V12 Vantage S Manual Roadster - rather lengthy review...
Discussion
I had this wonderous vehicle for a weekend recently, so despite not having an outlet assigned yet I thought I'd publish it here. There might be some factual errors as I haven't subbed it yet so feel free to comment if you find any 
So long, old friend...
By any traditional rationale, the car sitting outside my house is an automotive dinosaur. It was launched 14 years ago which in the car world is the equivalent of the Triassic period.
In those 14 years the world of the sports car has evolved and changed in a huge way, with economic and environmental pressures meaning there has been a push to make engines smaller and cleaner. This also means that the manual gearbox has all but disappeared in sports cars too as the search for ever faster lap times and acceleration numbers means the dual clutch gearbox has become the norm.
My dinosaur is resolutely old-school though. A gargantuan (by modern standards) 5935cc V12 engine (they call it a 6.0, but it’s clearly a 5.9) sends the power to the rear wheels via a manual gearbox, promising an interaction unique in this sector. Aston Martin offered the original V12 Vantage with only a six-speed manual gearbox, but when that car gained an 'S' and another 55bhp they changed to the automated manual 7spd Sportshift III gearbox. Never the fastest gearbox available, it nonetheless fitted with the V12 S's more focused nature and enabled the keen driver to keep their hands on the wheel more when trying to tame 565bhp on track or road.
But Aston Martin customers are a funny lot, they like to be in charge of selecting the gears themselves with their own hand sometimes, so after considerable pressure Aston decided to offer a manual gearbox in the V12 Vantage S. But being a small company they couldn't develop a totally new gearbox and the old six speed unit wasn't suitable, so the new car got a 7-speed dog-leg manual. A what? Let me explain...
The new gearbox is basically a reworking of the Sportshift 'box, which has seven speeds and is set out slightly differently, so in this instance first gear is across to the left and back down. Then up and across into second, back to third etc, all the way through to the very long-legged seventh gear. So first sort of sticks out to the side like a dog having a wee, hence the name.
Anyway, back to the car. This particular Aston belongs to the longest running supercar club in the country - Auto Vivendi - and comes in a distinctly un-gentlemanly colour scheme of white with bright green accents for the grille, mirrors and rear diffuser. Oh, and just to give your ears better access to the aural deliciousness created by the engine it's also a Roadster. This makes it a very rare car - it's rumoured that there are less than 10 manual V12 Vantage S roadsters in the U.K. and you can no longer order a new one. The new Vantage is coming next year and bar a few sold-out end of the line AMR models just announced that is it.
This is the last manual naturally aspirated V12 car on sale at the moment and in all likelihood there won't be another. So it's fitting to take it for a nice long summer's day drive and see if this dinosaur is a lumbering diplodocus or a razor sharp velociraptor.
Walking out of the door you're still taken aback at how stunning a shape the Vantage is. Basically unchanged since its introduction in 2004 it has such perfect proportions and svelte lines that creating its replacement must be one of the hardest jobs in the car design world. The short rear is a particular delight, with this V12 model having a slight ducktail built in to the rear deck lid and the twin pipes sitting within the rear diffuser. The long bonnet has four carbon vents to allow heat to vent from the huge engine (and boy does it, in hot traffic you can barely see through the heat haze) and there's more carbon for the front splitter and grille. The Coupe is arguably prettier still with a beautiful line to the roof and side windows, but I'm not going to complain about the folding roof, especially on a day like today where it's a sunny 25 degrees.
To get in you first get the drama of Aston's trademark 'swan' doors, which sweep up slightly when opening and you're greeted with swathes of leather and yet more carbon. Last year the Vantage got a long overdue interior upgrade, receiving the 'waterfall' centre console from the Vanquish and its upgraded infotainment system along with it. In the Carbon of his car it looks spectacular but as you would expect it's still a long way behind the competition. So, key in to drop the roof first, which is a surprisingly quick affair and then I take the key out again just for the full drama.
The crystal-topped 'ECU' or 'Emotional Control Unit' goes in the dash, then depress the clutch and push the key in fully to start - and as it's a cold start I'm now glad I dropped the roof first. What. A. Noise.
That monstrous V12 erupts into life with a fierce bark and settles to a noisy idle, filling my very quiet Sunday morning cul-de-sac with a rich yet angry burble. A cheeky little blip of the throttle gives yet more aural excitement and causes the revs to drop down to a gentle warble not dissimilar to that of a large powerboat. Now that I've woken the entire street it's time to set off, a morning driving some hopefully quiet back roads awaits. Oh, mustn't forget to hit 'Sport' too so we have the full noise more of the time.
So, gear-lever across to the left and back - nope, that's third, try again. A real shove over to the left and back and yep, we're into first. It really does feel like an unusually long way across, it will take some getting used to that's for certain. Pull away and the clutch is pleasantly light with a smooth action which surprised me, but definitely welcome. First to second comes naturally, but just let the lever centralise from second to third and you'll be in fifth gear without realising, it still needs a gentle side pressure to drop in. One bonus of such a massive torque-rich engine is that when just mooching around you can leave it in third gear which can take you from 10 to 50mph with little bother.
The drive out of town is just like that too, which enables me to appreciate the Vantage's ride. It's firm for sure, but there's decent wheel travel and with the variable dampers set to Normal it's comfortable yet well controlled. All the while you generally keep it a gear lower than normal just so you have a few more revs - more revs equals more V12 glorious sound. For me the sweet spot is around 3000rpm as you get the valves opened and a lovely growl, though it's maybe not for you if you don't like attention as it's mightily loud.
But crawling through town is not what this car is designed for (Sloane Street cruiser it is not) so I’m thankful when the roads open up and I can explore the rest of this old boy’s tricks. To start with there is a nice twisty B-Road that heads out into the countryside, a seemingly endless string of slow and fast corners that would challenge the best and most modern sports cars. As mentioned earlier, the power and torque of this engine makes changing gear an unnecessary chore, so on this road I generally keep it in 3rd as I get to experience the soundtrack all the way through the rev range. A quick snick into 2nd occasionally shows off AMShift – Aston’s rev matching software that blips the throttle for you on downshifts – so you basically you feel like a driving hero that has just executed a perfect heel-and-toe every single time. This I like.
There’s actually a fair bit of roll in the corners for a sports car, but you soon realise that newer cars are just too stiff and the Vantage just likes to settle into a corner before you shoot out of the other side in a blare of noise. Make no mistake though, this is a car designed for c.400bhp and it has a lot more than that, so it wants to break traction at any and every moment – it does not suffer fools glady. When I get to the first long straight I plant the throttle and holy &!*$ my senses are only just able to cope with all the additional input. First up is the acceleration – fierce, relentless, punishing forces pushing your internal organs against your spine as you struggle to hold onto the steering wheel, while your ears get assaulted by the most incredible music from the rear of the car. I could use an entire thesaurus trying to adequately describe the sound this car makes at full chat, but even then it wouldn’t come close.
It starts with a deep guttural burble, the kind that you feel in your stomach, then as the revs build there starts to be a harder edged tone to it, slightly angrier, with a metallic tinge. Press on further and as the volume increases as does the intensity, the ferocious nature making itself known while surrounded by a swirling musical cacophony. Enter the final zone of braveness (because doing so in this car is just that) and that noise becomes a viscous, visceral wail, screaming towards the red line and making you feel that every car in the world is inferior. It’s best not to look at the speedo either as you’ll get scared rather quickly. You’ll need to keep your concentration though, as even in 4th gear at illegal speeds the back will squirm around under hard acceleration. Which is slightly alarming.
There’s so much to love about the V12 Vantage S; the looks, the engine, the sound, the handling, the look of the interior, the engine, did I mention the noise? There are also some serious flaws of course, you simply can’t hide the age of the car and the interior packaging gives that away as soon as you get in. I suppose you could complain about the fuel economy if you compare it to a 911 Turbo or a McLaren 570S, but frankly if you buy a 5.9 litre engine with 12 cylinders expecting decent fuel economy you should check yourself into the funny farm for an extended stay.
Speaking of comparisons, in many people’s minds this is where the V12 Vantage S falls down. This particular Roadster comes in at a heady £150,000 which puts it in line with a Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet and just short of the newly announced McLaren 570S Spider. Both of those are technology-packed rocket ships that would embarrass the Aston in a drag race, in the corners and in the tech stakes. The McLaren has a carbon tub, both have a lightning quick dual clutch ‘boxes and are probably in every quantifiable measure ahead of the Vantage, apart from looks.
When the new Vantage is launched sometime in the near future it will have an AMG-sourced 4.0 litre twin turbo V8, probably producing around 500bhp in standard form. They can easily turn the wick up on that engine to make an ‘S’ version but it seems to be increasingly likely that we won’t see either the current V12 engine or the DB11’s twin turbo 5.2 litre V12 in the smaller car next time around. And will there be a manual gearbox? Aston boss Andy Palmer has said he wants to see a manual ‘box in every range in the future, but AMG only offers a dual-clutch gearbox on their versions of the engine. Will Aston develop their own manual and auto gearbox to mate to that engine? I certainly hope so and that Palmer sticks to his word.
The car world will be a much less interesting place without a stupidly powerful, manual shifted beautiful Aston Martin in it. I have to believe that the team in Gaydon know what they’re doing and know what their customers want, so I simply can’t wait to see what they come up with the replace the Vantage. As I said before it must be the hardest job in the car world right now. So who would buy the old dinosaur ahead of the new kids on the block? Well me, for one. It speaks to me in a way the other don’t, it gets under your skin, makes you want to drive it more, relish every aspect of the drive. It challenges you, makes you smile every moment you’re in there and when you get to the end of your favourite road, sweating with your pulse racing, you know it was you that got the car to the end in one piece.
Now all I need to do is wait about 15yrs until I can afford one.
So long, old friend...
By any traditional rationale, the car sitting outside my house is an automotive dinosaur. It was launched 14 years ago which in the car world is the equivalent of the Triassic period.
In those 14 years the world of the sports car has evolved and changed in a huge way, with economic and environmental pressures meaning there has been a push to make engines smaller and cleaner. This also means that the manual gearbox has all but disappeared in sports cars too as the search for ever faster lap times and acceleration numbers means the dual clutch gearbox has become the norm.
My dinosaur is resolutely old-school though. A gargantuan (by modern standards) 5935cc V12 engine (they call it a 6.0, but it’s clearly a 5.9) sends the power to the rear wheels via a manual gearbox, promising an interaction unique in this sector. Aston Martin offered the original V12 Vantage with only a six-speed manual gearbox, but when that car gained an 'S' and another 55bhp they changed to the automated manual 7spd Sportshift III gearbox. Never the fastest gearbox available, it nonetheless fitted with the V12 S's more focused nature and enabled the keen driver to keep their hands on the wheel more when trying to tame 565bhp on track or road.
But Aston Martin customers are a funny lot, they like to be in charge of selecting the gears themselves with their own hand sometimes, so after considerable pressure Aston decided to offer a manual gearbox in the V12 Vantage S. But being a small company they couldn't develop a totally new gearbox and the old six speed unit wasn't suitable, so the new car got a 7-speed dog-leg manual. A what? Let me explain...
The new gearbox is basically a reworking of the Sportshift 'box, which has seven speeds and is set out slightly differently, so in this instance first gear is across to the left and back down. Then up and across into second, back to third etc, all the way through to the very long-legged seventh gear. So first sort of sticks out to the side like a dog having a wee, hence the name.
Anyway, back to the car. This particular Aston belongs to the longest running supercar club in the country - Auto Vivendi - and comes in a distinctly un-gentlemanly colour scheme of white with bright green accents for the grille, mirrors and rear diffuser. Oh, and just to give your ears better access to the aural deliciousness created by the engine it's also a Roadster. This makes it a very rare car - it's rumoured that there are less than 10 manual V12 Vantage S roadsters in the U.K. and you can no longer order a new one. The new Vantage is coming next year and bar a few sold-out end of the line AMR models just announced that is it.
This is the last manual naturally aspirated V12 car on sale at the moment and in all likelihood there won't be another. So it's fitting to take it for a nice long summer's day drive and see if this dinosaur is a lumbering diplodocus or a razor sharp velociraptor.
Walking out of the door you're still taken aback at how stunning a shape the Vantage is. Basically unchanged since its introduction in 2004 it has such perfect proportions and svelte lines that creating its replacement must be one of the hardest jobs in the car design world. The short rear is a particular delight, with this V12 model having a slight ducktail built in to the rear deck lid and the twin pipes sitting within the rear diffuser. The long bonnet has four carbon vents to allow heat to vent from the huge engine (and boy does it, in hot traffic you can barely see through the heat haze) and there's more carbon for the front splitter and grille. The Coupe is arguably prettier still with a beautiful line to the roof and side windows, but I'm not going to complain about the folding roof, especially on a day like today where it's a sunny 25 degrees.
To get in you first get the drama of Aston's trademark 'swan' doors, which sweep up slightly when opening and you're greeted with swathes of leather and yet more carbon. Last year the Vantage got a long overdue interior upgrade, receiving the 'waterfall' centre console from the Vanquish and its upgraded infotainment system along with it. In the Carbon of his car it looks spectacular but as you would expect it's still a long way behind the competition. So, key in to drop the roof first, which is a surprisingly quick affair and then I take the key out again just for the full drama.
The crystal-topped 'ECU' or 'Emotional Control Unit' goes in the dash, then depress the clutch and push the key in fully to start - and as it's a cold start I'm now glad I dropped the roof first. What. A. Noise.
That monstrous V12 erupts into life with a fierce bark and settles to a noisy idle, filling my very quiet Sunday morning cul-de-sac with a rich yet angry burble. A cheeky little blip of the throttle gives yet more aural excitement and causes the revs to drop down to a gentle warble not dissimilar to that of a large powerboat. Now that I've woken the entire street it's time to set off, a morning driving some hopefully quiet back roads awaits. Oh, mustn't forget to hit 'Sport' too so we have the full noise more of the time.
So, gear-lever across to the left and back - nope, that's third, try again. A real shove over to the left and back and yep, we're into first. It really does feel like an unusually long way across, it will take some getting used to that's for certain. Pull away and the clutch is pleasantly light with a smooth action which surprised me, but definitely welcome. First to second comes naturally, but just let the lever centralise from second to third and you'll be in fifth gear without realising, it still needs a gentle side pressure to drop in. One bonus of such a massive torque-rich engine is that when just mooching around you can leave it in third gear which can take you from 10 to 50mph with little bother.
The drive out of town is just like that too, which enables me to appreciate the Vantage's ride. It's firm for sure, but there's decent wheel travel and with the variable dampers set to Normal it's comfortable yet well controlled. All the while you generally keep it a gear lower than normal just so you have a few more revs - more revs equals more V12 glorious sound. For me the sweet spot is around 3000rpm as you get the valves opened and a lovely growl, though it's maybe not for you if you don't like attention as it's mightily loud.
But crawling through town is not what this car is designed for (Sloane Street cruiser it is not) so I’m thankful when the roads open up and I can explore the rest of this old boy’s tricks. To start with there is a nice twisty B-Road that heads out into the countryside, a seemingly endless string of slow and fast corners that would challenge the best and most modern sports cars. As mentioned earlier, the power and torque of this engine makes changing gear an unnecessary chore, so on this road I generally keep it in 3rd as I get to experience the soundtrack all the way through the rev range. A quick snick into 2nd occasionally shows off AMShift – Aston’s rev matching software that blips the throttle for you on downshifts – so you basically you feel like a driving hero that has just executed a perfect heel-and-toe every single time. This I like.
There’s actually a fair bit of roll in the corners for a sports car, but you soon realise that newer cars are just too stiff and the Vantage just likes to settle into a corner before you shoot out of the other side in a blare of noise. Make no mistake though, this is a car designed for c.400bhp and it has a lot more than that, so it wants to break traction at any and every moment – it does not suffer fools glady. When I get to the first long straight I plant the throttle and holy &!*$ my senses are only just able to cope with all the additional input. First up is the acceleration – fierce, relentless, punishing forces pushing your internal organs against your spine as you struggle to hold onto the steering wheel, while your ears get assaulted by the most incredible music from the rear of the car. I could use an entire thesaurus trying to adequately describe the sound this car makes at full chat, but even then it wouldn’t come close.
It starts with a deep guttural burble, the kind that you feel in your stomach, then as the revs build there starts to be a harder edged tone to it, slightly angrier, with a metallic tinge. Press on further and as the volume increases as does the intensity, the ferocious nature making itself known while surrounded by a swirling musical cacophony. Enter the final zone of braveness (because doing so in this car is just that) and that noise becomes a viscous, visceral wail, screaming towards the red line and making you feel that every car in the world is inferior. It’s best not to look at the speedo either as you’ll get scared rather quickly. You’ll need to keep your concentration though, as even in 4th gear at illegal speeds the back will squirm around under hard acceleration. Which is slightly alarming.
There’s so much to love about the V12 Vantage S; the looks, the engine, the sound, the handling, the look of the interior, the engine, did I mention the noise? There are also some serious flaws of course, you simply can’t hide the age of the car and the interior packaging gives that away as soon as you get in. I suppose you could complain about the fuel economy if you compare it to a 911 Turbo or a McLaren 570S, but frankly if you buy a 5.9 litre engine with 12 cylinders expecting decent fuel economy you should check yourself into the funny farm for an extended stay.
Speaking of comparisons, in many people’s minds this is where the V12 Vantage S falls down. This particular Roadster comes in at a heady £150,000 which puts it in line with a Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet and just short of the newly announced McLaren 570S Spider. Both of those are technology-packed rocket ships that would embarrass the Aston in a drag race, in the corners and in the tech stakes. The McLaren has a carbon tub, both have a lightning quick dual clutch ‘boxes and are probably in every quantifiable measure ahead of the Vantage, apart from looks.
When the new Vantage is launched sometime in the near future it will have an AMG-sourced 4.0 litre twin turbo V8, probably producing around 500bhp in standard form. They can easily turn the wick up on that engine to make an ‘S’ version but it seems to be increasingly likely that we won’t see either the current V12 engine or the DB11’s twin turbo 5.2 litre V12 in the smaller car next time around. And will there be a manual gearbox? Aston boss Andy Palmer has said he wants to see a manual ‘box in every range in the future, but AMG only offers a dual-clutch gearbox on their versions of the engine. Will Aston develop their own manual and auto gearbox to mate to that engine? I certainly hope so and that Palmer sticks to his word.
The car world will be a much less interesting place without a stupidly powerful, manual shifted beautiful Aston Martin in it. I have to believe that the team in Gaydon know what they’re doing and know what their customers want, so I simply can’t wait to see what they come up with the replace the Vantage. As I said before it must be the hardest job in the car world right now. So who would buy the old dinosaur ahead of the new kids on the block? Well me, for one. It speaks to me in a way the other don’t, it gets under your skin, makes you want to drive it more, relish every aspect of the drive. It challenges you, makes you smile every moment you’re in there and when you get to the end of your favourite road, sweating with your pulse racing, you know it was you that got the car to the end in one piece.
Now all I need to do is wait about 15yrs until I can afford one.
Thanks all for the kind words.
jonby - it hasn't got the PP, but is planned to be fitted soon I think. Hence the confusion
Adam - thanks, that was exactly the section I was hoping you lot would help with! Will make the changes when published.
As for the value, I know it'll go up, I'm hoping I'll be able to afford one still in 15yrs!
Might change the copy to make that more obvious
jonby - it hasn't got the PP, but is planned to be fitted soon I think. Hence the confusion
Adam - thanks, that was exactly the section I was hoping you lot would help with! Will make the changes when published.
As for the value, I know it'll go up, I'm hoping I'll be able to afford one still in 15yrs!
Might change the copy to make that more obvious
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