Aston Martin Vantage (2005 - 2018) S 2d Owner Review

The V8 Vantage is a great sport car, but the V12S is totally epic, the acceleration is relentless, the car turns in crisply, body roll is virtually non existent, even with the dampers in ‘normal’ setting. With Sport mode engaged, throttle response is sharpened up considerably, but best kept for dry roads and warm tyres as its easy to spin up the rears with 565bhp and 457ft/lb of torque. Sportshift III, is easy to like it certainly shifts faster than I could with a stick, downshifts are slick and accompanied with a throttle blip, upshift are just fine as long as you lift off the throttle just a tiny bit, just like a manual, and SS3 is a robotised manual not an auto. If there’s one thing that annoys a little it’s the ridiculously high reverse gear, it’s like reversing in 2nd, so there’s an unnecessary amount of clutch slip, and consequently reversing it a bit jerky, but in the grand scheme of general awesomeness that’s being incredibly picky. You’ve seen it, so I don’t need to tell you it’s one of the most gorgeous looking cars ever built, it is in my opinion perfect from every angle, but it’s also reasonably practical (for a supercar) with a generous boot, and space for a holdall behind the seats. Time will tell, but I’m confident that the V12 and V12S, will morph into modern classic status, and values will firm up and then start to rise in time, as the last normally aspirated behemoth 6.0L V12’s. The sound from the V12, is full with deep bass, and loud, but maybe not loud enough on the inside (a cat bypass pipe certainly fixes that). If you can afford it, you can’t afford not to get one- it’s totally insanely rapid, gorgeous, classy, practical and could appreciate in value.