The Aston was designed by Jaguar, lock, stock and barrel. It was a far better car till the Jag 5.0, which is one of the best engines in the world right now. Even Ford licenses the cam technology from them. It blows the doors off the best that Germany can do, the v10 from lambo/audi is half as good and the Gerry direct injection is a complete disaster. Do a search for Audi v10 engine problems there is a brilliant post on Jalponik. The pictures of the carbon buildup will make you never buy one.

BTW this is why the correct castrol oil is absolutely a must in the Jag Aj8 Gen3. Yeah the oil is the culprit behind the carbon buildup.

In advance, sorry for departing from the orginal thread. For me the sexiest Astons and Ferraris were during the 70s. All the additional body creases and bulges since don't do anything for me. Our last series XKs are still a very clean look other than the not so popular fish nose. For the prices being paid for a 4 or 5 year old used example how could you go wrong? Other than car fanatics, most don't know the difference between a late model XK and an Aston. I'm fine with that.