New Vantage First Impressions
Discussion
Still early days with the new car but some initial first impressions compared to my 'old' V12V
Ride & Handling
There are three suspension modes Sport, Sport+ & Track - to be honest there seems to be little difference between all three. In all three modes the car is 'comfortable' and certainly not hard like I expected it would be in Track mode - it's a little firmer but not to the point where it shakes your fillings out. The ride in all modes is best described as 'bouncy' - comfortable but the car makes the road feel uneven (by comparison my 570 makes the same B roads feel super smooth). When I say 'bouncy' it's not a negative, it's just unexpected. The ride in the V12V is much firmer - bear in mind I have a 2009 V12V so not with adaptive dampers. The V8 handling seems to improve with speed - the faster you push on the more it shows it's agility and certainly inspires confidence. It's a step up from the V12V but I haven't got back into the V12 and felt disappointed. Traction is certainly better on the V8, it's much better at getting the power down than the V12V - in addition the stability control seems to interfere far less. Coming out of corners the V8 can nail the throttle and the car responds without limiting power - the V12 by comparison results in much flashing yellow TCS light and the feeling that power is being restrained until full traction is resumed.
Performance & Noise
Still taking it easy but it does have the performance edge over the V12 - it feels faster -probably due to better traction and 8 speed box. That said, the V12 still has so much grunt that it's a very close thing and the V8 doesn't feel massively faster. With having 8 speed box, if say on motorway you do need to change down to get some real performance - the V12 on the other hand can pull away quickly in 6th gear on a motorway - (there's no kickdown on the V8!).
I have the quad sports exhaust on and I can't say it sounds massively different to the stock one (looks much better though). It is a loud and good sounding car - it's louder than the V12 and has far more engineered sound (farting on upshifts brings much amusement at first but to be honest can get a bit tiresome after a while and the pops & bangs on the overrun sound like a shotgun is being fired) - the V12, whilst not as loud, does have a nicer exhaust note - it's more natural - thankfully the V8 can be put in Sport mode which reduced the engineered sound so it feels less like you've come straight out of Halfords
Interior
This is a big step up from the V12 - looks & feels fresh & modern - all those centre buttons are actually useful as there seems to be 3 ways to achieve every function so it does allow you to find the quickest & easiest one rather than having to go through a load of menu options all the time. Far more intuitive than the old model but I wish it would remember the power & drivetrain settings as they always default back to Sport/Sport and I'm finding that my default preference is Track/Sport or Track/Sport+
Seats are supremely comfortable and everyone who's been in it has commented on this.
The doors are my biggest annoyance - they really need a big slam to close them - a gentle close won't work so invariably when I get out at petrol stations etc. it takes two attempts to close the door as by default I tend to not slam car doors. Aston should look at this or offer soft close doors as an option. I was also disappointed that car mats don't come with the car - it's my first 'spec from new' Aston and had assumed that the very costly mats were an option but it would come with something - it doesn't and I found now that they are made to order so I've got to wait a few weeks for them to arrive.
Brakes
Fabulous so far but not been on track yet - I didn't go with CCB brakes so having to make do with all the brake dust
Overall, I'm very happy with the new Vantage and looking forward to getting a few more miles on it. I'd say that whilst Aston portray the Vantage as the sports car of the range I do think this is relative - it can't really hide the GT aspects of the Aston brand and I'd say it still straddles the sport/GT rather than an out & out sports car.
I was a little concerned over how much I'd continue to use the old V12V given the new shiny arrival, however the new one makes me appreciate just how great the old one is and given there is almost 10 years difference in age, it really doesn't feel like that to drive them. Yes the V8 has moved the Vantage on but not as much as you might think and I think that's down to how good the outgoing car is.
Ride & Handling
There are three suspension modes Sport, Sport+ & Track - to be honest there seems to be little difference between all three. In all three modes the car is 'comfortable' and certainly not hard like I expected it would be in Track mode - it's a little firmer but not to the point where it shakes your fillings out. The ride in all modes is best described as 'bouncy' - comfortable but the car makes the road feel uneven (by comparison my 570 makes the same B roads feel super smooth). When I say 'bouncy' it's not a negative, it's just unexpected. The ride in the V12V is much firmer - bear in mind I have a 2009 V12V so not with adaptive dampers. The V8 handling seems to improve with speed - the faster you push on the more it shows it's agility and certainly inspires confidence. It's a step up from the V12V but I haven't got back into the V12 and felt disappointed. Traction is certainly better on the V8, it's much better at getting the power down than the V12V - in addition the stability control seems to interfere far less. Coming out of corners the V8 can nail the throttle and the car responds without limiting power - the V12 by comparison results in much flashing yellow TCS light and the feeling that power is being restrained until full traction is resumed.
Performance & Noise
Still taking it easy but it does have the performance edge over the V12 - it feels faster -probably due to better traction and 8 speed box. That said, the V12 still has so much grunt that it's a very close thing and the V8 doesn't feel massively faster. With having 8 speed box, if say on motorway you do need to change down to get some real performance - the V12 on the other hand can pull away quickly in 6th gear on a motorway - (there's no kickdown on the V8!).
I have the quad sports exhaust on and I can't say it sounds massively different to the stock one (looks much better though). It is a loud and good sounding car - it's louder than the V12 and has far more engineered sound (farting on upshifts brings much amusement at first but to be honest can get a bit tiresome after a while and the pops & bangs on the overrun sound like a shotgun is being fired) - the V12, whilst not as loud, does have a nicer exhaust note - it's more natural - thankfully the V8 can be put in Sport mode which reduced the engineered sound so it feels less like you've come straight out of Halfords
Interior
This is a big step up from the V12 - looks & feels fresh & modern - all those centre buttons are actually useful as there seems to be 3 ways to achieve every function so it does allow you to find the quickest & easiest one rather than having to go through a load of menu options all the time. Far more intuitive than the old model but I wish it would remember the power & drivetrain settings as they always default back to Sport/Sport and I'm finding that my default preference is Track/Sport or Track/Sport+
Seats are supremely comfortable and everyone who's been in it has commented on this.
The doors are my biggest annoyance - they really need a big slam to close them - a gentle close won't work so invariably when I get out at petrol stations etc. it takes two attempts to close the door as by default I tend to not slam car doors. Aston should look at this or offer soft close doors as an option. I was also disappointed that car mats don't come with the car - it's my first 'spec from new' Aston and had assumed that the very costly mats were an option but it would come with something - it doesn't and I found now that they are made to order so I've got to wait a few weeks for them to arrive.
Brakes
Fabulous so far but not been on track yet
- I didn't go with CCB brakes so having to make do with all the brake dustOverall, I'm very happy with the new Vantage and looking forward to getting a few more miles on it. I'd say that whilst Aston portray the Vantage as the sports car of the range I do think this is relative - it can't really hide the GT aspects of the Aston brand and I'd say it still straddles the sport/GT rather than an out & out sports car.
I was a little concerned over how much I'd continue to use the old V12V given the new shiny arrival, however the new one makes me appreciate just how great the old one is and given there is almost 10 years difference in age, it really doesn't feel like that to drive them. Yes the V8 has moved the Vantage on but not as much as you might think and I think that's down to how good the outgoing car is.
Great review, some very interesting reading. I’ve always had some issues with the looks (although some guises growing on me). I have really enjoyed the couple of drives I’ve had in the new one. That said I’m not sure a desire to thrash a car around is the right feeling in an Aston, both my v12’s I feel compelled to drive with considerable respect!
Thank you for the review! Really glad you are getting along so positively with the new car.
If you wanted more power then it should be easy to do. (Having tuned several cars it's nice knowing the option is there but with this car it's not something I personally am aiming to achieve).
As some may know, the AMG V8TT responds very well to a tune + downpipes; this basic upgrade would easily yield a car with in excess of 600HP whilst maintaining OEM reliability. Then you can do more involved stuff like bigger turbos etc for over 700HP if that's your thing. The amount of power that can be obtained from these engines is breathtakingly excellent.
If you wanted more power then it should be easy to do. (Having tuned several cars it's nice knowing the option is there but with this car it's not something I personally am aiming to achieve).
As some may know, the AMG V8TT responds very well to a tune + downpipes; this basic upgrade would easily yield a car with in excess of 600HP whilst maintaining OEM reliability. Then you can do more involved stuff like bigger turbos etc for over 700HP if that's your thing. The amount of power that can be obtained from these engines is breathtakingly excellent.
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