The Aston Martin V12 Vantage: A Car that Falls Short of Its Potential

The Aston Martin V12 Vantage is a car that boasts an impressive array of features, from its carbon ceramic brakes to its stiff front and rear suspension. However, despite these impressive specs, the car's performance on the road falls short of expectations. The engine, in particular, is a major letdown. The noise it produces is "brilliant," but not quite epic. While it sounds good, it doesn't quite match up to some of its competitors.

One of the main issues with the V12 Vantage is its gearbox. In particular, the manual shift mechanism can be slow and unresponsive at times. The driver may find themselves struggling to get downshifts when they want to, which can be frustrating. However, this issue may not be unique to this specific car model, as the manufacturer offers three different settings for how responsive the drivetrain is: sport, sport plus, and track.

When it comes to handling on the track, however, the V12 Vantage shines. The car's big engine and stiff suspension make it a formidable opponent on the racing circuit. The steering is "really lovely," with a weighty feel that makes you feel like you're sitting at the back or in the middle of the back of a car. However, even with its impressive performance on the track, there are some compromises to be made.

One of these compromises is the car's stiffness on the road. The suspension is set up too stiffly, which can result in excessive tire noise and a driving experience that feels too heavy. This makes the V12 Vantage feel more like a racing car than a grand tourer. Additionally, the steering can be a bit too meaty, making it difficult to maneuver the car through tight corners.

Despite these issues, the V12 Vantage is still a visually stunning car. Its design is "traditional" and "conventional," which may not appeal to everyone's taste. However, for those who appreciate classic Aston Martin styling, this car is sure to turn heads. The interior is also impressive, with a cabin that feels luxurious and well-appointed.

However, when it comes down to it, the V12 Vantage just doesn't feel like a great car. It's not as exceptional as some of Aston Martin's other models, such as the DB11 or the Valkyrie. While it has its strengths, particularly in terms of performance on the track, it falls short in many areas. The gearbox is slow, the suspension is too stiff, and the steering can be a bit too heavy.

In conclusion, while the Aston Martin V12 Vantage is certainly a capable car, it's not one that I would necessarily recommend for anyone looking to purchase a new vehicle. It has its flaws, particularly on the road, but it does shine on the track. Ultimately, this car feels like an incremental update rather than a revolutionary new model. As such, it's hard to get too excited about it, even if it does have some impressive features.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enon the surface at least the new v12 vantage is everything you'd expect it to be and then some it costs 265 000 pounds and there will be just 333 examples made over the next two years all of which are already sold out its twin turbo 5.2 liter v12 engine is the same as the one fitted to the mighty dbs and here it produces 690 bhp and 555 pounds feet of torque with the optional carbon fiber rear spoiler and front splitter pack fitted aston claims it generates 205 kilograms of downforce while its brakes are carbon ceramics as standard interestingly its 21-inch tyres are michelin pilot sport 4s's not cut twos as you might expect which is surprising given that its anti-roll bars and suspension are up to 50 stiffer than in a regular vantage so has aston martin delivered a last and final masterpiece with the v12 advantage we drove it first to silverstone then on the roads in mid wales to find out keep watching because you might well be surprised by what comes next i don't know should we all be feeling really sorry for ourselves now the fact that this era of the magnificent v12 engine aston martin is is finally drawing to a close it does seem quite sad but and it's really easy and completely inevitable that you just have this sort of sense of finality when you drive a car like this last of the line v12 advantages so anyway let's talk a bit about the car it has this v12 from the dbs it has 690 bhp that's a lot of poke even in a car that weighs 1795 kilograms it's got these trick seats they weigh about four just under four kilograms less each you've got carbon ceramic brakes you've got a slightly stiffer front end in terms of springs and anti-roll bar a lot stiffer rear end nearly 50 stiffer than a regular advantage at the back different dampers they've reached in the steering but you can talk about all that stuff and yet the only thing that really really matters is this thing that's under there because the noise is just brilliant we are seriously gonna miss engines like that where they're no longer around the brake feel is fantastic the steering is really lovely you very much feel like you're sitting at the back or in the middle of the back of a car with the big engine there and the rear wheels being driven back there it's very traditional very conventional in that sense i like this car a lot but i'm not absolutely trembling at the knees about it on this track it does feel like it's got its compromises the gearbox in particular i don't know whether it's the software in this particular pre-production car that's not quite doing what it should do it's not giving me down shifts when i want to have down shifts and i don't care about any of that because of the way it looks is it the way it goes okay i've had enough fun with this car on the track so to the road to the welsh hills we go so on the track the v12 vantage goes hard stops brilliantly steers well even if the weighting of the system is quite meaty it also sounds good but not quite epic and it doesn't change gear just as well as the very best but the v12 vantage is a rough car not a track monster correct if so it should shine even brighter on roads like these than it did at silverstone so here we go on the welsh mountain roads in the vantage v12 and i have to say oh i don't know i don't know quite how to say this but i'm not being totally blown away by this car look there are lots of things that i really like about this car i love the way it looks i love the cabin the performance it's thundering i want it to sound a bit better but it's you can't argue with the performances it's dead cool it's huge actually the brakes are fabulous loads of feel loads of stopping power this is a big car big heavy car and it stops on a sixpence but look the performance you're never going to argue with how quick this thing is on the road it's just out righteously fast and it's kind of nicely biased towards the top end the best bit of the performance occurs between about four and a half and the red line it's got lots in the mid range too i mean that's that's four thousand in fifth gear and i'm kind of being pinned back but look there is this elephant in the room and it it's time to talk about it and that is the chassis on the track at silverstone which is really nice and smooth you can't tell really just how stiff this thing is how stiff it's suspended how stiff the bars are how stiff the springs are how stiff the dampers are and it kind of doesn't matter which of the settings that you put it in either sport sport plus or track it gets stiffer in all of the settings but even in sport which is the basic setting on the road i think this thing is too stiff it doesn't feel like a gt car at all really there's loads of tyre noise the steering is for me too meaty too heavy it feels a bit cumbersome on the road i don't think the gearbox is that fabulous i want it to be snappier again just like you can with the chassis where you've got three different settings for how responsive everything is with the drivetrain you've got the same you've got sport sport plus and track even in track the changes aren't snappy enough when you change manually for me up or down oh i don't know i'm being i'm being possibly a little bit cruel about this thing because you look at it and it does you know it makes your heart melt you listen to it and it does make some lovely noises and when you put your foot down in third gear on a nice quiet road the performance is kind of outrageous it's big senior grown-up thundering performance this thing has got but i'm not convinced i am not convinced by this car as a road car it's better on the track than it is on the road quite a lot better on the track actually gosh i thought i was gonna absolutely fall in love with this thing but i haven't i'm sorry aston martin i have not fallen in love with this car it's a good car but it's not one of your great ones that's kind of all i've got to say sorry youon the surface at least the new v12 vantage is everything you'd expect it to be and then some it costs 265 000 pounds and there will be just 333 examples made over the next two years all of which are already sold out its twin turbo 5.2 liter v12 engine is the same as the one fitted to the mighty dbs and here it produces 690 bhp and 555 pounds feet of torque with the optional carbon fiber rear spoiler and front splitter pack fitted aston claims it generates 205 kilograms of downforce while its brakes are carbon ceramics as standard interestingly its 21-inch tyres are michelin pilot sport 4s's not cut twos as you might expect which is surprising given that its anti-roll bars and suspension are up to 50 stiffer than in a regular vantage so has aston martin delivered a last and final masterpiece with the v12 advantage we drove it first to silverstone then on the roads in mid wales to find out keep watching because you might well be surprised by what comes next i don't know should we all be feeling really sorry for ourselves now the fact that this era of the magnificent v12 engine aston martin is is finally drawing to a close it does seem quite sad but and it's really easy and completely inevitable that you just have this sort of sense of finality when you drive a car like this last of the line v12 advantages so anyway let's talk a bit about the car it has this v12 from the dbs it has 690 bhp that's a lot of poke even in a car that weighs 1795 kilograms it's got these trick seats they weigh about four just under four kilograms less each you've got carbon ceramic brakes you've got a slightly stiffer front end in terms of springs and anti-roll bar a lot stiffer rear end nearly 50 stiffer than a regular advantage at the back different dampers they've reached in the steering but you can talk about all that stuff and yet the only thing that really really matters is this thing that's under there because the noise is just brilliant we are seriously gonna miss engines like that where they're no longer around the brake feel is fantastic the steering is really lovely you very much feel like you're sitting at the back or in the middle of the back of a car with the big engine there and the rear wheels being driven back there it's very traditional very conventional in that sense i like this car a lot but i'm not absolutely trembling at the knees about it on this track it does feel like it's got its compromises the gearbox in particular i don't know whether it's the software in this particular pre-production car that's not quite doing what it should do it's not giving me down shifts when i want to have down shifts and i don't care about any of that because of the way it looks is it the way it goes okay i've had enough fun with this car on the track so to the road to the welsh hills we go so on the track the v12 vantage goes hard stops brilliantly steers well even if the weighting of the system is quite meaty it also sounds good but not quite epic and it doesn't change gear just as well as the very best but the v12 vantage is a rough car not a track monster correct if so it should shine even brighter on roads like these than it did at silverstone so here we go on the welsh mountain roads in the vantage v12 and i have to say oh i don't know i don't know quite how to say this but i'm not being totally blown away by this car look there are lots of things that i really like about this car i love the way it looks i love the cabin the performance it's thundering i want it to sound a bit better but it's you can't argue with the performances it's dead cool it's huge actually the brakes are fabulous loads of feel loads of stopping power this is a big car big heavy car and it stops on a sixpence but look the performance you're never going to argue with how quick this thing is on the road it's just out righteously fast and it's kind of nicely biased towards the top end the best bit of the performance occurs between about four and a half and the red line it's got lots in the mid range too i mean that's that's four thousand in fifth gear and i'm kind of being pinned back but look there is this elephant in the room and it it's time to talk about it and that is the chassis on the track at silverstone which is really nice and smooth you can't tell really just how stiff this thing is how stiff it's suspended how stiff the bars are how stiff the springs are how stiff the dampers are and it kind of doesn't matter which of the settings that you put it in either sport sport plus or track it gets stiffer in all of the settings but even in sport which is the basic setting on the road i think this thing is too stiff it doesn't feel like a gt car at all really there's loads of tyre noise the steering is for me too meaty too heavy it feels a bit cumbersome on the road i don't think the gearbox is that fabulous i want it to be snappier again just like you can with the chassis where you've got three different settings for how responsive everything is with the drivetrain you've got the same you've got sport sport plus and track even in track the changes aren't snappy enough when you change manually for me up or down oh i don't know i'm being i'm being possibly a little bit cruel about this thing because you look at it and it does you know it makes your heart melt you listen to it and it does make some lovely noises and when you put your foot down in third gear on a nice quiet road the performance is kind of outrageous it's big senior grown-up thundering performance this thing has got but i'm not convinced i am not convinced by this car as a road car it's better on the track than it is on the road quite a lot better on the track actually gosh i thought i was gonna absolutely fall in love with this thing but i haven't i'm sorry aston martin i have not fallen in love with this car it's a good car but it's not one of your great ones that's kind of all i've got to say sorry you\n"