V12S, a simply wonderful silk purse!
Discussion
It has taken a while, due to time constraints and the shock of having my prejudices turned upside down, however, I felt it was time to write a brief review of my recent experience.
Last Week, I was invited down to Millbrook to have a try in the V12S for half a day. I felt it appropriate to drive down in the F Type, in the (misplaced) hope that I would be allowed to take it into the circuit and show the Aston what a real car can do! Matt from Aston Martin kept a straight face and calmly explained this would not be possible and packed me off into a Rapide S to take me to the Aston lounge for lunch and a briefing - obviously, he was frightened of the competition.
There were a couple of gents just returning from a morning drive, so we sat and had lunch with them, as they waxed lyrical about the car. I put their views immediately out of my mind, as my memories of the V8 Roadster from a few years ago were still etched and I could not believe that Aston, with such limited budgets, could have turned a sows ear into a silk purse.
After a lovely lunch, the first job was to get acquainted with the car. Very good seats, great driving position and a fantastic interior ambience. A few instructions later, and we were out on the local roads mixing it with the midweek traffic. Well, that was a surprise! A firm but perfectly comfortable ride, excellent traction and superb linear steering with lots of feel and feedback. The throttle was a bit "soft", however, pressing the Sport button sorted that and everything was then perfect. No secondary bounce on the pockmarked A and B roads, but no crashing either (SLS take note), the Enemy would happily sit in the passenger seat and not complain about being "jiggled".
The only negatives were the illegible instruments (they do look nice though), and the slight pause on upshifts - which could easily be sorted by lifting the throttle a little on the change.
Back to the circuit and time to go round the bowl. Traction on a slightly damp circuit was astonishing, the rear tyres finding grip where the F Type would be scrubbing off a mm or two. Running at high speed around the bowl showed great stability and that the engine is highly tractable, provides huge torque and sound - well the sound it generates just gives you many gentleman moments.
Off the bowl and over to the handling circuit. I ignored my (very patient) instructor, and booted it around every corner with lovely progressive slides and controllable power oversteer, great fun though had I tried, precision driving would be very easy as the steering / throttle balance is superb.
Onto the Alpine Pass - this surely was where the car would fall apart and show why Aston need huge sums of money to develop a new car from the ground up! Well no actually. Superb grip, the front end biting and digging in when you needed it, perfect weight balance and transfer under braking to set up for often off camber corners, no sudden unexpected weight transfers, huge acceleration and excellent power delivery, and the rev matched down changes under braking perfectly judged. I just kept going round and round, getting better each time and just falling in love with a simply stunning car.
It was in many ways a shame to have to leave the Alpine pass and go to the mile run. The car is bloody fast, and the kick in the back on up changes (no lifting for full bore acceleration here) suited the car and the driving style. Touching 170 was easy, and given more road, you could feel 200 would be reached comfortably and quickly.
I would like to thank Matt and the team at Aston for an excellent, well organised and eye opening day. It really was the car that made it though, I cannot believe just how great this car is. All credit to the engineers at Aston, they really have worked some kind of witchcraft and spent every penny very wisely. A silk purse it is!
In the end, I am glad I was not allowed to take the F Type out, the Aston would have eaten it alive (but at over £50k more, so it should), and from a business perspective, the two cars would sit in very different price ranges on the hire fleet, therefore they are not really rivals.
So, do I lose the R8 V10 or the SLS and replace one of them with a V12S?
Decisions decisions.........
Last Week, I was invited down to Millbrook to have a try in the V12S for half a day. I felt it appropriate to drive down in the F Type, in the (misplaced) hope that I would be allowed to take it into the circuit and show the Aston what a real car can do! Matt from Aston Martin kept a straight face and calmly explained this would not be possible and packed me off into a Rapide S to take me to the Aston lounge for lunch and a briefing - obviously, he was frightened of the competition.
There were a couple of gents just returning from a morning drive, so we sat and had lunch with them, as they waxed lyrical about the car. I put their views immediately out of my mind, as my memories of the V8 Roadster from a few years ago were still etched and I could not believe that Aston, with such limited budgets, could have turned a sows ear into a silk purse.
After a lovely lunch, the first job was to get acquainted with the car. Very good seats, great driving position and a fantastic interior ambience. A few instructions later, and we were out on the local roads mixing it with the midweek traffic. Well, that was a surprise! A firm but perfectly comfortable ride, excellent traction and superb linear steering with lots of feel and feedback. The throttle was a bit "soft", however, pressing the Sport button sorted that and everything was then perfect. No secondary bounce on the pockmarked A and B roads, but no crashing either (SLS take note), the Enemy would happily sit in the passenger seat and not complain about being "jiggled".
The only negatives were the illegible instruments (they do look nice though), and the slight pause on upshifts - which could easily be sorted by lifting the throttle a little on the change.
Back to the circuit and time to go round the bowl. Traction on a slightly damp circuit was astonishing, the rear tyres finding grip where the F Type would be scrubbing off a mm or two. Running at high speed around the bowl showed great stability and that the engine is highly tractable, provides huge torque and sound - well the sound it generates just gives you many gentleman moments.
Off the bowl and over to the handling circuit. I ignored my (very patient) instructor, and booted it around every corner with lovely progressive slides and controllable power oversteer, great fun though had I tried, precision driving would be very easy as the steering / throttle balance is superb.
Onto the Alpine Pass - this surely was where the car would fall apart and show why Aston need huge sums of money to develop a new car from the ground up! Well no actually. Superb grip, the front end biting and digging in when you needed it, perfect weight balance and transfer under braking to set up for often off camber corners, no sudden unexpected weight transfers, huge acceleration and excellent power delivery, and the rev matched down changes under braking perfectly judged. I just kept going round and round, getting better each time and just falling in love with a simply stunning car.
It was in many ways a shame to have to leave the Alpine pass and go to the mile run. The car is bloody fast, and the kick in the back on up changes (no lifting for full bore acceleration here) suited the car and the driving style. Touching 170 was easy, and given more road, you could feel 200 would be reached comfortably and quickly.
I would like to thank Matt and the team at Aston for an excellent, well organised and eye opening day. It really was the car that made it though, I cannot believe just how great this car is. All credit to the engineers at Aston, they really have worked some kind of witchcraft and spent every penny very wisely. A silk purse it is!
In the end, I am glad I was not allowed to take the F Type out, the Aston would have eaten it alive (but at over £50k more, so it should), and from a business perspective, the two cars would sit in very different price ranges on the hire fleet, therefore they are not really rivals.
So, do I lose the R8 V10 or the SLS and replace one of them with a V12S?
Decisions decisions.........
mikey k said:
Very good review
Nice to see some one properly testing it
Slightly surprised you had such low extectations after a vantage and F type on your fleet
But as you say different cars for different budgets
I'd say lose the R8
+1 - a very well written piece and lose the R8!Nice to see some one properly testing it
Slightly surprised you had such low extectations after a vantage and F type on your fleet
But as you say different cars for different budgets
I'd say lose the R8
I enjoyed the V12S at Millbrook too but couldn't fit comfortably in the cabin.
Edited by adamfawsitt on Thursday 9th January 18:39
The decision gets harder - I went out for a visit to a couple of delaers and had a drive in a V8S - there are some amazingly strong deals at the moment and from a business perspective the V8S make a stronger case for itself as a return on investment. Also from a driving point of view, it is possibly a slightly sweeter handling car albeit at the expense of some performance.
The SLS will definately be going as it is the oldest car we have now and is starting to become less popular. The R8V10 Spyder is still very popular and is only 12 months old, the SLS is now 3 1/2 years old.
Decision time in the morning but I think it is going to be a V8S in Onyx with Charcoal interior / Silver stitching and a few essential extra's. If it all goes ahead I will post the pictures next week!
The SLS will definately be going as it is the oldest car we have now and is starting to become less popular. The R8V10 Spyder is still very popular and is only 12 months old, the SLS is now 3 1/2 years old.
Decision time in the morning but I think it is going to be a V8S in Onyx with Charcoal interior / Silver stitching and a few essential extra's. If it all goes ahead I will post the pictures next week!
pb1695 said:
Onto the Alpine Pass - this surely was where the car would fall apart and show why Aston need huge sums of money to develop a new car from the ground up! Well no actually. Superb grip, the front end biting and digging in when you needed it, perfect weight balance and transfer under braking to set up for often off camber corners, no sudden unexpected weight transfers, huge acceleration and excellent power delivery, and the rev matched down changes under braking perfectly judged. I just kept going round and round, getting better each time and just falling in love with a simply stunning car.
So, do I lose the R8 V10 or the SLS and replace one of them with a V12S?
Decisions decisions.........
See my R8 (V8) vs Aston thread.So, do I lose the R8 V10 or the SLS and replace one of them with a V12S?
Decisions decisions.........
The Alpine Pass is just the sort of road the V12V (manual or S) is built for. I drive roads like that in the Dales and they bring the car alive. The grip and turn-in are a revelation the first time you drive it on those kinds of road. I drove the R8 up there too and it impressed mostly, but I found the more compliant suspension caused problems with the car taking off on one hump where my Aston remained in touch with the ground at a similar speed (this Audi didn't have the magnetic suspension, but it was a fair comparison with my V12V that doesn't have the S's adjustable dampers).
There's a good Fifth Gear video of Tiff Needell driving the V12V on the Alpine Pass at Millbrook.
PS you must be a much better driver than me to manage powerslides on the handling track. I fell off the side on one corner!
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