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Auto Luxury Review<br />
Winning formula: Inside the new Aston Martin Vantage<br />
The Aston Martin V8<br />
The Vantage has powered Aston Martin into profit, says Simon de Burton,<br />
and the new model is just priceless...<br />
The late Victor Gauntlett, chairman of Aston Martin in the early 1980s,<br />
famously said that the way to make a small fortune from the business would<br />
be to “start with a large one”. In Aston’s case, it was an appropriate remark: the<br />
firm has weathered a litany of economic crises, bankruptcies and ownership<br />
changes since its founding in 1913 (in 1982, for example, it produced just<br />
30 cars).<br />
Specs<br />
Engine: Four litre, V8 twin turbo<br />
Power: 503bhp<br />
Top speed: 195mph<br />
Price: Euros 137,000<br />
Things began to look up in 2005, however, with the introduction of the<br />
V8 Vantage (and a later, V12-engined option) that accounted for 25,000<br />
sales during its 12-year production run and was instrumental in keeping<br />
Aston Martin afloat to the point that, a few months ago, it was finally able<br />
to announce a profit.<br />
So the pressure is firmly on the car’s replacement, the new Vantage pictured<br />
here, to prove a success. It features a custom-designed, bonded aluminium<br />
chassis and carries a twin-turbo, four-litre, 503bhp V8 engine supplied by<br />
Mercedes-AMG that drives through an eight-speed, ZF automatic paddleshift<br />
transmission (although hard-driving enthusiasts will be pleased to hear<br />
that a manual gearbox option is on the way).<br />
Aston Martin fans will know that the “Vantage” label (first used in 1951 on a<br />
souped-up version of the DB2) is reserved for the marque’s sportiest offerings:<br />
the latest car to carry it certainly lives up to expectations, with a 195mph top<br />
speed and a respectable 0-to-60mph time of around 3.5 seconds. What makes<br />
this car special, however, is a combination of huge torque, pinpoint steering<br />
and sharp handling that mean it’s sufficiently practical to tackle everything<br />
from a cross-town commute to a trans-continental tour, while still being a<br />
complete hoot along a twisting B road.<br />
A policy introduced with the DB11 in 2016 of offering just three dynamic<br />
settings has been continued with the Vantage, meaning you get Sport, Sport<br />
Plus and Track. These not only enhance the character of the Vantage, but also<br />
make it easier to develop an affection for it. It also has a fabulous, baritone<br />
exhaust growl that can be heard from the cockpit, which, while being richly<br />
upholstered in the best Aston tradition, has a distinctly sports car feel.<br />
It might not be the car to make that elusive “large fortune” that Gauntlett<br />
spoke of but I reckon it could just prove to be the most successful Aston ever.<br />
And yes, I love it. MS<br />
The Aston Martin Vantage interior<br />
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