AM V12 Vantage S......

I've had a V8V and DBS before (both manuals). Felt they were a little underpowered. The V12VS has 565 hp and seems to have plenty of power but I have heard negative reviews on the Sportshift tranny.
Has anyone driven one? How does it compare to the F1 tranny?


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Nice Chris Harris review
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=794j_U6Hau4&sns=em[/ame]



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This is very helpful...how did you have the good fortune to test the V12VS on track? Did you guys do the Big Track?

I actually don't mind and miss the SMG in my previous M5 and M6. It did feel like a heavy jolt when shifting, but even with the best SCT in the Superfast F1 there's a nice snap to the feel of a gear change.
I'm not a big fan of the DCT's at the moment so the old school feel may suit me well.

I'll find out tomorrow, as I'm going to test drive one.


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I am hoping 3rd time is a charm. I posted a brief review on 6speed:
So here is how my day went. I was getting over the flu and was about to cancel my appointment but managed to drag my ass to the dealership in Newport Beach.
As soon as I parked my 16M, I saw the V12VS on the lot in the pearlescent morning frost color, just gorgeous. The car was spec'd very tastefully as it had the rear black graphic, but not the roof graphic. CF everywhere and seemed to have a nice balance of aggressiveness and elegance.

I went on the test drive with low expectations. But I will simply say that the car exceeded well beyond my expectations.

Power: My chief complaint with previous Aston ownership was that the cars were a bit underpowered. Not the case with the 565 HP under the bonnet of the V12VS. Plenty of power and loads of torque. More torque feel than my 16M. I tried once to go quick off the line and I triggered TC so it's easy to break loose with all the power. I drove mostly in Sport Mode and the throttle response was very responsive.

Suspension: There is a 3 stage damping system - I believe: normal, sport and track mode. I drove mainly on the sport settimg which wasn't too stiff. However in track setting, the car is very responsive in handling, pretty much a 1:1 steering input to car turn ratio. Very direct and balanced with little body roll.

Transmission: Here is where my opinion is quite different. I am comparing this to generations of SMG's and F1's in my experience. In short, I was impressed. I am not sure why journalists are knocking the SS III gearbox. As Chris Harris described it, it is clean and smooth. The gear shifts were smooth in that I really didn't feel any lurching. The transitions were quite seamless IMO. I tried shifting both in normal slow driving as well as WOT, and the gearbox responded as I expected it to. Some described lurching on downshifts, but I did not experience this at all. To be fair, I was not aggressive in my downshifts. I was aggressive in up shifts and even redlined the car at one point and the tranny felt great. When driving aggressively, there is a hyper shift which makes the gear changes even quicker.
The SS III is not as fast as the F1 in the Scud, but it is light years ahead of the SMG's. Normal driving in sport mode was very smooth and comfortable. Of note, I will never drive in D mode, ever.

Conclusion: I will be buying one. To me, this is the Aston that I've been looking for: the dichotomy of plenty of power and torque with aggressive modern styling. The gearbox is not the fastest but it suffices quite nicely with the amount of power it is mated to. For the purpose of a daily driver, this car is perfect for me.
My dilemma now is which car I'm going to give up for which the V12VS will replace.



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Working on some numbers and will update if/when the deal happens
Really looking forward to a fun/sporty DD!

Great to hear!
Yes one of the improvements is the 3-stage adaptive damping system. The car feels so tight and balanced around corners.
And the loads of torque!


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I just found out Aston Newport is doing another track event at Thermal this upcoming Saturday. Price is $395 and AM will supply a V12VS on track among others. I wish I could go, but I have kids soccer game.


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So the main difference between the 2015 S model vs the outgoing V12V's is the gearbox - the old V12V's were all manual which is good for the purists. My past two Aston's were manual, but being spoiled by F1 tranny's, I was looking for a DD that was not manual this time. The V12VS are fitted with a Graziano Sportshift III gearbox. Aston claims there is a 25 kg weight savings with this tranny over manual, but we all know it's just following market trends. The SSIII is upgraded from the SSII's with a dual clutch plate to handle the 457 lbs of torque being that it is a SCT.

Other difference is this model has 565 hp compared to the previous 510 hp.

Another major difference is the 3 stage adaptive damping system: Normal, Sport, Track. This is a real nice feature, as the normal mode is very comfortable and the track mode stiffens up the suspension to the point of real tight handling.

All in all, these 3 upgrades made a huge influence for me to choose it as a sporty fun, raw DD.


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Yes I was amazed at the Morning Frost white....this is a rare pearlescent white which is different from the flat Stratus white. The one forte of Aston is their paintwork. The salesman mentioned to me that out of the 200 man hours it takes to build one car, about 50 hours is spent on paint.
I've always admired the pearlescent colors of Astons, just brilliant art work.


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Thanks! I agree it was the most elegant car I owned. Felt like James Bond in that car...problem is that I'm not that classy lol. Yea I couldn't give that car away, I think it was the high miles at 19k, which is nothing. The car was very reliable.

I'm looking forward to a more raw Aston. The V12VS is their fastest production car made save the One-77.


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