Yeah, that’s pretty special, isn’t it? Surely you know the pedigree: Aston’s largest engine shoehorned into Aston’s smallest car. On the right is the beautiful original Aston Martin V12 Vantage, the star of one of the finest reports Mr Clarkson and TGTV have ever made (YouTube is your friend). And on the left is the last, as in both the most recent and the ‘will never come back’ Vantage that has a V12 on board.
Do the specs again?
The old one has a naturally-breathing 6.0-liter V12 that delivers 517 horsepower and 570 Nm of torque. The new model, on the other hand, has a 5.2-liter twin-turbo V12 with 700 hp and 753 Nm. More numbers?
A sprint from 0 to 100 km/h takes 4.2 and 3.5 seconds respectively, the top speed is 305 km/h for the progenitor and 322 km/h for the swinger. Which means that the latter, pub quiz enthusiasts, is not the fastest V12 Vantage ever. That honor goes to the 2013 V12 Vantage S, which topped 330 km/h. It was a bit smoother, in terms of aero, hence.
And yet the old one is more beautiful…
Aged like a fine wine, isn’t it? With class, elegance and understatement. As an Aston Martin should be. And that while the new one… looks a bit like it’s part of the -merchandising of Fast & Furious.
The track is 40 millimeters wider than a regular Vantage, it has a larger grille, a new splitter that spans the full width of its front, a new carbon fiber hood with horseshoe ventilation, new side skirts, and … that rear wing, which delivers up to 204 kilos of downforce at 320 km/h. But don’t worry: you can also get it without -, that’s a free option.
Is it just as intimidating to drive?
Press the start button and the engine roars to life, although it sounds strangely muffled in the cabin, especially compared to its predecessor. Once on the road, it doesn’t take long for it to live up to its ‘road race car’ looks, thanks to wonderfully precise steering, endless grip and, unsurprisingly, indescribable speed.
But, and that’s a big but, while it’s certainly massively impressive to drive, the old one is really brilliant in a crazy way and crazy in a brilliant way. The new one seems to take itself a little too seriously by comparison.
So the old one is more fun?
Put the key in its recess in the middle of the dashboard and the engine roars to life; that seems the same, but this is much louder and immediately much more exciting. It also immediately drags you more, due to the heavier steering, the manual six-speed gearbox, the ‘less fairing, more GT’ seats and the fly off handbrake, which is all just a bit nicer.
And when you press the Sport button, the throttle response gets even brighter, the exhaust louder and the overall fun even more. Choosing between the two? We do know for which the gates of our Droomgarage will open.
#goodbye #Aston #Martin #V12 #Vantage #V12 #Vantage