GT12 performance pack for V12VS

[AdamV12V]

Only just noticed this but AM are now offering a GT12 derived performance pack for the V12VS.

Quote "Unlock the power potential with the new V12 Vantage S Performance Pack. Derived from the Vantage GT12, the new V12 S Performance Pack delivers a power upgrade of up to 30bhp. Magnesium manifolds coupled with a full length titanium exhaust produce increased performance with a spectacular soundtrack. The all-new carbon fibre diffuser completes this pack by giving your V12 Vantage S an even sportier look."

Full details here: http://www.astonmartin.com/en/accessories/v12-vant...

Wonder how much that will be!

Anybody interested or already enquired?

[AdamV12V]

Well that's less than I was expecting to be honest. Isn't the titanium exhaust £7k on its own on a GT8, so I imagine the GT12 version must be at least as much if not more. Did that price include fitting or was it just for the parts?

OK, its a lot for 30BHP but if it makes it sound like a GT12 then it could be worth it just for that. Plus I assume the warranty is still valid and I imagine there was more potential for upside on resale than with non official factory equivalents?

I wonder if the new rear diffuser looks the same as the one on the GT12 too?

[AdamV12V]

jonby said:

outofstepuk said:

jonby said:

It's available for roadster and coupe but despite the literature & website not mentioning it, it's not available for manual V12VS

that's interesting. As someone considering the manual S roadster as a sort of ultimate incarnation (GT12 aside, and whatever the final ultimate special edition ends up being...) it would open the thought of getting a used paddle one, upgrading it and keeping the change.

I love a manual box, but I also like unnecessary extra power

Any idea why it isn't available for the manual? Is it something obvious I'm missing?

I don't know the full technical answer but they have only thus far put that much power through the flappy box. Reading between the lines, they would need to do at least some form of testing of that much power through the manual box, perhaps involving some 'regulatory/homologation' issues, which I guess they haven't been able to justify whilst not knowing what the demand might be, or perhaps simply haven't had the time given all the new models right now

Theoretically to me as a layman, the box is essentially the same and shouldn't be an issue, but I am only a layman and I do understand my slightly vague explanation above is the reason the factory aren't making the option available on manual V12VS. Others may be able to expand on the technicalities

Does sound odd - I can only imagine as you suggest that it is to do with the removal of the rear cats affecfing type approval or such like given the GT12 was only available with SSIII, thereby meaning a V12VS SSIII with the kit would still be approved as it would in effect be covered by the GT12 spec?

I just can't see that its the gearbox alone in itself. As far as I am aware the SSIII and dogleg box are the same gearbox underneath - the dogleg is just missing the semi-automated clutch bits and gains a old school gear lever. The snipit below is from the V12VSM dealer launch info and seems to back that up.



Let's hope they sort it out anyway whatever it is, I am tempted to enquire and push the question further about V12VSM, but equally tempted that just go with a straight forward pair of cat bypass pipes. I guess they might give a good 50% of the sound for just 5% of the cost, albeit with all the potential warranty and MOT issues to follow.

[AdamV12V]

JBaps said:

carbonfib3r said:

Brakke said:

what the hell is AM doing?!

You buy a GT12 and then they go an offer the same power output to standard v12vs models??
Yes its still lighter and all that, but what the hell???!
Whats the point of paying the premiums to have the most powerfull V12 Vantage, and then get screwwed over by Aston like this and having STANDARD cars have the same power output.

What a joke.

This is so wrong!!!!!!!

As a GT12 owner, I am deeply disappointed. AM humiliated all GT12 owners with this kind of disrespect, I am utterly shocked!!!!!

Absolutely gutted.

Surely you guys didn't buy a GT12 because it had 30HP more than a V12S? I would have thought the the exclusivity of a limited run more aggressively focused model would have been the draw. If was the HP, or even the sound you could have picked up a better performing fezzer for similar money...

Still, each to their own, and I guess ;-)

+1 Owning a V12VS with the "Performance Pack" and thus the same power output as a GT12 doesn't make it a GT12! The genuine GT12's will always be rare and special, and no amount of tweaks to a std car can ever change one into a GT12, even adding a horseshoe bonnet and all the other hundreds of bits. I wouldn't even like to work out how much the total cost would be by the time you add in all the bespoke internal and external CF bits.

Original is original - I wouldn't worry too much.

[AdamV12V]

So, does anybody have any more news?

I've not asked yet but my manual V12VS is due early next week and I am tempted...

[AdamV12V]

J12KJR said:

AdamV12V said:

So, does anybody have any more news?

I've not asked yet but my manual V12VS is due early next week and I am tempted...

Small print at the bottom of the AM page for the performance pack states available for all V12S Vantage except the V12S Manual, why would that be?

Yeah I am aware of that, but if people have posted in the thread above that it is coming for the manual too... I will probably end up doing nothing, or just a cat bypass at this rate. The longer it goes on the less likely I am to want to spend so much.

[AdamV12V]

Crikey - I was expecting far more difference than that. I don't suppose that's a bad thing, just not what was expected...

[AdamV12V]

I would urge V12S owners to consider just getting cat bypass pipes instead at a fraction of the cost. This was route I took based on the lack of info on the official upgrade by the time my car was ready, plus the fact that the QS bypass pipes cost me £800 fitted.

I have to say they transform the sound of the car - it is NUTS loud and sounds epic!

Seriously I struggle to believe the GT12 kit could sound much louder, and certainly struggle to see how it could be worth an additional £11,700 more. I heard a GT8 fire up at JCT yesterday and I honestly don't think it was much louder than my car is.

[AdamV12V]

Flugplatz said:

AdamV12V said:

Seriously I struggle to believe the GT12 kit could sound much louder, and certainly struggle to see how it could be worth an additional £11,700 more.

Does it sound like this?

https://youtu.be/F5jmHUnpGug?t=1m17s

Turn it up.

I would honestly say its not far off! Bear in mind that I ran a de-fused V12V for 6 years, but nothing prepared me for the huge step up to the sound a de-fused V12VS with a cat-pass made! When I first opened it up to just 5000rpm, I said "OMG, WOW that sound is just mental!". Kermit is still new (now 200miles), so I'm going to give him a few more miles before hearing what max RPM sounds like, but it's going to be brutal I'm sure.

Is it 100% the same? - I don't honestly know as I'm inside the car and that is taken outside, but for sure its close - and for £800 vs £12,500 it's close enough for me to be 100% happy.

V12s said:

Hello Adam,

How noisy is the car with QS bypass pipes when at regular town speeds ?
Does the sport button still have the same effect of increasing the noise when switched on - and so is the car still ok ( more conspicuous ) for early morning start ups with sport deactivated ?

Also, what did your dealer say regarding warranty ?

Cheers

Northermedia has already covered the warranty aspects, so I've nothing to add to that.

In terms of sounds I have pulled fuse 15 out too - yes I know I am nuts! But I live in the city centre where ambulances race by every 15mins quite literally all hours of the day, so there really is no need for me to ever need a conspicuous exit. For sure the car was more muted with the fuse in before I pulled it out, but I didn't want to have to press the sport button every time as that changes the throttle mapping too, to the detremient IMHO, so I either had to install a bypass switch as Northermedia has done, or just pull the fuse. For me the fuse out, is fine - I'm happy to be anti-social. Lets face it nothing about Kermit is subtle, so making him sound the same was a no-brainer to me.

Besides I've pootled around for 9 months in a Porsche GT4 which, despite comments on the Porsche forum to the opposite, is one disappointingly quiet car, most especially when driving around town, so I needed a good healthy fix of AM V12 full-on madness again in my life!

Edited by AdamV12V on Thursday 5th January 20:33

[AdamV12V]

AMDBSVNick said:

Hi Adam,

I assume you are referring to the secondary cats, yes?

Nick

Yes, just the secondary cats.

This is the Quicksilver part : http://www.quicksilverexhausts.com/Aston-Martin-V1... - there are similar parts for the DBS, but they DBS seems to have a separate part number, but both are £580+vat. You can look it up on their website easily enough.

[AdamV12V]

AMDBSVNick said:

Mine have already been done by BR.

I was just wondering if there was some extra noise I was missing out on.

Imagine how good it sounds without a roof

Indeed. Well I guess there is to some extent (unless of course BR have already done this too on your car), but don't forget that the V12VS has the sports rear silencer, as derived from the One-77, fitted as standard too so it already sounds more nuts than a std V12V or DBS, but then I'm sure the lack of a roof more than makes up for that!

[AdamV12V]

AstonExige said:

I thought the sports rear silencer derived from the one-77 was on all V12V's? That's quoted on the spec sheet I fit with mine?

Nope, just V12VS not V12V. Thats not to say yours hasnt been upgraded by a previous owner though...

Edited by AdamV12V on Friday 6th January 13:29

[AdamV12V]

jonby said:

My Capristo thru pipes were about £400 from memory

Looks like you got a really good price as the RRP on their website is now EUR629, but I guess the pound was a lot stronger back then!

http://www.capristo.de/en/exhaustsystems/aston-mar...

[AdamV12V]

Thorburn said:

Picked it up today after the conversion, definitely a lot louder and more aggressive sounding!

Didn't get a great recording of it, but short clip here: https://youtu.be/LRfkkhoLgg0

Also had the AMi III upgrade done from the MY16 AMi II system, updated sat-nav is much easier to use.

Only thing I would say, it's a shame the intake manifolds don't have "Aston Martin" lettering on them anymore.

Before:


After:

Hmm, Yeah that is a bit disappointing in the looks department. Bear in mind that the MY17 cars don't even have the Aston wings on the central engine cover next to the 6.0V12 sign, so combine that with the new nameless black manifolds and you would have no marque information at all on the engine.

Cant help thinking that even ignore the lack of "Aston Martin" on them that the manifolds actually look better in white than they do in black anyway. Odd that the performance pack makes it look worse - I would have thought that Aston would have clearly understood the value of the under bonnet aesthetics too - hell they offer an under bonnet jewellery pack for the DB11!

Sounds good, but hard to tell for sure as the mic quality / headphones don't really make the most of it Im sure.

[AdamV12V]

telum01 said:

The intake manifolds are made of magnesium for weight reduction. Shaving the embossed metal lettering off the top helps achieve that. It's a bummer visually, but I'd suspect that's why they did it.

Ok fair enough I get what you are saying there, but surely they could have etched it back on - i.e. a weightless version?

[AdamV12V]

JCT have applied the performance pack upgrade to one of their stock/demo V12VS cars and I've been invited down to give it a blast this afternoon! I'm guessing the car will most likely be a SSIII but I didn't ask.

I will be keen to see if I can perceive the power difference and just as importantly keen to see how the sound compares to my cat bypassed V12VSM.

They are also applying the Factory AMR Aerokit to the same car in a couple of weeks, so will be back down again to take a look at that to help me make my mind up on applying it to Kermit.

[AdamV12V]

jonby said:

Although I assume it possible that the revised inlet manifolds make a difference to the noise, I assume the primary difference (noisewise) between yours & theirs will be down to the titanium given yours is already de-catted . Will be fascinated to hear your thoughts on the differences, both pitch & volume

If the gearbox is different, I imagine it will be very hard to pick up on a performance difference, other than very possibly at the absolute top end where I think the performance pack engine revs a little higher (or at least gets it's peak power a little higher up the rev range)

Ok, so the test drive was limited to a short sprint a couple of miles up the road and back as its not a demo, its a brand new stock car. But still I think it was enough to get an idea of the sound, but obviously not able to comment on any performance changes. It was fitted to a SSIII car with Sport Pack Plus fitted as std by the factory.

Sound wise I think the decat probably adds 15% to 20% more volume over a stock V12VS setup, with similar pitch and more pops and crackles. The full performance kit was louder still, but not by much and again similar pitch with pops and crackles. I think I would say 20% to 25% more volume so an incremental 5% over the decat? So yes it is a bit better still, but you would have to find value in the 27-32BHP and the weight saving to justify the price as the sound increase alone is a very close race with just a decat at a fraction of the cost.

Interestingly the tech engineer said he had fitted the manifolds and the exhaust but not a valved airbox, but then this car had Sport Pack Plus so it would have had the valved airbox already. He said after fitting it sounded louder by not much, but then he flashed the engine management firmware (same as the GT12 firmware he said), and it came alive. So make of that what you will in terms of what bit offers what...

Such a shame about the lack of the "ASTON MARTIN" on the inlet manifolds though and even colouring it black just dulls down the whole engine bay. If I was to buy it, I would most definitely find a local specialist who could etch the name back on before fitting.

Edited by AdamV12V on Monday 24th July 18:06

[AdamV12V]

jonby said:

Interesting, thanks for the feedback

For owners of AMR cars, with the full benefits of the power upgrade, the titanium exhaust costs just over £11k with fitting, of which, regardless of whether you allocate any value to it, the CF rear blade surely accounts for c £2k of that price based on typical AM CF prices. So that leaves 9k for the exhaust, with perhaps £1-1.5k achievable for the stock backbox & pipes that come out (you could use some of the pipes that come out on a regular V12V/S to achieve a de-cat but I'm not sure the old rear blade is particularly saleable ?).

That means a net cost for adding the titanium pipes & backbox of at best, depending how you view it, £7.5-8k. Or the full £11k if you place no value in the new rear blade & hold on to the old bits that come out. In return for which you get a 10kg weight saving & the big question, how much extra noise ? Doesn't sound like much difference based on your findings ? And I wonder if any of that comes from the inlet manifolds which along with the rear de-cat, the AMR cars already have ?

Yup that's pretty much what I thought about it all. The rear CF blade if anything detracted from the look I thought as the car I saw was China Grey with the Yellow decals, so it had lost the Yellow on the blade and the whole back of the car was now just grey. I wouldn't want to loose the Kermit blade on my car either so not sure where that would leave me.

Will be interesting to hear how a AMR V12 Vantage sounds without the Titanium Exhaust. I guess at least one owner will spec it this way, but then they may not be so keen to do a side by side sound comparison with a stock V12VS.

Makes you really think about the option of buying the Vanquish S manifolds, a valved airbox and then asking for the remap. Bear in mind with the Sport Pack Plus they said the airbox gave +5BHP, so that's 5 of the 32 - how much is left for each of the magnesium inlet manifolds, the decat and the remap? Interesting stuff...

Trouble is I'd bet no AM franchised dealer would be allowed to do it as doing so would undermine the full performance pack somewhat, so that puts us back in the world of aftermarket mods again.

The Torque is interesting too. They don't quote a Torque increase on the Performance Pack, but they did on Sport Pack Plus and on AMR V12 Vantage. The std V12VS is 620NM, Sport Pack Plus adds 10Nm to this to take it to 630NM, which is the figure they also quote for AMR V12 Vantage, indicating therefore that there is no further Torque gains from the magnesium inlet manifolds, the decat or the remap! Anybody know what the Torque was on the GT12 - I can't seem to find any published figure.

[AdamV12V]

AdamV12V said:

Anybody know what the Torque was on the GT12 - I can't seem to find any published figure.

OK - found a few references now to the GT12 having 461ft lb of Torque which is 625NM, so 5NM less than the V12VS SP+ or AMR V12 Vantage...

[AdamV12V]

I'm still very tempted, it's just the price holding me back really.

I'd be tempted too to see if I could find a local supplier who could laser etch "Aston Martin" in silver back onto the black manifolds to they look as good as the std ones.