The new Aston Martin Vantage gets a twin-turbo V8 with 503 horsepower
The New Aston Martin Vantage Is Bloody Brilliant
Curling around an apex on a closed-course track, a not-so-subtle Mountain Dew-colored missile accelerates. You’d picture such a bright exterior paint choice on a Honda Civic Type R or some other compact tuner. But this is nothing like a drift car or compact tuner. It’s a sports car with heritage behind its name, but in a new generation. It’s the new Aston Martin Vantage.
If you like the Lime Essence paint color or not, the engine sound quickly drowns out your misgivings. The new Vantage is still, at its core, a high-performance sports car for the elite and it sounds the part. Performance in this new Aston Martin Vantage has been enhanced and careful attention paid to minute details, taking the Vantage to new heights.
Expressive Redesign
The front fascia, at first glance, looks much like the former Vantage. But a side-by-side comparison reveals big changes. The grille “opening” has been set much, much lower on the new Vantage, and it appears flat as opposed to the horizontal slats.
Exterior lighting seems to be completely LED, from headlights and turn signals to marker lights. The taillights are tiny slits in the rear, nearly hidden until the brakes are tapped. So clean and slick.
Aerodynamics have been improved in this new Aston Martin Vantage. The front air intake, as normal, cools the engine. But Aston Martin put side gills in place to alleviate the air pressure under the hood, which is then channeled over the car for improved downforce. The creases in the hood, fenders, roof and over the rear deck lid all work to make the Vantage sit down tight.
The Perfect Balance
In a redesign like this, millimeters count. The rear mid-mounted eight-speed ZF transmission has been positioned perfectly to create 50/50 front-to-rear weight distribution. That’s what makes the Vantage a virtuoso handling machine, devoid of all-wheel drive.
It’s the first time the Aston Martin Vantage has used an electronic differential, which takes electronic stability control input into consideration. It can go from a full-open diff to 100 percent lock in milliseconds, far outperforming a mechanical LSD diff.
That Engine, Though…
If there’s a part you could pull out of the new Vantage and out on display at a museum, it’s the engine. It sure is pretty under the hood, tucked under braces and fed by two massive air intake ducts. But like any piece of art, it’s the underlying details that make it so interesting.
The 4.0-liter twin turbo V8 is the same as the one used in the DB11. It’s composed completely of alloy materials, reducing weight, improving strength and heat dispersion, and eliminating problems from expansion and contraction. Unlike a normal turbocharged engine with an air intercooler, the new Aston Martin Vantage utilizes a more efficient water-to-air cooler.
Electronically controlled exhaust, precision machined combustion chambers, and Dual Variable Camshaft timing in the quad overhead cam design might not mean much to the average car owner, but it’s the stuff that matters in high-performance manufacturing. The setup gives the Vantage 503 horsepower and 505 lb-ft of torque.
It’s why the new Aston Martin Vantage can achieve a 0-to-60 mph time in just 3.5 seconds. And that’s how a 4.0-liter two-door car weighing 3,373 pounds can reach 195 miles per hour.
The Lap of Luxury
Obviously, it’s still an Aston Martin. There’s a certain expectation for quality and materials, and it comes through in the interior. Sport seats and interior details are meticulously wrapped in Strathmore leather and Alcantara, upholding the prestige between the doors. Contrast stitching and gloss black trim add to the sporty feel, and the body-color accents inside set it off nicely. With Lime Essence, though, it might be a bit much.
The center stack has been reconfigured for the new Aston Martin Vantage also. It looks quite busy and cluttered, somewhat cumbersome to muddle through. Yet, that speaks to the Vantage’s many attributes that can be controlled – Adaptive Damping System, electronically controlled transmission, electronic parking brake, HVAC controls and many others.
Sometimes, a high-performance luxury coupe in the new Vantage’s caste can feel contrived. That’s simply not the case with this car. It’s brilliantly engineered for incredible performance, fashionable styling and high-tech driving options. There’s so much to love about the Vantage…but I’m still on the fence about Lime Essence.
