RE: Aston confirms 835hp V12 for new Vanquish

[Glenn63]

pycraft said:

1Tom1985 said:

This or a Porsche Taycan with its soulful electric note…..

Just hope its naturally aspirated and not an AMG engine.

Well, it does have "TWIN TURBO" written on the top of it. Maybe it's one of those imaginary turbos the Taycan uses.

I thought I was going mad or people where seeing a different thread with the NA talk, you click the link and the very first thing you see is ‘V12 Twin Turbo’.

[matrignano]

Wasn't the 770hp DBSS pretty much undriveable in the wet, with very poor traction?

I'm sure this will be absolutely fine with even more power and torque.

[myhandle]

E90_M3Ross said:

Of course it won't be, unfortunately those days are gone.

Not at Ferrari they aren’t, 812 replacement is N/A.

[myhandle]

UTH said:

Hate to say…..I do agree.
The 650bhp in my Corvette is fun for about 2 seconds on UK roads. But of course I will never agree with anyone who tells me the Grand Sport is what I should have gone for as it has less power than my Z06 but looks the same.

Yeah, but your Corvette is charismatic regardless of how fast you go, it’s a car with personality and the engine itself is simply an interesting thing, and then there’s the styling, the race heritage … it’s impossible to use all of the performance much of the time of pretty much any new car, and the electric ones are generally devoid of soul and also can’t use their performance… so I’d keep the Corvette !

[murphyaj]

sidesauce said:

Taycan Turbo GT for me - I know it would leave the Aston for dead. And, as much as people on here say that straight line speed gets boring, for me it never does. That feeling of immense torque that only electric motors give from zero is too much fun, it reminds me of a jet taking off.

All personal preference of course, but I felt the exact opposite.

I went to test drive a Tesla model S at one of their pop up events many years ago. Turned up in my comparatively slow DB9, spent 20 minutes behind the wheel of the Tesla and got to launch it a couple of times in ludicrous mode, then got back into my DB9, fired up the V12 and never, ever, wished I was back in the Tesla. In a race I would be left for dead of course, but I can say with complete and total honesty that it doesn't matter to me.

I'm not anti-EV at all. My daily right now is an EV and for those duties I love it, no way will I go back to ICE for the family runabout. But for my money a GT car needs an engine to match. Fortunately it looks like, for the time being at least, manufacturers will be making cars that each of us likes.

[HardMiles]

Nice one, wonder when they'll make a chassis that is deserving of it, or capable of containing it? The last ones are easily outshone by an M6 Comp in many ways, comort, handling, feedback and feel. Not in looks or noise mind you, but a dynamic steer they are not.

[E90_M3Ross]

myhandle said:

E90_M3Ross said:

Of course it won't be, unfortunately those days are gone.

Not at Ferrari they aren’t, 812 replacement is N/A.

Sorry, I thought we were talking about Aston

[Piston Ted]

Glenn63 said:

sidesauce said:

1Tom1985 said:

This or a Porsche Taycan with its soulful electric note…..

Just hope its naturally aspirated and not an AMG engine.

Taycan Turbo GT for me - I know it would leave the Aston for dead. And, as much as people on here say that straight line speed gets boring, for me it never does. That feeling of immense torque that only electric motors give from zero is too much fun, it reminds me of a jet taking off.

Then after your 3 seconds of acceleration are over your sat bored and in silence instead of having a glorious V12 to play like a musical instrument with the gears.
I’m very much looking forward to this new Vanquish, I can’t afford one, but I can admire from afar.

Well said! A musical instrument indeed!

[UTH]

myhandle said:

UTH said:

Hate to say…..I do agree.
The 650bhp in my Corvette is fun for about 2 seconds on UK roads. But of course I will never agree with anyone who tells me the Grand Sport is what I should have gone for as it has less power than my Z06 but looks the same.

Yeah, but your Corvette is charismatic regardless of how fast you go, it’s a car with personality and the engine itself is simply an interesting thing, and then there’s the styling, the race heritage … it’s impossible to use all of the performance much of the time of pretty much any new car, and the electric ones are generally devoid of soul and also can’t use their performance… so I’d keep the Corvette !

Yeah fair points, and the Corvette is going nowhere until I've hit 100k miles. (For the record I manage about 1,000 per year currently!)

[unpc]

Quite agree about power outputs. My recently stolen F-Pace SVR only had 550bhp and it was a frustrating experience living in the south east with almost zero opportunity to open the taps for more than 2 seconds.

[daveco]

E90_M3Ross said:

myhandle said:

E90_M3Ross said:

Of course it won't be, unfortunately those days are gone.

Not at Ferrari they aren’t, 812 replacement is N/A.

Sorry, I thought we were talking about Aston

The headline figure is not great if it is a TT V12 - considering Lamborghini and Ferrari can extract the same power without forced induction from their V12s, where is the USP for Aston??

[ArgonautX]

daveco said:

The headline figure is not great if it is a TT V12 - considering Lamborghini and Ferrari can extract the same power without forced induction from their V12s, where is the USP for Aston??

Next Ferrari V12 will be a hybrid, and Bentley's 12 is gone. So USP is the only old-school GT V12 left on the market.

[Glenn63]

unpc said:

Quite agree about power outputs. My recently stolen F-Pace SVR only had 550bhp and it was a frustrating experience living in the south east with almost zero opportunity to open the taps for more than 2 seconds.

I think having a manual helps a lot, not just the actual action of changing gear but you can just change ‘gently’ and it’s slows the rate of acceleration right down. My next ‘fun’ car il be going back to manual.

[2ono]

1Tom1985 said:

This or a Porsche Taycan with its soulful electric note…..

Just hope its naturally aspirated and not an AMG engine.

The fact one of the pictures says 'V12 Twin turbo' I think it may not be N/A.

[asci.white]

It's still a development of the original AM v12 so not a Merc parts bin job.

I say hats off to them for going all out on such a powerful and fabulous sounding engine.

[Snaaakeey]

LOOK!!!

Its cooking the planet all by itself!

Sounds sublime.

[LeeM135i]

murphyaj said:

Some Gump said:

800 horse?

I love power but what is the point in a road car? It was frustrating to never be able to give the rs4 beans without risking a licence, double that would mean even tickling the throttle would risk the wrath if dash cam man in his zafira...

I am afraid I agree too.
I distinctly recall some reviewers saying that the old DBS already had too much power to be able to use on the road, and it's hardly a track car so that's where it will be used. I most definitely can't think of anyone who reviewed that car and thought that it lacked power. Unfortunately the prevailing wisdom of "some is good so more must be better" when it comes to power means that they couldn't possibly release a new car without making it significantly more powerful. But in reality adding more and more horses to these cars feels like razor manufacturers just adding more and more blades; there gets a point where they are doing it because they feel they have to rather than for any real benefit.

That said, having owned two V12 powered Aston Martins (DB7 and DB9) I am happy they are going to keep making cars with that configuration, as it really makes up a lot of the character of their GT cars in my opinion. And ultimately character is why people buy these cars, a Vanquish is not a car you buy with your sensible hat on.

Sadly a +1 here as well. I have a C63S AMG with 500bhp and that's more than enough for the road and is traction limited up to the NSL. I really only keep it for the dirty noises it makes, this stunning new Aston must make a truly glorious noise at full chat on the pit straight at Silverstone! I remember the last gen DBS on Top Gear or Grand Tour where it would spin out on full throttle, maybe that was for dramatic effect but it looked like a handful.

Bravo to Aston for keeping the V12 musical instrument alive for another generation!!

[Magikarp]

Glenn63 said:

Then after your 3 seconds of acceleration are over your sat bored and in silence instead of having a glorious V12 to play like a musical instrument with the gears.
I’m very much looking forward to this new Vanquish, I can’t afford one, but I can admire from afar.

Crikey. The effort put into to romanticise the sound of engine. To equate the sound of an engine to music is going a little too far.

[LooneyTunes]

sidesauce said:

Taycan Turbo GT for me - I know it would leave the Aston for dead.

As a former Taycan owner and current Vanquish S owner, I know which I'd rather have irrespective of relative straight line speeds.

They're just not the same beast.

[E90_M3Ross]

Magikarp said:

Glenn63 said:

Then after your 3 seconds of acceleration are over your sat bored and in silence instead of having a glorious V12 to play like a musical instrument with the gears.
I’m very much looking forward to this new Vanquish, I can’t afford one, but I can admire from afar.

Crikey. The effort put into to romanticise the sound of engine. To equate the sound of an engine to music is going a little too far.

Disagree. For many, hearing the noise of a wonderful engine will elicit the same release of neurotransmitters from hearing music we enjoy. On a primal level, it is no different. For me, the noise of one of Aston's amazing V12 in the old Vanquish etc was truly special, the noise of a 4 pot diesel, however, less so. 99% (probably more) of cars on the road sound dull, drive dull and aren't remotely exciting. For these, an EV is just better. I'd rather silence than the crass sound of a dreary 4 pot diesel. Not so over a wonderful NA 6, 8, 10 or 12 cylinder car though.