ON SALE: Now
BASE PRICE: $102,725AS TESTED PRICE: $111,795DRIVETRAIN: 4.7-liter V8; RWD, six-speed manualOUTPUT: 430 hp @ 7,300 rpm, 361 lb-ft @ 5,000 rpmCURB WEIGHT: 3,549 lb0-60 MPH: 4.6 secondsFUEL ECONOMY: 13/19/15 mpg(EPA City/Hwy/Combined)OBSERVED FUEL ECONOMY: 11.0 mpgOPTIONS: GT graphics package ($3,190); 10-spoke forged alloy graphite wheels ($3,190); technology package ($2,690)
Aston Martin’s bargain V8 Vantage
WEST COAST EDITOR MARK VAUGHN: This Aston Martin is a bit of an anomaly -- you get more performance than the Vantage S, but at a lower price. Indeed, Aston’s consumer website lists the starting sticker at $99,900. That’s before delivery, without which you can’t get it, but still,
the idea of an Aston Martin, even one based on decade-old underpinnings, that costs less than six figures is pretty cool. It brings it into the realm of the almost-affordable.
You could be very happy in a new C7 Chevrolet Corvette or any of the F-Type Jaguars for less than that, of course, but there is still something to the mystique of an Aston Martin.
The 2015 Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT is meant to channel the racing heritage of the marque and indeed Aston Martin trumpets the fact that the engine is almost the same as the one found in the Vantage GTE cars from the World Endurance Championship, Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona and GT4 Challenge cars. Exactly how close the street car is to the race car is debatable, but it is fun to pretend, isn’t it? The only thing I’d have dropped from the race-aping exterior is that beluga whale lipstick around the grille. It just emphasizes the silly shape of the front opening and probably scares brine shrimp or plankton or whatever whale sharks eat. Plus, it reminds me too much of the Ford Fusion (ha ha, that was a joke, don’t send me your hate mail). Otherwise the exterior is kind of cool.
So, too, is it cool to drive. At the heart of the experience is the big torque available from the 4.7-liter V8. While peak horsepower is an impressively thrilling 430, it’s the torque that makes this fun to drive even when plodding around through city streets.
The torque band is wide and starts low. Well before the torque peak of 5,000 rpm there is plenty of grunt. Pull from the V8 is strong anywhere from 2,000 rpm up. The shifter is easy and smooth to operate except where it goes into the third gear, which takes just a little more effort. Sometimes I’d skip from second to fourth. But the controls -- throttle, brakes, steering -- are nicely balanced against one another and therefore easy to integrate for even moderately ham-handed drivers.
On my favorite fast mountain road in most cars, I’d find myself in third and fourth gears, but the V8 Vantage GT offered so much thrust that these became fourth and fifth-gear bends.
Grip was substantial. On an improvised skidpad far from most of humanity I switched off the traction control, put it in sport and tried to make it oversteer. From launch with spinning rear tires there was some slip, but once underway, try as I might, I couldn’t get the rears to slide much at all. It sure didn’t feel like there was intervention from a stability control program limiting torque to the rear wheels. Maybe a harsh attack at an autocross course would have revealed more.
It’s always a pleasure to drive Astons Martin and this one is no exception. For those seeking a pure sports car, there are plenty of offerings from Porsche and McLaren. This is still more of a comfortable GT than it is a true, howling sports car. But it does howl nicely, and for the price it’s a surprising bargain, if that word can be used. I’ve been in a lot of Astons Martin recently, and the price of this one was a real eye-opener. It also opens the market for a whole bunch of buyers who might never have thought they were in the class for such a rare car.
ASSOCIATE WEST COAST EDITOR BLAKE Z. RONG:
The Porsche “911 killer” is the biggest cliché in automobildom -- when a car company, usually at an auto show, usually with a German accent, announces with fevered fanfare that they too can build a fast, luxurious ultra sled that can dethrone Porsche at its own lousy stinking game. Lamborghini has done it. Jaguar has done it. Even Spyker has done it. Mercedes-Benz seems to try it every year.The Aston Martin Vantage was the “911 killer” from day one, that one day nine years ago when John Walton beamed over his company’s latest efforts to stay alive with -- gasp! -- a volume supercar, a heresy of cut-rate rebadging and pilfered engineering that really lies behind the efforts to kill Porsche’s formerly everyman supercar. He’s laughing all the way to Zeewolde. Because since then, the Vantage has become the most successful Aston Martin of all time: to this day Aston Martin has sold over 10,000 examples, a dizzying amount of variations. There’s been Vantages with V12s, ones with Zagato bodywork, ones commemorating centennials and racing victories.The V8 Vantage GT is the lineup’s swan song, a final tease of nine years of brand building, one year of ugly recalls, and basically the same results for racing success and failure. The racing aspect would explain our car’s red and blue paint scheme, which Aston Martin says is supposed to recall gentleman driver Bobby Parkes’ DB2/4, one of the most successful Aston Martin race cars ever built. To us, it looks like it is wearing lipstick (even Aston Martin calls it that in its configurator). The only brightwork in a coal-dim interior is the contrasting red stitching; the rest is swathed in so much suede that “it smells like a shoe store,” suggested one friend.Finally, the Aston Martin Vantage fulfills its destiny as the British Chevy Corvette. That’s what it feels like: a wonderfully analog sports car, an old-school bruiser, one whose rear end swings out gently and gracefully at will. It’s not as precise as its archrival Porsche 911, but to some extent, it’s even more engaging. The 430-hp, 4.7-liter V8 provides a good amount of torque, but more importantly it revs fast and sounds mean. The six-speed shifter feels like it came from a BMW: springy, slightly notchy, but authoritative. Third gear will be your best friend. Steering is wonderful, with great weighting and feedback, and plenty of bump steer. Like a Corvette, it’s slightly ponderous at low speeds -- but when you line up a series of switchbacks and put it in third, the car really feels like magic. Clutch engagement is absurdly high; it’s also a bit clunky. The suspension is jittery and far too harsh for anything short of glass pavement: there’s little body roll to speak of, but sometimes it bounces too much on some roads to make short work of them.
Alas, it’s the little things. When I got to the bottom of the mountain, I pulled into the Shell gas station in a huff, rooted around the doorsill for the electronic fuel release (it’s tucked away under the dashboard), and pressed the button. Nothing. I looked in the trunk and found the emergency fuel release, which was also electronic. It, too, didn’t work. About three Toyota Prius drivers and a guy in a truck started to stare. Five minutes later, I jimmied the cap open with a credit card.
“Serves you right!” hollered a woman as she climbed out of her Prius.
A few other things: that key is a gimmick, about as practical and flashy as a Swarovski ankle monitor. The clutch is cantankerous and heavy at low speeds, and the drivetrain lugs around in traffic, which may seem like a silly complaint -- but since a Vantage will garner infinitely more eyeballs than a 911, doesn’t that make sense? Inside, I couldn’t find the Garmin navigation’s zoom function. The convoluted sound system -- which, for however much this car costs, can’t read Bluetooth audio -- deserves to be ripped out, beaten like in Office Space, set on fire, then replaced with something from a Best Buy Mobile catalog.Fortunately, audio is bunk: as is the cliché, just roll down the windows. Downshift for the corner, rev-match the engine. Hear the exhaust barking off the tunnel walls. There’s no school like the old school, to paraphrase a Guy Ritchie movie. The Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT is a choice you make with your heart, not your head. Isn’t that the thing with any British car?
ON SALE: NowBASE PRICE: $102,725AS TESTED PRICE: $111,795DRIVETRAIN: 4.7-liter V8; RWD, six-speed manualOUTPUT: 430 hp @ 7,300 rpm, 361 lb-ft @ 5,000 rpmCURB WEIGHT: 3,549 lb0-60 MPH: 4.6 secondsFUEL ECONOMY: 13/19/15 mpg(EPA City/Hwy/Combined)OBSERVED FUEL ECONOMY: 11.0 mpgOPTIONS: GT graphics package ($3,190); 10-spoke forged alloy graphite wheels ($3,190); technology package ($2,690)
Aston Martin’s bargain V8 Vantage
WEST COAST EDITOR MARK VAUGHN: This Aston Martin is a bit of an anomaly -- you get more performance than the Vantage S, but at a lower price. Indeed, Aston’s consumer website lists the starting sticker at $99,900. That’s before delivery, without which you can’t get it, but still,
the idea of an Aston Martin, even one based on decade-old underpinnings, that costs less than six figures is pretty cool. It brings it into the realm of the almost-affordable.
You could be very happy in a new C7 Chevrolet Corvette or any of the F-Type Jaguars for less than that, of course, but there is still something to the mystique of an Aston Martin.
The 2015 Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT is meant to channel the racing heritage of the marque and indeed Aston Martin trumpets the fact that the engine is almost the same as the one found in the Vantage GTE cars from the World Endurance Championship, Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona and GT4 Challenge cars. Exactly how close the street car is to the race car is debatable, but it is fun to pretend, isn’t it? The only thing I’d have dropped from the race-aping exterior is that beluga whale lipstick around the grille. It just emphasizes the silly shape of the front opening and probably scares brine shrimp or plankton or whatever whale sharks eat. Plus, it reminds me too much of the Ford Fusion (ha ha, that was a joke, don’t send me your hate mail). Otherwise the exterior is kind of cool.
So, too, is it cool to drive. At the heart of the experience is the big torque available from the 4.7-liter V8. While peak horsepower is an impressively thrilling 430, it’s the torque that makes this fun to drive even when plodding around through city streets.
The torque band is wide and starts low. Well before the torque peak of 5,000 rpm there is plenty of grunt. Pull from the V8 is strong anywhere from 2,000 rpm up. The shifter is easy and smooth to operate except where it goes into the third gear, which takes just a little more effort. Sometimes I’d skip from second to fourth. But the controls -- throttle, brakes, steering -- are nicely balanced against one another and therefore easy to integrate for even moderately ham-handed drivers.
On my favorite fast mountain road in most cars, I’d find myself in third and fourth gears, but the V8 Vantage GT offered so much thrust that these became fourth and fifth-gear bends.
Grip was substantial. On an improvised skidpad far from most of humanity I switched off the traction control, put it in sport and tried to make it oversteer. From launch with spinning rear tires there was some slip, but once underway, try as I might, I couldn’t get the rears to slide much at all. It sure didn’t feel like there was intervention from a stability control program limiting torque to the rear wheels. Maybe a harsh attack at an autocross course would have revealed more.
It’s always a pleasure to drive Astons Martin and this one is no exception. For those seeking a pure sports car, there are plenty of offerings from Porsche and McLaren. This is still more of a comfortable GT than it is a true, howling sports car. But it does howl nicely, and for the price it’s a surprising bargain, if that word can be used. I’ve been in a lot of Astons Martin recently, and the price of this one was a real eye-opener. It also opens the market for a whole bunch of buyers who might never have thought they were in the class for such a rare car.
the idea of an Aston Martin, even one based on decade-old underpinnings, that costs less than six figures is pretty cool. It brings it into the realm of the almost-affordable.
You could be very happy in a new C7 Chevrolet Corvette or any of the F-Type Jaguars for less than that, of course, but there is still something to the mystique of an Aston Martin.
The 2015 Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT is meant to channel the racing heritage of the marque and indeed Aston Martin trumpets the fact that the engine is almost the same as the one found in the Vantage GTE cars from the World Endurance Championship, Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona and GT4 Challenge cars. Exactly how close the street car is to the race car is debatable, but it is fun to pretend, isn’t it? The only thing I’d have dropped from the race-aping exterior is that beluga whale lipstick around the grille. It just emphasizes the silly shape of the front opening and probably scares brine shrimp or plankton or whatever whale sharks eat. Plus, it reminds me too much of the Ford Fusion (ha ha, that was a joke, don’t send me your hate mail). Otherwise the exterior is kind of cool.
So, too, is it cool to drive. At the heart of the experience is the big torque available from the 4.7-liter V8. While peak horsepower is an impressively thrilling 430, it’s the torque that makes this fun to drive even when plodding around through city streets.
The torque band is wide and starts low. Well before the torque peak of 5,000 rpm there is plenty of grunt. Pull from the V8 is strong anywhere from 2,000 rpm up. The shifter is easy and smooth to operate except where it goes into the third gear, which takes just a little more effort. Sometimes I’d skip from second to fourth. But the controls -- throttle, brakes, steering -- are nicely balanced against one another and therefore easy to integrate for even moderately ham-handed drivers.
On my favorite fast mountain road in most cars, I’d find myself in third and fourth gears, but the V8 Vantage GT offered so much thrust that these became fourth and fifth-gear bends.
Grip was substantial. On an improvised skidpad far from most of humanity I switched off the traction control, put it in sport and tried to make it oversteer. From launch with spinning rear tires there was some slip, but once underway, try as I might, I couldn’t get the rears to slide much at all. It sure didn’t feel like there was intervention from a stability control program limiting torque to the rear wheels. Maybe a harsh attack at an autocross course would have revealed more.
It’s always a pleasure to drive Astons Martin and this one is no exception. For those seeking a pure sports car, there are plenty of offerings from Porsche and McLaren. This is still more of a comfortable GT than it is a true, howling sports car. But it does howl nicely, and for the price it’s a surprising bargain, if that word can be used. I’ve been in a lot of Astons Martin recently, and the price of this one was a real eye-opener. It also opens the market for a whole bunch of buyers who might never have thought they were in the class for such a rare car.
ASSOCIATE WEST COAST EDITOR BLAKE Z. RONG:
The Porsche “911 killer” is the biggest cliché in automobildom -- when a car company, usually at an auto show, usually with a German accent, announces with fevered fanfare that they too can build a fast, luxurious ultra sled that can dethrone Porsche at its own lousy stinking game. Lamborghini has done it. Jaguar has done it. Even Spyker has done it. Mercedes-Benz seems to try it every year.The Aston Martin Vantage was the “911 killer” from day one, that one day nine years ago when John Walton beamed over his company’s latest efforts to stay alive with -- gasp! -- a volume supercar, a heresy of cut-rate rebadging and pilfered engineering that really lies behind the efforts to kill Porsche’s formerly everyman supercar. He’s laughing all the way to Zeewolde. Because since then, the Vantage has become the most successful Aston Martin of all time: to this day Aston Martin has sold over 10,000 examples, a dizzying amount of variations. There’s been Vantages with V12s, ones with Zagato bodywork, ones commemorating centennials and racing victories.The V8 Vantage GT is the lineup’s swan song, a final tease of nine years of brand building, one year of ugly recalls, and basically the same results for racing success and failure. The racing aspect would explain our car’s red and blue paint scheme, which Aston Martin says is supposed to recall gentleman driver Bobby Parkes’ DB2/4, one of the most successful Aston Martin race cars ever built. To us, it looks like it is wearing lipstick (even Aston Martin calls it that in its configurator). The only brightwork in a coal-dim interior is the contrasting red stitching; the rest is swathed in so much suede that “it smells like a shoe store,” suggested one friend.Finally, the Aston Martin Vantage fulfills its destiny as the British Chevy Corvette. That’s what it feels like: a wonderfully analog sports car, an old-school bruiser, one whose rear end swings out gently and gracefully at will. It’s not as precise as its archrival Porsche 911, but to some extent, it’s even more engaging. The 430-hp, 4.7-liter V8 provides a good amount of torque, but more importantly it revs fast and sounds mean. The six-speed shifter feels like it came from a BMW: springy, slightly notchy, but authoritative. Third gear will be your best friend. Steering is wonderful, with great weighting and feedback, and plenty of bump steer. Like a Corvette, it’s slightly ponderous at low speeds -- but when you line up a series of switchbacks and put it in third, the car really feels like magic. Clutch engagement is absurdly high; it’s also a bit clunky. The suspension is jittery and far too harsh for anything short of glass pavement: there’s little body roll to speak of, but sometimes it bounces too much on some roads to make short work of them.
Alas, it’s the little things. When I got to the bottom of the mountain, I pulled into the Shell gas station in a huff, rooted around the doorsill for the electronic fuel release (it’s tucked away under the dashboard), and pressed the button. Nothing. I looked in the trunk and found the emergency fuel release, which was also electronic. It, too, didn’t work. About three Toyota Prius drivers and a guy in a truck started to stare. Five minutes later, I jimmied the cap open with a credit card.
“Serves you right!” hollered a woman as she climbed out of her Prius.
A few other things: that key is a gimmick, about as practical and flashy as a Swarovski ankle monitor. The clutch is cantankerous and heavy at low speeds, and the drivetrain lugs around in traffic, which may seem like a silly complaint -- but since a Vantage will garner infinitely more eyeballs than a 911, doesn’t that make sense? Inside, I couldn’t find the Garmin navigation’s zoom function. The convoluted sound system -- which, for however much this car costs, can’t read Bluetooth audio -- deserves to be ripped out, beaten like in Office Space, set on fire, then replaced with something from a Best Buy Mobile catalog.Fortunately, audio is bunk: as is the cliché, just roll down the windows. Downshift for the corner, rev-match the engine. Hear the exhaust barking off the tunnel walls. There’s no school like the old school, to paraphrase a Guy Ritchie movie. The Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT is a choice you make with your heart, not your head. Isn’t that the thing with any British car?
The Porsche “911 killer” is the biggest cliché in automobildom -- when a car company, usually at an auto show, usually with a German accent, announces with fevered fanfare that they too can build a fast, luxurious ultra sled that can dethrone Porsche at its own lousy stinking game. Lamborghini has done it. Jaguar has done it. Even Spyker has done it. Mercedes-Benz seems to try it every year.The Aston Martin Vantage was the “911 killer” from day one, that one day nine years ago when John Walton beamed over his company’s latest efforts to stay alive with -- gasp! -- a volume supercar, a heresy of cut-rate rebadging and pilfered engineering that really lies behind the efforts to kill Porsche’s formerly everyman supercar. He’s laughing all the way to Zeewolde. Because since then, the Vantage has become the most successful Aston Martin of all time: to this day Aston Martin has sold over 10,000 examples, a dizzying amount of variations. There’s been Vantages with V12s, ones with Zagato bodywork, ones commemorating centennials and racing victories.The V8 Vantage GT is the lineup’s swan song, a final tease of nine years of brand building, one year of ugly recalls, and basically the same results for racing success and failure. The racing aspect would explain our car’s red and blue paint scheme, which Aston Martin says is supposed to recall gentleman driver Bobby Parkes’ DB2/4, one of the most successful Aston Martin race cars ever built. To us, it looks like it is wearing lipstick (even Aston Martin calls it that in its configurator). The only brightwork in a coal-dim interior is the contrasting red stitching; the rest is swathed in so much suede that “it smells like a shoe store,” suggested one friend.Finally, the Aston Martin Vantage fulfills its destiny as the British Chevy Corvette. That’s what it feels like: a wonderfully analog sports car, an old-school bruiser, one whose rear end swings out gently and gracefully at will. It’s not as precise as its archrival Porsche 911, but to some extent, it’s even more engaging. The 430-hp, 4.7-liter V8 provides a good amount of torque, but more importantly it revs fast and sounds mean. The six-speed shifter feels like it came from a BMW: springy, slightly notchy, but authoritative. Third gear will be your best friend. Steering is wonderful, with great weighting and feedback, and plenty of bump steer. Like a Corvette, it’s slightly ponderous at low speeds -- but when you line up a series of switchbacks and put it in third, the car really feels like magic. Clutch engagement is absurdly high; it’s also a bit clunky. The suspension is jittery and far too harsh for anything short of glass pavement: there’s little body roll to speak of, but sometimes it bounces too much on some roads to make short work of them.
Alas, it’s the little things. When I got to the bottom of the mountain, I pulled into the Shell gas station in a huff, rooted around the doorsill for the electronic fuel release (it’s tucked away under the dashboard), and pressed the button. Nothing. I looked in the trunk and found the emergency fuel release, which was also electronic. It, too, didn’t work. About three Toyota Prius drivers and a guy in a truck started to stare. Five minutes later, I jimmied the cap open with a credit card.
“Serves you right!” hollered a woman as she climbed out of her Prius.
A few other things: that key is a gimmick, about as practical and flashy as a Swarovski ankle monitor. The clutch is cantankerous and heavy at low speeds, and the drivetrain lugs around in traffic, which may seem like a silly complaint -- but since a Vantage will garner infinitely more eyeballs than a 911, doesn’t that make sense? Inside, I couldn’t find the Garmin navigation’s zoom function. The convoluted sound system -- which, for however much this car costs, can’t read Bluetooth audio -- deserves to be ripped out, beaten like in Office Space, set on fire, then replaced with something from a Best Buy Mobile catalog.Fortunately, audio is bunk: as is the cliché, just roll down the windows. Downshift for the corner, rev-match the engine. Hear the exhaust barking off the tunnel walls. There’s no school like the old school, to paraphrase a Guy Ritchie movie. The Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT is a choice you make with your heart, not your head. Isn’t that the thing with any British car?
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