The glorious V8 Vantage has been given a heart transplant. The donor? The mighty V12 DBS. KEVIN HACKETTtakes one for 1,000km dash across Europe
THE GREAT thing about companies like Aston Martin is that they’re run by enthusiasts who also happen to be switched on in business.
The top brass is happy enough to let the engineers tinker about during their lunch breaks because it’s known that this can inspire moments of greatness. So it was only ever a matter of time before someone looked at a Vantage and thought, “what if we managed to squeeze the V12 from a DBS into that engine bay. . .?”
Aston’s V12 is one of the world’s truly great engines. A veritable power station, it feels like it belongs in a freight train and sounds like every pleasure known to man distilled into one glorious cacophony. But surely this bruiser belongs inside the big, bad DBS and nothing else. Surely the playful V8 Vantage is a delicacy best left alone, not tinkered with, not turned into some schizophrenic monster.
The boys and girls at Gaydon obviously thought otherwise and set about shoehorning the six-litre V12 masterpiece into a space that no doubt required a huge dollop of Vaseline and plenty of head scratching. It worked, crucially, without significant reworking of the chassis or changing the car’s looks.
The resulting prototype was called the Vantage RS and initial media reports were that it was a car that Aston really had to put into production. And here it is. My mission, should I choose to accept it, is to drive one back to the UK from Aston’s Test Centre at the Nürburgring in Germany – a 1,000km dash across Europe.
With the engine weighing a not-inconsiderable 100kg more than the V8, there was a real danger of changing the handling characteristics, and not in a good way. However, with the use of superb, lightweight seats, carbon fibre addenda inside the cabin and even thinner carpets, it tips the scales at only 50kg more than its eight-cylinder sibling. More remarkable is the fact that weight distribution has altered from the V8’s 49/51 front/rear ideal to 51/49. On paper, at least, the V12 seems like a properly good idea.
Where it counts, though, is on road and track. On track, the day before I pick up my car, the V12 proves its worth by taking the SP8 Class win at the legendary Nürburgring 24 Hour race, finishing 21st overall. Only slightly modified from road spec, this car gives Aston Martin an almighty spring in its step, showing the world that fragile, unreliable engineering is a thing of the past. Bring on the Autobahn!
Initial impressions? The achingly pretty looks of the “normal” Vantage have given way to a more aggressive appearance. The bonnet has been louvered with four carbon fibre vents – essential to keep cooling under control. There are low sideskirts to improve downforce, as well as front and rear splitters and a kicked up rear spoiler. New, diamond-turned alloy wheels and track-focused Pirelli P-Zero Corsa tyres complete the bad boy transformation.
The seats are supremely comfortable and the interior remains largely unaltered apart from the DBS’s silly-looking gear lever and grippy Alcantara wrapped around the wheel.
Firing up the V12 results in a welcome bark and without further ado I’m heading for the hedonistic delights of unrestricted German roads.
At low speeds the V12 feels very much like the V8: nicely-weighted steering, stiff clutch and an ease of operation that makes it genuinely usable as an everyday sportscar. Once the road clears, however, its unique character becomes apparent. Dropping into third with the Sport button depressed (this remaps the accelerator response and makes the exhaust system louder), I mash the throttle and the Vantage startles me with its formidable, relentless acceleration. 150, 160, 180, 200; as I reach 280km/h there’s traffic ahead so I back off – but the car feels like it has so much more to give! My heart is thumping – this thing is brutal.
The carbon ceramic disc brakes – also carried over from the DBS – are fantastically effective at bringing the Vantage down from warp speed to a walking pace in what seems like a split second. They have a progressive feel that inspires total confidence and, when stamped on, give you plenty of feedback and you can actually feel the roughness of the pad-to-disc action through your right foot.
Every opportunity I get, I open the taps and revel in the sheer pace of this thing. At huge speeds it feels rock solid, planted, unstoppable. It’s stiffly sprung and there’s more tyre noise than in the V8 but it’s still civilised and capable as a long-distance charger. As I cross Germany, through Belgium and into France, the roads remain dry and the car simply shines. Any reservations I may have had that the V12 was a step too far have been obliterated – this is superb, epic stuff and undoubtedly Aston’s best car to date.
I reach UK soil and, predictably, am met with torrential downpours. Straight away the car feels nervous, twitchy, even at low speeds. Corsas that gripped so incredibly well on the sun-baked roads of Europe prove to make the V12 Vantage feel like the brute it actually is.
The recent 4.7-litre V8 Vantage felt like it had managed to take the fight to the Porsche 911. What the V12 feels like is a natural rival to the rather scary 911 GT2. It’s a proper driver’s car this and it won’t be for everyone. But if your poison is an incredibly fast, focused car that makes you feel truly alive then you’ll no doubt succumb to the bounteous charms of this thing. Prepare to be seduced.
Factfile Aston Martin V12 Vantage
Engine: 5935cc V12 putting out 510bhp and 570Nm of torque
Transmission: six-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Max speed: 305km/h
0-100km/h: 4.2 seconds
Fuel consumption: 16.35l/100km (17.2mpg)
CO2 emissions: 388g/km