Super sleuth’s transport, distinguished grand tourer, icon, racer, bipolar sledgehammer. The all-new Aston Martin V12 Vantage is here, and it’s the most powerful iteration of the legendary nameplate yet.
Globally, just 333 examples are earmarked for production and each and every one has been sold. This is very likely the last time that the Gaydon manufacturer will shoehorn their biggest engine into their smallest sportscar – this is the V12 Vantage’s swansong.
The focus seems to have shifted from the previous two iterations not only in terms of the immense powertrain and edgy appearance, but in character, too. The original Aston Martin V12 Vantage was a rip-snorting, seat of the pants racer, but it was also a sublime grand tourer. In this regard, Aston Martin seemed disinterested in chasing after Porsche 911 GT3 RS customers. The story may well be different here, however, with a rather large rear spoiler, beefy wheel arches for the 40 mm wider tracks and carbon fibre bonnet, front bumper and wings suggesting a more track-keen customer is what was envisioned. This tracks, although the Michelin Pilot Sports 4S tyres as opposed to a cup something or nothing suggests otherwise – who knows…
Aston Martin has reworked the Vantage’s suspension with spring rates having been increased by 50 per cent up front and 40 per cent at the rear. New helper springs and adaptive dampers, however, ensure that ride comfort hasn’t been thrown out the window. A 5 per cent stiffening in the front anti-roll bar and 41 per cent softening at the rear will likely improve stability and traction while new sheer panels strengthen up the body and six-piston standard carbon ceramics at all four corners add more stopping power and reduce unsprung weight by 23 kg.
Aston Martin’s spectacular 5,2-litre twin-turbocharged V12 does duty here with staggering outputs of 514 kW and 753 N.m. While these figures are not quite what the same engine offers in the DBS, that’s hardly surprising considering just how different the two models are, as well as how much smaller the Vantage is. All that power is fed through the ubiquitous ZF 8-speed torque-converter automatic transmission to a mechanically locking limited-slip differential. 0-100km/h takes just 3,6 seconds and it’ll keep going until it hits 321 km/h. At that speed, the not inconspicuous aero package produces over 200 kg of downforce.
South Africa has been allocated one V12 Vantage, due to arrive later this year, and it has already been spoken for.
