Well I don't have to tell you what car this is
it's the Aston Martin Vantage and it's the first one that's all new since
the very first prototype showed up in 2003 and then in 2005 the production
model came out and it's changed a little bit over the years but this is the first
radical change that's happened to the Vantage in the new era of Aston Martin
as you remember the last Vantage was sort of part GT car and part sports car
this is all sports car and that's part of the whole ethos that Aston Martin's
bringing to its line differentiating each one of the models very much more
specifically than it was in the past let's go drive
well hi We're in Algarve a and Portugal one of my favourite racetracks
and yes we brought the British weather with the British car but that's okay
because I will take any opportunity I can to drive this thing because I've
been waiting for it for so long it's the new Vantage it uses the same I got to be
careful because there are a lot of blind corners on this track so I you know if I
if I zone out for a second it means I'm looking at the track yeah this uses the
aluminium platform that we first saw on the DB 11 very very very stiff where
the original Vantage was so appealing because it was part GT car it's part
sports car this car is entirely built as a sports car so it's it's gotten solid
mounts in the subframe it's got obviously this engine from AMG that
they've been using the block 503 horsepower 505 pounds feet so it is a
bruiser by any measure 0 to 60 in 3.5 and top
speed of 195 so it didn't quite make it to 200 but that's ok
a starting price of around 153 grand means the new Vantage has carved out its
own niche to go with its new personality cheaper than a Porsche 911 Turbo and
Audi r8 and slightly more than an AMG GTS with which it shares most of an
engine
all new interior the interior is much more befitting a sports car you know the
thing about the last Vantage was a very high high console because of the the
tunnel because it's got a torque tube going back to the to the trans axle back
there which used to be an automated manual and now is a ZF automatic eight
speed which is you know if you're gonna pick an automatic the ZF is the one
depict and actually we hear there's going to be a manual one of those sticks
right here pretty soon probably in a year's time this is really
a different car than the previous Vantage this is much much sharper it's
got much better technology in the way of things like heed if we're you can roll
into a corner open and then have the diff clothes as you need the traction to
get out of a corner quickly or in conditions like this you can de sel
through a corner and still get traction where you need it
you know the e diff revolution is here and they're fast-acting these days with
the new chips that that are much faster than the original kinds of P diff
even in the rain you can tell this is a much sharper car it's just got power
everywhere to sum up let's go to the notepad next level GT design built
around functional Aero quick almost precognitive steering balanced feel and
controlled but compliant suspension and weight under 3500 pounds all in the new
Vantage is a huge long-awaited to leap forward in performance and best of all
exciting intuitive driving fun while still leaving some margin for a more
hardcore model to be named later this is such a good car now thank you Aston
Martin for bringing a sports car to your line making them all look different no
more Russian dolls as the design director Merrick Reichman says cars look
different they perform different good on us tomorrow
you