We review the Aston Martin V12 Vantage S (2013) from price to economy and all its features
IT is the most explosive Aston Martin ever, and almost tailor-made for
James Bond – in a high-speed car chase, he wouldn’t need any gadgets from Q
with this in his hands.
Aston has created this awesome machine by shoehorning a monster six-litre V12
engine into its smallest model.
And the result is a series of stats that propel the Vantage into the supercar
elite and membership of the exclusive 200mph-plus club.
Mind you, Aston’s pocket rocket comes with a supercar price tag of £138,000 –
a serious jump from the standard Vantage V8 at £84,995. But it is a serious
leap forward.
Nought to 60mph takes 3.7 hair-raising seconds, and the action continues all
the way to 205mph if you have the balls and the straight road.
You get to these ridiculous speeds courtesy of a new seven-speed automatic
hyper-shift gearbox, complete with manual paddle changes, that is 18 per
cent quicker than the manual gearbox on the Vantage.
But the Vantage S really comes alive when you find a twisting mountain road –
and the tighter the bends, the happier this Aston is.
It sticks to the road like it is on rails, thanks to a stiffened chassis and
suspension tweaks, making this Aston more than a match for a Porsche 911.
The electrifying performance and the astonishing grip are testimony to the
brilliance of Aston’s engineering team, led by Ian Minards.
The engineers’ efforts are sometimes overshadowed by the sheer beauty of an
Aston, but the company has people capable of producing great cars on a
fraction of the budget of rivals.
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And the Vantage S retains all the beauty of the standard coupé but with extra
edge and menace. There are also some great new colours, such as the Yellow
Tang I drove.
The additional power is highlighted by four big but stylish air vents in the
bonnet, and the Vantage S gets a new grille finished in black carbon fibre.
It also boasts a host of hi-tech extras, such as the F1-inspired carbon-fibre
brakes, crucial for a 200mph-plus car, and lots more gadgets.
On the inside, Aston offers a lot more personalisation for the cabin – which
has a dark, inviting but slightly intimidating feel to it, a bit like the
exterior.
Whether the Vantage S is worth an extra £53,000 over the standard car won’t
really matter to people with the cash to buy – and they will know they have
one of the rarest and most special Astons ever built.