Wtdoom v12vsm Review

[wtdoom]

First of all when the car was delivered i drove it straight into the Adlon Car park . It was dark and I couldn't see her properly . But from what I could see , she passed the twilight test . Streetlights shone on her curves , accentuating her haunches and barely restrained musculature .

Guy had come from HWM and gave me a thorough hand over , it was a fantastic gesture and we had a great dinner together .
In the Morning I was going to meet some friends in Hamburg .

Walking into the car park , I couldn't help but walk around the car and drink in the shape . Its a beautiful mix of haunches , perfect proportion , manliness and beauty without being too feminine or too aggressive . The details really are subtle and i cant help thinking how truly beautiful these cars are .

The interior is beautiful and smells wonderful .
Its a mix of sporty and luxury , a really nice place to be . It felt special from the moment i sat in it . The lovely carbon , the stitching , the matching detail , all wonderful . Not a creak or rattle anywhere .

A thunderous but real noise greeted me on startup and i noticed how great it lights up inside . The interior is important , it's where I spend most of my time !

I set the infotainment screen to how i like it and love the fact that I can keep settings on when you turn on the car and can swap the speedo left to right etc . I was able to set it up exactly how I like .
I have no comment on the sat nav because I use Waze but the fact that you can keep the stereo working (fantastic sound from B and O ) still control things and yet set the screen to stay down is music to my ears . It makes the car feel even more special . Its a really special place to sit and not being a techy I didnt really miss any gadgets .

Pulling away the fly off handbrake made me smile and within metres you notice how great the ratio of control input is to cars reaction . Wether it's clutch , steering , gear change or whatever it feels perfect and the car responds perfectly as you would expect it . Everything is really well weighted .

Around town you notice how small the car is and how well you can see out of it . Apart from the rear three quarter view it's pretty much perfect . Immediately you notice the good reception the car gets , everyone seems to like it . It rides surprisingly well and sounds great even at town speeds . A restrained lion , starting to growl . You feel great driving this car and my smile grew wider than it has been in a very long time .

Later I discovered how much you actually notice the different suspension settings .

Threading the car through Berlin traffic I love the fact that every time you lift off the throttle you are not assaulted by a myriad of fake crackles and pops . The sound , like the car is genuine . It needs no chassis shortening rws to make it feel small , no electronics to pretend its a real analogue car , it IS a real analogue car .

As i get further out of town and the pace picks up it sounds even more glorious . Growls and Roars echo off the buildings , tunnels are met with an angry Valkyries orgasm scream .

The car is fun at low speeds , still very connected and alive . The steering is fantastic with real and transparent feel through the wheel , what's more surprising is the braking feel . The feel you get from the brakes is just brilliant for a set of carbon ceramics , unmatched id go as far as to say .

Then we hit the twisters and the car comes alive . It turns in brilliantly , steering from the rear at will , its immensely throttle adjustable and has really good feel from the rear . Its a lot of fun this car .
It starts to rain and things stay extremely enjoyable (get more enjoyable I could say) . Its easy to cause small changes in attitude (not real slides ) from the car at will with the very accurate and long enough throttle , the supersport tyres are as good as i remembered .

We hit the autobahn and as things dry up we hit 165/170 several times . The sound is biblically good and feel of the car perfect , its a thousand times better than i expected .
I get to the outskirts of Hamburg and have the time of my life on the still wet roads . Well surfaced and flat , its easy to coax the odd slide here and the odd wheel spin there from the car . The noise is just fantastic , its very different from a Ferrari v12 . Its a more manly and real noise to my ears .



A lot happens in Hamburg , unrelated to cars but over dinner 2 of my Porsche collector friends call the local aston man ( at 2100 !) and enquire about the car . Apparently he is a friend and his dealer ship sells a couple of brands Aston being one of them . They are as besotted as I am . Both because of my waxing lyrical and HE FACTBThatT one of tHem drove it . He claims he didn't even know such a car existed !

The drive home is a midnight blast on mostly de restricted autobahn , the car shines here too . I stOp for some petrol in the middle of nowhere and am greeted with hundreds of square metres of empty lorry car park , oh dear .

Many skids follow and the car shows itself to have the heart of a gladiator , its wonderful fun and drifts at will .

I arrive back in Berlin very late after Taking the long way home . I park up and sit for a while looking at the car , drinking in her beauty . THis car is is the child of Aphrodite and Odin , it has her beauty and his power and wrath .

I was actually nervous to write this in case some people actually thought I'd lost my mind .

Before i give my final conclusion i just want to explain that I am lucky enough to have experienced every single car I have ever wanted to . I dont get "new car Stockholm syndrome" and i call it like I see it .
For example , I was singing the Carrera GT's praises well before it became the darling of the "analogue supercar " set . I preferred the F50 to the other Fcars years and years before it became the thing to do . I wanted to set fire to my 12c it was so boring etc etc .

So , please believe me when i tell you the Aston Martin V12 Vantage S manual is one of the best and most fun cars I have ever experienced . It is right up there with the Carrera Gt in its own way . Its a beautiful car that drives excellently and is still a proper handful with all the electronics turned off . It's analogue but modern , comfortable and dangerous . If you disrespect her she will bite.
Yes , its a suave handsome old thing but when necessary it can pull it's sleeves up and have a punch up like an old retired heavyweight boxer now dressed in Saville Row suits . It knocks the 911 R into a cocked hat as a road car ( i need compare on track ) . Sure there are more accurate , grippy and faster cars but please show me a more fun ( at all speeds) car , in this or any price range , thats a great usable size , is achingly beautiful , sounds like Odins battle cry and has an all round package , image and character like this car has . Don't bother , such a thing doesn't exist .

I am shocked this car is such a secret and now understand why Adrian Newey has said that its one of the best cars ever made.

The only problem Aston Martin (or anyone else ) will have is bettering it . How can you surpass this mighty naturally aspirated V12 , manual gearbox , small chassis and hydraulic steering in this sanitised age ? You simply can't , so my advice is dont .

When i was (I presume accidentally) invited to see the 918 prototype , i was unhappy . I talked with Porsche about the differences between it and the Carrera Gt , stating the weight , concerns about the battery, auto gearbox etc . Eventually one technician told me , "doom we have already made the best manual , naturally aspirated Super car so why make it again ? The 918 is another direction , its an addition to the Carrera GT not a replacement , never a replacement ."
Then i got it , it opened my eyes and I learned to appreciate the 918 for what it is , not what I was hoping it would be . This is how I will view tHe next Vantage otherwise it's doomed to fail.

This V12 vantage is basically perfect to me as a road car and you Aston Martin owners should be bloody ashamed of yourselves for keeping this slice of heaven a secret from the rest of us for so long . I hope you are happy , you secretive bds .

Edited by wtdoom on Saturday 7th October 18:21

[whoami]

Yeah, but did you like it?

[bogie]

Nice to hear, and great review.......the V12V Roadster manual is top of my list for my next upgrade

[V8V Pete]

Have you posted that review on the Porsche forum too?!

[Bincenzo]

Now that, gentlemen, is one happy camper. Outstanding.

[johns355]

Great write-up, thanks for making the effort to share your passion and experiences of the car so far. Looking forward to more!

[RobDown]

Now I'm feeling frustrated, still got another 3 months waiting for my v12vs roadster!

Great write-up. But please don't tell anyone outside the forum!

[quench]

That's sums it up quite nicely.

Natural aspiration, big displacement and cylinder count, manual gearbox, hydraulically assisted steering and absence of a whole lot of useless tech now placed on cars to obscure the fact they are no longer fun to drive. Celebrate one of the last proper driving machines out there!

[wtdoom]

whoami said:

Yeah, but did you like it?

Absolutely .

The gearbox is easy to get on with ( my old 911s have a dog leg ) . I haven't tried her on track and it may well have very low levels there . The fact that it has so little grip makes it fun on the road but could make it slow in track , but think of the skids !

[wtdoom]

bogie said:

Nice to hear, and great review.......the V12V Roadster manual is top of my list for my next upgrade

Thank you. I think you are going to love it .

[wtdoom]

V8V Pete said:

Have you posted that review on the Porsche forum too?!

No , should I ?

[wtdoom]

Bincenzo said:

Now that, gentlemen, is one happy camper. Outstanding.

I am a happy camper . A camper that didn't think could get the real , undiluted driving fun from a modern car .
This car has surpassed all my expectations.

Don't get me wrong it's not a supercomputer with 962 track times and grip to reverse the earths rotation but that's exactly what's great about the car . It's fun , it's beautiful and it sounds amazing .

[wtdoom]

johns355 said:

Great write-up, thanks for making the effort to share your passion and experiences of the car so far. Looking forward to more!

Thank you . I will update as I spend more time but unfortunately she is alone in Berlin while I am back in the Middle East

[wtdoom]

RobDown said:

Now I'm feeling frustrated, still got another 3 months waiting for my v12vs roadster!

Great write-up. But please don't tell anyone outside the forum!

They are going to be slow , tortuous , painful months ...

No one told me they were so great so I agree with you , I'm keeping my mouth shut. Although I may post this on the Porsche bit

[wtdoom]

quench said:

That's sums it up quite nicely.

Natural aspiration, big displacement and cylinder count, manual gearbox, hydraulically assisted steering and absence of a whole lot of useless tech now placed on cars to obscure the fact they are no longer fun to drive. Celebrate one of the last proper driving machines out there!

A real diff , a big engine , manual box, hydraulic steering , limited electronics and grip , huge power , awesome sound and too much power .
Heaven

[bananarob]

Amazing looking car and what a right up.... picked my manual up today....

[CSK1]

Great review! Fantastic cars. Thanks for the write up. I'm enjoying mine, I'm even enjoying the SportshiftIII transmission! I'm not good at heel and toeing! I can confirm there's not much grip on track and you're sliding all over the place, fun but slow.
Best DSC setting was Track.

[peteA]

Great write up OP, your car looks stunning and glad your impressed and enjoying it!

I’ve not had my V12VS for long, 4 months or so but love the thing for all reasons you mention...except one...the gearbox. Mine has the sportshift III and I think it’s great once you get used to it and understand what it is and how to use it.

my car just seems to keep getting better and better each time I use it so you have that to look forward to!

Enjoy!!!

[IanV12VR]

Brilliant read and thanks for posting. If you love this one, then what will the special be like??

[Champs]

Doom, I have really enjoyed your impressions of theses 'sleepers.'
To me it feels as if people don't yet know of how magical this car actually is. It is a secret yet to be made known !
Unlike anything I have ever driven.
The fact that it is an Aston, kind of betrays the way it behaves and drives. For me at least, Astons were boring grand tourers and cruisers !

It seems we both noticed and enjoyed very similar aspects. I too was in love with the small proportion, the smell of small interior, the rock solid door sill and plate fastened with Allen keys ! I love the cacooned cockpit and the beautiful little sun visors and their aluminium hinges !

You gave us an excellent write up on the driving and overall V12 experience !
Thank you for the time and effort you spent in sharing this with us !
I collect mine on Wednesday and can hardly wait !