Wednesday 16th July 2014

Aston V12 Vantage S Roadster

Want to hear that Aston V12 properly? New 12-cylinder Vantage S Roadster is weapon of choice

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There will be more than 101, don't worry. The original V12 Vantage Roadster was an odd one as product strategies go, arriving three years after its coupe sibling in very small numbers. Normally if this occurs there will be significant changes to make it worthy of the limited edition status but no; is such a thing can be called so it was 'just' a V12 Vantage Roadster, a bit late and rather hard to get hold of.

Like the coupe but you get to enjoy noise too

But that has been hopefully rectified with the arrival of the V12 Vantage S Roadster. Not only has it been announced just a few months after the coupe but production isn't being limited in any way. Apart from being able to afford one. Phew. Best get our order sorted then.

Unsurprisingly the Roadster differs litle from the V12 S under the skin but, given the praise heaped upon the coupe, that doesn't seem a bad thing. So the 5.9-litre V12 is rated at 573hp and 457lb ft, the Sportshift 3 is the only gearbox choice, the adaptive dampers have three modes and the carbon ceramic brakes are standard. Aston's official kerbweight for the V12 S Roadster is 1,745kg.

The additional weight does dent performance slightly so the top speed drops to 201mph from 205mph and the 0-62 sprint now takes 3.8 seconds rather than 3.5. How sluggish.

It's got show to match the plentiful go

Described as 'Aston Martin's most overtly sporting convertible' (as of course it also sells the Vanquish and DB9 Volantes), the V12 S carries over the styling tweaks that distinguish the coupe, including the grille, wheels and bonnet louvres. Moreover if that's not special enough, the V12 S Roadster can be further enhanced through a new range of 'Q by Aston Martin Collection' extras. So not quite the full house Q customisation treatment but a selection of 'bespoke features that are entirely in keeping with the character of the car'. Bold colours, more carbon, interior accents, that sort of thing. Anyone else think this red would suit just fine?

Prices haven't been set for the V12 Vantage S Roadster as yet. For reference the V12 Roadster carried a £15K premium over the coupe at £151,080. Stramgely the S coupe is less than £2,000 more than the standard V12 (£138,000 v. £136,085) so using that logic the S Roadster would be less than £155K. Let's see when prices are announced.

[MyCC]

In this case, maybe old really is gold. A stunning car and future collectors piece.

Regards,

MyCC.

[K50 DEL]

Beautiful car, but if I read the piece correctly there's no Manual gearbox so for that reason, ahhmmm oot

[Dave Hedgehog]

fantastic car but the chav bonnet vents look very out of place for me on such a beautiful car

[smilo996]

Forgot to put this article through spell and grammar check?

Beautiful, shame AML will be AMG from next year.

[muppet42]

Would take this over the similarly priced and recently mentioned Porsche 911 Turbo S Exclusive GB Edition any day of the week. You know...if I'm offered the choice anytime soon...

[Zod]

K50 DEL said:

Beautiful car, but if I read the piece correctly there's no Manual gearbox so for that reason, ahhmmm oot

Rumour has it that they are listening and will reinstate the manual option. I'm feeling too poor to swap to an S, but even if I weren't, the gearbox would have stopped me.

[erics]

This should be a great motor. The v12v 's' i drove was slightly smoother than the regular v12v. So the convertible top should make it a wonderful package. Glad Aston is running a bit behind the curve and still produces slightly out dated stuff like this.

What they have to do now is simply update the software of that unpleasant gearbox: read slow on upshifts and utterly ste in auto mode.

I am sticking to my v12v manual coupe for now though.

[bogie]

Awesome, thats the new aspirational car for me.... by the time I can afford one im sure the manual version will be available

[mike-r]

Dave Hedgehog said:

fantastic car but the chav bonnet vents look very out of place for me on such a beautiful car

I always thought this but finally saw one in the flesh last week, and it does look very good. A lot of road presence compared to the boggo V8V.

[jamieduff1981]

I need to get me a V12V at some point. A drop top would be perfect

[erics]

Dave Hedgehog said:

fantastic car but the chav bonnet vents look very out of place for me on such a beautiful car

This is actually what defines this car. It is a fantastic feature.

I slightly regret that my car is black as the carbon vents stand out a bit less.

[Clivey]

Rated it a '9' rather than a '10' because of the lack of a manual option. Gorgeous looking car though (love that colour) and so much more appealing than the modern gimmicky alternatives.

[Zod]

Clivey said:

Rated it a '9' rather than a '10' because of the lack of a manual option. Gorgeous looking car though (love that colour) and so much more appealing than the modern gimmicky alternatives.

They are beautifully finished. I quite like the way they blend in on my car. Where they contrast, I think they look better with some colours than with others.

[soad]

Dave Hedgehog said:

fantastic car but the chav bonnet vents look very out of place for me on such a beautiful car

Clearly, you want a V8 version.

I quote Jeremy Clarkson: "Some say that fitting these to an Aston Martin is a bit like fitting a nose stud to the Duke of Edinburgh. But I like them. I think they give what is a very pretty car some edge. They hint at some savagery."

[Clivey]

Zod said:

I quite like the way they blend in on my car. Where they contrast, I think they look better with some colours than with others.

Are we still talking about the bonnet vents (I like them BTW)?

soad said:

I quote Jeremy Clarkson: "Some say that fitting these to an Aston Martin is a bit like fitting a nose stud to the Duke of Edinburgh. But I like them. I think they give what is a very pretty car some edge. They hint at some savagery."

"Savagery". Yes, that's an appropriate word for it I think. A bit of menace. - Just like the vents on the TVR Sagaris.

Edited by Clivey on Wednesday 16th July 11:56

[soad]

Clivey said:

"Savagery". Yes, that's an appropriate word for it I think. A bit of menace. - Just like the vents on the TVR Sagaris.

Indeed.

[J4CKO]

Do AM just have a list of a few words that they select from when naming a car that looks pretty much like every other one they have made in the last twenty years ?

It is weird, I can nail down pretty much every other car with impressive nerdiness but with Astons I am like the rest of the population, "er, its an Aston Martin"

Someone tried to explain it to me but it remeinded me of this,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtSvaSZ-xLU

[jonby]

V8 Vantage Roadsters currently carry a premium of exactly £9k over the coupe and whilst the official price hasn't yet been revealed, I understand V12VSR is expected to carry a similar premium which would take it to £147k

V12 Vantage roadster was c. £151k on a like for like basis (it was £150k plus OTR costs inc tax of c. £2k however I think the OTR figures for V12VS exclude tax) which as the article states was a £15k premium over the coupe however that partly reflected the ltd edition nature of the car and partly some cosmetic bits of CF as standard which at the time cost extra on the coupe

This means we have the unusual scenario of V12VS Roadster list price being c. £4k cheaper than it's predecessor ! Despite having features the predecessor did not such as ASM transmission, latest engine management, more power, adaptive damping, etc

The article suggests it's strange that the S version of the coupe is only £2k more than the standard V12. It would be strange if the 2 models ran side by side but they didn't and I don't find it remotely unusual that a replacement/refreshed vehicle should cost only a little more than the vehicle it replaces

For whatever reason, as the article above alludes to, info on V12VR was very sketchy when it first came out. The only literature (other than a black & white photocopied single sheet of A4 with inaccurate info) was published after orders were received & confirmed and even then just amounted to a 1 page piece of colour printed card. The dealers received lengthy communications 'not for customers' but spec changed marginally in the production version. No literature had a correct photo of the wheels and so the first time anyone knew what they would look like was on delivery ! (Even the demonstrators had different cosmetic spec to the production cars). No official literature referred to production numbers. None of the press reviews (all of which were in the middle of winter on sottozero tyres & non standard wheels) mentioned production numbers because the factory chose not to tell them. It really was all rather odd

However production was definitely limited to 101. Of those, c. 35 cars were made for the UK market.

Edited by jonby on Wednesday 16th July 12:30

[Dave Hedgehog]

soad said:

Dave Hedgehog said:

fantastic car but the chav bonnet vents look very out of place for me on such a beautiful car

Clearly, you want a V8 version.

I quote Jeremy Clarkson: "Some say that fitting these to an Aston Martin is a bit like fitting a nose stud to the Duke of Edinburgh. But I like them. I think they give what is a very pretty car some edge. They hint at some savagery."

i am sure i could force my self to live with the V8 lol

[Krikkit]

mike-r said:

Dave Hedgehog said:

fantastic car but the chav bonnet vents look very out of place for me on such a beautiful car

I always thought this but finally saw one in the flesh last week, and it does look very good. A lot of road presence compared to the boggo V8V.

Indeed, and entirely necessary according to AM's engineers when they brought out the V12V originally. Squashing a V12 into a bay designed for an 8 is a big ask.