Written by Seth Walton Updated: 15 November 2024

Overview

Aston Martin’s esteemed Vantage badge has been worn by a luxury coupe sports car since the 1970s, but never has the model been so potent. A few years ago, executive chairman Lawrence Stroll declared an ambitious vision for the brand – an ascension from struggling British marque with a good name to the pre-eminent luxury sports car manufacturer in Europe, or the ‘British Ferrari’ as he put it.

True to his word, the ensuing cars have been stylistic masterpieces, while brawnier in form and more impressive in performance. 

First we received an updated Aston Martin DB12 and now we’ve got this, a heavily facelifted Vantage. The most obvious cosmetic changes include the larger front grille and more sculpted front end, but the engine has also been reworked. The new Vantage is still powered by a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8, but it’s been tuned to produce 656hp – around 150 more than the previous version.  

So where does the 2024 Vantage sit on the luxury sports car landscape? With all of its upgrades, the refreshed version feels more like a brand new generation than a mere facelift, and one that has encroached further into the realm of supercars over gentlemanly sports coupes. 

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The new car produces around 80hp more than the Porsche 911 Turbo, and far more than the fastest late Jaguar F-Type could ever muster. On power alone, it’s closer to the supercar class of McLaren Artura ilk, though several members of that club now boast enough power to be 10-year-old hypercars. The mind boggles. 

While still on the same chassis platform, the 2024 Vantage is stiffer than its predecessor and benefits from revised suspension, as well as a new nine-way traction control system. It can now reach 0-62mph in just 3.4 seconds and will go on to reach a top speed of 202mph. It’s evolved into a real-deal performance monster, while the interior has also enjoyed its revamp to become even plusher and more decadent.

 Worthy of a ‘British Ferrari’ moniker? Read on to find out what we think of the car, covering every facet of its existence from interior to driving characteristics to price. If you’d like to find out how we reached our verdict, head over to our how we test cars page for everything you need to know.

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What’s it like inside?

It’s in the design of the cabin where the 2024 Vantage has taken one of its biggest leaps forward. The old number was a little drab, antiquated and not necessarily befitting of a top-end luxury sports coupe. Conversely, the updated interior is a triumph in cushy plushness, sleek design and overall quality. 

The car I tested had a full-leather interior, finished in a deep Forest Green from the headrests to the door pockets. It gave the car a uniquely decadent ambiance inside, and one of real luxury – trouncing the efforts of the Maserati MC20 or the outgoing Audi R8. 

I’m over six foot tall, and yet I was still able to lower the seat to a point where my eye line sat just above the steering wheel. Combined with the Vantage’s large transmission tunnel and several carbon inserts, it felt like climbing into a bona fide supercar, only one I would’ve had no qualms spending hours in before getting out. 

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The seats were supportive but comfortable, while the cabin still felt surprisingly commodious where my head and shoulders were concerned. It’s a momentous cabin, and now properly in line with an ethos of luxury that has followed the brand for decades, even if the produce hasn’t always been able to cash in the logo’s cheques. 

It’s still influenced by Mercedes-Benz in some respects: the door lining would come out in a bit of a chintzy purple light show at night, and not all the plastic buttons were especially pleasant to touch, but it’s a marked improvement over the last model. With all of its plush furnishing, though, I did get the impression that the interior must’ve added a fair chunk of weight. I’ll get onto that later…

Comfort 

The 2024 Vantage is a little harsh on the road, as it certainly feels wound up to evoke sports car driving characteristics. But thanks to the plush leathers and decadent packaging, I felt insulated from some of the judder transferred through the chassis. The seats themselves are comfortable, and as I’ve already mentioned, can be adjusted no end to find the perfect position. 

The car that I tested featured 16-way seat adjustment, as well as ventilation to keep you cool – both available as options. An optional heated sports steering wheel was thrown in, though I don’t think omitting any of the above from the spec sheet would’ve altered my driving experience. Just depends on how far you’d like your car to lean into the Aston’s luxury side at the cost of lightness.

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Safety 

Plenty of safety systems come loaded as standard in the new Vantage. Its driver assistance features include emergency braking, adaptive cruise control with a stop and go function, blind sport monitoring and many more.

A 360-degree 3D parking camera is also thrown in, so you don’t have to worry about scraping those 21-inch alloys. The Vantage probably won’t ever be tested by Euro NCAP, but despite the wealth of power produced, the safety systems are responsive, adept and great at keeping you on the tarmac.  

What’s it like to drive?

I found the new Vantage a bit of a lairy beast on the road. The car felt grounded, its suspension taut– only the softest setting was appropriate for UK tarmac, any stiffer and the car became too jittery – and yet I still didn’t sense much in the way of communication from the chassis. The Vantage has a wooden and somewhat disconnected steering tune, and as I added extra weight to the turn by ascending through the drive modes, the problem seemed to get worse.

In practice it meant tip toeing out of corners rather pushing the throttle with full confidence of where the grip would be and in what quantity. 

The brakes were competent, though, with no fade after periods of heavy use. Dialling up the drive modes from Sport to Sport Plus to Track seemed to sharpen the car’s throttle response, but no matter which mode I was in, the Vantage still had blistering pace. 0-62mph in 3.4 seconds is average by today’s supercar standards, though owing to its low-down torque and linear power delivery, this Aston had more speed on tap than I could’ve ever wanted on the road. 

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Shifting through the gears didn’t feel quite as razor sharp as it might’ve in a Porsche 911 or Ferrari 296 GTB. I would describe those cars a savage, while the Vantage is a brute. It’s wide, heavy and not quite as nimble or responsive, but still mind bendingly fast when you put your foot down.

Given all that power sent to the rear wheels, and even with all the systems switched on, the car would start to rotate on me voluntarily. The traction control did its thing to stop the back end from skidding all the way out, but not before requiring a decent hand of opposite lock on a couple of occasions. The new nine-way traction control system allowed me to dial back some of the help, so I could play with the slip a little more when I wanted to, but at all times it still demanded a certain good behaviour to prevent switching ends.

I’m sure better drivers than me could have extracted more performance out of the Vantage, but I felt like I’d been able to draw more from other serious performance models, even if they had offered less. 

What models and trims are available?

The Vantage is available in one basic trim, complete with the 665hp twin-turbo V8 engine. Aston offers an impressive amount of customisation, with myriad exterior and interior colours on offer, from the brake callipers to the interior stitching, though prepare to dig deep for them. 

The 10.25-inch touch screen comes as standard in the Vantage, as does a driver instrument cluster display of the same size. The basic audio system is an 11-Speaker Aston Martin custom set up, though an optional 16-speaker Bowers and Wilkins speaker set is also available. The Vantage also responds to voice commands and offers wireless phone charging – both of which are standard features.

Read on for the Parkers verdict on this iconic supercar. Also, you can find out more about how we test at Parkers, should you want to know.