Aston Martin V8 Vantage Peugeot 508 SW PSE
With the cause of the worrying warnings cured, the Aston is back in rude health A second opinion on our load-lugging Pug earns it an admirer
REGULAR READERS MAY RECALL THAT the previous instalment ended on something of a cliffhanger. The Vantage was on its way back to Hatfield-based Aston Martin specialist Nicholas Mee & Co to have a couple of electronic glitches more thoroughly investigated, the previous visit having revealed ‘evidence of rodent damage’ – never words you want to hear, whether from an Aston technician, a property surveyor, or indeed your GP.
I’d first suspected something was amiss when a warning light appeared on the dash shortly after the car came out of winter storage, along with the message ‘Emission System Service Required’, though the car seemed to be running perfectly. Then a few weeks later, as I accelerated out of our neighbouring village, the power suddenly reduced, another message flashed up – ‘Engine System Service Urgent’ – and the engine went into limp home mode.
Back at Mee & Co, the techs found error codes logged for both air mass sensors along with ambient air temperatures of -50 degrees C (presumably recorded erroneously, since no one could recall it being that nippy). The sensors are located in the void behind the headlights, one on each side; removing both front wheelarch liners for access revealed not only a small amount of rodent damage but also the generally poor state of the wiring leading into said sensors. The fix: replacement sections of wiring with new terminal pins to the connector blocks, followed by a number of extended road tests with no further fault codes.
To celebrate (and to take the sting out of a predictably painful bill), I decided to take the Aston to the spring Scramble at Bicester Heritage – if you haven’t been to one of these events, you really should. You get a great selection of cars, a really relaxed, sociable vibe and plenty of tempting food and drink stalls. It’s just a great way to spend a day. Anyway, it was a 140-mile round trip from my Cambridgeshire home and the perfect leg-stretcher for the now fully fit Aston.
And boy, did it feel good. These early Gaydonera Vantages never quite had the polished ride and handling brilliance of the contemporary 911s, but they got within touching distance dynamically and, crucially, they had an abundance of character and an old-school analogue feel that all added up to a deeply engaging experience. That’s every bit as true today, possibly even more so. The combination of a wonderfully vocal V8 mounted well back in the chassis, a six-speed manual transaxle and a malleable but fundamentally benign handling balance – even more enjoyable on the new Michelins – has a truly timeless appeal. More road trips are now in the pipeline.
Footnote: techie Paul at Nicholas Mee & Co reckoned the rogue temperature readings of -50 degrees would have been causing the ECU to overfuel the engine. ‘Acting a bit like a choke,’ was how he described it. Since the fault was corrected, the average mpg has crept up from 19.3 to 20.2mpg. Of course, it could be a coincidence. But right now, when it costs well over a hundred quid to fill the Aston’s tank, every little helps.
Date acquired March 2021 Total mileage 43,802 Mileage this month 175 Costs this month £664 (electrical repair) mpg this month 20.2
‘There were rogue temperature readings of -50 degrees C’
IT LOOKED LIKE A COMEDY SKETCH. Out they came, one after the other. Wheel after wheel, tyre after tyre, until finally a stack of five wire wheels with tyres mounted, plus a further five tyres, sat proudly by the car. The guys at Aston Engineering had never seen the like.
To be fair, as delivery vans go the 508 SW PSE takes some beating. Fast, good-looking, spacious, comfortable and effortlessly rapid, this 355bhp petrol-electric hybrid super-station wagon could just be the perfect all-rounder.
I hadn’t been near one since the model was launched over a year ago. I was impressed by it then but spending proper time with a car and doing proper things with it always offers greater insight. This time around, rather than scrutinising it in a road tester-y way, I let the 508 do its thing in real-world situations.
You need to invest a bit of time in trying the various powertrain modes, because they really do make a massive difference to the way it drives. It’s a bit of a Swiss Army knife, able to waft along in EV mode, smoothly blend this and petrol power in Hybrid or greatly up its game in Sport. It feels like a car that’s had a lot of thought and effort put into the way it goes. There’s an attention to detail that suggests the PSE team know people like us well.
Boosted by its battery hybrid system, the turbocharged 1.6-litre 4-cylinder petrol engine delivers lusty performance that belies its capacity. There’s tons of torque but it also likes to be wrung out, so Sport mode is particularly satisfying. Especially as the chassis seems to come alive in all-wheel drive. It’s genuinely fun to hustle and feels much smaller than it is.
Fill-ups take some getting used to, as the 43-litre tank capacity seems tiny for a car with such performance. I don’t have a home charger so never started journeys with the batteries ‘brimmed’ but still enjoyed silently leaving the sleepy village where I live on EV power. Likewise whirring through my local market town. You quickly slip into the hybrid way of driving.
Its £55,830 price tag will be a barrier to entry for some – the perception is that Peugeots don’t belong in this bracket – but it’s a very impressive and likeable machine. One that’s very different to the usual roster of quick German estates. If you’re considering a big, fast, practical car, you’d be mad not to try it.
Date acquired March 2022 Total mileage 4193 Mileage this month 901 Costs this month £0 mpg this month 46.1