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New Aston Martin Vantage – V8 coupe eyes Porsche 911 Turbo | evo UNWRAPPED
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Mar 29, 2025
Following the launch of the new Aston Martin DB12 last year, it’s now the turn of the Vantage to benefit from Lawrence Stroll’s reinvention of the British marque. Jethro Bovingdon takes a closer look. Subscribe for evo’s latest performance car reviews, head-to-heads and track tests: https://bit.ly/3Ommfyv Read our Aston Martin Vantage story: https://evo.co.uk/aston-martin/aston-martin-vantage/206514/new-aston-martin-vantage-has-porsches-911-turbo-in-its And follow us on our social channels at: https://twitter.com/evomagazine https://www.facebook.com/evomagazine https://www.instagram.com/officialevomagazine/ https://www.tiktok.com/@evomagazine?
View Video Transcript
0:00
This is the new Aston Martin Vantage, and you might think you know the score already
0:14
Front engine, rear drive sports car, AMG sourced four-liter twin turbo VA engine, 9-11 turbo money
0:21
9-11 career rest performance. But that's the price you pay to get an Aston. Well, maybe not anymore
0:28
because this might be a highly evolved version of a familiar recipe
0:33
but Aston has decided to get serious. Their new entry-level car has 656 horsepower
0:39
That's an increase of over 30% over its predecessor. This thing does 202 miles an hour
0:47
In short, Aston Martin is not messing around. I guess we should start by talking about design
0:53
In fact, Aston Martin offered us up one of their design team to talk us through every detail
0:58
He's a lovely chap too, but you know, designers, they just crap on about stuff that you can see with your own eyes
1:03
So this is the new vantage. Take it in and make up your own mind
1:08
What I can say is that the vantage looks fantastic in the flesh. It's not radical, of course, not as radical as the mighty power output and extensive chassis upgrades
1:17
but it's certainly more aggressive, more cohesive, and somehow looks at once classically Aston Martin, but more modern too
1:24
It will cost around £165,000. pounds, that's 23,000 more than the previous Vantage F1 edition, but still 15 grand less than a 9-11
1:33
turbo S. The Vantage is all new up to the A pillars and offers much more cooling capacity than previously
1:41
There are new side seals and the new rear arches mean the vantage is 30 mil wider back there
1:47
There is some DB12 or super legera here and there, but the Vantage has its own identity
1:52
and has a lovely compact tension about the shape. We'll take a look at the interior
1:56
as soon as that is another area of real change, but we should really start with that engine
2:02
So this is the headline grabber, I guess, the familiar 4-liter twin turbo V8 engine source from AMG
2:08
but Aston Martin have the ability to cherry-pick different components from different applications, if you like
2:14
so they can create their ultimate version of this engine for each application
2:18
So it's not just a DBX-707 engine. They want faster response and more rev-y nature
2:24
So, for example, it has much bigger turbos than this. the old vantage, but smaller than the DBX to keep that sports car character
2:32
Power is 656 horsepower, as I said, 590 foot pounds of torque
2:38
peak torque from 2,750 RPM. So they want sports car character they didn want just a torque monster but it going to have a lot of torque It massive increase in performance for this car 202 mile now top speed naught to 60 3 seconds
2:54
So it's not a sub three second monster like some of these EVs or four-wheel drive cars
2:58
There is going to be some traction limitation. But overall performance has taken a huge leap on
3:05
And Aston Martin assure me that everything else has gone with it. So while the engine's got 30% more power, the chassis
3:11
see everything has stepped up to that level. That includes the eight speed Z-F gearbox
3:17
which now benefits from a shorter final drive ratio, new hydraulics to enable punch-year shifts
3:22
plus a new shift strategy. Aston say the short and final drive
3:26
has a significant effect, and in combination with those more decisive gear shifts
3:31
really heightens the excitement. But if this is the vantage completely redefined
3:36
why no dual clutch box? Obviously, there's the weight and complexity of a dual clutch
3:41
but because they've set this car up to be really pointy and playful in its balance
3:47
the zero torque cut of a dual clutch didn't work as well. The ZF has always got some torque loading even during gear shifts
3:54
so it works better for that. In terms of a manual, which would make sense
3:59
they say this thing, their tagline is engineered for drivers. A manual gearbox would be a great idea
4:04
They have a six-speed in the valour that deals with this sort of level of torque
4:09
and the Aston Martin spokesman who's just sat over there tells me they definitely will not build a manual
4:14
So expect a manual in a couple of years. Well, that's the hope
4:19
And in a world of 9-11 STs going for hundreds of thousands above list
4:23
precisely because it taps into an ogue experience, it surely makes sense
4:29
Especially as that engineered for real drivers tagline appears to have been lived and breathed
4:34
when you look at this car's chassis hardware and dynamic tuning. So let's talk about the chassis advantage, and there is so much to cover here
4:42
They've done a huge amount across the board. So in short order, the structure itself is much more rigid
4:48
and in really key areas like strut tops for the suspension, they've reinforced those to, again, increase this response
4:56
That's what this car is all about. They're telling me response and control. Spring rates are up even over the F1 edition of the old vantage
5:04
but the cars adopt Bill Stein DTX dampers, as seen in the DB12, but also cars like the Porsche 992 as well
5:11
So the ride is said to be better. There's better wheel control, better body control
5:16
The steering, the E-pass has been an intense area of focus. Again, all about feedback
5:20
So any rubber NVH coupling has been completely eliminated from the steering column
5:26
just to give you that feedback. And they tell me the most natural electric steering that you can get Another key element here is a bespoke pilot sport S5 tire This car has a big footprint now and the AML marked Michelin tires are significant
5:41
I remember speaking to chassis engineers at Aston in previous years and them lamenting off the record that they couldn't afford a bespoke tire program from Michelin
5:51
This level of development budget feels like a big step. controlling all of this is a new inertial sensor if you like
5:59
It measures the car in six axes at all times to ensure you'll get in the ultimate response
6:06
the ultimate feel and feedback that you want and to keep the car stable
6:10
but also progressive. Again, they're very keen on getting across this car is keen to be driven under slip
6:18
which sounds good to me, I have to say. So that's the overarching picture
6:22
pretty much everything is either new or massively changed. Of course, at this stage, we have to take Aston's word for all of this stuff
6:30
the dynamic response, non-limit progression, the feel and feedback. But I can at least say with certainty from the driver's seat
6:37
at least when the car's static, that the vantage really does feel much improved
6:42
Okay, inside the vantage, there's a couple of familiar things, mostly where you're sat in the car, you're so low
6:48
and it feels like you're down at ground level, which I really like. But in terms of architecture, the look and feel of this thing, it's a massive, massive step up
6:57
I really, really like it. I'm not familiar with DB12. I haven't driven that car yet
7:01
But this new Aston Entertainment System was first seen there. Got two screens, obviously, the driver readout here and a touchscreen here
7:08
But thank the Lord, it's not all touchscreen. We've got temperature dials here, fan speed, volume, etc
7:15
And there's plenty of buttons as well. So I don't have to always go 10 screens in to just change the temperature
7:21
This car's got optional carbon fibre bucket seats, which I have to say really nice
7:25
Manual seats are standard. It will come with obviously electric. And there's a huge amount of configurability as well with this car
7:31
So there's the different modes. Once you've started the engine with a central button, this rotary switch will take you from wet mode
7:39
Never really thought of those as a really useful thing. But the Aston engineers tell me it allows you to be much more aggressive with the other modes if you've got a nice conservative wet mode
7:47
So there's wet, sport, sport plus and then track. There's also an individual mode so you can mess around
7:53
Things are changing all the time and you can pick and choose what you like, I guess
7:58
There's also adjustable traction control. So this is cool. So you've got normal mode, press it once and it'll go into a track mode
8:05
It allows a little bit more slip. But if you hold it down and disable the ESP, you then activate a variable traction control mode
8:12
Starts in five goes up to nine which is effectively off and down to one if you want to be more cautious but that should allow you to really explore how playful the chassis is They talked a huge amount about how they wanted it to feel more alive and more agile in every way
8:29
And that means more oversteer when you want it as well. So that should allow drivers and owners to really play with that stuff
8:35
There's an adjustable launch control system as well. Same system, it's got its own default setting, but you can play around with it and launch at different revs
8:43
The paddles are now mounted on the. steering wheel rather than on the column. I normally like them on the column actually, but we'll see how
8:50
that works. But overall, I would just say the step up in quality and just the feeling of
8:56
specialness is big. It's really, really big. This is a leap on from the old car. So we have lots and
9:03
lots and lots more power, a new E diff, drive modes with greater differentiation, and well
9:08
the vantage looks pretty cool and is lovely inside. But I love some of the old school stuff too. I mean
9:15
doesn't want a rear strut brace. Control and response seem to be the absolute key objectives with this car
9:22
So as well as extra bracing at the front with a bigger new cross brace
9:26
front and rear under trays also increase lateral stiffness. And we also have this like proper old school strut tower support bar here
9:35
This is said to increase lateral stiffness on the rear axle by 29% undercornering
9:40
So everything from the steering back is about just, making sure when you put an input into the car
9:48
the load is transferred immediately to the road and the suspension not flexing in the chassis
9:54
It makes such a big difference, and they say there's a real tangible difference
9:58
between the old car and this car. Okay, the dampers, these Bilstein dampers
10:03
I might read this bit because there's so many numbers floating around my head
10:07
Here we go. The feeling of immediacy control and connection is further boosted by new intelligent adaptive dampers
10:14
those Bill Stein DTX dampers I talked about, which have a 500% increase in bandwidth of force distribution
10:21
over previous generation hardware. I don't know what that means, but 500% sounds pretty good to me
10:29
But it sounds pretty impressive, and I think, forget all the numbers
10:35
the mission statement is clear. Make this car as responsive, agile, and progressive at the limit and over the limit as possible
10:43
and every single thing they've changed is with those goals in mind
10:47
It sounds really cool. I'm really excited to drive this. It feels like the whole car has just taken a big step on in detail
10:55
And we should be driving this thing in April and we'll find out for real if it's as good as it sounds
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