Looking for a DB7, what to look for

Chris_ar said:

Hello everyone my name is Christian, I'm new on the forum.

I've been living in Long Island temporarily and it seems that in a couple of weeks I will be moving here permanently, so I've been car shopping for the last weeks.

I'm looking for a DB7 to use as a grand tourer on weekends and on special occasions but I have no idea on what to look for. Are there any particular things I should check on the car besides the obvious?

I'm still trying to choose between the v12 and six cylinder variants, I'm looking for reliability and I don't care much about running costs at this point.

Are there any manual cars in the US?

Any help and advice would be appreciated and sorry for my english.

Christian

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The manual versions of the Vantage (V12) (420 bhp) and the GT (435 bhp) V12 are available in the US but are very rare. not sure about the i6 supercharged.

I think that it would be better to go for manual over automatic, especially if you are an enthusiastic driver. So far all the literature I have read indicated that there is a fairly large disparity in the performance between the two different transmissions on both the 6 and 12 cylinder varieties. By getting the manual I feel you will get much more car for the money.

On the 6 vs the 12 cylinder version... Each has own small advantages over the other. I believe that the 6 is not subject to rust as much as the 12, but the 12 has a somewhat better build quality being the latter car. The 6 also has a supercharger, something that would require additional care. Given your choice I would probably go for a 2000-2001 Vantage coupe (manual) or the later DB7 GT (not GTA).

There was a recent Autocar (magazine) article on the seven and I suggest you take a look at that.

Good luck

V12 Manual !!

Obvious items to check for are:

Air Conditioning
Tyre Wear (indicating geometry out of alignment, which might indicate a past crash)
Steering and suspension bushes, double check the front subframe bushes, two large round ones at front and two V shaped ones towards rear.

Ensure no warning light remains on after ignition has been on for 20 seconds, fire it up and take note of any noises and warning lights.

Ensure the blower motors run as expected on all speed settings.

If it passes all these then go to the next stage as above and have it inspected, no point paying for an inspection if it has too many obvious faults already, unless the seller is prepared to fix or reduce price

Squid said:

V12 Manual !!

Obvious items to check for are:

Air Conditioning
Tyre Wear (indicating geometry out of alignment, which might indicate a past crash)
Steering and suspension bushes, double check the front subframe bushes, two large round ones at front and two V shaped ones towards rear.

Ensure no warning light remains on after ignition has been on for 20 seconds, fire it up and take note of any noises and warning lights.

Ensure the blower motors run as expected on all speed settings.

If it passes all these then go to the next stage as above and have it inspected, no point paying for an inspection if it has too many obvious faults already, unless the seller is prepared to fix or reduce price

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This is some great information, although I am not sure about the blower, for the V12 is naturally aspirated... but you could have meant a different thing under the term blower...

I can confirm on the tyre wear/accident look out. I beleive the cars have a steel chassis, so it could be very difficult to mend...

Other things to watch out for are cracks on the windows, and snapped off seat folding mechanisms (in general)
And snapped/loose manual shifters and loose rivets (in the V12 manual model specific).

Just to back up the V12 seven, the engine is much less strained on the Vantage than on the i6. The AJ-6 in the i6 (with the supercharger) goes north of 100 bhp per liter, an unwelcome territory for a GT car, and the supercharger accounts for a ~70% addition in the power over the N/A AJ6 . So for every two capital service room visits on the Vantage, you must make 3 visits on the i6 modles.

And about the torque, the DB7 i6 would make a great cruiser, however the Vantage's 6 liter does not get choked at high revs, so the Vantage makes a very good performance car relative to the i6, not only because it has more torque, but in the way the torque is arranged throughout the RPM range. The five speed box in the i6 with little high end torque is the reason why the actual performance for the i6 was much lower than the manufacturer expected.

Cheers