, around 1977 - the scoop was purely cosmetic anyway, it didn't feed cold at all and was sealed just inside the scoop. A new bonnet with integral sealed scoop, was added shortly after. The upgrades were pioneered not by Aston at all but by Robin Hamilton was his Le Mans cars - the scoop and the open radiator grill caused the car to become light at the front at speed and lift. The duck tail was grafted on and the chin spoiler added to complete the package. I fitted an up graded anti front anti roll bar, (they didn't have rear anti roll bars as standard), slightly stiffer springs, an inch shorter. I thought it handled well. A labor of love - these cars, when they are set up and maintained as they should be, they are immensely satisfying.

The Aston Martin V8 has been my favourite car ever since I first saw one on the street in 1980, when I was 8 years old. Just gorgeous!

James, what a brilliant, life-affirming video! Thank you. You're quite right, you either get the AM V8 Oscar India or you don't; if you do, its style, character and timeless elegance never fail to make the day better. Will watch this over and over, I'm sure 👏👏

Great car and review. Always wanted an 80s V8. Up there in my top all time favorites with the E type and F355.

Back in 1972 a friend of mine bought one of the 6 cylinder Vantages (the ‘single’ headlight model) which was limited to a run of 70 or so. I never drove it but rode in it many times and even though they were never really fast, that 6 cylinder Vantage engine sounded FABULOUS.

Every time I watch you get better,A must watch.

Gorgeous car and sorry to hear your drive wasn’t up to par. Nothing wrong with a well set up 727 Torqueflight, the one in that car needs work and likely the carbs too. Visit any drag strip in America on the weekend to see crisp shifting, max rpm 727’s.

Back in the day, my father-in-law was loaned Victor Gauntlet's V8 - six carbs (probably detuned for the loan) - a lot of quality achieved by an absurd number of coats of paint putting a classy radius corner on any old strip of metal used to seat fixtures and fittings under the bonnet. Lovely drive.

Great video. I owned a 1985 V8 Oscar India for 15 years and biggest mistake and regret of my life was to sell it to buy a Bentley Continental R thinking I could always buy another at some point. Big mistake as I sold mine with 23,000 on the clock - mint condition for £40K and went to buy it back some years later when the dealer was asking £150K - now out of my reach. Lovely car, heavy to handle and you felt a plonker in a filling garage if you flooded the carbs and could'nt start. It was like starting a Lancaster Bomber and if you didnt do it correcty then you just sat there with egg on your face. You quicky learned. Very reliable but sills are an archilles hill as they rust badly cost me £5000 and another £5000 to convert at that time to unleaded. Air cond rubbish and lots of misting up in winter. However you could forgive it anything. Very charamastic car and I agree with you the best looking car in the world. I loved it. Thankyou!

To me the 1985 Vantage is like the love child of the 64 DB 5 and the 67 Mustang .What a gorgeous looking child it is!👌👌👌

Haha - the manual tells you how to start the car "when it's hot, when it's cold, when it's Tuesday" 😂 It is beautiful, so much that I could forgive its lack of performance and its quirks. It definitely left me feeling like I missed it after we finished filming.

Love a bit of a ritual and have always loved the looks of this era's Aston's. My 3rd car is a V5 STi RA, and despite being unimaginably futurisric compared to this AM, yiu can't just zip off on a drive, and it needs plenty of cooling down before you can turn the engine off - this is all part of the journey (npi) and I absolutely love it.

God I love that V8 Vantage really wish someone would do a modern retro homage to it like what alpine/Renault have just done

That V8 vantage has been my dream car since I saw it first at the NEC motorshow as a kid in the 80s... I've never changed my mind since

James, your videos keep getting better and better! Absolutely love your intros too. Come a long alway since the early days. Hats off to you buddy.

The intro was great, it s nice when you show off your filming skills when it comes to cars that are special to you. Outstanding interior/ exterior combination but ahm, to me this has always been the Aston Mustang and sorry, that s not a compliment but hey, totally get why so many like it ;).

Until the 25' mark, I was thinking "Just swap the gearbox to a manual"... And then you said just that!

Ford Mustang goes to Eton, then on to a Swiss finishing school. Result? Aston Martin V8! Absolutely stunning machine, very beautiful, restrained good looks with menace- like sticking four wheels on Sean Connery in a Tom Ford suit in his prime! I wonder how much Aston would charge you for uprating a standard V8 engine to Vantage spec? It would possibly be cheaper than buying a Vantage. Great review Jay, one your best I think, thoroughly enjoyed it. :)

Great video. In the late 70s/early 80s my job took me to Sloane Street in Knightsbridge almost daily. That’s where the Aston Martin showroom was in those days. I’d stand and stare in the window at all the new models. The V8 was such an aggressive looking car, and for me the styling has never been bettered. Although I often puzzled about those Vantages with their closed off radiator grilles and air scoops and wondered how they fared in the heat of the Middle East where most of them were surely headed.

True story. Random bloke at a car show in Austria gave me a drive of his V8 because I knew what it was and I taught him a few things about the engine, lovely afternoon that was, lovely white interior, couldn't push it though.

This year of Austim Martins are brutal HP cars . They are a beast & beautiful.

Hi there, I really appreciate what you said. I am a (lucky) owner of a 1981 V8 Vantage (manual gear) and fully agree with your view. At the end of the day, you smell petroleum and leather, you are exhausted but still with a smile on your face. As you say have fun and take care.

I've been waiting for this one since you mentioned it after filming my Turbo R. As I said at the time, I absolutely love these cars, though sadly out of my budget. Sounds like the big Bentley is a bit easier to live with, though Guy's maintenance costs are making me a little bit jealous!

Someone once wrote of these, and I paraphrase, 'It as if a Mustang grew up and went to a really good college...' I always liked that

My father had a DB2/4, aDB5,a DB6 and finally a DB4 in the 70s and 80s. They were all manual and they all through my childs body so hard back that in a Carl Shellby way I couldn't pull my self forward using the grab handle on the dash. The DB6 was a vantage and the mid range was out of this world. I also think the interiors were much nicer than the AMV8. a lucky childhood.

Whewn I was a lad there were three "top of the top trumps" cars to choose from: the 512BB, the Countach and the V8 Vantage. I'd happily take any of them today, but back then, I actually got to sit in a V8 Vantage at Silverstone, & seeing that huge bonnet bulge in front of me, from then on it was the V8 Vantage for me, all the way.

I have a huge soft spot for these. Having looked at a few in detail, they’re not exactly well put together so it’s tough to find a perfect one. Even the perfect ones still look like they could do with a fair bit of remedial engineering, so I’d say they’re a nightmare to keep sweet. But still…. Absolutely drop dead gorgeous. Mine would have to be a manual, though… as you point out, those old slushmatics destroy performance.

Remember as a kid seeing a red v8 vantage the arp ark of the local pub, it left a impression…..always had a thing about the Astons since….classic

I’ve always loved the look of these cars.

I drove this model in 1995 at the age of 15 with a local classic car restaurateur in my village (on a short VERY rural road;) . If i remember correctly it was a manual! Pure bliss for me and the foundation for my love of cars

Bloody tremendous! Thanks James.

Oh My ! this DB6 cherry red is so beautiful - love at first sight

Hoooly Schmitt, it's the most awesome car in the world being reviewed! Quick, bring the popcorn!

As Car Magazines Steve Cropley said of the AML V8 automatic engine..."Snuffles and woofles in a most un Jaguar-ly way." To this, youve added an extra dynamic..."popin'!"

Thank you so much for this video. This is your new subscriber on the West Coast Los Angeles United States. I am going to have to say that this is probably one of my favorite Aston Martin. I love Aston Martin. But it’s something about this body style that I really love and I love the color and everything about this one that you were showing us in this video. Well thank you and I’m glad that you’re showing us this because I’m over on the big island of Hawaii and I don’t think we have any Aston Martins on the island. I’ve never seen one lotta people drive trucks over here and regular sedans.🤙🏽🤙🏽🤙🏽🤙🏽🤙🏽

5:55 I like this design feature of using two different screws. Must be part of its character. 😂

Great music for the intro. A bit of 60s British hippie with an electric guitar. Also the framing of the video, very muscle care from the Midlands 😂👍👍👍👍

An absolute hero car for me, always loved the V8 Vantage, no better looking car before or since (except maybe an Interceptor) , just so muscular and classy looking. Would love to see you test the poor man’s version, the Tickford Capri Turbo, probably at least as rare though. Great review as always.

This car is my dream machine it's like a muscle car Camaro mustang charger mixed with one of my other favorites a jaguar. Literally in my opinion the perfect car.

I always felt these looked a lot older than the era in which they were produced - the styling is straight out of the mid-60s, yet was made well into the 80s. Good backstory in the video about that. And nothing wrong with that at all!

The back took years to grow on me i like it now

One of the finest cars ever built without a doubt

My dream car as well. I spotted one in Hollywood on a family trip when I was 9 and have been smitten ever since. Thanks for covering one of the true greats.

This Aston and the Countach are my heroes. The 288 GTO after that. I am sure the late 80s manual V8 was 0-60 in 5.0 sec, read it somewhere.

Never has the light in a shot been more apt for the car in question.. magic

One of many reasons why The Living Daylights is my favourite Bond film.

When I started at Aston Martin in August 1989 the last of the V8s were just coming off the line, beautiful cars

James, before the video even starts, this one car, for over 40 years, that makes knees go all wobbly wins.

It may weigh as much as a semi-detached house, have a slush-matic with all the get-up and go of a village W.I meeting but damn - that's a great looking and sounding slab of prime British beef on wheels.

Fantastic opening sequence JayEmm!!!

Back in 2010 I booked to have a test drive in an identical model car as I love Aston Martins, sadly the test drive left me thoroughly dsiappointed due entirely to the extremely ponderous automatic gearbox. As much as I loved the look of the Aston Martin I just couldn't believe how a 5.3 litre V8 could be so utterly gutless, having previously owned a 5.3 litre Jaguar XJ12, which was also an auto, with no manual option. So instead I followed a friends advice and bought a Porsche 928 GTS with a factory fitted 5 speed manual gearbox, it was everything I'd hoped the Aston would be but without the gorgeous looks, an absolute blast to drive. With the added bonus that everything worked, all of the time!

Thank you. Very informative and a thorough description

Great opening sequence!

I adore this car for no good reason.

It’s like the UK version of an American muscle car & I love it. It’s my dream car!

My grandad has a white series 4 AM V8 Volante.. I've driven it on a carshow (i'm age 20.. accompanied with grandad, insurance excess was £5000!). It has recently had a lot of work done to it (suspension refresh, new head fitted and crucially new (2nd hand) auto gearbox). Roof down makes a nice difference, hearing the engine whilst carving up a B road in comfort on a summers evening is lovely. The gearbox is quite frustrating though. Exactly as you mentioned at idle it would bounce up and down, and sometimes stumble around when hot, but all part of the fun. Providing you pump the throttle and the gearbox kickdown is working correctly, it makes for quite a good drive dropping 3rd to 2nd on straights away from bends. A sports exhaust would be nice however the standard one gives just the right amount of noise, i would like to hear the engine sing at higher revs a bit more though. My grandad has had that car 29 years i think. It's been all over europe, around race tracks and the like. I'm very lucky to have driven it. All the passersby love the Aston, its a car that an Englishman can be truly proud of PS: Have you ever heard of the Ipswich to Felixstowe vehicle run? Happens every year.. that's what i took the car on.

This is your best video hands down. It really comes across how much you enjoyed the car. And wow what a stunning car, even with that horrid slush box. Brilliant!

A V8 Vantage of this late vintage is definitely my dream car too, even with the horrendous maintenance and running costs.

Great work James. The cinematography in this is amazing

I have a few hero cars from the 1980’s; the Lotus Esprit Turbo S4, the Audi Quattro Sport, and sitting on top was this Aston Martin, what a beaut, what a brute!

My favourite Aston too, since I was an early teen. 40+ yrs ago. Epic styling.