Just drove the new Vantage

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Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Holy moly, that color is so bad. Thankfully it's a wrap. When the door is open, it's a different color. I have to admit, I wasn't sure about the design when I saw the first photos but the car looks great in person. It's very low and very wide. Looks very good in gray, metallic red and blue.

 

i love it !

 

The new Vantage is beautiful in person and I found it exhilarating to drive. Such an improvement over the previous generation. Aston is definitely on the right path.

 

Such a comedian! Would you think Ferrari was "on the right path" if you popped your hood or engine cover and saw a McLaren engine peeking out? I didn't think so...

 

And your point is? We’re talking about Aston Martin. They need a new path, Ferrari has been doing pretty well.

 

Aston used to use an old ford/Jag block. Are they better off now?

If Ferrari suddenly started polishing paint and providing a nav that could be updated, would it not be on a better path?

SV

 

FIFY

 

Up to today I have hated every photo or video I have seen of the new Vantage, and believed they had killed an absolutely gorgeous and timeless design. But this afternoon I brought my Vantage in for service to the Aston dealer in Palm Beach, and while there a new Vantage rolled in...silver with black top and wheels, and all glass including the windshield totally blacked out (my car's tint is the legal limit, but this was way beyond that). Anyway, the car was absolutely stunning. You really have to see the new Vantage in the flesh before forming any opinions as to the design. On the other hand the sound sucked, at least compered to my Quicksilver exhaust.

 

They don't look that bad in person, they're pretty good looking but still not as timeless and beautiful as the previous generation. There is literally not a single bad line on the previous generation in my opinion.

 

I'll wait for an in-person view as well ... except to say that the two ass-end photos above convey ugliness to the bone!

 

Gotta disagree David!

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SV

 

It's a great looking car, but I think the bumper would look better if they did the DB10 style. Obviously the DB10 is not a production car, but the lines on that car are clean as is the current Vantage. It's hard for Aston to continue hitting huge home runs when they consistently make great looking cars unlike other manufacturers that are hit or miss.

 

Agree can’t get over the design


Sent from my 16M

 

I think it's interesting looking. I think I disliked it at first, but maybe warmed up a bit. I honestly don't remember my first impression.

That said, the car is way overpriced and is going to tank just like every AM. Yeah, it's not a supercar and more of a GT, but the performance on the new Vantage has been terrible, from the few tests I saw. I wouldn't be surprised if this car is lower performance than a 599 from a decade ago.

It's small, yet it weighs 3400 lb DRY. It has less HP than a luxury sedan. It's generally gotten poor reviews as well.

It's a shame AM IPO'ed. I think they would have been a great acquisition for someone like Mercedes. They're already using all Mercedes technology anyway.

 

I dont know what people always mean when they say "performance". These cars have way way more go than can be deployed on the street, and frankly way more than 99% of their owners will dip into without crashing. So its a paper number. Plus the aston along with pretty much every other sportscar (with rare exceptions) is a really a Gt car. So then the question should be what makes it a great GT car.

Seems like the performance is more than adequate but; What the new car is lacking is a bepoke feel, and frankly styling. The previous vantage was pretty poor dynamicaly and performance wise when it came out. The ride sucked and the real performance was simply not there, lazy motor and all. But its shape was probbaly the most well resolved of any modern in the past25 years and it was simply beautiful, without bad or jarring line in sight..

The new car performs fine, if not standout, but an aston is about style and class, and the new car simply lacks style or consequent class. The interior is busy and kitchy, the exterior has some nice lines from certain angles but is frankly a mismash, its really what I would have expected from Toyota for the new supra.
Why would someone buy this car?

Its probably fixable over time, but how could aston get it so wrong, esp when their usp is elegant style.

How to fix it, first get rid of the supra front end, yeah it is good for aero, no one is going 180 in this car anyway. Clean up some of the other lines. And lordy redo the interior, the current one is a cluster**** of the type we now expect from the germans..
Also based on the video it sounds like ****, fakey do V8, no euro class there.

 

It's the sportiest design Mazda has ever produced!

 

Once you see the misaligned crease on the fenders and door, you won't be able to unsee it. It will be the first thing you notice every time you look at it.

 

Nah. Not that ocd.

The thing about Aston is that it is just about the driver experience. It’s its own thing.

Not sure what about the interior is horrible but I think it works well.

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It isn’t too overpowered, or under featured. The ride isn’t too processed.

But it is a GT. You gotta want that.

Plus it isn’t over done by a thousand of the same thing on the street next to you.

I have a 2009 V8V that I love. Plus two Ferraris. Not the same and not even close. But the Aston is pleasing all on its own.

The new Aston is faster and still intimate, tho not as much as before, and still is unique in the experience.

SV

 

I think it comes down to "why not though?" Do you think the 812 would sell well if it was downrated to 600 hp? I don't.

There's no excuse for a car in this price not to have more "go" along with the "show", whether every single person uses it or not. If you're not going to up the performance, then all you're doing is selling a design -- which is fine, but just price it as such. If there's no money dumped into the technology, then don't ask people to pay for what isn't there. It's as much as a new Audi R8.

The Vantage should be fully loaded at $120K. Unfortunately though, it starts at $150K, meaning it will go even higher once you spec it modestly.

$188K buys you a bone stock 570S. That should put some perspective on the value of the Vantage.

 

Good post.
The 570 is a different customer, I think, although for sure there is overlap. To me I would never consider a new vanatge over a 570, but I'm sports/track orientated. I agree about the 812, it needs the Hp because like the aston its no looker and certainly not compeling besides the horsey, but it does have horsey.

I would considder an old vanatge simply because of its style, and while even the old v12 version of the vantage didnt have the performance measure of a Mcalren or ferrari to me its a future classic, the modern rendition of a daytona, because it has style speed and sound, not to mention a stick and timeless style.

Which brings us back to the new vanatge. if the video is to believed it sounds like a fake vette, which is cool but not fitting here. The interior is to me overly german and fiddly, frankly why not just buy a german. Which leaves us with the one thing the previous vantage had, and that was simply gorgeous styling, which for many if not most was THE single compeling reason to buy one over another marque, because the previous vantage was always an also ran in terms of pure performance numbers.

Yes i agree the current ugly duckling would sell if it had the hp/numbers, not least because so many other cars are not lookers either. But James bond was always a iron fist in classy well cut suit. Aston has lost the classy well cut suit, and as you say does not have the numbers either. Frankly this car is really just an AMG in drag. Yes performance numbers could fix is somewhat, but really the current adequate performance would be fine if it was a looker and sounded great.

But then if early spy shots are any indication the aston suv is no looker either. Frankly I think they have lost the plot, classy style was their one usp.

 

going to test vantage tomorrow, weather permitting, and will report in

 

0 to 60 in 3.5 sec and you say it lacks performance?
It's a gt not a sports car. You would rather spend your dollars on an ugly 570 instead of a classic design ........ok.
Watch the review on Lenos garage. looks and sounds fantastic.

 

That interior photo above? Monochromatic dash & other panels except the black plastic "V" shaped control surfaces? Looks like a moderately priced Japanese car and not at all like an Aston Martin. Just my 2 cent opinion, but as others have said above AM's appeal has always included its classic and classy style, and to me it's not all that strong here. I don't hate it, but for the price I think it's way too generically Japanese.

Rule Britannia!